Reaction to the Bush administration's cockeyed attempt to emasculate the Voice of America through budget cuts is getting shocked attention not only among policy analysts at home but also from members of the VOA's audience abroad. Here is part of a letter from a New Delhi man named Vijay Kranti to The Washington Times, a heavily conservative newspaper. Earlier, the Times's editorial page urged the White House to abandon its plan to cut English language news broadcasts by slashing VOA's … [Read more...]

John Stowell's solo on "Blues on the Corner" should be transcribed by every serious guitar player on the planet. On second thought, make that every serious player. Bill Kirchner Jeff Albert's story the other day about his daughter's innocently perceptive question brought this followup. Doug, My favorite father/daughter story comes from my friend, the great drummer Allen Schwartzberg from New York. Quite a few years ago he took his eight-year-old daughter to hear an evening outdoor concert of … [Read more...]

Not that you would, but don't miss Terry Teachout's essay about going home again. This will give you a hint of what it's about, although it's about much more. “Thanks, Carol, I'd love to, but…” But the truth is that I don't play anymore, Carol, I haven't touched a bass in years, it wouldn't be fun for either one of us, maybe some other time. Long pause. Deep breath. “But promise me one thing—don't make me take any solos.” He also writes this: The trouble with good advice is that nobody ever … [Read more...]

You may be interested in where some of your fellow readers are following Rifftides. A recent check of the site meter finds them all over the world, in places including: ▪Mickleover, Derby, United Kingdom ▪Mere, Warrington, United Kingdom ▪Brussels, Belgium ▪Barcelona, Spain ▪Arche, Limousin, Spain ▪Cceres, Extremadura, Spain ▪Mijas, Andalucia, Spain ▪Montreal, Quebec, Canada ▪Hamilton, Bermuda ▪Tokyo, Japan ▪Kuguta, Chiba, Japan ▪Paris, France ▪Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France ▪Zurich, … [Read more...]