Monthly Archives: November 2010

Angst-Free Thanksgiving

Ah, Thanksgiving. Relatives gathered. Mom, grandma, and sisters toiling away in the kitchen. Dads, brothers, uncles, and granddads in the living room boo-yah-ing incoherently over the TV’s earsplitting football-bloodlust blare. Kids running around. Dogs yapping. Kids yapping. Babies crying. Smells … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Angst-Free Thanksgiving

Telegraph Avenue: Going, Going, Gone

Cody’s Books, iconic mainstay of elite-intellectual Berkeley, long a fixture at the corner of Telegraph and Haste, closed in 2006. That spurred the Berkeley mayor into action regarding Telegraph Avenue, that erstwhile beacon of the Summer of Love now turned … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Telegraph Avenue: Going, Going, Gone

The Beauty of Beethoven

Funny how we pidgeonhole composers with buzzwords or catchphrases. Heroic seems to be the most commonly encountered adjective around Beethoven. That’s the accepted image of Ludwig van, as he storms against fate and writes majestic works that burst the boundaries … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Beauty of Beethoven

Label Pederasty

Back in my teen years in suburban Denver, when the wonders of the larger musical world seemed about a million miles away from the secure blandness of middle America, I took comfort in my occasional splurge on a Deutsche Grammophon … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Label Pederasty

Hicktown-by-the-Bay

Ah, San Francisco. Oasis of culture and refinement set within the cars-and-cheeseburgers mentality of California. City of fine restaurants, opera and symphony, ballet, theater, museums. Liberal and tolerant, home to artists both renowned and wannabee, square hole for the square … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Hicktown-by-the-Bay

Word 2011: Credit Where Credit Is Due

I’m a techie. I make lavish and frequent use of computers in a lot of arenas including presentations, audio, video, animation, music notation and production, and more. I even wrote software at one point in my life. But when all … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Word 2011: Credit Where Credit Is Due

Three Cheers for Sit/Lie

This past election buttered few parsnips for me. I just wasn’t all that engaged. But several items, both of them local, jumped out at me as being worthy of attention, while the rest of the whole shebang puddled around in … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Three Cheers for Sit/Lie