Words and Music

Let's take a look at a short film I made with Musicians of Ma'alwyck to honor the big Beethoven birthday just passed.

NOVELIST WILLIAM BOYD has long been fascinated by the movies. His 1987 novel The New Confessions combined a nod to Rousseau with an effecti...

From the Food Vault Dept.: Schenectady’s restaurant profile has never matched its demographics, but every now and then a dining establishme...

From the Classical Vault Dept. : Capitol Chamber Artists presented 50 seasons of intimate works throughout the Albany, NY, area. Not surpris...

From the Classical Vault Dept. : Another sweep of the classical-music offerings in the Albany, NY, area in early 1985. And you can see my re...

Guest Blogger Dept .: We welcome, at his debut in this blog, the very prolific Barry Pain (1864-1928), whose series of Eliza books are among...

From the Food Vault Dept .: Albany’s Dumpling House was a revered institution during its two decades of operation, an old-school sit-down re...

From the Classical Vault Dept. : Here’s a little snapshot of the Albany, NY-area concert scene at the beginning of 1985, when the Albany Sym...

From the Classical Vault Dept .: Back when daily newspapers covered classical-music events, I often had the assignment both to preview and r...

From the Theatrical Vault Dept. : At the beginning of 2019, the 92-year-old Hal Holbrook announced that he was retiring his one-man show, “M...

From the Culinary Vault Dept. : Now it’s 40 years for the Raindancer Restaurant in Amsterdam, NY, an area institution that is holding its ow...

From the Theater Vault Dept. : Life during social sequestration has inspired a torrent of movie-musical watching, the more vintage the bette...

From the Vault Dept .: Back in the day, I was eager to write about anything. When there was nobody else available or willing to cover a 1986...

From the Terpsichorean Vault Dept .: Early in my arts-reviewing days, I covered a lot of dance, which was a joy. Then it became apparent to ...

From the Classical Vault Dept .: Conductor Arturo Toscanini’s legacy lives on in an endlessly recycled set of recordings he approved for rel...

From the Vault Dept .: I started the new year, back when the year was 1996, with a list of sardonic resolutions that I, then in the midst of...

From the Food Vault Dept .: One of the joys of skidding into the year’s end was diving into the cookbooks that crossed my desk. Being no fan...

From the Food Vault Dept. : I ended the year 2008 with a review of an Albany-area diner, the Metro 20. Two years later, it changed hands and...

AT SOME POINT during my single-digit Christmas years, I learned to impress my parents and other elders by declaring that what I really, real...

EVEN IN THIS STAY-AT-HOME version of the Christmas season, we're bombarded with music. Music that easily can drive the sensitive human i...