Words and Music

From the Recorded Vault Dept .: It appears now that most of the big-time record labels have run out of reissues. Boxed sets used to rain upo...

From the Culinary Vault Dept .: Are you in the mood for some hot dogs? The secret of the little wieners we’re talking about is both that the...

From the Back of the Vault Dept .: Thirty-some years ago, composer Tom Savoy and I wrote a musical titled Presenting Lily Mars , based on a ...

IT HAPPENS WHENEVER I ENTER a convenience store or restaurant or laundromat or – really, any place where two or more people are gathered. It...

From the Musical Vault Dept .: During the past few days, we heard from composer Vincent Plush and violinist Stephanie Chase as they prepar...

From the Vault Dept. : Yesterday’s post reprinted my 1989 interview with composer Vincent Plush, who had enlightening and envy-provoking th...

From the Vault Dept .: The issue of America’s musical identity has dogged this country since its founding, and, more than any other topic, h...

From the Food Vault Dept. : The seasonal eateries are coming back to life, which means that you can crowd into Kay’s on Burden Lake where th...

YOU WILL HAVE SPENT THE DAY working hard – herding cattle, perhaps – and you’ll come to the table feeling ravenous. Even then, dinner will u...

Photo by B. A. Nilsson | 26 January 2016

From the Communal Table Dept. : It’s time to celebrate betrayal, death, resurrection, rabbits, and eggs, while one considers carefully what ...

The State of the Stage Dept. : Three years ago, I Metroland -reviewed the Glimmerglass Opera’s production of “Camelot,” but denied you, the ...

Beat the Drum Slowly Dept. : The news of the death of chef Jackie Baldwin is too recent as I write this to include much detail, but I at lea...

From the Deli Dept. : Three years ago at around this time I wrote about Helmbold’s Market and Old World Provisions, and it’s been my source ...

From the Vault Dept. : Incorporating music into a non-musical play is a challenge that was well met by Susan Dworkin in “The Old Mezzo,” whi...

From Deep in the Vault Dept. : From my inaugural year as Metroland ’s restaurant reviewer, here’s my first stop at The Stone Ends, a place t...

From the Slush Pile Dept. : Some pieces get lost in the pipeline. Here’s one I wrote for Metroland towards the end of 2012 but which never r...

From the Vault Dept .: I’m champing at the bit just as much as you to get those seeds in the ground, and the way we’ve been teased with hint...

From the Vault Dept .: Dipping way back into my journalistic past, here’s a 1984 Metroland piece written under the pseudonym George Gordon, ...

Photo by B. A. Nilsson