Thoughts from a Recovering Organist
Parker Ramsay 
None but churchgoers seemed abroad that morning; undergraduates and graduates and wives and tradespeople, walking with that unmistakable English church-going pace which eschewed equally both haste and idle sauntering; holding, bound in black lambskin and white celluloid, the liturgics of half a dozen conflicting sects; on their way to St Barnabas, St Columba, St Aloysius, … Read more Preludes
Though social media algorithms don’t always give an accurate gauge of the political climate, I can say for certain that a lot of people got bent out of shape last week. Melania Trump. Wow. That said, it’s entirely possible more hardcore Democrats than Republicans actually heard Melania’s speech in real time. According to more than one news … Read more Miami, 1972 – Nashville, 1966
So I’m still stuck on Nixon. It is possible that the Opry appearance was unconnected to the President’s watery predicament in early 1974, but we are talking about Nixon after all. This was the King of public image, and it wasn’t the first time he’d played the piano for some political capital. Is it really likely … Read more Milwaukee, 1964
Ok guys, I’m sorry about the radio silence. I have no particular excuse, save that of laziness and an inordinate amount of time spent prostrating myself before my new air-conditioning unit. I’ve also been trying to stay up to date with the news this week. After all, a lot has been going on. Brexit is apparently … Read more My right ear
On Sunday, five Obies packed themselves into a car and rode through the Catskills. The first act of Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera flooded the stereo before switching over to NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” Sitting shotgun, a soprano was studying her score of Rigoletto. A composer in the back seat was revising a new piece. … Read more On Celery
Is anyone else here a Nixon nut? It’s not that I particularly like the man – or what he represented, that is. Watergate was the big fundamental breach of trust in our political system. It was the definition of a conspiracy wrought by a totally paranoid egomaniac. That said, both his paranoia and eagerness to … Read more Montgomery, 1958
March 16, 1974 wasn’t a particularly special day in America; Vietnam was ongoing, there was clear weather here in NYC, gas prices were still climbing after the ’73 embargo, etc. About the most exciting thing anyone my age was up to was listening to hits like Terry Jacks’s “Seasons in the Sun” or Barbra Streisand’s “The … Read more Nashville, 1974
Grocery shopping in the city is a drag, but I made a life-altering discovery at around 9pm last night: Trader Joe’s sells Weetabix. Having been separated from my favorite cereal since my departure from the UK, I was a little apprehensive. Fortunately I was not disappointed. After my morning run, the fibrous bricks turned into … Read more Weetabix
It’s confession time. Last week, I judged a book by its cover. After reading a blurb in the New Yorker, I decided that a new release looked too sensational and ill-conceived to pass up. The backdrop of Lauren Belfer’s And After the Fire is pretty far-out, even kitschy at first glance: a lost manuscript by … Read more More Summer Reading
School’s out. Hooray. I’ve got a summer off. No scheduled tours, performances, competitions or festivals, leaving me lots of time to pay attention to you, my devoted readers, as well as to the upkeep of my new coffee grinder. To compensate for my lack of musical commitments, last week I decided to embark on the … Read more Summer Reading