I still owe him a much longer post, but meantime, this past Saturday marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein, one of the greatest musicians this country has ever produced. Here he is conducting the music of another of America’s greatest musicians, Aaron Copland, in his Appalachian Spring ballet. This is still the finest performance of this work I know.
Something for Thursday
Behold…THE GEEKIVERSE!!!
The Geekiverse is a website run by some Buffalo-Niagara region geeky folk, and I have joined their ranks as a writer/commentator! My main input over there will be a regular column called “Curios from the Outer Rim”, in which I’ll discuss older items of geeky interest (my arbitrary rule is at least 15 years old), hoping to shine some light on things whose initial interest levels have faded or which have even lapsed into a bit of obscurity.
My first installment is a response to one of The Geekiverse’s podcasts, which in turn discussed “The Best Summer Movies”. Future installments are on the way!
I also provided an article for the site about the 2018 Hugo Awards, which were just handed out this past Sunday at Worldcon in San Jose, CA.
Exciting things are afoot! Check out The Geekiverse!
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Behold…THE GEEKIVERSE!!!
Check this out, folks: I have joined local geek commentary website The Geekiverse as a staff writer! Huzzah!!
In addition to other things, I’ll be mainly writing a regular column I’m calling Curios from the Outer Rim, in which I look at geeky stuff that’s at least fifteen years old, so as to balance the ever-present focus on what’s coming out today/this weekend/this month/this year. My first installment is live now, so go take a look!
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Tone Poem Tuesday
Remember how in the movie Amadeus Antonion Salieri is presented as a basically competent composer whose music might have been nice at the time but deserved its fade from memory? Well…no, Salieri was no Mozart. But he wasn’t a boob, either. He was prolific and talented…like many a composer, really. And the movie, though great, took significant liberties with musical history. Salieri did not hound poor Mozart to his death, even if their relationship was frosty.
Here is the overture to his opera Les Horaces. This is not the work of “a mediocrity”!
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Recent walks
First Signing, in the books!
So my first-ever book signing is in the rear-view mirror!
How did it go? Well…in truth it was a mixed bag. Sales weren’t great, but that is due to a very slow day for foot traffic at that bookstore, which the owner said was highly unusual. He speculated that a local music festival was drawing people away, and he apologized for how slow it was every time he came out onto the porch to see us sitting there.
We had a few sales, but nothing major. That, however, really wasn’t the point. The point was to get our feet wet with this sort of thing, to get some experience that can be applied to the next event, just as soon as that happens. We also did a lot of discussion of the Geekiverse website, which I will be joining next week as a writer (huzzah!). Lots of exciting things are happening…including the release of The Chilling Killing Wind, of which I’ll have more to say next week! (Hint: I may post the book’s prologue.)
Onward! Upward! Zap! Pow!!
(Lower photo courtesy Pete Herr of The Geekiverse. In my defense I wasn’t entirely sure if I was supposed to be smiling there. And also note the photographic evidence that I can, in fact, not wear overalls at times.)
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Something for Thursday
Tone Poem Tuesday
We did a piece by Vasily Kalinnikov last week, so this week…let’s do another one!
Just as last week I was unable to dig up much actual information about the Bylina Overture, so too am I unable to find a lot out about The Cedar and the Palm, which is a “symphonic picture” written in 1898 (which happens to be the year my maternal grandmother was born). Here it is:
