… but La Cieca finally got the chance to get her beauty winks last night following a weekend of moving house. The Sunnyside Studios (where our editor JJ and his lovely vis-a-vis cohabit) are now on the ultra-fashionable northern side of Queen Boulevard, and it looks like they got out while the getting was good, because only a couple of weeks ago La Cieca saw a hipster on the old block, so you know that part of Sunnyside is doomed, I tell you, doomed.

Anyway, in the meantime, “felonthropist” Alberto Vilar was convicted on all counts, which of course sent your doyenne on frantic search of Google Images to find a photo of the convictee with his old buddy Joe Volpe. Alas, every such image has gone down the oubliette, figuratively speaking.

Anyway, the broadband internet is finally working at the new place, and so La Cieca will stop with the Roberto Aronica act and start showing up once in a while. (Marcello Giordani can’t do it all, you know!)

La Cieca

James Jorden (who wrote under the names "La Cieca" and "Our Own JJ") was the founder and editor of parterre box. During his 20 year career as an opera critic he wrote for the New York Times, Opera, Gay City News, Opera Now, Musical America and the New York Post. He also raised his voice in punditry on National Public Radio. From time to time he directed opera, including three unsuccessful productions of Don Giovanni. He also contributed a regular column on opera for the New York Observer. James died in October 2023.

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