L'eau and Lotti

This week I want to talk about a musician who's a bit...different.
But first, a tale from the land of chiggers and sunburns.
On the second day of our trip, June 11, we went to visit the worksites. It was strictly supposed to be a visit, just to see what all had to be done, so we had permission to wear flip-flops. So, the majority of us wore flip-flops!
FAIL FAIL FAIL etc.
First site. All good. Walked into the church, complimented the architecture, visited the school, complimented the computers.
Second site. All appeared to be good. Saw the church, met the people.
Then we were invited to go see the waterfall which is the water source for the surrounding area! Sounded like fun. Waterfall. Only a short hike.
FAIL FAIL FAIL etc.
Three blisters, five stops under Honduran 'shade', three wet wipies, a whole bottle of Gatorade, climbing, almost falling to my death. Two hours later.
WATER. AGUA. L'EAU. LIFE.
Hawaiian Falls has nothing on this baby.

It was worth the two-hour uphill hike. And even worth the waterless (I drank all the Gatorade, remember?) downhill stroll. But maybe not worth the three blisters, which made shoes uncomfortable for the next eight days. All in the name of sacrifice.

Now for my musician. He's pretty famous. In Europe, at least. Helmut Lotti started out as a Belgian Elvis impersonator.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfXSvO8nwhs&feature=related

Then he had a stint where African and Latino hits were his thing. THEN he became 'classical'. But though he speaks with an obviously European accent, his singing reminds the listener vaguely of a Southern twang. Andrea Bocelli, country style. Not pleasant, you think?

My favorite sappy Helmut love song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlxZxSGZw9g

From Wikipedia: Helmut Lotti sings fluently in Dutch and Afrikaans, English, French, German, Russian, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, and Spanish.
Not from Wikipedia: DUDE. SWEET.
His Kind of voice doesn't appeal to me. But his Voice does. Just like Johnny Cash, Helmut is able to appeal to those who aren't originally fans of his genre. Of course, for the best listening experience, watch a live performance on youtube. This 40 year-old singer fails to age. Watch his brown eyes and melt. And a name like Helmut (pronounced hell-moot)? Definitely ranks on my favorite name list.

Compulsory listening: (not the complete song, sadly, but this is my favorite duet on the world wide web.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIgRle6GMrc&feature=related
By no means am I a Lotti expert quite yet. I can't say I like all of his recordings. His Bohemian Rhapsody was a fail. But, then again, aren't all Bohemian Rhapsodies fails? Barring, of course, Queen's original genius, the Muppets version, and the Ten Tenors masterpiece. And sometimes Helmut goes overboard with the arrangement, or chooses those songs that only work for real opera singers. Caruso is not meant to be sung by romantic swingers.
And to close, my favorite gory Big Band Bobby Darin classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N5A_AL9zZc&feature=related