Dusty Francis
@dustyfrancis.bsky.social
Musician, glutton, rambler. he/him
I audibly gasped just now when I opened the Times and saw this headline.
Washington National Opera Is Leaving the Kennedy Center
www.nytimes.com
January 10, 2026 at 12:51 AM
I audibly gasped just now when I opened the Times and saw this headline.
This year’s Christmas miracle is discovering that James Gilchrist, my favorite tenor soloist with whom I’ve ever performed Handel’s Messiah, is the soloist for a 2022 recording I didn’t know about with John Rutter and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra! So excited to listen.
December 26, 2025 at 3:10 AM
This year’s Christmas miracle is discovering that James Gilchrist, my favorite tenor soloist with whom I’ve ever performed Handel’s Messiah, is the soloist for a 2022 recording I didn’t know about with John Rutter and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra! So excited to listen.
It really doesn't feel like Christmas until #9LC. I am now spiritually prepared for the three Christmas Eve services on my docket for the rest of the day. Merry Christmas, everyone.
December 24, 2025 at 4:36 PM
It really doesn't feel like Christmas until #9LC. I am now spiritually prepared for the three Christmas Eve services on my docket for the rest of the day. Merry Christmas, everyone.
I found an impossibly cool, new (to me) wine bar, but, unfortunately, I just ordered my second glass with embarrassingly emphatic French diction from the very hip young bartender, so I probably can't come back.
December 14, 2025 at 3:12 AM
I found an impossibly cool, new (to me) wine bar, but, unfortunately, I just ordered my second glass with embarrassingly emphatic French diction from the very hip young bartender, so I probably can't come back.
Bookstore, record shop, and a vintage clothing place with a cold brew after work on a Sunday. My very best gay, millennial summer life.
July 13, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Bookstore, record shop, and a vintage clothing place with a cold brew after work on a Sunday. My very best gay, millennial summer life.
It seems I have new neighbors! Three baby groundhogs were just spotted scampering around on my deck, and when I startled them, they made immediately for a burrow I hadn't noticed leading under the deck. 😬 These are the times I wish I had a landlord to call.
June 20, 2025 at 8:08 PM
It seems I have new neighbors! Three baby groundhogs were just spotted scampering around on my deck, and when I startled them, they made immediately for a burrow I hadn't noticed leading under the deck. 😬 These are the times I wish I had a landlord to call.
I gotta tell you. All of the windows open, a beautiful decaf Americano, and Harry Styles on vinyl with a good book to read feels about as close to paradise as I need right now.
June 19, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I gotta tell you. All of the windows open, a beautiful decaf Americano, and Harry Styles on vinyl with a good book to read feels about as close to paradise as I need right now.
Well, it's taken me 37 years, but tonight I finally sang an [i] vowel with a resonance and clarity I am happy with.
June 10, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Well, it's taken me 37 years, but tonight I finally sang an [i] vowel with a resonance and clarity I am happy with.
It is gray, chill, and drizzly, and I am listening to Harry Styles on vinyl in a home I own. This is a very nice morning.
June 5, 2025 at 1:58 PM
It is gray, chill, and drizzly, and I am listening to Harry Styles on vinyl in a home I own. This is a very nice morning.
After so long feeling like practicing is a drudgery, it's so funny to realize that my absolute favorite way to practice is just, like, singing the same three or four notes until I can sing them with beautiful, consistent legato, clarity, and resonance on all the vowels. Genuinely exhilarating.
May 30, 2025 at 6:06 PM
After so long feeling like practicing is a drudgery, it's so funny to realize that my absolute favorite way to practice is just, like, singing the same three or four notes until I can sing them with beautiful, consistent legato, clarity, and resonance on all the vowels. Genuinely exhilarating.
Update: it totally worked. Bach Magnificat, here I come!
Welp, just sent another, "I know you didn't ask for this, but here's a cell phone video of me singing a bit of that solo in case you want to hire me for your upcoming performance" email. I know this isn't actually how the world works, but I'm 2/2 so far, so I'm just going to keep pretending it is.
May 27, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Update: it totally worked. Bach Magnificat, here I come!
I just put an event in my calendar with a parenthetical in the title "you RSVPed, so don't flake." Clearly I have been putting lots of aspirational commitments in my calendar lately that I haven't actually been following through on (concerts, yoga, laundry...)
May 27, 2025 at 9:38 PM
I just put an event in my calendar with a parenthetical in the title "you RSVPed, so don't flake." Clearly I have been putting lots of aspirational commitments in my calendar lately that I haven't actually been following through on (concerts, yoga, laundry...)
