I am a fan of two late Southern writers who, as it turns out, were lifelong friends: Shelby Foote and Walker Percy. Actually, I had a correspondence with Shelby Foote about 30 years ago when I was young and seeking a mentor. We exchanged letters and spoke on the phone mostly about his writing and my music. We never met […]
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At week three of my hiatus in the sun I have come up with a short guitar piece that I think is quite nice. The working title is “Poor Hidalgo.” I have been thinking about the Don Quixote character a lot and it led to this tune which utilizes as a unifying them the Spanish dance pattern called “Quajira” which
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I have always that thought that the legend of Sisyphus was an apt metaphor for all human endeavors especially creative ones. For those unfamiliar, Sisyphus is a character from Greek mythology who was doomed to push a boulder up a steep hill for eternity only to see it roll back down and therefore begin the frustratingly futile and laborious process
Among my favorite things are books and movies. I hold these two titles in especially high esteem. The book “Minutes of the Last Meeting” by Gene Fowler is a first hand account of the weekly gathering of Hollywood artists such as W.C. Fields, John Barrymore and others at the home of painter John Decker in the late 1930’s and early
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My hobby is and has been for some time to study the life and works of various concert pianists. Arthur Rubinstein is a favorite and his autobiography is wonderful. I also am interested in two pianists of the 20th century who passed away before their time. That is Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950) and William Kapell (1922-1953). As of late I have
Mencken was called the “Sage of Baltimore.” He was a noted satirist and writer from the early 20th century. He is widely considered one of the premier prose stylists this country has ever produced. He admired Nietzsche and was a fierce critic of religion and populism. We are currently undergoing another wave of populist politics, empty promises of redemption and
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) Read More »