Words and Music

Working in Coffeehouses Dept .: There’s a monochromatic consistency to the interior of a Panera Bread outlet that’s quietly reassuring, a pa...

On the Right Track Dept. : Do you know where you’re headed next year? Neither do I. So let’s wander back a couple of decades for another nos...

29 December 2014 | Photo by B. A. Nilsson

Moving On Dept .: Five years ago, I wrote about a recently opened pastry shop on Albany’s Lark Street. I was amazed and impressed to find su...

Photographer and date unknown

From the Tech Vault Dept .: It’s tough to remember the pre-digital image days of VHS tapes and the like, but 20 years ago it seemed state-of...

From the Year-End Vault Dept .: Let’s glide back 20 years for a wistful look at the Albany-area eateries that impressed me the most in 1994....

CHRISTMAS IN MY HOUSE would seem fairly austere to you. We decorate for the holiday, but with what I consider admirable restraint. We do not...

Guest Blogger Dept .: So much that we take for granted was hard won only a short time ago. Ruth Hale campaigned fiercely for a woman’s right...

From the Vault Dept .: More chaff from the back of a file-cabinet drawer. This piece has to date from early 1983, just before the marriage r...

From the Slush Pile Dept .: Here’s a piece that turned up as I searched for something else in a file cabinet recess. I’m guessing I wrote it...

Here's another opinion about tomorrow's Caffe Lena concert in which I'm performing. The opinion in question happens to be mine, ...

Making a List, Checking It Twice Dept .: I prefer cookbooks that give me more than mere recipes, and the ones on this list are particularly ...

Keep on Plugging Dept .: My latest press release for Friday’s holiday show at Caffè Lena, and I’m leaving it in the third person although, w...

What’s in Store? Dept. : You’re trying to find a gift for a classical-music minded friend? Try some of my recommendations.                ...

13 December 2014 | Photo by B. A. Nilsson

To reinforce yesterday's review of the forthcoming Anonymous 4 album "1865," here's a teaser from Harmonia Mundi:

THE OPENING STRAINS of the opening song – “Weeping, Sad, and Lonely” – are so ethereal, so gorgeous, that when we reach the lyric – Oft in...

From the Back of the Fridge Dept .: Over a decade ago, and for a very brief time, there was an excellent diner not far from my house. What I...