Lisa Hirsch
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lisairontongue.bsky.social
Lisa Hirsch
@lisairontongue.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.1K following 4.2K posts
Music writer (SF Classical Voice, SF Chronicle, Opera). Blogs at irontongue.blogspot.com. Alto, martial artist. Former tech writer. Music, books, politics, food, public health. Cis, queer, Jewish. I instablock men who follow only women's accounts.
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lisairontongue.bsky.social
T-shirt I bought at a Potlatch auction in the 90s.
Yellow-gold short sleeved t-shirt with a circular collage. The collage is printed in black and includes an elephant or mastodon skeleton, water lilies, a pond, a woman in a diaphanous nightgown, and an assortment of megaflora.
November 19, 2025 at 6:29 AM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
From a trip to Hollywood Forever in 2023.
A gray headstone, probably granite, inscribed as follows: JONATHAN GOLD TACOS FOREVER
November 2, 2025 at 5:36 AM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
A better Italian; he even died in New York City.
Lorenzo da Ponte, a great librettist, taught Italian at Columbia, and had a wild, wild life.
October 13, 2025 at 4:41 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Name a film from before 1950.
Kino Video cover of the DVD release of Mauritz Stiller's great silent film "The Saga of Gosta Berling." The cover is mauve and includes the text GRETA GARBO, although Garbo's role is by far the least interesting of the leads. Most of the cover is a colorized photo of her in a black and white gown (black except for the bodice). Go for Garbo, whose first film it was, stay for the unforgettable performances of Lars Hanson and Gerda Lundequist. For opera fans, Zandonai's "I cavalieri di Ekebu" is based on the same source material.
September 23, 2025 at 10:43 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
White and purple carrots at Berkeley Bowl West.
September 11, 2025 at 12:19 AM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Quote post an album you rate 10/10.
Image of a Renaissance angel playing an eight-stringed fretted instrument with a bow; presumably it's a viol of some kind. It wears a green tunic and red cloak. The text reads Villancicos y Danzas Criillas de La Iberia Antigua al Nuevo Mundo 1550-1730. La Capella Reial de Catalunya. Hersperion XXI Jordi Savall
September 5, 2025 at 5:46 AM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
@jamellebouie.net Charles Sumner was already a hero of mine. Your conversation with Zaakir Tameez is breathtaking. Looking forward to reading the biography.

I visited Mt. Auburn Cemetery in April.
A rectangular stone monument with a low double plinth perhaps 18" high, above it columns at the corners. Chiseled on it the name Charles Sumner. A number of small stones have been left atop the plinth, as you might do at a Jewish grave.
July 6, 2025 at 1:43 AM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
College and Ashby protest, Berkeley, CA.
A street corner in Berkeley, CA with many protesters. The sky is very blue.
July 5, 2025 at 12:36 AM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Jongwon Han and the coat - gorgeous.
A young man on the edge of the stage, wearing a red T-shirt, singing to his coat. Also in the photo: Mimi's deathbed, Mimi, Rodolfo; pianist Ji Youn Lee.
June 29, 2025 at 10:14 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Really loving Caroline Corrales as Mimi. Respect to Ji Youn Li, whose keyboard seems out of the sun, but she's not. She's a very sympathetic orchestra here.
Samuel White, Caroline Corrales, Ji Youn Li. This was during a beautifully sung Mi chiamano Mimi.
June 29, 2025 at 9:36 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Alex Shrader introducing the opera.
A man in black standing on a stage and talking.
June 29, 2025 at 9:14 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
At SF Opera Bohème out of the box. You might or might not be able to spot general director Matthew Shilvock in the crowd.
The crowd in Hayward. Trees, grass, people in chairs and under pavilions. Can you spot general director Matthew Shilvock in the crowd?
June 29, 2025 at 9:10 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Seen at the Oakland Public Library: scores by a composer whose works I doubt I will ever see performed.
The photo is of scores on a shelf at the library. There are four scores, bound in red, by Reginald de Koven: Knickerbocker, Rip van Winkle, Rob Roy, and Robin Hood.
June 9, 2025 at 7:43 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
@fondalee.bsky.social excited to see "Breath of the Dragon" at my local (Oakland, CA) public library branch:
A photo of a shelf in a glass display case. The shelf is yellow and there's a mirror at the back of the case. You can see me from the neck down. I'm wearing a blue and white jacket and holding a phone in a coral colored case. I have a keyring in my other hand. There are three hardcover books on the yellow shelf, in book holders. One is The Encanto's Daughter, by Melissa de la Cruz. One is Nightweaver, by R.M. Gray. In the middle is Breath of the Dragon, by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee.
May 24, 2025 at 12:22 AM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
SF Symphony celebrates MTT's 80th...
Davies Symphony Hall stage, lit by columns of blue lights, blue bandanas on the back of every chair. Screen with photos of MTT at many ages.
April 27, 2025 at 2:30 AM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
At the Bad Place, this painting detail was my most popular post.
Painting of a roughly ten year old boy teasing an orange and white tabby cat who looks very annoyed.
April 12, 2025 at 5:10 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
My orange boy is 13 pounds and his hobby is sitting on me.
Photo of an orange cat laying on an oak floor that is almost the same color as he is. The cat has green eyes and an alert look.
April 12, 2025 at 2:20 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Tesla protest in Berkeley.
A tree. The Berkeley Tesla dealership. People holding signs.
March 29, 2025 at 9:28 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Me in the national security team group chat.
Dame Eva Turner as Turandot. A women in very pale makeup with beesting lips and dark eyebrows looking to the left. She's wearing an elaborate headdress of pearls and metal flowers.
March 25, 2025 at 4:00 AM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Julius wishes you well
An orange tabby on a light blue blanket on top of a large, green, circular dog bed. The bed is on a hardwood floor in front of a bookcase. The cat looks smug because he is keeping th dog off its own bed.
March 19, 2025 at 6:41 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Orange cat in meatloaf position on a blue blanket and a round green dog bed that is too big for him
March 14, 2025 at 5:03 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
An underground Seattle subway station, viewed from above. Its ceiling is probably 30 feet above the platform, the walls above the platform are angled in, and the ceiling is supported by gigantic cross members on two levels. A pink, green. And gray tube winds irregularly through the open space between the levels of cross members
March 14, 2025 at 4:40 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Here's another.
Orange cat sitting on a blanket on my computer desk, in front of a window shade.
February 8, 2025 at 4:11 AM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
View of an underground Seattle light rail station. Enormous steel tubes supporting a roof with a not-quite-triangular shape. A pink...vehicle...? of some kind snakes its way down the station between two parallel sets of tubes.
January 31, 2025 at 6:55 PM
lisairontongue.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#BookSky
💙📚
#Books
#BookChallenge

21/20+
The cover of Samuel R. Delany's novel "Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand." A black cover with white stars and galaxies strewn about it. The title and the text "A NOVEL BY SAMUEL R. DELANY" are in all caps in a yellow serif font.
January 23, 2025 at 3:18 AM