Five Simple Ways to Lift Your Spirits

This weekend we returned to Standard Time—or, as I like to call it, Darkness Savings Time. This is usually a week where I can feel kind of meh, but I have made efforts to get on an earlier schedule, which helps, not to mention a daily dose of Vitamin D. I have some other simple [...]

On Rejoicing and Other Soulful Assaults on Mercantilism

A few months ago I watched the HBO series on John Adams.  Politics aside, he was a fascinating man, though his wife Abigail (gorgeous name, that) strikes me as an even more compelling character.  Late in life, so the HBO depiction goes, Adams takes a walk through a field with one of his sons and, [...]

Must-Read Books of 2010

“Do you have a soulmate?” the shrink asked Will Hunting.  A soulmate, someone who challenges you.  ”Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Frost, O’Connor, Kant, Pope, Locke…” replied the precious brat. “That’s great; they’re all dead.” “Not to me they’re not.” This is one of my favorite scenes from Good Will Hunting. Both characters have a point.  The written [...]

Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra

Sometime in the early 1940′s, Bela Bartok emigrated to the United States.  He was broke, and, what is worse, sick.  Serge Koussevitsky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, commissioned him to write  a piece, which he composed while lying sick.  The result was his concerto for orchestra, a magnificent piece human ingenuity.  In it is [...]

A few words for Richard M. Weaver

Richard Weaver, as regular readers of these pages know, is one of my favorite authors.  It really is too bad that he does not enjoy a wider awareness, but then again Weaver was entirely too thoughtful gain much popularity.  It’s also a shame that there is a neo-con Richard Weaver who was friendly with the [...]

The arts and the public sector

A while back, Aristotle introduced some discussion here about the relationship of the arts to the government–or you might say the relationship of the arts to the government’s money, which is another way of saying the relationship between the arts and the money that the government steals from your back pocket. I am a musician [...]

Inspiration and Perspiration

I’ve had occasion lately to think about the gift (and the problem) of inspiration.  As a musician, this is central to my life. One of my middle school art teachers once said that the artist needs to be inspired before he perspires, that one cannot set about an artistic task without a driving force behind [...]

Secretary of the Arts!?

Got this from a Facebook friend who will remain nameless — a Secretary of the Arts Petition: To:  President-Elect Barack Obama Congratulations and thank you for all you do. Your good friend Quincy Jones said: “…next conversation I have with President Obama is to beg for a Secretary of Arts.” [November 14th 2008 WNYC interview [...]

Happy Holidays

Blogging has been slow lately, but I seriously doubt that at this time of year too many people are glued to the computer screen.  At any rate, I just wanted to wish all of you happy holidays—Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. Much fuss has been made about the supposed “War on Christmas,” but on my visit home [...]

Traditional Roman Liturgy and Christmas Pudding

Here is a nice, short article on the so-called Stir-up Sunday. I would only argue that this tradition is not only Anglican but is also Roman.  I always thought this was sometime in Advent, but, alas, it is the last Sunday before Advent, which this year was November 30—as I jokingly called it, the “Sunday [...]