Thursday, October 05, 2017

Mets finished fourth in division.

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At the beginning of this season I facetiously posted  here that the Mets were in first place in their division. This was after one game , ...
Tuesday, October 03, 2017

Tom Petty, 1950-2017.

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The worlds of jazz, country, and rock music have lost many great performers this year -- in chronological order I've noted here the de...
Thursday, August 31, 2017

Happy 72nd, Van Morrison!

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I almost missed it. Indeed, from the point of view of Van's hometown, Belfast, I did. It's already September 1 there. Anyway, than...
Wednesday, August 09, 2017

Glen Campbell, 1936-2017

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Glen Campbell died yesterday at 81, after many years' struggle with Alzheimer's. He had a fine, clear tenor voice, but his greate...
Monday, May 29, 2017

Gregg Allman, 1947-2017

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In April of 1969 I was in my second year of law school, and visited my parents in Tampa during spring break. Paging through the Tampa Trib...
Sunday, May 28, 2017

They also served, and many died: remembering the merchant mariners.

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This weekend we remember the men and women whose lives were lost in defense of our nation and its allies. Among these have been many mercha...
Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Ella Fitzgerald's Centenary

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Today, April 25, would have been Ella Fitzgerald's 100th birthday (I'm getting in very late, now), and I must remember her as one of...
Tuesday, April 18, 2017

J. Geils, 1946-2017

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I first knew of the J. Geils Band some time after my arrival in Cambridge for law school. Looking through one of the local "what'...
Monday, April 03, 2017

Mets in first place in NL East!

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Of course, they're sharing this lofty position with the Nationals and the Phillies, who also won their season openers today. The Mets ...
Sunday, March 19, 2017

Chuck Berry: 1926-2017

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Chuck Berry, who, in my opinion. did as much or more than anyone to make rock 'n' roll what it is, and whose inspiration was essent...
Thursday, March 16, 2017

A "Celtic Appalachian Celebration."

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On Saturday evening, March 11, my wife and I attended a concert billed as "A Celtic Appalachian Celebration" at Symphony Space ...
Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Another remembrance I missed: Mose Allison (1927-2016).

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I first heard of Mose Allison during my college years. I had a copy of Johnny Rivers' album Meanwhile Back at the Whiskey à Go Go , w...
Friday, February 24, 2017

Baseball is back! Mets win spring training opener from Red Sox.

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The Mets opened their Grapefruit League pre-season with a 3-2 win over the Red Sox today. This makes me happy, but my wife, most of her r...
Sunday, February 19, 2017

Remembrances--an addendum: John Glenn

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When I had finished my Remembrances post, I had a feeling that I'd left out someone very significant. I had noted the death of John G...
Sunday, February 12, 2017

Al Jarreau, 1940-2017

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Al Jarreau, whose syncretic style bridged jazz, mainstream pop, and rhythm 'n' blues, died today at 76. In the clip below, he doe...

Remembrances, 2016

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Back in January I posted my "Look Back" at 2016 . I noted that past New Year's posts had included remembrances of those frie...
Monday, January 16, 2017

Morehouse College Glee Club: "We Shall Overcome"

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The video clip below is of the Morehouse College Glee Club singing "We Shall Overcome" (arranged by Wendell P. Whalum ) at the 2...
Monday, January 09, 2017

2016: a look back.

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Marsh, Orleans (Cape Cod) Massachusetts, January 1, 2017 For some years I've posted (with a few days' delay) a "New Year...
Monday, December 26, 2016

The Roches, "Good King Wenceslas", and the Feast of Stephen

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Good King Wenceslas looked out, On the Feast of Stephen, When the snow lay all about, Deep and crisp and even.... So begins what is, ...
Thursday, December 22, 2016

Alison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma, "The Wexford Carol"

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Bluegrass great Alison Krauss here joins with cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma to perform one of my Yuletide favorites, "The Wexford Carol...
Thursday, November 10, 2016

Leonard Cohen (1934-2016), "Suzanne" solo and with Judy Collins

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Leonard Cohen, songwriter, singer, novelist, and poet--probably best known for those talents, in that order-- died today at 82 . Was he Ca...
Sunday, October 23, 2016

The Repast Baroque Ensemble, "Queen Christina's Musical Realm"

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On Friday evening we went to a performance by the Repast Baroque Ensemble . In the photo above they are, left to right: Katie Rietman, bar...
Saturday, October 22, 2016

The Cubs win the pennant! The Cubs win the pennant!

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As I've written before: how could I resist (given that my Mets are out of the picture) rooting for a team that hasn't won a series...
Friday, October 14, 2016

Bob Dylan, "Blowing in the Wind"

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My first Dylan album was The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan , his second after his eponymous debut, which I acquired shortly after. Freewheeli...
Tuesday, October 04, 2016

Mets vs. Giants: shades of 1951?

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On a July afternoon in 1985 I was in the stands at Shea for the first time, courtesy of Pat Carroll, a Brooklyn native then living in Lond...
Saturday, October 01, 2016

Welcome back, Wavertree!

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In my last post I bade farewell to the bark  Peking , which had been a feature of the South Street Seaport Museum for over forty years,...
Friday, September 09, 2016

Auf wiedersehen, Peking!

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As I noted here last year , the barque Peking , launched in Hamburg, Germany in 1911, will return to her birthplace and original home por...
Sunday, September 04, 2016

Idris Davies' "The Bells of Rhymney" by Pete Seeger and by the Byrds

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Idris Davies (1905-1953) was the son of a Welsh coal miner who followed his father into the mines after leaving school at fourteen. He lo...
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Happy 71st, Van Morrison!

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You've known gladness and sadness in the year since you celebrated your 70th birthday . In February Prince Charles dubbed you a knight...
Monday, August 29, 2016

240 years ago: Washington's "great escape" from Brooklyn.

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It was at about the time I'm writing this, the evening of  August 29, 1776, 240 years ago, that General George Washington began moving...