[NOTE: Once in a while I recycle an old post just for fun. At this point, I’ve published so many posts—10,542, according to trusty old WordPress—that even I have forgotten some of them. This one was very enjoyable to research—so … Continue reading →
I do believe that Chopin just might be my favorite composer. I fixed on him when I was still a very young child, because he was the most-played composer to accompany my ballet classes. I didn’t even know his name … Continue reading →
I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again—I love this guy. Been to about ten concerts, which is ten more than I’ve gone to for almost every other singer, even ones I like. You can get a taste … Continue reading →
Let’s go to something timeless: classical music. Although “timing” has a lot to do with it. To wit, pianist Glenn Gould and the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach. For a while during the mid-80s Gould was a fascination of … Continue reading →
I can’t say I know much about Prince’s music except that he was mega-famous and a tremendous number of people loved his work. I know the song “Purple Rain” and very little else. However, the reports about his cause of … Continue reading →
It isn’t so often that you get two singer-songwriters who marry and then divorce, and who both write songs about it. Two offerings in this genre are from Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, who were married for a few … Continue reading →
…An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing For every tatter in its mortal dress… O sages standing in God’s holy fire As in … Continue reading →
Most people seem to be reacting to the news of the death of David Bowie at 69 with shock. I had the same feeling, too. I think it was because he had just put out a new album to great … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is a repeat of a previous post.] I love the opera “Hansel and Gretel,” by Engelbert Humperdinck (no, not that Humperdinck or this one; this one). His name may be a yuk, but the music he composed is … Continue reading →
Take a look at this interview, in which Trump practically defines mindless moral relativism. No doubt Trump supporters can figure out a way to justify it; perhaps something like this: “Oh, Trump doesn’t want to offend Putin, because if he’s … Continue reading →
A reader sent me a link to this Cynthia Ozick piece in the Weekly Standard about having sympathy for terrorists: At bottom, an open-hearted willingness to understand “everyone” is an appalling distraction from the intrinsic depravity of the act of … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is a slightly edited version of a previous post.] Chanukah began last Sunday at sundown. But since it has eight days I still get a chance to wish you a happy one—tonight and for three more days, anyway. … Continue reading →