So, I put on this LP randomly picked from my father's LP collection, I placed the little

point on the record, and that's what I hear.

I hear Luciano Pavarotti singing Fnicole Fnicola, which is a song that I know as a kid, because

I'm from their region.

It's a happy, cheerful song, it's played their weddings, and it was kind of like a magnetic

attraction.

It's almost like, I was sucked in, and I don't know if it was the song, or if it was Luciano

Pavarotti's voice, but there was something about this voice, the electricity, the energy,

that captured me.

Oh man, have I got a treat for you all?

So I talk about a variety of styles on strong songs, but I certainly don't cover every

type of music there is, and opera is definitely something that falls well outside of my own

personal expertise.

But I'm continually fascinated by it, and in particular, by the tenor voice, as exemplified

by famous tenors, like Luciano Pavarotti and Giuseppe de Stefano.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that a friend and colleague of my wife Emily, Luigi

Baccia, was in fact a classically trained opera tenor who grew up in Italy and studied

at Juilliard before moving to Portland where he and his husband run this terrific yarn

company.

Seriously, it's called Brooklyn Tweed, and they make like the most amazing yarn ever.

Anyways, Luigi and I hit it off the first time that we met, and the moment he began to

talk to me about opera, I thought, I have got to have this guy on strong songs.

...