Greetings, Programs!
Welcome to my outpost on the Interweb! I write SF, fantasy, and horror for fun and profit. Other interests include music, nature, science, humor, food, bib overalls, and pie throwing (metaphorically AND literally). About Me Comments Policy Photo Gallery My Books: The Song of Forgotten Stars
Other BooksHow to make Buffalo Chicken Soup A Pie in the Face is a Wonderful Thing!
Where to Find Me On Social Media Facebook
(rarely updated)
BlueSky Threads Tumblr Instagram Flickr YouTube Tiktok (pending) My Substack: Dispatches from the Forgotten Stars SUPPORT!
If you like what you see here, consider supporting! See “My Books” in the pages above, or use these donation links. 
-
Category Archives: music
Something for Thursday (Leonard Cohen edition)
For purposes of this weekly feature, let’s make the balance of September “Leonard Cohen Month”. Cohen was born in September 1934, and I feel like focusing on him a bit and waiting twelve years for his centennial doesn’t seem all … Continue reading
Tone Poem Tuesday
Today we have a work of the kind that I find deeply challenging to write about, because I know so very little about this whole approach to music in the first place. It’s an avant-garde piece by 20th century Greek-French composer … Continue reading
Something for Thursday
In honor of his eighty-seventh birthday today, here is conductor Seiji Ozawa leading the Vienna Philharmonic in Strauss’s overture to Die Fledermaus. Happy birthday, Maestro Ozawa! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dp73Jzypw8
Tone Poem Tuesday
There’s something particularly fascinating about the composers who labored in the Soviet Union in the 20th century. These artists had to walk a very fine line between personal expression and the creation of art that would earn the approval of … Continue reading
Something for Thursday
Here’s a sad song about a relationship coming to an end. Gordon Lightfoot wrote “If You Could Read My Mind” about his own divorce, and the lyrics are shot through with the bitterness of a man who realizes that the … Continue reading
Tone Poem Tuesday
A very modern work today. Karel Husa (1921-2016) was Czech by birth, being born in Prague. When he was just 33 he emigrated to the United States, where in addition to being a celebrated composer he taught for decades at … Continue reading
Something for Thursday
I heard this song…someplace online, a week or two ago. I honestly don’t recall where. I think someone used it as a background on their video about something else. But I love this singer’s voice–husky and soulful in her lower … Continue reading
Tone Poem Tuesday
You know the drill: When I’ve not really had time to listen to anything specific and write insightful commentary about it, I turn to Franz Von Suppe’s operetta overtures. Here’s a very good performance of Suppe’s Morning, Noon, and Night in … Continue reading
Something for Thursday
I saw Grease when it came out. I was no older than 7. I went with my sister. We were living in Elkins, WV at the time. That was the first time I saw Olivia Newton-John. Now, Newton-John was never a … Continue reading
Tone Poem Tuesday
I heard this piece of joyously bombastic music on the radio last week, and as I wondered what it was, I found myself thinking, “This sounds like the kind of thing John Williams would write for the Olympics.” Now, I’m … Continue reading