We're not too sure what to think of this lede: Some singers travel with their pets, a poodle or a dachshund, perhaps. Stephanie Blythe, one of the hottest properties in opera today, is luckier. She gets to travel with her husband, professional wrestler-turned-actor David Smith-Larsen... Huh? What are you implying, exactly?

More to the point, we found this by digging further: Stephanie Blythe is a true opera queen, but you can see her up-close-and-personal in the more intimate setting of the Herbst Theater, this Thursday for a one night performance hosted by SF Performances, featuring members of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center. Blythe will sing the SF premiere of Covered Wagon Woman, a darling song cycle about pioneers traveling cross country, by USC music professor/pianist/composer Alan Smith. You can even get the recording here.

Blythe has a few more dates with SF, with a send-off party of Donald Runnicles, whose term as music director of the SF Opera is ending. He'll do the conducting, she'll do the belting of the Verdi Requiem at the War Memorial Opera house next month. We should let you know that she kicked ass in that piece with the SF Symphony in 2007. Also, she'll soon meet Runnicles's successor, Nicola Luisotti, in next fall's run of Il Trovatore.

With so many visits, we had to call her home in Pennsylvania and chat with the diva.