James does, in my opinion, conveniently ignore entire swaths of John Coltrane's profoundly melodic work in his praise of Ben Webster. I guess that proves he's still human.
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I can't believe I missed Clive James' wonderful paean to the Duke in Slate earlier this month. Better linked to late than never, I suppose.
Kind of cool—and very well done, although the first thing I loaded in was "argh," which Kate could not pronounce.
Even if you read my news article, about Joyce Hatto's recordings, David Hurwitz' Classics Today editorial will supply new information.
Hurwitz also makes an important point: "We also should not forget that somewhere in this mess there is, apparently, the very human story of a career cut short, a struggle with a terminal illness, and a loving husband who lost his wife--unless that turns out to be nonsense as well."
Pay attention, class. This little rope-climbing device looks pretty slick. As the article says, the real trick isn't ascending the rope, but ascending the rope without damaging it. The rule of thumb we used when I did technical caving was to retire any rope we had "shocked" with an impact or weight-bearing kink.
And safety better be on your mind when you're ascending 30 stories in 30 seconds.
For Nick Mason, it's driving; for Roger Waters, it's being driven.
Follow the link to the Turbo footage of Mason's car collection. Ah, if only I'd stuck to the drums and founded a mega-platinum-selling rock band . . ..
Today Kurt Cobain would have been 40. Seems like yesterday when we were seeing that searing image of his suicide: the photo taken in the room where he died, of his Converse All Stars, still on his feet, sticking out from behind a piece of furniture.
While it was probably inevitable, ever see Kurt and Courtney?, it was still a waste. What an act they were. "Breed" gets my vote as their best tune.
While we listen to music, the areas of your brain that enable our bodies to move are active, even if we're not. The brain, it seems, likes rhythm.
Carl Zimmer gives us the straight, er, poop on tapeworms.
Conductor Kenneth Woods has some thoughts about "honest" recordings. Follow the link to the University of Houston's listserv for a surprising revelation about another widespread classical hoax.
Ben Yagoda on meh, awwa, feh, heh, and all those other interjections. How could he leave out d'oh!?