By far the most influential musicology of my young adulthood, steering me towards specialization. via Open Culture: Leonard Bernstein’s Norton Lectures (1973). See Elitism for Dummies (on Young People's Concerts, 2005) via NYRB: Why So Popular? by Tim Parks Touching yourself” was strictly forbidden in the Parks family. My father was an evangelical clergyman, my mother his zealous helper. The hand mustn’t stray below the belt, because such pleasures were always accompanied by evil, lascivious thoughts. Yet as Dusty Springfield … [Read more...]
DETERIORATA XIII:1 BERNSTEIN, 50 SHADES, CLIVE JAMES, EE CUMMINGS, BELUSHI
April 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
DENK, SCHWARTZ, SEBOK
April 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Jeremy Denk wrote a piece in the current New Yorker about two of his piano teachers, one of whom we shared. A friend wrote to ask about my reaction, so I replied: "Joseph Schwartz was really quite a terrific teacher, and invested in the idea of teaching on an individual level. We were all friendly in his studio and played for one another informally all the time. He had no cult of personality, and although his musicianship had virility and danger, he was a quiet man who acted as though all the great ideas were there for the taking. He … [Read more...]
JAGGER, ESCHER, LEIGHTON
March 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Refused at first, then bought three months later. Interview with cartoonist Robert Leighton at Inkspill | Inkspill - New Yorker Cartoonists News. And this: Mick Jagger to MC Escher, Escher demurs. Related articles These hyper-realistic drawings mess with your mind Godel Escher Bach QR Code shadow cube "Isaac Newton meets M. C. Escher" in The Bridge, available now Wood inlay MC Escher reptiles motion art (part 1/2) … [Read more...]
WE ARE BRADLEY MANNING: Hedges Knocks Press
March 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
...The cowardice of The New York Times, El Pais, Der Spiegel and Le Monde, all of which used masses of the material Manning passed on to WikiLeaks and then callously turned their backs on him, is one of journalism’s greatest shames. These publications made little effort to cover Manning’s pretrial hearings, a failure that shows how bankrupt and anemic the commercial press has become. Rescuing what honor of our trade remains has been left to a handful of independent, often marginalized reporters and a small number of other individuals and … [Read more...]
CHILDHOOD RESEARCH
March 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
...The things in Anderson’s films that recall Cornell’s boxes—the strict, steady, foursquare construction of individual shots, by which the cinematic frame becomes a Cornellian gesture, a box drawn around the world of the film, as inMoonrise Kingdom’s dressing room scene, with the little bird-girls framed by strips of lightbulbs; the teeming, gridded, curio cabinet sets at the heart of The Life Aquatic, The Darjeeling Limited, and Fantastic Mr. Fox—are often cited as evidence of his work’s “artificiality,” at times with the … [Read more...]
WHAT WOULD FAULKNER SAY?
March 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
...Where are the writers of that stature today in the Tea Party South? I was made aware of the odd mix of gain and loss when I went back to Atlanta to see my beloved grandmother. She told me not to hold change between my lips while groping for a pocket to put it in—“That might have been in a nigger’s mouth.” Once, when she took me to Mass, she walked out of the church when a black priest came out to celebrate. I wondered why, since she would sit and eat with a black woman who helped her with housework. “It is the dignity—I would not … [Read more...]
KIM GORDON ON COBAIN, BECK ON BOWIE
February 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I don't want to talk about 1993. Want to talk about 1994." Kim Gordon Looks Back - NYTimes.com … [Read more...]
DOWNTON’S ROB JAMES-COLLIER, EARS BUZZING
February 14, 2013 by 1 Comment
How has your life changed following the success of Downton? I’ve been to parliament in England. We went to the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Paul McCartney was off-key completely, but I’m a massive Beatles fan, so who cares? I was there. I’ve been to South America to promote this show. I’ve swam with Great White sharks. It’s all because of this show and how people have bought into it. I just want to say thank you to everyone who watched and tuned in and loved my evil gayness. via Downton’s Rob James-Collier Assures … [Read more...]
WHILE YOU WAIT (THOMPSON ON KCRW)
January 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Released date: February 5 Related articles Multi-Grammy© Winning Americana Duo Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell and Richard Thompson Electric Trio at DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center, March 30, 2013 First Listen: Richard Thompson, 'Electric' Richard Thompson 1.16.13 Though of the Day … [Read more...]
