Baryshnikov the Great
I had the enormous good fortune to see Baryshnikov dance in person many many times, and he fully lived up to all the hype. To this day, I have never seen a more exciting and yet Apollonian dancer – an … Continue reading →
Category Archives: People of interest
Happy Birthday, Barry Gibb
Fangirl here, wishing Sir Barry Gibb a very happy birthday number 76 and wedding anniversary number 52. In honor of the occasion, I offer the following video of Barry singing “Stayin’ Alive” at Glastonbury in 2017 at age 71 . … Continue reading →
RIP Olivia Newton-John
A lovely lady with a lovely voice. Here’s a tribute. I knew that Newton-John had experienced a cancer recurrence, but I thought perhaps she’d cheat death one more time. But it was not to be. Newton-John was British but was … Continue reading →
Pete Seeger has a stamp
I was raised on The Weavers, the folk-singing singing group of which Seeger was an important member – that, plus Tom Lehrer, Flanders and Swann, Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Mikado” and “HMS Pinafore”, and every Broadway musical from the mid-1940s to … Continue reading →
The cancellation of Jefferson at Monticello…
…had actually already happened when I was there, around 2008. The docents were already droning on and on about slaves and Sally Hemmings, almost as though those were the main points of Jefferson’s life. This NY Post article describes what’s … Continue reading →
Tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of commenter FredHJr’s death
[NOTE: The following is a somewhat revised version of a post that has appeared previously on this blog.] Unbelievable that it’s been thirteen years since commenter FredHJr died suddenly and tragically. As time passes, the number of readers here who … Continue reading →
Queen Elizabeth II: 70 years of reign and counting
I distinctly remember watching a moment or two of her coronation on TV when I was very small. What I recall is her back as she walked down the aisle, and the incredibly long train: Young, pretty, happy: The Queen … Continue reading →
RIP Roger Angell
Roger Angell, noted baseball writer for The New Yorker, has died at the age of 101. I had no idea he was still alive, but I used to read him regularly during the thirty or so years when I had … Continue reading →
Pithy sayings by none other than Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck certainly had a way with words. For example: “Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.” “God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.” (I’d heard that one … Continue reading →
Robert Frost, commencement speaker
[NOTE: Here’s a slightly-edited version of a post I first published in 2014. I thought it might be good to put it up again, because it still seems appropriate.] The time was 1956, over 65 years ago. The place was … Continue reading →
RIP Robert Morse
When I read that Robert Morse had died at the age of 90, my first thought was “Drat!” My second thought was, “How could he be 90? Impossible!” Because to me Robert Morse always looked like a kid. Morse rose … Continue reading →
It occurs to me that Elon Musk is somewhat the anti-Soros
Now that Musk has become the largest shareholder in Twitter, it seems he has plans to change some things: Elon Musk filed a new disclosure on his Twitter Inc. stake with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, admitting that … Continue reading →