My readers last ran into M & C last year with The Hippy Wedding, Part 1 and 2. A year later, they are in town and are hosting a party for their friends here in Los Angeles (they live in Washington D.C.). For the record, neither M or C are hippies. Their parents are. There […]
Richard Lewis concludes his extensive analysis of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s “Klavierstuck I:”
An aesthetic of randomness is what governs almost all the compositional decisions made in this piece. The composer has chosen his pitches using a system of hexachords and distributed them in far apart octaves in order that they may sound random. He has disposed dynamic […]
Just back from dinner with Lester and Devra Breslow. Devra commissioned me three years ago to compose THE BALLAD OF PAPA LESTER which I sang for him on his 90th birthday with and electro-acoustic backup I did using Logic. Lester is now 93, Devra is, well, I don’t know, 20 or 30 years younger. Maybe […]
Our plumber of the last 5 years has been Izi, and his company is called Izi does it. I have no idea what his name is in reality, Isadore I presume, but who knows. He is a short Brooklyn Jew, pudgy, is a heavy smoker, is very funny, has movie star glasses (more like goggles), […]
Last night we went to dinner with Angie, her sister, and Clark. It is a terrific restaurant (”BLD” whiich stands for breakfast lunch and dinner) but it’s one that you have to yell at each other to be heard. This, as a trend I’m happy to report, seems to be falling out of favor in […]
Crosby, Still, Nash and Young perform a Stephen Stills song from their first album “You don’t have to Cry” on the Tom Jones Show (London 1970).
My dear young man, don’t take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It’s quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that’s all. …
[Emperor Joseph II; from “Amadeus”]
A question composers have to answer for themselves is “how much music shall I compose in my life?” Some of us feel compelled to crank it […]
From the Coen Brothers classic film “O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU?” here is “Man of Constant Sorrow” by the so-called Soggy Bottom Boys featuring George Clooney as the lead singer. The video is taken from the movie, so if you’ve never seen it (rent it!), you’ll get a nice little overview of many of the […]
This just in from Chad and Michael who have twins. They are considering buying coming out insurance: just in case.
I’ve tended to like the softer side of the Rolling Stones, like this video of “Lady Jane.” The competition with the Beatles was very real in those days. I seem to remember that this was their answer to the Beatles’ “Yesterday.” I’m not postitive what the plucked instrument is, but it looks like an electric […]
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