Monthly Archives: September 2012

Way Station

For several years I was a regular attendee in a Buddhist sitting group. We would begin with a period of meditation, followed by a talk and discussion, followed by a social period with the obligatory Buddhist herb tea and cookies. … Continue reading

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Dirty Rotten Thief

Last week I gave my annual lecture on Handel to my students at UC Berkeley. In the course of said lecture, I bring up the delicate and dicey issue of Handel’s so-called “borrowings” — or, more crudely put, his plagiarism. … Continue reading

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Enemy of the Good

There’s a Voltaire quote that, roughly translated, goes like this: “the best is the enemy of the good.” That’s one tricky bugger of a quote, easily misconstrued; I read it as saying that we can drive ourselves crazy looking for … Continue reading

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Go Ahead, Sit There Part Deux

In November of last year I vented my spleen at the Occupy movement, then festering in the midst of their noxious Oakland and San Francisco camps. As regards Oakland, I wrote: While the Occupy movement is doing nothing positive except … Continue reading

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Doth Protest Too Much

In 1988 a friend and I attended the first run of Martin Scorsese’s film The Last Temptation of Christ. It was playing at the now-posthumous Northpoint Theater, one of the City’s nicest first-run movie houses. It being a popular—indeed, notorious—film, … Continue reading

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Somebody Gets It

Veteran audiophile journalist Art Dudley has stirred up a hornet’s nest in this month’s Stereophile. Dudley’s words are long overdue and just might act as the snowflakes that start sliding down the mountainside and set off a mighty avalanche. Than … Continue reading

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Dull, Drab, and Dowdy

Anyone who has written even halfway decent prose knows the challenges and pitfalls that await. Good writing, an alchemy that embraces clarity yet avoids police-blotter tedium, is not easily achieved. The seeker will find no shortcuts, no magic bullets, no … Continue reading

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