I just spent two and a half weeks submerged in the woods and there wasn’t much music besides frogs and a neighbor’s chainsaw. Radio stations were few; the local NPR broadcast was locked in a fundraising drive; my iPod wouldn’t talk to the tape deck in the
Last weekend, my wife and I had two perfect New York days. We had friends over for dinner and stayed up late. We saw a very moving Douglas Gordon survey and ran around Manhattan. We visited with more friends, we had dinner in a restaurant, stayed up late and slept
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson is dead at 52. I want to dig a hole, erect a church on top, play her “Handel Arias” on repeat, and eat shirred eggs. Her Handel Arias are their own cathedral. I never saw her sing in concert. Tomorrow I will disappear, track down Martha Argerich
My great-aunt Mary lives year-round on an island off the coast of Maine and still smokes while she watches the tennis or enjoys a nightcap. It’s given her an amazing speaking voice: her register’s permanently cracked from the cigarettes, with bass-y wobbles, but her Maine
Two nights ago, our buzzer rang at around 11 o’clock. We weren’t expecting anyone. On the stoop stood a tall guy with a backpack, staring through the front gate. I unlocked the interior door and asked him if I could be of any help. “Man, I’m hoping
How often, as you get older and no longer go to shows, can you swallow fantastic new bands and actually digest them? My friend and deep music head Chris has sworn off new bands altogether. I hear two a week and feel gassy. I’m not at the point, yet,
How many moves can a dancer pack in one phrase? Then repeat, change, jostle, repeat? Flipper-y hand movements and shake-waddle-waddle? All set to live Schumann (Schumann! I adulate!) in silly costumes, followed by Vivaldi, with hula-girl waving thrown in? Warning: This is a rave. I’ve
Updated Monday, 6 March Madness increaseth. Rooster approacheth. We are now in March, and the blood shall soon floweth! Lots of 2006 Book Tournament news posted today, including our list of judges, the tournament schedule, and yes, the complete brackets so your English department betting pool can get off the
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes is a potboiler, a thoughtful thriller, a shirttails-grabbing day-ruining page-turner, a piece of very good fiction, a careful portrait of two men’s very different lives entwined, a magnifying glass applied to faith and justice, another happy pill for Sherlockians in
We are extremely pleased to announce that Todd Levin has accepted our invitation to join our Contributing Writers staff. Todd has written lots of great stories for us before (like the recent tour journals from the Piano Men, North America’s only five-member Billy Joel tribute band) and we
