Category: Art

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My New Practice Mute

  By Trumpet playing

My new practice mute at my Harrisburg house. With Olds Ambassador cornet. I got it so I could practice quietly late in a row home. To my surprise though, it has a nice sound and feel reminiscent of a Harmon mute (which is the one Miles used for most of his career.) So it’s a good way to practice technique with a Harmon, that is, getting a variety of sounds out of it depending on volume and attack. (And it is that variety you can get with it is the reason, I believe that Miles and Roy Eldridge both used it.) I always wondered why trumpet players look so serious when they play. And then look at me. It really does take concentration! Update on my playing: Ihaven’t given updates on my trumpet recently because, sadly, the combination of too much work and my shoulder and back problems cut down… Continue reading

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Thinking about the West Side Story Debate

  By Art, Film, Uncategorized

The recent New York Times piece on the reaction of Latinx people in the arts to West Side Story has drawn some sadly uncharitable responses from people whose political instincts are typically progressive. So, even though my initial and concluding thoughts about the whole issue is to say that the arts are, thankfully unlike politics in that the best work does not come from agreement and compromise but a willingness to put forward distinctive, unique, challenging and often upsetting work, I do want to say a few words about why I think we should not be divided about the wrong things when it comes to West Side Story and other works of art that raise issues of gender, race, and class. It’s important to note to being with that there was no unanimity of opinion in the article let alone an effort by the voice of the New York Times… Continue reading

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Chuck Berry and the Invention of Rock and Roll

  By Music

In the mid-90s, when I was in my forties, a friend of mine, the late political theorist Jean Elshtain, came to deliver a talk at the university at which I was teaching and hung out for a few days at my house. We talked  gossiped, talked about politics and, as we frequently about music. At that time I was well into jazz and didn’t much listen to contemporary pop or what had become of rock music. But Jean was a still a rocker who loved Bruce, whose music I knew, and a bunch of others whose music was new to me. She asked me if I had been into jazz when I was a teenager. I said, “yes, but rock was what really moved me, then.” She seemed a little surprised. “Rock is the music of angry teenagers and I was an angry teenager,” I replied. I was thinking about… Continue reading

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Bonnie Raitt in Philadelphia, June 16, 2012

  By Music

I have absolutely no capacity for objectivity about Bonnie Raitt. But I think her performance last night in Philly was the best of the four I’ve seen. (Pictures are here.) She was energetic and engaging, powerful and emotional. Both the ballads and the rockers were great. And, as always, it was just wonderful being the presence of her because, well, she’s just a mensch. I saw her for the first time in the fall of 1972 as a college freshman—sitting right in front of her at McConaughy Dining Hall as she sang, played guitar and joked around. I was 16, she was 22. (Maria Muldaur, who had just released Midnight at the Oasis, was the warm-up!). I developed a bit of a crush. And I’ve admired her voice, musical choices, activism, and sense of humor ever sense. Amazingly enough, I’m 56 and she’s 62 now. And at least she has aged well!… Continue reading

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Taking the terrorist threat seriouslyor how the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security protects us

  By Humor, Pennsylvania

I wrote this piece in September. when newspaper reports revealed that the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security had spent a large sum of money to hire some “experts” to provide it, and the state’s police departments with intelligence about terrorist threats. I sent it to the Inquirer op-ed editor. He was out of town and by the time he returned the moment had passed  to publish it. I forgot about it in the run up to the election. But I’ve been told it’s funny, so here it is. The report of the contents of PA Actionable Intelligence Brief #137 is true. The liberal media is once again fomenting outrage at the government by attention to the $103,000 contract that the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security signed with the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response to provide timely intelligence about possible terrorist threats. But in all the hubbub that the liberal… Continue reading

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Charlton Heston, Touch of Evil and "the method"

  By Film

I’ve never been a fan of Charlton Heston. He was never a very good actor. And his macho gun-toting politics represents all that is worst inAmerica. But I do have a funny story about him. The Welles film, Touch of Evil, is one of my favorite films. I taught it for a number of years in my Politics and Film class at UNC Charlotte. Heston gave one of his best performances as Miguel “Mike” Sanchez, the presumed hero of the film. Sanchez, it turns, is a far more morally ambiguous character than one recognizes at first. Indeed, the one of the charms of the film is that one’ judgments of both Heston’s character and and the one played by Welles himself as well as one’s view of ethnic conflict itself are called into question in the film, One year, one of my best and favorite students in the class was… Continue reading

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A short observation on sensory experience and age

  By About me, Music

I really have trouble listening to music while I write now. And that’s because, even though I have always love music love, the intensity of the pleasure I get from is stronger now than it has ever been. Something similar seems to be true for all my senses. They are all duller in some ways than they were twenty years ago. I’m starting to have trouble hearing things and not only am I as nearsighted as ever but I’ve totally lost my near point and have to take my glasses off to see close up. My touch is still pretty good but I’ve started to notice that I can’t pick up quite the level of details on a surface as I once did. But the intensity of my sensual experience is much greater than before. Continue reading

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It’s got to be love: twenty-five favorite songs

  By Music

We saw a revival of Guys and Dolls last week in New York. While we heard “If I were a bell.” I whispered to my daughter that “This is one of my ten favorite songs.” I immediately knew that was a rash statement. My daughter being my daughter, she of course, asked what the other nine were. So in moments snatched here or there over the last few months, when I was too exhausted to do anything productive, I’ve made a list. There was no way to get the list down to ten. So I settled for twenty five. And even then, I have a waiting list of another twenty. Continue reading