Post by davidhr on Apr 22, 2014 7:54:07 GMT -5
The big news this week was the evidence that Lara is growing more confident about her future state of health. It was pointed out on numerous sites that she has now listed the German concerts (of which we had confirmation several weeks ago) and even more shows on her official URL (www.larafabian.com). Here is the list:
Date Location
5 October MUNICH – Herkulessaal
7 October BERLIN – Philarmonie
8 October OFFENBACH – City Hall
9 October DUSSELDORF – Tonhalle
10 October HANOVRE – Kuppelsaal
15 October KAUNAS – Zalgiris Arenav
16 October PRAGUE – Forum Karlin
20 October BUCAREST – Sala Palatului
22 October SOFIA – National Palace of Culture
23 October SOFIA – National Palace of Culture
25 October HELSINKI – Finlandia Talo
26 October HELSINKI – TURKU – Logomo
And this is not just a listing; articles are starting to appear trumpeting the shows (e.g., www.infomusic.ro/2014/04/lara-fabian-romania-2014/). The shows are not ‘remnants’ from before her illness – this schedule was not there several weeks ago.
The list would seem to be serving the purpose of letting those who go to the official URL know that seats are available for these performances. Lara must imagine that her foreign audience goes to this site, rather than her FB page, for they are not listed on her FB page tour dates, nor have they been mentioned on that site at all. There’s also been no response on Lara’s Twitter page to questions about it. Perhaps she is not yet confident enough of her ability to really perform at these dates to post them at a place where most people seem to go – or maybe, again, she thinks of her FB and Twitter pages as being primarily for her French audience (and these fans are already asking, why, if she will be well enough to sing, there are no shows being scheduled in France?).
If she had any doubts, it would be understandable…12 shows in 22 days! Talk about jumping into the deep end, rather than dipping your toe, when you’re not even sure you have regained the ability to swim! All the reports on Acoustic Shock Disorder say that it is highly prudent to very gradually re-immerse yourself in sound when first coming back (say, using one headphone instead of two). Lara’s schedule is obviously anything but that. As noted when the validation of the German shows was first reported several weeks ago, perhaps Lara had to confirm now, six months in advance, or risk losing those halls. It would not be at all surprising that the final show listing, if concerts do take place, ends up looking a lot different from what we see now. If so, there would have to be another round of ticket refunds, since these venues are now selling them (e.g., for Romania: www.salapalatului.ro/index.php/spectcole?view=list; for Prague: www.ticketpro.cz/jnp/en/hudba/rock/1280496-forum-karlin.html; etc.).
Not on this schedule (and given past precedents, perhaps never to be listed), are the shows in Russia in November. Pam raised the question of how the situation in the Ukraine could affect Lara, and her whole relationship to Russia. This is certainly a relevant question, especially right now when the situation appears as if it might take a turn for the worse. When the problems with Lara's appearance in Uzbekistan erupted last fall, and she cancelled her show, she said she would not appear at government sponsored venues in countries with governments that violate human rights - but she would perform in shows in those countries, shows that were not government-related, because she wanted to bring a spark of life to the beleaguered people in those countries. She then subsequently performed in Belarus. The situation with Russia is somewhat different, but I suppose Lara could draw the same sort of line; considering her now scheduled appearances for the Krutoi galas in November, she could say she was appearing in support of him, not of the government. We said at the time that the abuse of human rights in many of these 'countries to the east' was a major flaw in Lara's approach of courting those countries; Russia was in our minds at the time then too, given the government’s official hostility toward homosexuals.
Other artists are still performing in Russia, e.g., Tarja Turunen just finished a 15 city tour, much of which took place during the start of the Ukrainian affair. But all that could change if Russia becomes a pariah to the countries in the west. One needs to wait until the time is closer, and she sees what the political situation is; Lara would hate to disappoint Krutoi and her Russian audience, so there would have to be a drastic turn of events for her to cancel (for reasons other than health, of course). And so far, apart from those Krutoi shows, she has not yet announced a wide-scale tour of Russia (which she might, for the spring of 2015, if her new album with Krutoi is ready and she's capable of doing it).
