In the car with mom
Those who grew up before cars had seat belts, please raise your hands. I certainly did, and what I remember was this: when I was a toddler, I stood on the seat to the right of my mother while she … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Me, myself, and I
Close harmony: Part IIB (the Bee Gees – how do they make that sound?)
[NOTE: Part I can be found here and Part IIA here.] As I’ve written before, until recently all I knew about the Bee Gees were a few of their disco-era songs and a vague recollection of longish hair, and I … Continue reading →
And now to answer that burning question you’ve all been asking: is it vibrato or is it tremolo?
In my recent explorations in the field of popular music, I was reading an article in which a certain person’s singing voice was described as having vibrato, and I immediately thought, “No, it was tremolo.” Then I suddenly realized that, … Continue reading →
Presidential poetry for Presidents’ Day: education in my youth
I’m not that old, but pedagogical practices in my youth seem absolutely archaic compared to whatever passes for education these days. For starters, we had Washington’s Birthday and Lincoln’s Birthday, and they were on their actual real birthdays: Lincoln on … Continue reading →
Acquainted With the White
[NOTE: This is a slightly edited version of a previous post.] No, this isn’t a white supremacist ode. It’s about snow – something we’re experiencing here in New England today. And many other days. The inspiration for this poem of … Continue reading →
Today’s Animal Farm
Victor David Hanson: The point of the 1960s, again we were taught, was to tear down the rules, the traditions and customs, the hierarchies of the old guys. The targets were supposedly the uptight, short-hair, square-tie, adult generation who grew … Continue reading →
Journalists, friends, history, and farce
It was Karl Marx who wrote this oft-quoted remark: “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.” There’s certainly … Continue reading →
The unraveling
Long long ago I often used to travel by Greyhound bus. I was in college, and it was a lot cheaper than other forms of transportation. Some of those bus trips were very long, and I’d pass the time by … Continue reading →
The perfect versus the human
This is about music. But I think it’s about a lot more, too: When the human element goes out of art, the art suffers greatly. We perceive it, even if we’re not necessarily conscious of why things sound different. I … Continue reading →
Trump: time to transition
“My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results. My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing I was fighting to defend American democracy. I continue to strongly believe that we … Continue reading →
What are you doing New Year’s Eve?
I don’t usually do much of anything on New Year’s Eve, although I tend to always try to watch the ball go down on TV. Staying up late is no problem for me, since I’m a night owl and always … Continue reading →
Laura Nyro: like no other
[NOTE: Yesterday in the comments to the Everly Brothers post, the name of Laura Nyro was brought up by commenter “Brio.” That reminded me that I had posted – at least, I thought I had posted – a piece on … Continue reading →