14 December 2007

"Straight, ya know!"

Controversial soprano Anna Netrebko has gone on record categorically denying recent rumors that she... is a lesbian? (My dears, La Cieca has been out of the dating pool for a while, but even she wouldn't mistake Erwin Schrott for a girl!)

Well, my dear Sapphic comrades, all La Cieca can say is, you win some, you lose some. Really, girls, how many toaster ovens does one actually need? After all, this week, your team got Jodie Foster plus a first-round draft pick for Queen Latifah. But, sorry ladies, no Netrebko for you! As blogged by Opera Chic earlier today, our Anna asserted, "Ein für alle Mal: Ich bin nicht lesbisch!"

It should perhaps be noted that she -- Anna, that is, not Opera Chic -- was speaking to a journalist from the glossy German-language celeb mag Bunte at the time. Presumably the declaration would hold up in any language: "Once and for all, I'm not a Gay!"

It seems that there were rumors swirling around Anna since she has been palling around (though not gal-palling around!) with out lesbian pop singer Lucy Diakovska from the band No Angels. La Netrebko explained to Bunte "We went out for a meal together. We happened to meet at a television taping and got along well. I was a huge fan of No Angels and Lucy loves opera. You shouldn't make anything more of it."

The article goes on to say that Netrebko is 36, which would suggest that the rest of the piece is fairly accurate. And, to tell the truth, that's about the whole story, except that Bunte posted a lavish photo gallery of Netrebkiana, with captions that don't always relate to the image. Well, anyway, this is what I mean:

In a related story, Renée Fleming announced earlier today that she plans attend the Westminister Kennel Club Dog Show show as the guest of Camille Paglia.

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29 October 2007

Nibble, nibble, mousie, who's nibbling at my gallery?

The Gallery Met -- you know, that space off to the opposite side of the box office, over near the State Theater? Oh, didn't you know there was a gallery there? Well, in fact, neither did much of anyone else, judging by the sparse attendance there ever since they removed the lesbian erotica (that is, the Richard Prince piece about Madama Butterfly, which La Cieca thought was kind of fun). Now, let's see. La Cieca knows she asked you here for a reason... oh, yes, of course! There's actually a new exhibition opening at the Gallery Met, a sort of tie-in with the New Yorker, which certainly sounds like a nice intersection of target audiences.

Gallery Met has assembled together artists from the venerable magazine, plus a few special guests, in a colorful exhibition of new, original artworks titled Hansel and Gretel. The exhibition features such familiar New Yorker names as Roz Chast, Ian Falconer, Jules Feiffer, Ana Juan, Ed Koren, Anita Kunz, Lorenzo Mattotti, Christoph Niemann, Lou Romano, Owen Smith, William Steig, Gahan Wilson, and Bob Zoell. The exhibit also features new works by artists John Currin, George Condo, and William Wegman—also inspired by Hansel and Gretel.

The Met's new production of the Humperdinck opera opens December 24. The gallery exhibition will be on view Friday, November 16 through February 2006.

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