Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Guitarist David Russell
Friday, April 23rd, 2010Louise Erdrich
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010Louise Erdrich discusses her new book Shadow Tag with Bill Moyers.
Olive’s Baptism
Monday, April 19th, 2010
Olive’s baptism was yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day and the service was wonderful. Olive did really well during the mass. Although she cried a bit during the ceremony. She was pretty sleepy.
Afterward, we had the entire family over for lunch except for my Mom and my brother. My Mom suffered a spinal cord injury in 1982 leaving her paralyzed from the waist down so adequate access and transportation is always an issue. My brother Mike suffers from schizophrenia. Their circumstances radically changed our lives and meant that I would have to take care of them in ways I was never prepared for. Without a Father in the picture, they were my only family for years.
Then I discovered that my Father had other children - two boys and one girl. I’ve maintained contact with the boys (now men) Anthony and Tyler. I’m so proud to know them. They both have kids of their own and all are doing well. Anthony is Olive’s Godfather. I really miss my Mom and my brother when we gather as a family but meeting Jenna and having my own children as well as knowing Anthony and Tyler helps to fill the emotional void I sometimes feel.
Thank you everyone for being a part of Olive’s day!
We Are Here: The Pale Blue Dot
Thursday, April 15th, 2010A short film by David Fu. Set to the music of Mogwai. Carl Sagan’s laud to Earth.
Links
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010“Lieberson warns against taking Songs of Love and Sorrow too literally. It’s not meant to be an elegy memorializing Hunt Lieberson. But the composer acknowledges that it is autobiographical.”
“Performer and composer, eccentric and original, Monk was shrouded in mystery throughout his life. Not an especially loquacious artist (at least with journalists), he left most of his expression in his inimitable work, as stunning and unique as anyone’s in jazz–second only to Duke Ellington’s and perched alongside Charles Mingus’.”
“In 39 brief years Chopin managed to compose over 180 works for piano, and except for three piano sonatas and two concertos, most of them last no more than three to five minutes. Chopin’s mastery of the genre shows itself in his magical preludes and mazurkas.”
“The great paradox of modern musical life, whether in the classical or pop arena, is that we both worship our idols and, in a way, straitjacket them. We consign them to cruelly specific roles: a certain rock band is expected to loosen us up, a certain composer is expected to ennoble us.”
“Philip Ball, a British science writer and an avid music enthusiast, comes down somewhere in the middle. He says that music is ingrained in our auditory, cognitive and motor functions. We have a music instinct as much as a language instinct, and could not rid ourselves of it if we tried.”