In another subject of some sensitivity, there was a report this past week, apparently from a paper in Brussels, that Lara’s father and mother had separated after 50 years or marriage, and that Lara was all broken up about it; a scan of the article is shown on the MZ FB site, at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202870572996790&set=gm.760473260663455&type=1&theater
A discussion then broke out about whether the story is true or not, and if so, whether it should be covered by Lara’s fan sites. WRT the second question, anything that affects Lara is worthy of coverage, and given her sensitivity and love for her parents, were this to be true, it would be a severe shock (as the article claims it is). As to the first question, clearly we don’t know the answer. On one hand, it is a very odd rumor to have manufactured; certainly many false things have been said about Lara but why would one make up something one degree removed like this? It could also explain why she was in Sicily last week, potentially with her mother and mother’s family. On the other hand, one would expect news of this sort to have been picked up by other publications, in Belgium at least, and perhaps France as well. Also, certain people claiming to be ‘in the know’, have said it isn’t true. We certainly don’t want to be in the position of promulgating false, pernicious rumors (which is why a translation of the article has not been provided); we will see if anything further develops, and if it has noticeable implications.
The article also mentioned that “the problem with the ear is being resolved, with difficulty, but it is on track”; and that Lara will record her new album, with French, English and Italian lyrics. Both aspects would be direct indications that her health has improved, albeit slowly. Of course if the first part isn’t true, this may not be either.
Following up on the ‘wax statue’ petition for Lara at the Grevin museum in Paris, the total number of signatures is up to 239; 500 is the goal, although as noted last week, there is certainly no guarantee that would be sufficient. What might work in France is a campaign to save people’s hearing, featuring Lara as the unfortunate poster child – and hopefully a success story that the campaign could point to. According to the web site ‘hear-it’ (http://www.hear-it.org/France-One-in-eight-says-they-have-a-hearing-loss), one person in eight (~12%) in France say they have some hearing loss – some 6 million people. It is thought that this is actually an underestimate, with some 15-20% really having issues. Of course, many of these are not afflicted with Lara’s syndrome, but she could bring people’s attention to the general problem of hearing loss - and help save the public the unneeded agonizing she has been going through, by taking precautions to preserve their hearing. It is also said that only 1/3 of the populace there who could benefit from hearing aids make use of them (and money is not an issue – the insurance in France pays for it). It is well known that people in all countries see no stigma in wearing corrective lenses for eye problems, but are reluctant to make equal use of technology to help their hearing. And to carry this one step further – studies have shown that hearing impairment is a bigger psychological problem than visual restrictions. As noted in an article on these afflictions (http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/9/2/95.full), “Helen Keller (1948) said that blindness cut her off from things and deafness from people. She wrote ‘I have found deafness to be a much greater handicap than blindness. Deafness … cheats many of their birthright to knowledge’. “ If Lara wanted to use her situation as an opportunity, she could help a lot of people.
And this would be in line with the charity work that Lara does year-round. The auction of Lara’s gold disc for ‘Le Secret’ is to take place this coming Saturday, at the 26th “Télévie”. According to their site, all these years of this charity have “helped understand that the disease affects the patient but also his relatives: the extended family, the couple, professions directly involved in their care, from the announcement of a cancer to the accompaniment to cancer care ...These difficulties of living alongside cancer patients leave scars less visible, impressions that do not fade easily with time. Magazine Televie evokes these difficult human situations to perceive the problems of everyday life and give some clues to better living in the course of the disease."
A picture of Lara holding the gold record for the ceremony can be found at:
www.rtl.be/televie/page/televie-faisons-gagner-la-vie-la-journee-du-26-avril/60.aspx
As an aside, the picture reminds me of a story told by the recipient of a gold record (in the time of actual vinyl records), a ’45 single’ to be precise. The recipient decided to actually play the record, put it on a turntable, and it did play. However – it was not their record! - it was just some random single that the company had lying around, on which they put some fine metallic paint. And to validate this, ‘Wikipedia’ notes, “Rarely does the groove on the record match the actual recording being awarded”. So whoever buys Lara’s gold CD, should not really expect to hear ‘Le Secret’…
On the other hand, this week’s ‘best of’ videos really are of the intended songs.
