RIP Prince
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 →
Category Archives: Music
The Wainwright divorce chronicles
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 →
You will not regret watching this
…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 →
RIP David Bowie
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 →
Hansel and Gretel: losing their religion
[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 →
Donald Trump’s shrug towards Putin
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 →
Sympathy for terrorists
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 →
Happy Chanukah
[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 →
Eduarda Henklein is five years old
She’s from Brazil. And she likes to play the drums: [Hat tip: CDR M at Ace’s.]
Continue reading →Canned goods
I love this Greg Brown song about visiting his grandmother and eating her canned food. The patter in the middle of the song is very funny; Brown could be a stand-up comic. But the song’s poetry, too, particularly these lines: … Continue reading →
Leaving the light on
Now that we’ve turned the clocks back—boy, it’s getting dark earlier. And it will be getting dark even earlier before it starts reversing itself. That’s one of the things I dislike about this time of year, and here up north … Continue reading →
Jacques Brel: lost in translation
One evening a while back, I began looking at old videos of Jacques Brel. The last thing I imagined was that the question of politics would rear its ugly head. What an arresting guy! I became curious (as I often … Continue reading →