This sturdy old beast of a radio — once it sparked and poured forth words and sounds and music and adventure — do these tired old vacuum tubes wait for electricity to surge again and carry voices from a world away back into this life? If I turn the knob, will a forgotten announcer springContinue reading “Philco 41-290X”
Category Archives: Words and music
Lists pros and cons
I had an interesting exchange Friday after I posted yesterday’s post (“Joni’s foreground music”) to Facebook. One of my closest we-should-be-friend-friends-not-just-Facebook-friends friends, Sam Kujava, responded, “I would say she is my favorite female musician but that is considered sexist now, right?” And added, “I cried happy and sad tears watching her perform here,” talking aboutContinue reading “Lists pros and cons”
Joni’s foreground music
I stayed up past my bedtime the other night watching videos from the “Joni Jam’ at Newport Folk Festival, where friends surrounded Joni Mitchell and helped her perform some of her most memorable songs. Everyone was crying with happiness to see this 78-year-old woman doing her best to do her best. It was a struggle,Continue reading “Joni’s foreground music”
Listening: Rethinking a master work
Listening to Bruce Springsteen’s masterpiece album Born to Run the other day, I was suddenly struck by the thought that it might be even better if the songs were in the exact opposite order. In his autobiography he talks about the hopeful optimism of the opening song, “Thunder Road,” and in “Jungleland,” the closer, thoseContinue reading “Listening: Rethinking a master work”
Poetry emotion
Do I dare to eat a peach? I am not a frequent poetry reader, but I do admire a good poem, and I do enjoy “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” with its enigmatic imagery and talking of Michelangelo. I have fun unraveling an E.E. Cummings piece with its just-so placement of words andContinue reading “Poetry emotion”
How to become Bruce
Listening to Bruce Springsteen read his autobiography Born to Run has, of course, gotten me listening to my Springsteen collection and thinking about how I’ve followed the guy ever since my old pal Ed told me about this amazing guy who played a concert at his college back in the early 1970s. The most powerfulContinue reading “How to become Bruce”
Practice, man, practice
I have become a belated fan of Sparks ever since the closing credits of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season finale, which I wrote about the other day. The song “How Do I Get to Carnegie Hall?” has been an occasional earworm these past few days. OMG, is it catchy. And how do you get toContinue reading “Practice, man, practice”