Category Archives: Uncategorized

Today I took my Camry to the gas station. Time for a fill-up. As usual, the pump asked me to put in my zip code, as a way of ensuring that I am the real McCoy and not some despicable … Continue reading →

Early in my senior year in high school my father and I had a brief but critically important conversation. With auditions at various conservatories scheduled and impending, he asked me straight up if a life in music was what I … Continue reading →

I have lived in San Francisco for forty years. Now I’m leaving. Even if a few yet remaining variables render my exact moving date TBA, the simple fact is that by the third week of September 2015 at the very … Continue reading →

We all have our characteristics, tics, mannerisms, habits, and the like. Without being altogether aware of it, over the years I have acquired a consistent behavioral pattern when it comes to making major purchases such as cars, high-end stereo gear, … Continue reading →

My musical interests are broad and eclectic. I’m happy with Renaissance composers, Baroque masters, Classical, Romantic, 20th century folken. I have stuffed a lot of music into my noodle over the decades. But I’m neither indiscriminate nor happy-go-lucky inclusivist in … Continue reading →

In the wake of same-sex marriage being legalized across the board in the United States, the community of religious conservatives is ruefully contemplating its collective navel. A particularly regretful screed comes from Rod Dreher, who supplied a distinctly bitter article … Continue reading →

This morning I prepare to return to San Francisco after five days here in Anchor Bay on the Mendocino Coast. I chose this particular week carefully: it’s the gay pride celebration in San Francisco, a time when I prefer to … Continue reading →

It’s really a shame that Elgar’s music isn’t better known here in the US. Of his substantial output we get regular performances only of the Enigma Variations, together with the two wonderful concertos—violin and cello. But the rest languishes more … Continue reading →

One afternoon, audio recordings metamorphosed from toys into respectable and lucrative media products. The precise afternoon is easy to pinpoint. It was a Tuesday—March 18, 1902. The place was the Hotel di Milano, in (guess where) Milan, Lombardy. Present in … Continue reading →

Oh, look. There’s that Ulysses book. I like stuff about the Greeks. But that book’s too thick. That’s the Iliad. Have you read it? Yeah. What did you think? It was OK. The couple wandering the aisles of a local … Continue reading →