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An interesting discussion erupted over on Twitter the other day, occasioned by this tweet: https://twitter.com/nakedvix/status/1448595705128529920 Almost exclusively the discussion hewed to one side of this argument: that it is, in fact, deeply silly to suggest that a reader is insulting an author by leaving a book unfinished, for whatever reason. One writer and book commenter and critic and reader after another came forth to insist that no, as a reader, you absolutely should stop reading books that for whatever reason aren’t clicking for you. You owe the author nothing, and there is utterly no insult to an author simply because one reader didn’tDown the rabbit hole….

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That certain night, the night we met There was magic abroad in the air There were angels dining at the Ritz And a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square…. I have nothing much to add by way of discussion; sometimes it’s good to just get out of the music’s way. Here’s Tori Amos. Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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Sometimes people cite the lack of browsing as a reason why it sucks that the independent bookstore has fallen on hard times in these, the Days of Amazon and other online retailers. And that’s true: one of the great joys for me, as a bookish person, is wandering through the shelves of this bookstore or that, seeing what random things I may find that I didn’t even know I wanted (while likely carrying around a stack of things I already knew I wanted). Well, indie bookstores seem to be rebounding of late, but there’s another place where you can getDown the rabbit hole….

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Jean Sibelius wrote The Bard in 1913, when he was entering the late period of his compositional life. The work has little by the way of orchestral fireworks; while there is power, this is no showpiece. It is instead a work of surprising introspective depth in its short running time (about seven minutes, give or take, depending on the conductor). The mood is hushed and meditative, and somehow manages to stay hushed and meditative, even when it does crescendo toward the end. The inspiration for this work isn’t easy to tease out. Some think it was perhaps a movement from another largerDown the rabbit hole….

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Yes, it appears that our most recent stretch of warm days is finally over, which means temperatures in the forecast that don’t break above 60 degrees, and even cooler nights. It’s been a long time coming, folks…I’m even hearing that in what I’m sure will be surprising to absolutely nobody, this may end up being the warmest October ever, at least in my neck of the woods. On the anniversary this past week of 2006’s “Surprise storm”, in which lake-effect snow pounded Buffalo, wrecking thousands of trees that hadn’t dropped all their leaves yet, we were in shorts because it wasDown the rabbit hole….

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Since The Wife has been working remotely at home for over a year, at times she has had to allow Carla to hang out in her home office with her as she works. Carla does have a crate, as does Cane, but we don’t like to crate Carla for long periods of time. (Retired racing greyhounds are used to their crates and even like them.) The Wife has a particular soft blanket that she likes to use as a wrap for those cold times in her office, but Carla has, in the grand tradition of our domesticated pets, decided thatDown the rabbit hole….

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Paddy Moloney, the great front-man for the Celtic band The Chieftains, has died. He was 83. In my musical life, Paddy Moloney ranks very high. Very high. When I list musical figures who shaped my world and the way it sounds in my heart, Paddy Moloney is right up there with John Williams, Hector Berlioz, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Leonard Bernstein, Annie Lennox, and Sam Cooke. I can tell you when I first heard each one of those artists, and I can tell you when I first heard Paddy Moloney and The Chieftains. I don’t know why I remember this with suchDown the rabbit hole….

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I watched the Blue Origin flight yesterday, in which William Shatner joined three others in the very short up-and-back-again space shot yesterday in Jeff Bezos’s interestingly-shaped spacecraft. I have to admit to a certain amount of cynicism as I’ve watched the breathless reactions in recent years to the achievements of a tiny handful of ultra-wealthy white men who have apparently decided that the best thing to do with their vast sums of money, sums that it seems to me a sane society would make it impossible to accumulate in the first place, is to replicate things that the United StatesDown the rabbit hole….

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Here are two photos of the Buffalo Niagara region, taken from atop Chestnut Ridge! The first is clearer, but the second is obviously a wider shot, in which can be seen in the distance the skyline of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. (Note that Niagara Falls, NY has no visible skyline from this distance, which is a statement in itself.) Here’s the wider shot! I took both of these with my still-new-enough-to-me-to-call-it-new new phone. I have to say, I really love that waiting three or four years to get a new phone allows enough improvements to make me say, “Holy crap, myDown the rabbit hole….

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No doubt all of you* have been asking, “Look, dude, all this music writing and book stuff and all is great, but what’s new with your bib overalls collection?!” And I am always one to give the public what it wants**, so here’s something new! You may remember*** last year, when I acquired a pair of vintage Hickory-striped overalls in the Washington Dee Cee label. I was searching for these for quite a while, because they employ different styling in the bib pocket than most other overalls in my collection. Well, naturally, if you buy a pair of striped overallsDown the rabbit hole….