Monday, March 21, 2022

Happy 337th, Johann Sebastian Bach

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Johann Sebastian Bach was born on this date -- the calendar in effect at the time of his birth gave the date as March 31, but by today's...
Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Pete Hamill and the Clancy Brothers -- a St. Patrick's Day reflection.

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I first met Pete Hamill in 1994, at a Barnes & Noble bookstore on Fifth Avenue in Midtown. He was there signing copies of his newly publ...
Sunday, February 13, 2022

Loudmouth by Robert Duncan

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Robert Duncan's Loudmouth  was published in October of 2020, and I've had my copy for just over a year. Various things have delayed ...
1 comment:
Monday, January 17, 2022

How best do we honor Dr. King today?

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On May 15, 1957, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech to a group assembled for a Prayer Pilgrimag...
Monday, January 03, 2022

Remembrances and appreciations, 2021

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A year ago I did a separate post to  show 2020 the door . I'm sure we can all agree that 2021 has, on balance, been less than delightful...
5 comments:
Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Rick Danko, Vince Martin, Erik Darling, and Blondie Chaplin: how many names can I drop in one post?

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I had the good fortune, during my evenings of hanging out at the Lion's Head in Greenwich Village during the 1980s, to get to know Rick ...
Sunday, December 26, 2021

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 1931-2021

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I've said before that the two people I am proudest to have met and with whom I've enjoyed short but inspiring conversation are the l...
Friday, December 24, 2021

"Once in Royal David's City"

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One of my favorite Christmas carols, performed by the choir of King's College, Cambridge. This was one of many hymns written by an Irish...
Thursday, December 16, 2021

Beethoven, "Pathetique" Piano Sonata, Op.13, 2nd Movement

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In honor of Ludwig Van Beethoven's 251st birthday, here's a brilliant performance by Daniel Barenboim of the ethereal second moveme...
2 comments:
Tuesday, October 26, 2021

The World Series is underway; I'm casting my lot with the Braves

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 It didn't turn out the way I wanted. My Mets had a promising start, then, as has long been their wont, imploded. That left me with two ...
Monday, October 18, 2021

Colin Powell, 1937-2021

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Some years ago - probably in the fall, winter, or early spring, because I had left work and it was dark - I was walking along Madison Avenue...
Tuesday, October 05, 2021

Some pet peeves I can't give up.

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"To give" as opposed to "to gift" is still a good and useful verb. Using the past tense "gave" instead of ...
3 comments:
Friday, September 10, 2021

Twenty Years

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Here's the poem I posted fifteen years ago:  It’s five years since the turbofan clatter,  the sudden silence, the loud report, the screa...
Sunday, September 05, 2021

"Union Maid"; a song for Labor Day

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"Union Maid" has lyrics by erstwhile Brooklynite Woody Guthrie , set to the tune of a popular song from 1907, "Red Wing,...
Saturday, August 07, 2021

The Mets are no longer first in their division.

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 I started to write this when they were only a half game behind the Phillies. Now, with a second loss to the Phils, they are a full game and...
Friday, July 30, 2021

The Economist's "Johnson" beckons me off my usage high horse.

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 Well, at least a little. This week's issue of The Economist , in its "Johnson" column, a regular feature dealing with usage m...
Sunday, June 27, 2021

Another journey, to Edith Wharton's country house.

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  This past Monday and Tuesday we took another brief vacation, this one a small group tour led by our friend Louise Devenish, to the Berkshi...
Saturday, June 05, 2021

A Finger Lakes weekend, two train journeys, and lots of wine.

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Our friends Chris Bennem and Lisa Moore invited us to spend the long Memorial Day weekend at their house near Canandaigua Lake (photo above)...