Words and Music

Guest Blogger Dept. : It’s refreshing to learn that, along with all of his other passions, Robert Benchley nurtured an environmental awarene...

From the Vault of the Distant Muses Dept. : Alongside the restaurant review I posted last week was a handful of other pieces of mine that a...

From the Food Vault Dept. : Below is a review I wrote in early 1987, when I was about six years old. At least, that’s how it looks to me as ...

From the Classical Vault Dept. : Fifteen years ago, violinist Ray Chen performed in Schenectay, yet another example of a rising star being s...

From the Comedy Vault Dept .: Back in my reviewing heyday, I presented myself as someone able to write knowledgably about many different dis...

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...