Words and Music

From the Concert Vault Dept. : Baritone Sanford Sylvan displayed such virtuosity as he moved through his 30s that his resume included appear...

FOR A FEW DECADES during the last century, when classical music was a familiar part of the musical landscape, many jazz bands borrowed tunes...

Critical Drubbing Dept. : A few weeks ago (in this piece ), I recounted my journey from a snotty, full-of-himself critic to a somewhat less-...

THE FIRST BATCH OF V-DISCS shipped to military fighters overseas on Oct. 1, 1943. Less than two years later, we won the war. Many other elem...

From the Classical Vault Dept .: Again (as with last week), going back twenty years, I wrote about two back-to-back concerts that included a...

From the Culinary Vault Dept. : Twenty years ago, I reviewed a restaurant in Saratoga Springs that seemed destined for a long run, but didn’...

 I‘ve Got a Secret RED NORVO STARTED HIS JAZZ CAREER playing xylophone, which isn’t a very shouty instrument, but he was forward-thinking an...

Mark Twain Dept .: It was the fashion, over a century ago, to entertain the public with dialect stories, which could range from the affectio...

TWO WEEKS AGO I posted a review of a biography of American abstract expressionist Barnett Newman that included a review of his work by NY T...

From the CD Vault Dept .: Back when Dorian Recordings was a thriving label based in Troy, NY, the aim was to produce the best-sounding CDs p...

NO PROMINENT ARTIST – at least none who ever talked about it – merged his personal identity so thoroughly with his work as American painter ...

From the Poetry Vault Dept. : I found an old essay of mine that I wrote with no eye to publication. I merely wanted to indulge my persistent...

From the Music Vault Dept .: I noted last week that I seize upon anniversaries as excuses for these postings, and today is no exception. Twe...

I’M SHOCKED TO REALIZE that I’ve been maintaining this blog for fifteen years (not to the day, but close). Its original purpose was to help ...

George Ade Dept. : I’ve heard no reports of an uptick in sales of George Ade’s Fables in Slang despite my promotion of those wonderful work...

From the Food Vault Dept .: This review, which I'd wanted to share much earlier, turned out to be hiding in a computer directory where i...

From the Theater Vault Dept .: Despite my lifelong Lloyd Webber antipathy, I felt inclined to like this show just on the basis of its unusua...

From the Library Dept .: Here’s a ten-year-old book review of mine that I never thought then to post on this blog – so here it is, still, I ...

  From the Recordings Vault Dept. : Every so often, while browsing through my files, I find a piece that I wrote on spec, or possible, as I ...

From the Food Vault Dept. : Here’s a review I wrote 29 years ago about a Jamiacan restaurant in downtown Albany, NY. At the time, it was fai...