But before Bocelli, first, Elon Musk vs Donald Trump. This public squabble between them seems to be escalating, mostly spurred by Musk. A day after using his vast social media reach to brand the bill a “disgusting abomination,” he posted more than two dozen messages on X on Wednesday attacking the legislation, as well as urging his followers to call Congress and “KILL the BILL.”
All of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office studies support Musk. Said Senator Rand Paul:
“I think Congress is sort of like a bad behaving teenager when it comes to spending,” Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, one of the Republicans threatening to vote against the bill, told TIME on Wednesday. “If you had a teenager that you were giving $100 a week and they wasted all of it on gambling or on booze, would you give them $200?”
What seems to be bothering Musk is the effect some of these Trump cuts will have on his solar and battery enterprises. This feud is also affecting Tesla shares, which were already down 20% this year, and just today slumped another 9%. Tesla hit a market cap of $1.5 trillion in December, nearly double its value on election day, but today dropped below $1 trillion. That's a loss of $500 billion! Not $500 million....$500 BILLION.
Shifting to my topic of today, I recently watched the PBS Celebration of Andrea Bocelli's 30th. You can too. But I saw it for free and you now need to join PBS to do this from that link. There were so many highlights with so many stars Here are a few.
Opening with O Sole Mio. This video doesn't show the precariousness, but he was standing on top of a high staircase, and proceeded to walk down through the performance, without any help. That feat in itself was awesome.
- Serenading SofÃa Vergara with Bésame Mucho.
- With Johnny Depp. Depp actually was playing the guitar, and well. Here, Depp is with Alice Cooper.
- 27 years ago with Sarah Brightman....Time to Say Goodbye. Was this in the program? No, but just another memorable performance, said to be his most popular collaboration.
He performed with his son Matteo. Here is a video of father and son singing Time to Say Goodbye. Wow is Matteo handsome, with a great voice.- Oh heck, why not. Bocelli with Celine Dion in 2011...The Prayer.
Who is Andrea Bocelli?
- Was born on 22September1958 with impaired sight due to congenital glaucoma. Because this was anticipated, doctor advised abortion.
- Grew up in Tuscany, Italy.
- Began piano lessons at 6, and by 7 was emulating the great singers.
- Completely lost his vision at 12 after being hit in the eye with a soccer ball.
- Won his first song competition at the age of 14 with O Sole Mio.
Met his wife while studying law at the University of Pisa. Married her in 1987, then earned a law degree. Two sons, Amos and Matteo. Divorced in 2002.- In 1992, Italian rock star Zucchero (below phot, in the middle) held auditions for tenors to make a demo tape of his song "Miserere", to send to Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti. After hearing Bocelli on tape, Pavarotti urged Zucchero to use Bocelli instead of him. Pavarotti eventually persuaded Zucchero to record the song with Bocelli, and it became a hit throughout Europe. In Zucchero's European concert tour in 1993, Bocelli accompanied him to sing the duet, and he was also given solo sets in the concerts, singing "Nessun dorma" from Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot.[27]
- In 1994, won the newcomers section of the Sanremo Festival, and released his debut album which was certified platinum a few weeks later. Sang a duet with Pavarotti that year. Also in 1994 sang Adeste Fideles to Pope John Paul II.
Married Veronica Berti in 2002. Daughter Virginia.- Recorded 55 albums and sold over 90 million "records" worldwide. Has a net worth of around $100 million.
- Too many awards too mention, but has sang for royalty, presidents and the opening ceremony of Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
- I was seeking a reference to his health, and all of the reports seem to have been scuttled.
- He did confirm that he was infected with COVID-19 in 2020.
- That year he also adopted a gluten-free diet, inspired by Novak Djokovic's success, and lost 20 pounds.
- However, he subsequently in 2023 began dealing with a devious virus that affected his voice.
- All signs seem to show, however, that he has fully recovered from any recent ailments.
Let me close this tribute to Andrea Bocelli with a 2023 video where his daughter Virginia sang Hallelujah, with her father playing a guitar.
I mentioned the Hajj yesterday and expressed some worry about how the hot weather would be a problem. Well, Saudi Arabia has gone high tech, and is applying drones and air conditioning to protect the marchers.
- The Hajj pilgrimage has a 1400-year history.
- This is a rather drastic adjustment to tradition, but was allowed because of what happened last year, which suffered a death toll of 1300.
A major change is that children cannot accompany guardians. People were shocked by this decision. But there is uncertainty as to cutoff age. A child is one who has not reached puberty, which occurs from the age of 12 to 15. Yes, there is breast development in girls, testicular enlargement for boys and pubic hair, but there are also hormone blood tests, bone X-ray and imaging scans. Chances are that none of the above will even be used.- Children might allowed in the future when the Hajj does not occur in much heat.
Another issue organizers are trying to eliminate is affordability. Currently, Hajj travel packages range from $10,000 to $15,000, which can't be afforded by many. No solution yet.- You can't this year be a pilgrim to Mecca without a permit.
- First-timers get priority.
- Visa policy has been strengthened.
- So far, 269,000 people without a correct permit have been stopped from entering Mecca.
- There will be around 2 million pilgrims.
The Grand Mosque this year will have the world's largest cooling system with a capacity of 155,000 tons of refrigeration. Shaded areas have been expanded by 50,000 square meters, deploying over 400 cooling units and placing thousands of additional medics on standby.
Incidentally the next World Expo in 2030 will be held in Riyadh from October 1 to March 31 to avoid the heat. The theme is Foresight for Tomorrow, with sub-themes of Transformational Technology, Sustainable Solutions and Prosperous People. I'll be there, hopefully.
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