Here is a fascinating article for those interested in the nexus of music and the mind: NPR delves into copmpositions written especially for the enjoyment of monkeys.
Wish I’d said that!
Your Monday Morning laugh: Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald calls for a panel of America’s political and media royalty to “bash affirmative action and talk about how vitally important it is that the U.S. remain a Great Meritocracy.”
Joke Line, Choking on Sausage
Via Athenae comes this delightful tale of Alpha Villager Joe Klein, a.k.a. Joke Line, choking on his sausage while ranting about Wikipedia and Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald. The entire tale made my Sunday morning — and if you can’t stand the quality of political coverage in the “traditional” American press or the sycophantic antics of Beltway journo insiders, prepare yourself for a treat.
Abe Torchinsky, 1920-2009
Via Richard Schneider and John Charles Thomas comes the sad news of another prominent American instrumentalist’s passing: Abe Torchinsky, most well known as the Philadelphia Orchestra’s tuba player from 1949 to 1972. He also played with the NBC Symphony Orchestra from 1946 to 1949. The Philadelphia Inquirer has just posted a link for a pending full obituary.
It’s All in the Timing…
Another of those wonderful, massive New York City thunderstorms is under way. It started ratcheting itself as the quietest point in Liszt’s Les Preludes (the 1937 Polydor recording by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Paul van Kempen, released in a very good transfer on Tahra) was playing on the stereo. The storm added gratuitous but welcome special effects, showing that once in a while these sonic juxtapositions are serendipitous.
Thursday Morning Reading
So this is supposed to be the “slow season” for political junkies? If you haven’t already read Adele Stan’s terrific AlterNet piece from Monday on how millionaires, lobbyists and special interest media strategists have gotten thousands of teabaggers to invade congressional town halls, you must! Also: I know you don’t need more evidence that right wing bobbleheads have no shame whatsoever, but you have to read this.
Lee, Ling sprung by Clinton
MSNBC reports that North Korea has granted a “special pardon” to Euna Lee and Laura Ling, two US journalists for Current TV, and will release them following a meeting between Bill Clinton and Kim Jong-Il. In a related story, the No Quarter blog reports on just about the last headline one would expect to see from the usually insufferable Drudge Report.
Monday Morning Feed Your Brain Link
Go read David Sirota’s detailed analysis of corporate-parent interference with journalism. And if you missed Glenn Greenwald’s piece on the real scandal behind the GE/NewsCorp “truce,” it’s here.
Summer Reading
Real life has again intruded on semi-regular blogging, but look for some fresh comments later this week (including my review of a must-have Handel release). Meanwhile, I’ve picked a recent-but-not-new books for vacation reading:
- Barry Miles, Zappa
- Kevin Bazzana, Lost Genius: The Curious and Tragic Story of an Extraordinary Musical Prodigy [namely, Ervin Nyiregyházi]
- Ray Raphael, Founding Myths: Stories that Hide Our Patriotic Past
- Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene [that’s a subsection of a chromosome, not me!]
On the CD Player: Furtwängler From the Urbanden
First, some full disclosure: I’ve been a Wilhelm Furtwängler fanboy since my high school years.
Continue reading On the CD Player: Furtwängler From the Urbanden