Words and Music

From the Food Vault Dept .: Kabul Night closed a little over a year after I reviewed it, opened again after five months, then closed for goo...

Helluva Town Dept .: The production originated at Barrington Stage in the Berkshires two summers ago, itself an outgrowth of a City Center E...

From the Classical Vault Dept .: The Union College Concert Series is about to wrap up its current season. Tomorrow night the Emerson Quarte...

Spuyten Duyvi l knows the Great American Songbook. Not that Great American Songbook, but the earlier one that was given to us by Harry Smith...

Lily Whiteman and Jane Fonda in rehearsal. 24 April 2015 | Photo by B. A. Nilsson

From the Music Vault Dept .: Checking in with an earlier recording by the dynamic choral ensemble Stile Antico. The term refers to a Baroque...

Author Alert Dept. : As I noted in this earlier post , novelist T.C. Boyle will be reading from his new novel Friday morning (April 24) at T...

From the Vault Dept. : What I remember most fondly about my interview with Chris Norman, which took place over the phone, was his reaction t...

Where Did I Dine a Decade Ago? Dept .: The Turning Stone Resort has revamped its restaurant lineup considerably, replacing the one that’s th...

Table reading of my new play at Albany's Cafe Capriccio. Photo by Lily Whiteman

Pianist Jonathan Biss presented a program of Romantic-era music at Union College’s Memorial Chapel last Sunday that began with its end and f...

Ian Bostridge will be performing Schubert's glorious, daunting "Winterreise" at Schenectady's Union College Memorial Chape...

From the Vault Dept .: T.C. Boyle will be at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY, at 11 AM Friday, April 24, to read from his latest...

Back to the Books Dept .: Another of the book reviews I’ve written over the years, allowing another look at what’s otherwise an unfortunatel...

San Gimignano 25 September 2007 | Photo by B. A. Nilsson

Let’s say Charlie Christian led a group with Roy Eldridge on trumpet, his old boss Benny Goodman on clarinet, Coleman Hawkins on tenor, Basi...

From the Vault Dept .: For many years, the Albany-based chamber group L’Ensemble presented a summer series of concerts in a scenic, incredi...

Stan Freberg has died at the age of 88. I’m about to pass you along to an excellent summary of his life and work, written by his friend and ...

From the Food Vault Dept. : The piece below didn’t help much. Kirker’s closed about 14 months after it ran. Owner John Adams blamed it on a ...

From the Vault Dept .: A bunch of Metroland writers was asked a few years back for an essay on the topic “A DJ Who Changed Me.” Mine happene...