Our old friend Mike died last Monday. Angus, his former partner of many years, came down to help out and spent the week with us. Having guests always throws business as usual out the door, but it was a pleasure spending time with him. A requiem mass was held at the Gnostic church where Mike […]
B (see “Friends III“) died this week. H was named the executor of his estate and he has done an excellent job. I only overheard part of the phone calls he made and received and see what an incredible effort and a labor of love it has been. B was H’s sponsor in AA and […]
My biggest shortcoming as a composer is my disinterest in disseminating my music. It is not that I don’t think my music lacks qualtity — I think I’m one of the best composers on the planet today — but I find that my real interest is in composing music, not pedaling it to performers, or […]
The “friends” topic keeps following me wherever I go this week. I notice that as we get older, our friends status is different than when we were students. As a student, the people you hang out with are pretty much like you. Yes, richer or poorer, taller or shorter and so on, but still the […]
“We are friends. I like saying that. No one ever said this to me. I like it. We are friends. It’s good!”
Also sprach Friederich Nietzche to Joseph Breuer in the film “When Nietzche Wept” written, directed and produced by Pinchas Perry based on the best-selling novel by the same name by Irvin Yalom. […]
As I mentioned the other day, I’ve decided to reread some Hermann Hesse books lately: would they be as stimulating as they were in high school or college?
I started with his first novel, Peter Camenzind. In it, I see how nascent artistic youths (esp. young men) might be truly inspired by this book. There are […]
As my summer is beginning, I stepped over to my bookcase and thought it a good idea to pick out something I already had. I drifted over to the Hermann Hesse section. There was Rosshalde, Steppenwolf, Glass Bead Game, Demian, and I chose Peter Camenzind, his first novel.
I loved Hesse in high-school: would I like […]
This weekend was devoted to relaxation. Lots of naps (6 each day), lots of movies (4 on Saturday and 5 on Sunday), cleaning the house a little, doing the dog’s nails, and constantly battling hysterical ants who are hellbound to find every little crumb I leave them. Friday night I photographed Corbin Smith’s fabulous opening […]
Done teaching for the year. Done with most of my major responsibilities. Done with my first year as Chair. Done with Homer in Cyberspace — I’m cutting the songs out of the last two performances putting together the Original Cast Recording. I hope to be posting music from the musical in installments on the blog: […]
I had a graduate student help me with an interesting project. I have a lot of MIDI files on my old 1980s IBM-AT PC computer, including all the accompaniments for all my GALA cantatas (HIDDEN LEGACIES, LETTERS TO THE FUTURE, and FLASHPOINT/STONEWALL) as well as all my portable pieces (PORTABLE CONCERTO, SHASTA, MIRABEL, and GLAMOUR […]
Subscribe in a reader