Monthly Archives: May 2015

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 →

I am but a moderately-involved collector of 78-RPMs, but these days even that fleeting interest separates me from the crowd and then some. Let’s face it: most people don’t care doodley-squat about great-granny’s old 78 records: scratchy, tinny, short playing … Continue reading →

When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade. The repressive laws concerning women on the Elizabethan stage were lemons galore. Only men could act onstage in Shakespeare’s England. Lady Macbeth was played by a guy. So was Cleopatra. So was … Continue reading →