From the category archives:
In the early 1960s, pre-Beatles in America, we fell in love with a television show that showed on Saturday nights called HOOTENANNY. I’ve never forgotten the theme song: “It’s hootenanny, hootenanny, Saturday night…” and different groups would sing the theme each week. As I look at this promotion for a 3 DVD set of that [...]
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I’ve come to a point in my life where I have to see that all music, music making and the experience of listening to music, is all MUSIC. I’m tired of the notion that the only music worth studying is Classical music. Nonsense. Or that classical music is “better” than other music. I’m sorry, but [...]
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At my last checkup, my doctor told me that I was deficient in vitamin D. He found it odd and perhaps suspicious that 75% of his patients were also D deficient–odd because we all live in southern California (the sun is a large source for vitamin D; sunscreen and clothes and staying inside block the [...]
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This long weekend, Daniel invited four friends he knows from up north to stay with us. We are all spending time getting to know each other and having a relaxing weekend. I had heard that these people were experts in RockBand, especially the Beatles. Instead of playing RockBand, we sat around in the living room, [...]
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I have trouble sitting anywhere in the same place for a long time. That means long flights, plays, operas, movies, and concerts. It has something to do with my long torso.
For that reason, and a few others, I find myself preferring smaller portions of everything: food, material possessions, and music. Many times I find half [...]
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This week I came home to discover a huge box from Amazon waiting for me on my porch. When Daniel got home I opened it to discover the new Beatles RockBand inside. Inside were a faux Hofner Beatle bass guitar, four drum pads with a bass drum kick pedal, and a USB microphone on a [...]
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Every once in a while I get a hankering for Swedish crepes at IHOP. The servers are beyond friendly, ready to do anything to make you happier and fatter.
I love the one in my neighborhood because it’s the one where the Buffalo Springfield was formed. And I think, “hmm, did Neil Young and Stephen Stills [...]
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After going through several rooms filled with musical instruments, we have discovered a wide variety of instruments in various conditions and of widely varying value. I was deighted that several instruments previously thought to have been missing were found.
This week we found a blue baritone saxophone. It will go with the milk green UCLA [...]
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Jennifer Snow and I went to the grand opening of Steinway & Sons new west coast store in West Hollywood (call it Beverly Hills adjacent) last night. It is in an amazing neighborhood and is a wonderful store. There is a loft upstairs that functions as a little concert space. We visited with the store [...]
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School started with a bang at UCLA.
The first day featured a faculty strike, with students and staff encouraged to join in. Robert Winter put it succinctly: “I’ve waited for 25 years to teach this class; you think I’m gonna strike?” — this referring to our new first year core course offered for the first time. [...]
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