Nicholas Slonimsky’s famous “Lexicon of Musical Invective” has consoled many composers over the years. It is a collection, or lexicon, of terrible reviews for now-famous classical compositions from critics of the time of the works’ premieres.
Composer, conductor, author, hornist, publisher, and champion for young contemporary classical and jazz composers, Gunther Schuller advised me to never […]
I’m ordering one of these for my garage. Seems like the perfect addition to my home gym. I can compose and work out at the same time! (Thanks Ursi!)
Freddy Human Machine Man - video powered by Metacafe
I was sailing down the mountain from my weekend retreat, back to Hollywood — from the 215 to the 10 to the 101. Yahoo! I was ready to get home and see my honey, and started singing “Complainte de la butte” and in my rear view mirror were the flashing lights of a California Highway […]
In response to a recent Joni post, PK commented by asking some very important questions. I don’t pretend to have the answers, but will individually tackle them later this week. So that you can think about them, here they are. (PK is the proprietor of the fab blog LOOSE POODLE.)
1) What IS the difference between […]
Rufus Wainwright will be zipping through with his band, featuring the music from his new album, “Release the Stars.” This concert is sold out, and sadly I don’t have tickets. His website has all the touring information for this spring and summer. Rufus is terrific live if you have never seen him.
Otherwise, the album will […]
I read an entertaining and insightful interview (”Critical Condition” 1 Apr.2007) with LA Weekly critic Alan Rich in the local Arts blog FineArtsLA.com. Alan is a brilliant and witty writer and has covered and listened to more music than probably anyone else on the planet. He has faithfully reported musical life in New York and […]
One of my closest friends who is 72 confesses that he often forgets things that have occurred after 2 weeks have gone by. Rather than be depressed about this, he finds that “everything is new again.” Last night at our UCLA post-retreat party, one of my colleagues confessed that she often runs into a room […]
Jean Sibelius and Eugene Ormandy
I’m up in Lake Arrowhead this weekend — one of the gorgeous mountains that overlooks LA — at a UCLA retreat. Sitting in the lodge, over the speakers I am revisiting an old friend: Jean Sibelius’s “Symphony No.5.” I’m sure most of my classical readers know the piece, but for the […]
Despite the fact that Mark Carlson told me that of his class of 30 students, only 2 had heard of her, I am happy to recommend a terrific new compilation of covers of Joni Mitchell songs just released on Nonesuch (3 cheers for Bob Hurwitz). It is not a sing-around-the campfire love fest of old […]
Here is a live performance from a BBC special of Joni Mitchell singing “California.” Joni had polio in her youth and did not have the strength in her right hand to manage playing chords in the traditional manner. To get around this, she played both the dulcimer and the guitar using bar chords, and retuned […]
Here are the Mamas and the Papas singing that old favorite “California Dreaming” on one of my favorite old TV showsk, Hullabaloo. And for those of you still waiting for spring, the high today in LA will be 81 degrees.
I watched “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” last night, and noted that the score was composed by Jack Nitzsche. This was a name I first saw in the dreamy cut, “Expecting to Fly” from the Buffalo Springfield’s second album, AGAIN. Jack’s orchestral accompaniment alone brought a magical sophistication to the group that outdid […]
Stravinsky fans who know his original recordings will likely know the name of Adrienne Albert. She was famous to me for being the voice that sang Stravinsky’s last work “The Owl and the Pussycat” as well as many other of his late works. I found her voice refreshing, more popish and not so much of […]
In 1977 I began thinking about writing a piece that musically captured the personalities of four friends, and was to have been called “Four People.” In 1978 Phoebe Carrai and Ed Barker asked me to write a work for cello and bass in solo tuning (meaning the bass is tuned UP a step so as […]
Many of us go through life living our lives following policies and opinions made up by 6 year olds, or 10 year olds, or 13 year olds, or 20 year olds, or… Meaning, WE have made up our minds that something is true, or true for us, and that is the end of it. Case […]
PK called me a musical terrorist the other day for supplying infective songs to unsuspecting listeners. Well, here is another one, “Dominique” sung by Sister Anne and introduced by Ed Sullivan. If you don’t know this song, don’t worry, it will enter your brain and never leave for the rest of your life. Ha ha […]
I have a fond memory of being in a rock band in 1968 with some guys that were two grades ahead of me. Russ Beverstein played drums, Jeff Nichols played bass, I played rhythm guitar, and Bruce Nelson played lead guitar. When I joined they were trying to decide what to call themselves. The first […]
Sheryl Crow
Jeff Buckley
Leonard Cohen
Alison Crowe
kd lang
Rufus Wainwright
John Cale
Subscribe in a reader