Words and Music

Safe at Home Dept .: Since this piece was published back in April, the Slidin’ Dirty Schenectady location has opened, a very welcome additio...

THERE’S NO SOCIAL MEDIA, no presence of cell phones in “Company” – not surprising, considering that the musical had its Broadway debut in 19...

From the Vault Dept. : Here’s a visit to Union College’s Memorial Chapel for a performance by the superb Nash Ensemble that I reviewed for t...

Guest Blogger: Mark Twain . Maurice Maetrlinck’s Life of the Bee is a wonderfully poetic record of observations and philosophy accrued durin...

THE THEME OF THE FESTIVAL was Chopin; it could as easily been termed “love,” provided we were warned that there would be pairings as unusual...

From Bad to Verse Dept .: This was written to commemorate a visit my wife and I paid to our daughter in her Manhattan dorm over a year ago, ...

From the Recent Past Dept. : Here’s the long version of a review of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine that I wrote for The Alt bac...

Guest Blogger Dept .: Guy Wetmore Carryl is back, with his oh-so-politically incorrect re-telling of an Aesop fable .                      ...

From the Smut Vault Dept .: Back in the early ‘90s, I made a decent amount of money writing for porn magazines under a number of different i...

From the Vault Dept. : The several journeys I made back in the ‘80s to enjoy L’Ensemble performances in a Washington County barn contributed...

“WE’RE VERY BUSY,” says Claudia Crişan, “and I’m always surprised about it.” Her modesty may be genuine, but there’s no cause for it, as she...

From the Tech Vault Dept .: As CD-ROMs came into their own (over 20 years ago!), I was thrilled to see those capabilities put to use burrowi...

WHEN YOUR CAREER PASSION points you towards opera, it must be the arias of Donizetti that inspired you. He perfected bel canto, and, over th...

Guest Blogger Dept. : We welcome back P.G. Wodehouse – and an example of his light verse, much of which was written for Punch in the early 1...

From the Vault Dept .: Re-reading this after 26 years, I was astonished to find images from the movies discussed below bubbling up from the ...

From the Recent Past Dept .: Revisiting a highlight of this year’s concertgoing – David Bromberg at the Cohoes Music Hall, with Austin Shaw’...

21 July 2017 | Photo by B. A. Nilsson

From the Vault Dept .: Dipping back into the Metroland archives, I found another of the utility pieces I cranked out so steadily. This is fr...

From the Computer Vault Dept .: I learned music engraving in the pre-computer days when you needed compass and ruler and an excellent letter...

From the Pantry Dept .: Enjoy this recent piece about Carmen’s Café in Troy, NY – but, even better, enjoy a meal there soon. As an update to...