No idea why it never occurred to me sooner, but I just attached my Roomba docking station to the floor with a command strip. The little bugger docks perfectly every time now 🤯
May 24, 2025 at 4:55 PM
No idea why it never occurred to me sooner, but I just attached my Roomba docking station to the floor with a command strip. The little bugger docks perfectly every time now 🤯
Humbles me every time I set my metronome comically slow to practice a passage cleanly only to realize after a fifth failed attempt that 60bpm was still too fast and I have to reset the metronome to 48.
May 23, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Humbles me every time I set my metronome comically slow to practice a passage cleanly only to realize after a fifth failed attempt that 60bpm was still too fast and I have to reset the metronome to 48.
It's getting to be the time of year in which I have to constantly remind myself that I complained about the cold all winter, so I'm not allowed to complain about the heat.
May 16, 2025 at 5:00 PM
It's getting to be the time of year in which I have to constantly remind myself that I complained about the cold all winter, so I'm not allowed to complain about the heat.
Welp, just sent another, "I know you didn't ask for this, but here's a cell phone video of me singing a bit of that solo in case you want to hire me for your upcoming performance" email. I know this isn't actually how the world works, but I'm 2/2 so far, so I'm just going to keep pretending it is.
May 15, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Welp, just sent another, "I know you didn't ask for this, but here's a cell phone video of me singing a bit of that solo in case you want to hire me for your upcoming performance" email. I know this isn't actually how the world works, but I'm 2/2 so far, so I'm just going to keep pretending it is.
This article might be the thing to make me most homesick for New York since I left:
25 Years of N.Y.C. Dining www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
25 Years of N.Y.C. Dining www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
May 7, 2025 at 8:43 PM
This article might be the thing to make me most homesick for New York since I left:
25 Years of N.Y.C. Dining www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
25 Years of N.Y.C. Dining www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
I ran into one of my neighbors at the recycling bins today, and she encouraged me to open my windows more because they like to sit on my curb and listen when I practice 🥹🥹🥹
April 28, 2025 at 3:41 PM
I ran into one of my neighbors at the recycling bins today, and she encouraged me to open my windows more because they like to sit on my curb and listen when I practice 🥹🥹🥹
Reposted by Dusty Francis
It's always the same
April 25, 2025 at 11:17 PM
It's always the same
I've started recording all of my practicing (so helpful---highly recommended), and the voice recorder app on my Android phone does it's best to automatically title these sessions appropriately based on what it hears me say and do. How did this session go, you ask? Here is what my app titled it. 😔
April 25, 2025 at 10:21 PM
I've started recording all of my practicing (so helpful---highly recommended), and the voice recorder app on my Android phone does it's best to automatically title these sessions appropriately based on what it hears me say and do. How did this session go, you ask? Here is what my app titled it. 😔
Feeling very proud that the box office worker at the Detroit Opera complimented my savvy for having the best seat in terms of cost/benefit. And a little sad that I've had to move one row back next season because I've changed my subscription night to Saturdays :-(
April 24, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Feeling very proud that the box office worker at the Detroit Opera complimented my savvy for having the best seat in terms of cost/benefit. And a little sad that I've had to move one row back next season because I've changed my subscription night to Saturdays :-(
A groundhog has taken up residence under my deck. Should I be worried about this, or can I just keep taking delight in his furry little presence from the other side of my windows?
April 22, 2025 at 11:39 PM
A groundhog has taken up residence under my deck. Should I be worried about this, or can I just keep taking delight in his furry little presence from the other side of my windows?
Two mourning doves have built a nest in the tree directly outside my home office window, and I am v excited to watch this development.
April 19, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Two mourning doves have built a nest in the tree directly outside my home office window, and I am v excited to watch this development.
Così Fan Tutte is a bit like Hamlet, in that I just keep thinking, "Oh, yeah, I forgot that famous line/aria/soliloquy comes from this" over and over again. (Oh, and because they're both so, so long.)
April 12, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Così Fan Tutte is a bit like Hamlet, in that I just keep thinking, "Oh, yeah, I forgot that famous line/aria/soliloquy comes from this" over and over again. (Oh, and because they're both so, so long.)
One year ago today I closed on my townhouse. As if in acknowledgement, today the universe finally set in my path the 1960s stereo console I've been coveting. Currently absolutely vibing to the jazz station out of Detroit.
March 20, 2025 at 3:18 AM
One year ago today I closed on my townhouse. As if in acknowledgement, today the universe finally set in my path the 1960s stereo console I've been coveting. Currently absolutely vibing to the jazz station out of Detroit.