Blogging resuming now...

Well, back to reality as they say. A weekend in Texas: no internet, no cities for two hours in any direction, no paved roads for 20 minutes, 70 degree weather, clear skies with miles of visibility, fiddling for weddings and campfires, peace and quiet for composing, fireworks, roman candle salutes, dancing, whiskey, napping under the stars, chopping firewood, hiking by the creek, impromptu horahs, 18-ounce steak, and two wonderful friends getting married. In a word: bliss.

Quote of the Day

Agatha: http://www.goldstar.com/e/15587
The sobbing woman in the dark glasses — is she the spirit of the glamorous widow of Camelot?
Haunting people is soooooo not Jackie O
It's a Marilyn thing to do
me: i kind of want to go on this....
not going to lie
Agatha: Me too
It's trashier than the circus, but less trashy than a wax museum

I'm fairly sure that the best part of my job is the arranging. Not the arranging itself, I'm barely conscious of feeling anything when I do that, I just scribble it down. But right before the arranging, when I get to sit around finding as many recordings, arrangements and singers as possible to listen to, thinking to myself (I like this harmony, borrow a little here, little there.

Matt Groening and Dan Castellaneta drunk in England

Gershom Scholem on Bob Dylan

In 1978, a young graduate student traveling in India named Daniel Matt wrote to Gershom Scholem, the 80-year-old Professor of Jewish Mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The letter discussed his experiences, his ambitious plans to translate the central text of Jewish mysticism, the Zohar, and, most of all, about Bob Dylan, who he hoped Scholem might appreciate.

I’m also sending you Bob Dylan Approximately, whose author believes that Dylan draws
on Kabbalistic sources consciously or unconsciously (whatever that means). The thesis
does not hold water ... Be that as it may, the book is still interesting as a collage, and
will give you a hippie’s perspective on Robert Zimmerman (Dylan’s real name).

Scholem replied:

Your detailed account of your travels in the East and your experiences there with several
friends and gurus I read with great interest ... Who was or is Robert Zimmerman, called
Bob Dylan? ... Please let me know if he is a Jew. The Zimmermans divide 50% into Jews
and goyim ... My receptivity to music is, alas, nothing, therefore I forego the pleasure of
listening to “Blonde on Blonde” or even the more seducing “Desire.” The title “Highway 61”
arouses no desire in me. Maybe I am too old for it.

RTWT here

Godzilla Haikus

http://godzillahaiku.tumblr.com/

h/t Malon

Quote of the Night

Bubbie: I go to the flower shop about a half-hour before they sweep and I look for any flowers that have fallen on the floor. Any ones I that find I put into my purse and then I leave...because what I'm doing is shoplifting Evan and if I get caught I might get in trouble....

RIP Bernard Coutaz Playlist

You probably haven't heard of Bernard Coutaz, and you may not have heard of the record label he founded, Harmonia Mundi. But here are some of the musicians whom without Harmonia Mundi may never have enriched us:


Anonymous 4


Les Arts Florissants: William Christie director - Paris's premiere Baroque Opera troupe for thirty years


Collegium Vocale Gent: Phillipe Herreweghe director - The world's preeminent Bach choir for forty years...do a lot of other things well too.


Alfred Deller: the first great modern countertenor.


Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir: The world's preeminent choir for Russian Orthodox music and a symbol of religious freedom in the late Soviet era.


Rene Jacobs: Famed countertenor who then turned conductor and revolutionized the world of early opera.


Matthias Goerne: German baritone and lieder specialist whom Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau selected as his 'heir.'


Academy of Ancient Music: Andrew Manze (formerly Christopher Hogwood) director. One of England's most eminent early music bands - as heard on the radio 15 times a day (Academy of St. Martin in the Fields is the other 25).

Quote of the Day

Marc: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2010/03/primaryfail.php
me: oh my god
i have to leave DC right now to campaign
Marc: i keep on forgetting that larouchies think that britain leads the conspiracy against us
well, britain and the jews
she wants to impeach obama
me: when the cult sings opera, i tend to forgive certain things
Marc: true
i'll give them that over the teabaggers
the teabaggers listen to ted nugent
the larouchies listen to opera........................ SET TO THE WORDS OF LYNDON LAROUCHE

Alexander Hamilton Rap

I'm kind of stunned that the first Founding Father Rap is about Hamilton. Franklin was always up with the latest trends and Jefferson was the one always into radical chic. Hamilton was the young fogey of his day. Still, awesome. h/t Reich.

Fucked Up Moments in Opera #5 1/2 Cunning Little Vixen (again) by Leos Janacek

Just start watching at around 0:30 and keep watching until 7:00

Funny or Die Presidential Reunion

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

Poor Phil Hartman...

Fucked Up Moments in Opera #5: The Cunning Little Vixen by Leos Janacek

...Just go to 4:30 and watch....

...The only great opera (so far) to be based on a comic strip...and my pick for greatest of the 20th century.

RIP Wyn Morris (1929-2010)

(The 'Celtic Furtwangler' conducts a reconstruction of Beethoven's unfinished 10th Symphony, yes - there is a tenth..)

The obituaries are kind of shocking, and they read like a cautionary tale for any conductor trying to make it in today's (more) democratic world. Morris was an artist of enormous talent brought down by behavior that in generations past was considered completely acceptable.

Happy Casimir Pulaski Day!