Music
Music
A Full-Tilt Tribute to the 1896 Harmonica
A harmonica? The thing’s only four inches long! All kinds of notes are missing! Harp players have to show up with a briefcase full of different keys, just to play! They’re so tinny and shrill! So why would a serious musician ever choose the harmonica to play music on? Admittedly, this is good question. But
Basic English on Mt. Fuji
The marriage of C.K. Ogden’s work with that of I.A. Richards yielded Basic English, an extreme narrowing of the English language whose principal aim was to eliminate misunderstanding due to clumsiness in manipulating the semiotic triangle. Reducing the dictionary to 850 words (with various ancillary vocabularies tailored to specific disciplines) would greatly reduce the possibility
A Love Letter to Judy Collins
Including Reviews of two of Judy’s Books: Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength and The Seven T’s: Finding Hope and Healing in the Wake of Tragedy Judy, I love it that your vocal gifts and training in classical piano never require you to reach for notes—I’ve never heard you reach once—but
Notes on Judy Collins and Suicide
Including reviews of two of her books: Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength and The Seven T’s: Finding Hope and Healing in the Wake of Tragedy Like many Judy Collins fans, I was first taken with her voice. She never reaches for a note, she hits each one like a finely-tuned
Poet with a Guitar—The Story of the C&W hit “Pancho and Lefty”
I’m a sucker for songwriters—from Judy Collins’ eclectic selections to Dylan to Lenny Cohen to Sondheim—they’ve taught me always to ask, “Who wrote this?” When I heard the Willy Nelson / Merle Haggard version of “Pancho and Lefty,” I searched out the songwriter. I had no idea it was from Townes Van Zandt, a guy
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Novels and Collected Works
Flutes in History
Flutes are the oldest instrument in the world. Hollowed bird bones, with holes cut for tone changes, have been found in archaeological sites as old as 40,000 years. Early man may have heard wind whistling across the tops of reeds and designed an instrument that produced the same sound. Early flutes were played vertically, with
Cover Me
Music is one of those things in life that can stir up a lot of emotional debate. First is, of course, arguments over which musical style–Hip Hop, Country, Jazz, etc.–is best. Then there are disagreements about the best songs an artist has recorded. And then there are covers of existing songs by other artists, particularly
Ornithology
People remember Charlie Parker Rode into Minton’s on a horse Dressed in overhauls Lip drooping a piece of straw. People remember Charlie Parker Hocking his alto for a fix Living just anywhere Raving out of control down a rainy street. People remember Charlie Parker Worked with the higher extensions Of the chords, worked with strange
Zimmerman’s Syndrome
I’d learned a lot of blues songs, quite a few famous and obscure standards from the 20s and 30s, some Irish tunes, a few old Burl Ives songs and others from the dread folk music revival years, a few Dylan tunes. (While I’d dug Dylan’s early lp’s, he was leaving me pretty lukewarm as