I like to go to summer blockbuster movies, you know, the big ones like Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and Pirates of the Caribbean and such. Unlike many of my friends, I don’t go expecting enlightenment or anything too serious. Entertainment and a night out with friends or a date with my honey is just fine.
On Friday, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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I’d like to put in a plug for an excellent new book on blogging. As the cover says: “does the world need another book about blogging?” I’d have to say YES on this one. Whether you’ve been blogging for a long time (4 years), a short time (1 year), or interested in getting involved, BUY […]
Despite many friends saying to NOT go and watch BABEL, I went, trying not to be prejudiced against Gustavo Santaolalla, the guitarist, er, composer, who won the Best Original Score Oscar last year for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. You may remember my groaning about that choice last year. Gustavo’s extremely sparse oud playing was peppered throughout, just […]
I just watched NETWORK, a terrific film written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet. In it, a washed up anchor man, Howard Beale(Peter Finch) finds new sky-rocketing ratings after he threatens to commit suicide on the air. He becomes increasingly honest, or mad, no one is quite sure. The writing is superb, one […]
Roman Polanski’s film on Dicken’s OLIVER TWIST is terrific. I checked IMDB.com to see what awards it won and was shocked to see it got none. There is a bullet at the bottom of the page that says “Why did the Academy deny this movie nominations?” and the answer: “Politics. Roman’s history got in the […]
I stumbled upon a wonderful singer-songwriter/composer that I recommend you listen to: Andrew Bird. He has been steadily releasing albums since 1997. I say “stumbled” when in fact I was looking on iTunes for anything new by Rufus Wainwright and saw that “others who bought Rufus also bought Andrew Bird.” So I took a listen […]
Last year I had one of those moments where you are listening to the radio, and you have to pull off the road to listen to a piece of music because otherwise you might end up crashing your car: it was “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap. I raced to the nearest CD store and […]
I teach a seminar in electro-acoustic composition at UCLA. It is morphing into the first course of a three term seminar in film composition for our new MA degree. Jerry Goldsmith taught film music at UCLA some years back and when he gave assignments to his young film-composers-wannabes, he insisted that everyone work with the […]
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