J’y crois encore:https://app.box.com/s/yn6t1pek3la97g89oigc
:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as-_S9tGc_8
:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fawF6OwJ0Q0
Je me souviens:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RhwcIF5IUg
:https://app.box.com/s/9h1ivg9uftpm9dwthlpv
Je n’arreterai pas de t’aimer: app.box.com/s/fuml9065fwfwdr8rnol9
‘J’y crois encore’: Once again there are some 90 videos available for this song. Although it generally flies under the radar when people consider which title is Lara’s best, this definitely ought to rank near the top, and Lara knows it. She includes it in just about every concert. It is perfectly built for her voice, it ratchets up in intensity, as do the best of the Fabian/Allison songs, and she always sings it perfectly. So much so, that the chief distinguishing feature among the videos is the video quality itself. That gives a leg up to the official DVD versions, and three are chosen here. The first is for the beautiful fragility of the ‘En Toute Intimate’, performance. The second for the power on the ‘Nue’ concert DVD. And the third for the rock beat ending (borrowed from its English-language counterpart, ‘I Cried Enough’) on the ‘Un Regard Neuf’ DVD. This is also a favorite song for aspiring singers to do as a duet with Lara: if you haven’t already seen them, don’t miss the versions with Dominique (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuLgtSDGmrM) and Sophia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zNHy5nQod0), among others. If there was one song I would have people listen to, to introduce them to Lara, I might well choose this one.
‘Je me souviens’: One of Lara’s most emotional songs, as it always brings back to her the joyous and productive growth years she spent in Quebec. The choices here highlight this emotionality. For pure video quality, there is the ‘Un Regard Neuf’ version (when the DVD was released in Quebec, people marveled at how the French audience knew the words, and were so excited about a song extolling Quebec). The second is from Montreal itself; Lara was so overcome by emotion that she even had trouble singing subsequent songs (be sure to watch to the end of the video, as the fans too got caught up in the emotion of Lara praising their country). Another emotional version of this in Quebec can be found at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCjHtv33ur8
‘Je n'arreterai pas de t'aimer’: We don’t have many versions of this song (which is one of the very few for which Lara is listed as writing both the music and the lyrics), but fortunately we do have this version, from the program ‘Rock détente’.
While Lara’s present career remains very much in limbo, a prospective future for her is taking shape. We will all have to live through the intervening months to see if it is actually realized.
David
Date Location
5 October MUNICH – Herkulessaal
7 October BERLIN – Philarmonie
8 October OFFENBACH – City Hall
9 October DUSSELDORF – Tonhalle
10 October HANOVRE – Kuppelsaal
15 October KAUNAS – Zalgiris Arenav
16 October PRAGUE – Forum Karlin
20 October BUCAREST – Sala Palatului
22 October SOFIA – National Palace of Culture
23 October SOFIA – National Palace of Culture
25 October HELSINKI – Finlandia Talo
26 October HELSINKI – TURKU – Logomo
And this is not just a listing; articles are starting to appear trumpeting the shows (e.g., www.infomusic.ro/2014/04/lara-fabian-romania-2014/). The shows are not ‘remnants’ from before her illness – this schedule was not there several weeks ago.
The list would seem to be serving the purpose of letting those who go to the official URL know that seats are available for these performances. Lara must imagine that her foreign audience goes to this site, rather than her FB page, for they are not listed on her FB page tour dates, nor have they been mentioned on that site at all. There’s also been no response on Lara’s Twitter page to questions about it. Perhaps she is not yet confident enough of her ability to really perform at these dates to post them at a place where most people seem to go – or maybe, again, she thinks of her FB and Twitter pages as being primarily for her French audience (and these fans are already asking, why, if she will be well enough to sing, there are no shows being scheduled in France?).
If she had any doubts, it would be understandable…12 shows in 22 days! Talk about jumping into the deep end, rather than dipping your toe, when you’re not even sure you have regained the ability to swim! All the reports on Acoustic Shock Disorder say that it is highly prudent to very gradually re-immerse yourself in sound when first coming back (say, using one headphone instead of two). Lara’s schedule is obviously anything but that. As noted when the validation of the German shows was first reported several weeks ago, perhaps Lara had to confirm now, six months in advance, or risk losing those halls. It would not be at all surprising that the final show listing, if concerts do take place, ends up looking a lot different from what we see now. If so, there would have to be another round of ticket refunds, since these venues are now selling them (e.g., for Romania: www.salapalatului.ro/index.php/spectcole?view=list; for Prague: www.ticketpro.cz/jnp/en/hudba/rock/1280496-forum-karlin.html; etc.).
