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Jul

On [the] Battlestar Galactica [Mini-Series]

in Blog, Friendship, Hard Bloggin', Just For Fun

Biographical Note While I love science fiction, I wouldn't call my self a science-fiction PERSON. That is to say, if I were invited to a science-fiction themed movie night, I'd be really excited, but if I were asked to curate my own movie night, I wouldn't immediately think to stack the evening w[...]

Jun

Retrofret

in Blog, Friendship, Just For Fun, Total Friendship

[caption id="attachment_1105" align="alignleft" width="158"] 1866 Torres[/caption] A couple of days ago, I had the chance to play a classical guitar made by the hella-master-builder Antonio de Torres courtesy of Retrofret in Brooklyn, NY. It's the first and only guitar I've ever played with a[...]

May

The Rite of Spring

in Blog, Hard Bloggin'

Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring turns one-hundred today. Without going too deep, I'll say that it's one of my favorite pieces of music of all time.* Apart from it being an utter and complete textural, rhythmic, and harmonic whirlwind, it, more than any other piece of music, clearly and conc[...]

May

A Window

in Blog, Hard Bloggin', Just For Fun

I don't offer this data with any judgements because I'm not even sure how to analyze it or what it means -- I just found it interesting in a spirit-of-thougtful-observation sort of way: I was riding a packed train (BU line) home last night* at, like, 11pm and found myself crammed in next to thre[...]

Apr

Upcoming Performances

in Blog

1. Tomorrow, April 5th @ MIT's Kresge Auditorium, I'll be part of an ensemble of thirty-or-so musicians performing Terry Riley's In C. Apart from traditional, Western instruments, the piece will include Senegalese drummers, Balinese gongs, and some bizarro instruments built and performed by the MIT [...]

Mar

What I Like to Tell Myself About the Relationship Between the Lyrical and Harmonic Content of the Song “Things We Said Today” by The Beatles

in Blog, Hard Bloggin', Just For Fun

Listen to this: Here’s what I think about when I hear the above song, “Things We Said Today,” by The Beatles: The singer of this song is speaking directly to a specific person -- a woman with whom he is romantically involved. Taking that dialogue into account, I divide the song up in[...]

Jan

The Sounds of American Doomsday Cults Vol. 14

in Blog, Hard Bloggin', Just For Fun

You can also read this post on medium.com. So, a company called Faithways International released a record called The Sounds of American Doomsday Cults Vol. 14 in or around, I guess, 1984. Neither I nor anyone I have spoken to about it over the years (the Internet included) has ever encountere[...]

Jan

Cadences Too Boring?

in Blog, Just For Fun

Murder, She Wrote: The most powerful Neapolitan chord available without a prescription. [...]

Jan

New Pieces Debuting on the 18th

in Blog

Four Richard Brautigan Poems, a set of poems I arranged for flute, clarinet, and voice, will debut on January 18th as part of the Advent Library Concert Series. 8 - 10pm: The program, running from 8 - 10pm, is: Whisper Solos (2011): solo interpretations by Rebecca, Todd, and Matt Suite f[...]

Dec

Death of a Mug

in Blog

Years ago, I was gifted a very special mug from my pal and at-the-time bandmate, David Altman. He knew that I had been looking for a very large mug (for reasons that are too boring to get into here) and informed me, via whatever 2004-ish chat-consolidation software I was using at the time, that he o[...]