Musically, Jay's always preferred classical. He hesitates to use the term, because it's so frequently misunderstood. People often confuse "classical" with "elevator." Oh how much pleasanter elevators would be if Mozart and Beethoven soothed the riders.

Jay defines classical music broadly as music that is lyrical, including baroque and even some 20th Century compositions. He doesn't much like modern "classical" music, the stuff that sounds like someone dropped the orchestra - the infernal twelve-tone, for example, plus any a-tonal riffs that sneak in. Mostly, he doesn't like Brahms' symphonies, either, and doesn't care for much of Wagner's melodramatic leitmotivation. A few years ago, he discovered Brahms quartets and quintets at a concert at the Newberry Opera House, and loved them, adding several nice CDs to his collection. But his dislike of Brahms' symphonies persists.

Not much of an opera buff, Jay can't recite the lyrics of even famous arias, much less recount the plots or name the characters. Yet he loves some operatic music. That includes anything sung by Kathleen Battle, most any Mozart except the dire Don Giovanni, the better Verdi, and virtually all of Gilbert and Sullivan, plus the usual Puccini, Vivaldi, Offenbach, Gounod and whoever else. Jay first became interested in opera in the Sixties while working at a newspaper. Relegated to holding down the newsroom by himself on Saturdays, Jay brought along a small radio, and while surfing the dial landed on a Texaco broadcast of Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera. The performances became his weekly thing, except the infamous Ring cycle, respite from the clatter of the teletypes.

Besides Miss Battle, some of Jay's favorite singers are Diana Damrau - her Queen of the Night is way impressive - Detlef Roth, for his Parisian Papageno, and Luciano Pavarotti for, well, everything he ever sang, really, but also for Yes, Giorgio, his fabulous movie. "I saw it five times," Jay recounts, "with a very patient friend in the one theatre in town that played it for the short time it played." There's major irony at work during the linked aria, as the character on stage is victorious in love, while the singer's love interest is busy leaving, added poignancy to an incredible performance. Layers, you know. Lots of layers. Makes for a great movie. Rummage on Ebay for a (scarce!) copy of the video, but don't think you'll ever get Jay's.