Archives for September 2005

– Anyone who questions the commoditization of baby-boom ideals need only reflect on the fact that I recently ate my breakfast at a hotel in downtown Milwaukee to the accompaniment of a Muzak version of Steely Dan’s “Monkey in Your Soul.” All popular culture begins in rebellion and ends in infomercials.

– I drove up to Connecticut the other day to see Goodspeed Musicals’ production of The Boy Friend and have lunch with Paul Moravec. We went to the River Tavern in Chester, a tiny restaurant-pub with wonderful food, in whose front window the waitress seated us. A few minutes later, a prosperous-looking businessman-yuppie type sat down at the next table, roughly two feet away. He ate in silence as Paul and I chatted away cheerfully and volubly about everything under the sun–the Pulitzer Prizes, my Louis Armstrong biography, his latest composition, the difference between opera and oratorio–and departed without a word before we were through.

A couple of minutes later, Paul called for our check.

“It’s been taken care of,” the waitress informed us with a grin. “The man sitting next to you paid for your lunch.”

We gaped speechlessly at one another. Then we burst out laughing, jointly left a big tip for the waitress, and went on our way.

– Anyone who questions the commoditization of baby-boom ideals need only reflect on the fact that I recently ate my breakfast at a hotel in downtown Milwaukee to the accompaniment of a Muzak version of Steely Dan’s “Monkey in Your Soul.” All popular culture begins in rebellion and ends in infomercials.

– I drove up to Connecticut the other day to see Goodspeed Musicals’ production of The Boy Friend and have lunch with Paul Moravec. We went to the River Tavern in Chester, a tiny restaurant-pub with wonderful food, in whose front window the waitress seated us. A few minutes later, a prosperous-looking businessman-yuppie type sat down at the next table, roughly two feet away. He ate in silence as Paul and I chatted away cheerfully and volubly about everything under the sun–the Pulitzer Prizes, my Louis Armstrong biography, his latest composition, the difference between opera and oratorio–and departed without a word before we were through.

A couple of minutes later, Paul called for our check.

“It’s been taken care of,” the waitress informed us with a grin. “The man sitting next to you paid for your lunch.”

We gaped speechlessly at one another. Then we burst out laughing, jointly left a big tip for the waitress, and went on our way.

December 2003:

Would that it were more widely understood that high art is good for you–not in the fallacious “Mozart-effect” sense, but in the far more profound sense of soulcraft. Alas, that uplifting notion has largely vanished from American culture. In matters of high art, we must start from zero: we actually have to make the case that listening to operas by Mozart and Verdi and looking at ballets by Balanchine and Tudor are pleasurable experiences.

Fortunately, the strongest card in our hands is that we’re telling the truth, an amazing and miraculous fact that it’s never too late to discover, even if you’ve never held a clarinet or stood at a barre or wielded a paintbrush…

(If it’s new to you, read the whole thing here.)

December 2003:

Would that it were more widely understood that high art is good for you–not in the fallacious “Mozart-effect” sense, but in the far more profound sense of soulcraft. Alas, that uplifting notion has largely vanished from American culture. In matters of high art, we must start from zero: we actually have to make the case that listening to operas by Mozart and Verdi and looking at ballets by Balanchine and Tudor are pleasurable experiences.

Fortunately, the strongest card in our hands is that we’re telling the truth, an amazing and miraculous fact that it’s never too late to discover, even if you’ve never held a clarinet or stood at a barre or wielded a paintbrush…

(If it’s new to you, read the whole thing here.)

– Cost in 1908 of single-sided Victrola Red Seal Record No. 96200, the sextet from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (playing time: four minutes and one second), performed by Enrico Caruso, Marcella Sembrich, Antonio Scotti, Marcel Journet, Gina Severina and Francesco Daddi: $7

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $138.54

(Source: Mark Obert-Thorn)

– Cost in 1908 of single-sided Victrola Red Seal Record No. 96200, the sextet from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (playing time: four minutes and one second), performed by Enrico Caruso, Marcella Sembrich, Antonio Scotti, Marcel Journet, Gina Severina and Francesco Daddi: $7

– The same amount in today’s dollars, courtesy of Inflation Calculator: $138.54

(Source: Mark Obert-Thorn)

“The lesson I learned from the Charlie d

“The lesson I learned from the Charlie d