Thursday, January 01, 2026

Andy Statman and Michael Daves, "Surfin' Slivovitz": musical syncretism at its finest

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I'm fond of  syncretism , " the combination of different forms of belief or practice" (Merriam-Webster). Christmas, of whic...
Wednesday, December 31, 2025

Goodbye, 2025; hello 2026, something better?

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  The consensus, at least among those whose views I am exposed to regularly, is that 2025 is best behind us. Carll Tucker, a writer I've...
Wednesday, December 24, 2025

"Jesus, the Light of the World"

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This song is from the album An American Christmas, Carols, hymns and spirituals, 1770-1870  (Erato 5181459, 1993), performed by  The Boston ...
Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Remembering Rob Reiner

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Rob Reiner (1947-2025) will, for me, always be the maker of three of my favorite movies: This is Spinal Tap , in which he played the narrat...
Sunday, November 30, 2025

A dazzling concert of baroque and contemporary music; the fruitful product of a marriage

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The couple in the photo above are  Joseph Di Ponio  and  Stephanie Corwin . Joseph is a composer and a co-director of  Ensemble Ipse , ...
Monday, November 24, 2025

Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025) has crossed the final river.

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Jimmy Cliff , born  James Chambers in 1944   during a  hurricane  that destroyed his mother's house in St. James, Jamaica,  died today  ...
Sunday, November 09, 2025

Bonnie Raitt & Keb Mo - "No Gettin' Over You"

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Yesterday was Bonnie Raitt's 76th birthday. She's a spring chicken; I'm three and a half years her senior. In the video above sh...
Thursday, October 30, 2025

Should I Keep the Blog Going?

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 I'll start by answering that question. I will, because I'm too much of a narcissist not to. Still, there are concerns. My frequency...
Monday, September 29, 2025

Goodbye, Mets (again)

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Last year, at least they made it to the playoffs. This year they started hot, which prompted a  long reminiscence  of my history as a Mets f...
Saturday, September 06, 2025

Will the eagle face the arrows again? Notes on the Department of War, how it went away, and what might happen if it comes back (besides a huge government expenditure)

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 In the summer of 1971 I was at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, going through U.S. Army Field Artillery Officer School. A few of my several hundred cla...
Thursday, August 28, 2025

Are the Mets back on track?

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Back in April I  posted  that the Mets then sported the best record in the Majors, but added the question, "Can we stop the season now?...
Saturday, August 09, 2025

Flaco Jiménez (1939-2025) "Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone"

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When I first heard  Leonardo "Flaco" Jimenez  doing his accordion magic, he was in distinguished company. It was on the album  Dou...
2 comments:
Sunday, August 03, 2025

"Sargent & Paris" at the Met

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To a New Yorker, "the Met" may signify the  Metropolitan Opera  or the  Metropolitan Museum of Art  (there are also  the Mets , bu...
Sunday, July 27, 2025

Tom Lehrer (1928-2025) - "Fight Fiercely Harvard"

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Tom Lehrer , who  died yesterday at 97 , began writing songs when he was a student at Harvard College, majoring in math, in the 1940s. One o...
Saturday, July 19, 2025

Connie Francis (1937-2025), "Lipstick On Your Collar."

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As her New York Times obituary notes, Connie Francis is mostly remembered for dreamy ballads like her first million seller, Who's Sorr...
1 comment:
Sunday, June 22, 2025

Music recently lost two greats: Sly Stone and Brian Wilson

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I've been crazy busy, but I feel I must join, if belatedly, in commemorating two brilliant artists we lost recently, both of whom profou...
Saturday, June 14, 2025

Remembering my father on what would be his 111th birthday

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  Today, June 14, is the 111th anniversary of the birth of my father, Claude Moreland Scales, Jr. It's also Flag Day, and the birthday o...
Monday, May 19, 2025

The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again (Shepperton Studios / 1978) - Happy 80th, Pete Townshend

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This performance of a perhaps timely song shows Pete's guitar and vocal heroics at their most manic, with Roger Daltrey singing and doin...

Another Finger Lakes Venture; This Time for Tea, not Wine

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On Thursday, April 24 our friends  Chris Bennem  and Lisa Moore took Martha and me in their car from Brooklyn to  Glen Hollow  (photo at lef...