iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Sent an email I was afraid to send this morning. I'm a "just stay cool & nice, don't make a fuss, it's all good!" person deep in my heart but sometimes you have to speak up on your own behalf a little. Feeling proud of myself for just saying the thing

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Highly recommend having a nemesis in your brain that you don't tell anyone about! It's just so nice to have that escape valve, to offload all your negative vibes in the direction of that person & be able to bring positivity to the rest of your life. They never have to know! (& they never will...)

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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

This is all a long way of saying We need hearings The government exists for this kind of accountability We may not get it because republicans control the house and the senate

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molly conger @socialistdogmom.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

"With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike, It is so ORDERED."

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Things members of the Everlasting Faint cast have told me (this week) that this opera’s music reminds them of: Verdi, “Un Ballo in Maschera” Joni Mitchell in general Metallica, “…And Justice for All” shape-note choral singing Puccini in general Radiohead, “OK Computer” I COULD NOT BE MORE PLEASED

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

As of today it is officially ONLY THREE WEEKS until the premiere of my opera Everlasting Faint here at Madison Opera and as a heads-up I plan to be absolutely INSUFFERABLE for that entire time, brimming over with enthusiasm & nervous energy & generally talking too much. INSUFFERABLE!!!!!

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Today I feel like I’ve MADE IT as a “real composer” because someone far away who I’ve never met is performing one of my pieces with ABSOLUTE DISREGARD for the meaning & style of both the music & the poetry it sets, and I’m just like… Awwwww look at my baby all grown up and making bad decisions! 🥰

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Currently composing the most over-the-top arrangement of “O Holy Night” you’ve ever heard, for soprano Lexi LoBianco, bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen, the Madison Symphony Orchestra & the MSO chorus! This is going to be A DELIGHT. It has not one but TWO key changes!! Who needs subtlety?!?!

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Single tickets are now on sale for Madison Opera's world premiere production of "Everlasting Faint"!!! Come see this huge, intense, beautiful opera that Sandra Flores-Strand and I have been working on for 4 years or so! Let's sell this theatre OUT, woooooooo!!! www.overture.org/tickets-even...

overture.org

Redirecting

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

As far as I can tell as an out-of-touch middle-aged GenXer, the appeal of the “labubu” is that it’s a cute bunny but also mean AF, and therefore I think I can pass on this trend because BEEN THERE DONE THAT 30-SOME YEARS AGO (in the early days of Hot Topic)

Image of “Happy Bunny” from the 90s, smiling broadly with the caption “it’s cute how stupid you are”

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

This month’s record purchases: The Keening, “Little Bird,” Ratboys, “The Window,” Willi Carlisle, “Critterland,” and Symphony X, “Underworld.” Okay okay I might have a little record-buying problem, but these albums are all SO DAMN GOOOOOOOOD I can’t help myself

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Will never ever EVER EVERRRRRR get over how super cool it is to see things like this in PR materials! Oh, you know, Tchaikovsky, Gendel, Bizet, et cetera. (Let this serve as another reminder to come to Madison Opera’s “Opera in the Park” at Garner Park, Madison, WI, on July 19th!)

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alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

oh so we should dissent peacefully?? through legitimate channels?? like by being elected to the united states senate and asking questions at a DHS press conference???

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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 12/06/2025

noem saying thery're going to "liberate" california from its leaders seconds before federal law enforcement restrains and removes one of the state's senators from the room—like what else needs to be said

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Senator Alex Padilla @padilla.senate.gov · 12/06/2025

If this is how this administration responds to a Senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farmworkers, to cooks, and to day laborers throughout California and across the country. We will hold this administration accountable.

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Hot take: “in theatre, we’re a FAMILY!” and “in band, kids find a family” and similar statements made by arts educators are EXACTLY as cringy & misguided as bosses in the business world insisting that the workplace is actually a family. Jussayin’.

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

I’m always kinda bummed out when someone brings their own pianist to auditions I’m playing & I have to leave & listen in from the other room… but when it turns out it’s because they’re presenting an aria from LULU… I’m maybe not so bummed out after all 😂😂😂

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

insert hastily made cartoon with stock drawing of St. Peter at the gates of heaven, and a chorus of voices shouting from offstage, "NOOOOOORMMM!!" (may his memory be a blessing)

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

I will never forgive them for what they did to “Big Yellow Taxi,” but… I think I’m enjoying the new Counting Crows album???

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Not that I want to put myself out of a job, but MAN wouldn’t it be cool to do a production of Don Giovanni where the recitatives are done on mandolin, since there’s already a mandolin player on hand for “deh vieni alla finestra”?!?! I’m convinced it would sound SO AWESOME.

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

We open our production of Don Giovanni here at Madison Opera this Friday (with the most wonderful cast) & ALSO the new Propagandhi album comes out this Friday (& the singles fuckin' RULE) so if you're a weirdo like me who loves many many kinds of things, it's going to be AN EXTREMELY GREAT MUSIC DAY

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Currently fighting for “music stuck in my head” dominance: 1) the new Ghost album, especially “Lachryma” (delightfully cheesy 80s-style power ballads about the devil) 2) le poisson Steve (il est orange) 3) ALL of Don Giovanni (we open a week from today)

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Pro tip: I already love tofu, but eating it is 198% more fun if you call it Toad Food. “What’s for dinner?” “Stir-fried tofu.” (grade: C+) “Stir-fried toad food.” (grade: A, all it needs is Frog to bring it up to an A+)

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Mona Burns @monaburns.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Letter from Dem Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD) requesting a meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele To discuss MD father Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return "If Kilmar is not home by midweek – I plan to travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release."

