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In: On Music
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I couldn’t decide which of three pieces to feature today, so I said to myself, “Why limit myself to one?” That’s right, you get all three. Composer and flautist Valerie Coleman has had a deeply impressive career already. A native of Louisville, KY, Coleman was steeped in music from an early age, and her trajectory seems to have mainly pointed in one direction her entire life, as far as I can tell: up. She has been an accomplished performing flautist as well as a highly-regarded composer; her work Umoja–which began as a work for woodwind quintet but then was re-arranged by theDown the rabbit hole….

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We were at the Burchfield Penney Art Center yesterday. This lovely museum, smaller than the AKG and dedicated to Western New York artists, is always a delight to visit. Art museums have become my favorite places to visit. What an interesting development…I always had a hard time with the visual arts until recently. I have some thoughts on this, but they are forthcoming…. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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Most times these quizzes are themed in some way. Not this week! These questions are random as shit! Here we go! 1. Did you/will you have coffee or some other form of caffeine today?  I literally just downed the last sip of Coffee Number One. Shortly I will get up to brew Coffee Number Two. And later on, when we have Sunday Popcorn, I will wash it down with a lovely Coke Zero. (Sundays tend to be a lazy day for us, when we do household stuff like laundry and a bit of cleaning and maybe some food prep and stuff…in theDown the rabbit hole….

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In: Born On This Date, Life
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Today is The Wife’s birthday! As is my usual tradition, below is the post that I reuse every year and keep adding to in really ungainly fashion. This post actually first lived on the old BlogSpot incarnation of this site and now it’s over here on WordPress…and I’m not using the old-school WordPress interface anymore, I use the one with “blocks”, and this post, as Dr. Cox might say, ruh-heellly does not work well in blocks, so if the formatting here is a bit “janky”, as the kids say, that’s why. As I write this, she and I are approachingDown the rabbit hole….

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Oh, is THIS piece a “banger”, as the kids say! (A really good song is a banger now. Up ’til now, if you said “banger” to me, I’d have assumed you were talking about a British breakfast sausage.) Composer Kevin Day‘s Concerto for Wind Ensemble is a thrilling virtuoso showpiece that puts every section of the wind ensemble on full display. It is energetic and jazzy and rhythmic and lyrical, and it’s one of the most purely enjoyable pieces I’ve listened to as a new (to me) work in a long time. I have really enjoyed hearing this piece, and I’m sure I’llDown the rabbit hole….

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And now, a Sequence. Increasing detail from Fjall, by Anna Boberg (1864-1935). This painting was recently on display at the Buffalo AKG. I found its depiction fascinating by the way more detail is revealed with each step you take toward it. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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In: Newsletter Announcements, Occasional Quizzes, On Food and Cooking
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First, the announcement: I sent out a new installment of the newsletter the other day! This one was in remembrance of actor/director/playwright Tom Noonan, who died recently. Please check it out and subscribe! I try to send it twice a month, with usually a long piece or essay. Now, for the weekly quiz-thing that I don’t always do weekly but this week I am because it’s prompt-based, which is interesting. Here’s the details: This week we’re playing word association as suggested by a blogger named Dawn Camp. She said these words “tickled her fancy,” and let’s see if they inspire you.Down the rabbit hole….

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In: On Sport
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No, I do not care that Alysa Liu dropped an f-bomb on live teevee. How could I? I personally tend to swear like a sailor, and honestly, her statement perfectly captured that moment, didn’t it? She just skated out onto the ice and proceeded to execute on the kind of flawless level we only expect from the very greatest of athletes. We’re talking, oh, that game in the NBA finals that year when Michael Jordan just started raining down three’s against a hapless opponent (I think it was the Trail Blazers). The only thing I’ve seen like Liu’s performance yesterdayDown the rabbit hole….

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Last week I featured Donna Summer. This week, I’m going to do so again. This one’s pretty trippy: It’s a suite of three songs, joined together to make one big nearly eighteen-minute suite. The main attraction is “Macarthur Park”, a song that weds an amazing tune to some of the weirdest lyrics ever written. But the way Donna Summer sings this stuff…I’d listen to her sing the Alphabet Song, to be honest. And I’ve just learned that “Macarthur Park” is the music for figure skater Alysa Liu’s long program, so I might hear it tonight! Don’t spoil the results forDown the rabbit hole….