Words and Music

From the Jazz Vault Dept .: How nice to note that 35 years ago, almost to the day, I was enjoying my first live-concert exposure to guitaris...

From the Classical Vault Dept. : First, let me note that Max Lifchitz remains, as I write this, a distinguished member of the faculty at SUN...

Guest Blogger Dept .: Robert Benchley points out that he hasn’t been featured on these e-pages since late last year. Fear not, my friend: th...

From the Classical Vault Dept .: Here are liner notes I wrote for a proposed CD release of Bohuslav Martinů’s Violin Sonatas, which would ha...

From the Jazz Vault Dept .: I regret that I was unable to attend the concert described below, but I did see Nick Brignola perform on other o...

From the Smut Vault Dept .: Alongside those straight-up, technically detailed pieces I wrote for a variety of computer magazines in the earl...

From the Tech Vault Dept. : I can’t find tearsheets for this piece, which I wrote for Computer Life magazine in 1995 or so. This means you’r...

From the Classical Vault : These anniversaries can be tedious, but I, at least, find it interesting to see what I was doing on this date in ...

From the Food Vault Dept. : It’s long gone, I’m afraid. Owner Victoria Gelaj sold Pasquale's and moved south, the better to deal with so...

 From the Classical Vault Dept .: One memorable weekend twelve years ago, the Albany Symphony gave a pair of concerts at a spiffy new hall i...

From the Classical Vault Dept. : The bane and glory of a performing artist is the incessant touring the job demands. But this has allowed me...

Guest Blogger Dept. : Let’s welcome back Barry Pain with the third chapter of his wonderfully droll book Eliza . Chapter one is here , two i...

EDWARD SOREL’S COVER ART for his book Profusely Illustrated pictures him at a drawing board, pen poised in his right hand. In all other res...

From the Classical Vault Dept. : It numbs me sometimes to think that a review such as the one below was crafted 34 years ago. Although my do...

NORWEGIANS DON’T WAIT for a holiday to put treats on the table. This I know, having grown up with a Norwegian grandmother. So did Isabel Bur...

From the Classical Vault Dept. : Stripling that I was at the time, I remember that there was some excitement in the music press when Ursula ...

From the Food Vault Dept. : Albany’s expansive food co-op has been in business for 45 years. Since the time I wrote the piece below, it move...

WHAT DO BEETHOVEN, CHOPIN, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Haydn, Dvořák, and Grieg have in common? You’ll find their music in vintage jazz recording...

I'd like to share another of my video collaborations with Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, this time realizing a project she suggested to hono...

Guest Blogger Dept. : Mark Twain’s recently published autobiography runs three volumes, or two and a half if you discount the padding at the...