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

EXTREMELY PLEASED to learn this morning that, in the same way that I stick my tongue out a little when I’m focusing really hard on a task, Ham sticks his tongue out when long-distance stalking a robin out on the lawn

Close-up of a grey cat staring longingly out the window, with his tongue dangling out of his mouth

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Best Passover songs: 1) Dayenu 2) Creeping Death (Metallica)

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Nate Blouin @nateforutah.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

This is Utah in case anyone’s wondering how pissed off people are. I have never seen anything like this.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 01/04/2025

what booker is doing right now is an example of what i mean when i say things like “we need more ambition right now.” there is room in american politics right now for people with ambition to take big stands and reap the rewards. he’s doing it!

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

I grew up in New Jersey and I live in Wisconsin. Both places have their problems, and I know this feeling will be short-lived, but today I COULD NOT BE PROUDER OF MY TWO HOME STATES

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Musk: Losing this judge race has good chance of causing Republicans to lose control of the house. You lose control of the house, there will be nonstop impeachment hearings and subpoenas

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, like at all. I'm generally a very sober realist. But I AM shopping for a printed set of encyclopedias, in case the current trend of fascist government crackdowns on history continues.

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maura quint @mauraquint.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

going to start calling myself a centrist and then listing all my leftist views as proof, just going to start moving the overton window by force

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

DOUBLE BAR!!!! on the full orchestral score of my opera Everlasting Faint! 436 pages of 11x17 score, jam packed with orchestration for 25 players, holy moly. There is still A LOT OF WORK left ahead, revising & formatting & revising & proofreading & revising again & making parts, but WOOHOO!!

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

If you see this, and you're in the mood for this kind of thing, quote post with a beach photo from your gallery! (This is the beach I grew up at, in New Jersey)

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Micah @rincewind.run · 17/03/2025

as always, there is a Discworld quote

Do you understand what I'm saying?"
shouted Moist. "You can't just go around killing people!"
"Why Not? You Do." The golem lowered his arm.
"What?" snapped Moist. "I do not! Who told you that?"
"I Worked It Out. You Have Killed Two Point Three Three Eight People," said the golem calmly.
"I have never laid a finger on anyone in my life, Mr Pump. I may be–– all the things you know I am, but I am not a killer! I have never so much as drawn a sword!"
"No, You Have Not. But You Have Stolen, Embezzled, Defrauded And Swindled Without Discrimination, Mr Lipvig. You Have Ruined Businesses And Destroyed Jobs. When Banks Fail, It Is Seldom Bankers Who Starve. Your Actions Have Taken Money From Those Who Had Little Enough To Begin With. In A Myriad Small Ways You Have Hastened The Deaths Of Many. You Do Not Know Them. You Did Not See Them Bleed. But You Snatched Bread From Their Mouths And Tore Clothes From Their Backs. For Sport, Mr Lipvig. For Sport. For The Joy Of The Game.

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Was just going through my photos to clear up some storage, and stumbled on this screenshot of a post Megan Amram made five and a half years ago, and WHEW some things sure don't change, huh

screenshot from twitter, October 22, 2019: "trump is playing chess in the sense he believes he's a white king that's trying to destroy all the black people"

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Working on this with an excellent high school choir of low voices, and am reminded that it should be a very lovely 3-minute piece but unfortunately it lasts SEVEN EFFING MINUTES for no reason

Cover of a choral octavo: Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria”

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IYKYK 🌮 @nisslbody.blacksky.app · 07/03/2025

A "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" is the funniest damn idea, like having a backup stock market fund in case the stock market crashes. What the hell is Bitcoin going to buffer us against? Things going well economically?

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Much of the orchestration work I’m doing nonstop these days (ASK ME ABOUT MY OPERA!) is a brainy balancing act, carefully placing all the notes *just so* to try and achieve like 43 important musical & dramatic goals simultaneously. BUT THEN there are parts like what I'm working on now: (1/2)

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Sotrue Bestie @cheatlines.co · 25/02/2025

*frantically smashing answer buzzer* what is, the adult fiction section of your hometown public library when you're 12-14 years old

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

I adore a LOT of Brahms' art songs & piano intermezzos in particular, some of my favorite German Romantic music. But I have literally never made it through a Brahms symphony without falling asleep, sorry fans. I do love the 3rd movement of Brahms 3 if it's not too draggy? & scattered other moments?

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Robert Komaniecki @komaniecki.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

“Most innovative school in the US” and it’s a campus for white children of rich tech workers to learn from Chat GPT while supervised by unqualified adults

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

sometimes you deserve a little treat. like a nice coffee. or a piece of candy. or a pair of Paul Simon tickets for you & your wife. this is me attempting to contain my excitement. (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!)

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Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

First they came for the proofreaders, and I said nothing, because I was not a proofreder.

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

"Park on a downhill slope" is great advice for taking on a large project (i.e. stop for the day with something exciting half-done so you can keep rolling when you pick up the next day). I tell this to people a lot, in fact. But I WANNA KEEP GOING DOWN THE SLOPE DAMMIT! Stupid parking is the WORST.

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

This absolutely looks awful to me, but I STILL maintain that Live's 1991 album "Mental Jewelry" fuckin' RIPS and never got its flowers

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Scott Gendel @scottgendel.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

It’s become something of a tradition that I send my wife off to work on Valentine’s Day with a HEARTy breakfast, & it brings me childlike joy so I’m sharing with you all! Heart-shaped frittata, sausage patty, toast, and persimmon slices. 🥰

Breakfast plate with 4 heart-shaped items: a frittata & a sausage patty & a piece of toast & 2 slices of persimmon all shaped roughly into hearts.

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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

If feeling morally superior and shutting people out on that basis were a winning strategy, liberals and leftists would not be losing so badly right now.

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Christopher Terry @christopherterry.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

A prior restraint AND compelled speech. Neat. I guess we're taking First Amendment violations up to 11.

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