Not on this schedule (and given past precedents, perhaps never to be listed), are the shows in Russia in November. Pam raised the question of how the situation in the Ukraine could affect Lara, and her whole relationship to Russia. This is certainly a relevant question, especially right now when the situation appears as if it might take a turn for the worse. When the problems with Lara's appearance in Uzbekistan erupted last fall, and she cancelled her show, she said she would not appear at government sponsored venues in countries with governments that violate human rights - but she would perform in shows in those countries, shows that were not government-related, because she wanted to bring a spark of life to the beleaguered people in those countries. She then subsequently performed in Belarus. The situation with Russia is somewhat different, but I suppose Lara could draw the same sort of line; considering her now scheduled appearances for the Krutoi galas in November, she could say she was appearing in support of him, not of the government. We said at the time that the abuse of human rights in many of these 'countries to the east' was a major flaw in Lara's approach of courting those countries; Russia was in our minds at the time then too, given the government’s official hostility toward homosexuals.
Other artists are still performing in Russia, e.g., Tarja Turunen just finished a 15 city tour, much of which took place during the start of the Ukrainian affair. But all that could change if Russia becomes a pariah to the countries in the west. One needs to wait until the time is closer, and she sees what the political situation is; Lara would hate to disappoint Krutoi and her Russian audience, so there would have to be a drastic turn of events for her to cancel (for reasons other than health, of course). And so far, apart from those Krutoi shows, she has not yet announced a wide-scale tour of Russia (which she might, for the spring of 2015, if her new album with Krutoi is ready and she's capable of doing it).
In another subject of some sensitivity, there was a report this past week, apparently from a paper in Brussels, that Lara’s father and mother had separated after 50 years or marriage, and that Lara was all broken up about it; a scan of the article is shown on the MZ FB site, at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202870572996790&set=gm.760473260663455&type=1&theater
A discussion then broke out about whether the story is true or not, and if so, whether it should be covered by Lara’s fan sites. WRT the second question, anything that affects Lara is worthy of coverage, and given her sensitivity and love for her parents, were this to be true, it would be a severe shock (as the article claims it is). As to the first question, clearly we don’t know the answer. On one hand, it is a very odd rumor to have manufactured; certainly many false things have been said about Lara but why would one make up something one degree removed like this? It could also explain why she was in Sicily last week, potentially with her mother and mother’s family. On the other hand, one would expect news of this sort to have been picked up by other publications, in Belgium at least, and perhaps France as well. Also, certain people claiming to be ‘in the know’, have said it isn’t true. We certainly don’t want to be in the position of promulgating false, pernicious rumors (which is why a translation of the article has not been provided); we will see if anything further develops, and if it has noticeable implications.
The article also mentioned that “the problem with the ear is being resolved, with difficulty, but it is on track”; and that Lara will record her new album, with French, English and Italian lyrics. Both aspects would be direct indications that her health has improved, albeit slowly. Of course if the first part isn’t true, this may not be either.
Following up on the ‘wax statue’ petition for Lara at the Grevin museum in Paris, the total number of signatures is up to 239; 500 is the goal, although as noted last week, there is certainly no guarantee that would be sufficient. What might work in France is a campaign to save people’s hearing, featuring Lara as the unfortunate poster child – and hopefully a success story that the campaign could point to. According to the web site ‘hear-it’ (http://www.hear-it.org/France-One-in-eight-says-they-have-a-hearing-loss), one person in eight (~12%) in France say they have some hearing loss – some 6 million people. It is thought that this is actually an underestimate, with some 15-20% really having issues. Of course, many of these are not afflicted with Lara’s syndrome, but she could bring people’s attention to the general problem of hearing loss - and help save the public the unneeded agonizing she has been going through, by taking precautions to preserve their hearing. It is also said that only 1/3 of the populace there who could benefit from hearing aids make use of them (and money is not an issue – the insurance in France pays for it). It is well known that people in all countries see no stigma in wearing corrective lenses for eye problems, but are reluctant to make equal use of technology to help their hearing. And to carry this one step further – studies have shown that hearing impairment is a bigger psychological problem than visual restrictions. As noted in an article on these afflictions (http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/9/2/95.full), “Helen Keller (1948) said that blindness cut her off from things and deafness from people. She wrote ‘I have found deafness to be a much greater handicap than blindness. Deafness … cheats many of their birthright to knowledge’. “ If Lara wanted to use her situation as an opportunity, she could help a lot of people.
