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March 21, 2007

A Night NOT at the Opera

You just have to love a story that elicits this headline: "Opera star wins 'underwear throwing' case." I'm not making that headline up. Here's the first paragraph of the story:

SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand opera star Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, who refused to perform with an Australian singer because his female fans threw underwear at him, on Wednesday won a lawsuit against her for pulling out of the concert.
As an Associated Press article explains:
The trial made headlines when the 63-year-old soprano testified she watched a Farnham concert DVD and was disturbed by what she saw.

“I was concerned about the knickers or underpants ... being thrown at him and him collecting it and ... holding it in his hands as some sort of trophy,” said the singer, whose international performances included the 1981 wedding of Britain's Prince Charles and Diana Spencer.

“How could I, in my classical form, perform in this way?” she told the court in February.
For the answer to that last question, watch this movie.

The decision was not a total victory for the defendants, however. According to the BBC, the judge held that there was no contract but that the company that employed the opera singer had failed to inform the concert promoter that the singer was wavering. The judge awarded damages for the costs incurred by the promoter.

Bonus: I never thought I'd write something that would call for the two labels below.