I have recently discovered podcasts. I know, I know, I'm at the cutting edge of 2004.
Anyway, I discovered a magnificent podcast called 'Handelmania' wherein a New Yorker called Charlie Handelman shares his extraordinary collection of rare and cherishable opera recordings. Wait, wait, come back...
He also has a wonderful collection of weirdnesses and curios. Once I've found it online, I shall without a doubt post a link to an mp3 of the performance of 'La Traviata' where suddenly and from nowhere a woman in the audience let rip with a guttural and terrifying primal scream. Apparently she then ran out of the auditorium, and nobody to this day knows who she was or why she did it. Theories abound; some say she was trying to sabotage the performance because she had had an abortive affair with its conductor, others say that she had undergone dental surgery that day and looked down to see her blouse covered in blood. Whatever the truth, it is an extraordinary and slightly scary thing.
I'm going to link to my other favourite moment from the Handelmania podcast, with apologies/thanks to the blogger who hosts it (one of many, for all I know-the first google result when you search for 'o holy night terrible singing congregation' is a blog called fredmckinnon.com). I know nothing of fredmckinnon or his dotcom, other than the fact it hosts this which, I promise, you must hear. All the way through. Once.
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