And this would be in line with the charity work that Lara does year-round. The auction of Lara’s gold disc for ‘Le Secret’ is to take place this coming Saturday, at the 26th “Télévie”. According to their site, all these years of this charity have “helped understand that the disease affects the patient but also his relatives: the extended family, the couple, professions directly involved in their care, from the announcement of a cancer to the accompaniment to cancer care ...These difficulties of living alongside cancer patients leave scars less visible, impressions that do not fade easily with time. Magazine Televie evokes these difficult human situations to perceive the problems of everyday life and give some clues to better living in the course of the disease."
A picture of Lara holding the gold record for the ceremony can be found at:
www.rtl.be/televie/page/televie-faisons-gagner-la-vie-la-journee-du-26-avril/60.aspx
As an aside, the picture reminds me of a story told by the recipient of a gold record (in the time of actual vinyl records), a ’45 single’ to be precise. The recipient decided to actually play the record, put it on a turntable, and it did play. However – it was not their record! - it was just some random single that the company had lying around, on which they put some fine metallic paint. And to validate this, ‘Wikipedia’ notes, “Rarely does the groove on the record match the actual recording being awarded”. So whoever buys Lara’s gold CD, should not really expect to hear ‘Le Secret’…
On the other hand, this week’s ‘best of’ videos really are of the intended songs.
J’y crois encore:https://app.box.com/s/yn6t1pek3la97g89oigc
:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as-_S9tGc_8
:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fawF6OwJ0Q0
Je me souviens:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RhwcIF5IUg
:https://app.box.com/s/9h1ivg9uftpm9dwthlpv
Je n’arreterai pas de t’aimer: app.box.com/s/fuml9065fwfwdr8rnol9
‘J’y crois encore’: Once again there are some 90 videos available for this song. Although it generally flies under the radar when people consider which title is Lara’s best, this definitely ought to rank near the top, and Lara knows it. She includes it in just about every concert. It is perfectly built for her voice, it ratchets up in intensity, as do the best of the Fabian/Allison songs, and she always sings it perfectly. So much so, that the chief distinguishing feature among the videos is the video quality itself. That gives a leg up to the official DVD versions, and three are chosen here. The first is for the beautiful fragility of the ‘En Toute Intimate’, performance. The second for the power on the ‘Nue’ concert DVD. And the third for the rock beat ending (borrowed from its English-language counterpart, ‘I Cried Enough’) on the ‘Un Regard Neuf’ DVD. This is also a favorite song for aspiring singers to do as a duet with Lara: if you haven’t already seen them, don’t miss the versions with Dominique (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuLgtSDGmrM) and Sophia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zNHy5nQod0), among others. If there was one song I would have people listen to, to introduce them to Lara, I might well choose this one.
‘Je me souviens’: One of Lara’s most emotional songs, as it always brings back to her the joyous and productive growth years she spent in Quebec. The choices here highlight this emotionality. For pure video quality, there is the ‘Un Regard Neuf’ version (when the DVD was released in Quebec, people marveled at how the French audience knew the words, and were so excited about a song extolling Quebec). The second is from Montreal itself; Lara was so overcome by emotion that she even had trouble singing subsequent songs (be sure to watch to the end of the video, as the fans too got caught up in the emotion of Lara praising their country). Another emotional version of this in Quebec can be found at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCjHtv33ur8
‘Je n'arreterai pas de t'aimer’: We don’t have many versions of this song (which is one of the very few for which Lara is listed as writing both the music and the lyrics), but fortunately we do have this version, from the program ‘Rock détente’.
While Lara’s present career remains very much in limbo, a prospective future for her is taking shape. We will all have to live through the intervening months to see if it is actually realized.
David
