This year it seems like the creative class that brought you "Rock the Vote" has taken its "we just want people to participate" gloves off. Will.i.am might have been the first off the block, but now there are the rockers. And the jazzers. Hell, even the thereminists are getting in on the action. In new music land, composers got vocal. Emails went out from the likes of Meredith Monk, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela in support of the "Women Against Sarah Palin" movement. John Adams sent private … [Read more...]

Aaah! Aaaaah! So very funny, so very (very) wrong. … [Read more...]

Cern has fired up the giant particle collider and somehow a number of Googlers have landed here looking for evidence of impending doom. Dear kindly visitors: I cannot explain how you have been led so astray, but I can offer you directions to this playlist to help you along in your journey. And speaking of the need for music in extremis, ever need to wrap your instrument in Saran Wrap just to get through the concert in one piece? … [Read more...]

Every morning I think about posting a bit on the race for the White House, but then I decide to keep such things in more appropriate places, like the editorial pages of small Ohio newspapers. Seriously, if you live or once lived in a battleground state, take a minute to see what's in the local paper and write the editor. Reach eyes that don't read blog posts with a single email!Each day I think issues of national political concern cannot deteriorate much further, and of course I am almost always … [Read more...]

If you've ever descended the Carnegie Hall escalators and listened to a performance of, say, Morton Feldman's music in Zankel, you know that you need a certain amount of open-earedness. The MTA will not be stopped, and whether you can deal with (and discount) a little sound bleed from the subway running on the other side of the wall or not largely determines how much you'll enjoy your evening. Well, fair music fans, the danger is about to get worse than a crowd of symphony subscribers in … [Read more...]

I am an advice column addict. What started with Ann Landers and Hints from Heloise when I was 12 has evolved into a steady diet of guidance from all sorts of sources--everything from Ask Prudence to Savage Love. I don't usually have the kinds of problems that tend to plague the letter writers. Still, I read with devotion. It's a public service that is both entertaining and educational. Okay, sure, like staring at the ethical car crash that has introduced the nation to the Palin family, in large … [Read more...]