Music and civilization
I’ve just reread, from cover-to-cover, for the first time in years, Lang’s Music in Western Civilization–first published in 1941. My edition dates from 1969. I’m more impressed than ever.
His authority runs through all 1,030 pages. Here are the first lines of the Introduction: read more »
Get an agent
That at least is my advice for novelists looking for a publisher. My first book was non-fiction and I sold it directly to a major publisher’s acquisitions editor. That was eleven years ago, and I’m not sure it could be done today, because I don’t know what the submissions policies are for major non-fiction publishers. I do know the policies for major publishers regarding fiction. They don’t want to look at unsolicited manuscripts. A novelist needs an agent. How do you get one? read more »
Five octave, unfretted clavichord after Friederici, 1765
I had owned and played a small fretted clavichord since 1982, and in 2004 I started researching five octave, unfretted clavichords, with the idea of building an instrument suitable for playing all of J.S. Bach, and Haydn’s F Minor Variations from 1793. read more »
How The New York Times contributes to government abuse
In articles written for the public by respectable journalists, in respectable papers, we find the terms, ‘extraordinary rendition’, ‘detained’, ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’. When in fact, we should be reading, ‘kidnapped’, ‘imprisoned without charge’, and ‘torture’. read more »
We can begin to end this ‘war’ now. By withdrawing our support for its cause.
First, we have to admit the fact that the vast majority of ‘terrorists’ have come from dictatorial Arab regimes which America supports. Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudis. The other four were from Egypt, the UAE, and Lebanon The 9/11 Commission Report. Notice that these Arab states are all American allies in the War on Terror. Neither Iraq, the one Arab country we invaded as a result of 9/11, nor Syria, the one Arab country we currently consider a supporter of terrorism, were in any way involved. Read the report. Also notice, from the article on this site’s blogroll, that the largest single group of suicide bombers in Iraq are in fact Saudis. And, of course, Osama bin Laden is Saudi. read more »
Background
In October 2005 my late wife, Mariann, was hospitalized in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This being Canada, that meant that she entered, as a patient, a nationalized health service. Canadians are proud of their health service, their ‘public option’. In fact its quality is variable. Canadians can be even more cut-off from the rest of the world than Americans.
After six weeks, two CAT scans, two misdiagnoses and three weeks in hospitals (two hospitals–she spent two weeks in the wrong one by administrative accident), she was finally diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Unless you’re the CEO of Apple, this is a death sentence with a six month time frame. read more »
Whip It teaches American hockey sportsmanship
Last night I watched Drew Barrymore’s Whip It with friends at the house of a prominent psychologist in Calgary. I approached the film with a lack of enthusiasm. The setting, a women’s roller derby team in Austin, Texas, did not immediately appeal to me.
But I was quickly sucked in to an adolescent coming-of-age story told with humor, a light touch, and real consideration and appreciation for the characters. read more »