It is normally my preference to steer clear of politics in my blog. This is about the arts, not the struggle for power or domination of an opposing faction. With the recent election still fresh in my mind, I feel as though I can’t entirely ignore the political world and its effect on our artistic […]
Do you remember seeing or hearing a piece of comedy that made you laugh long and hard? What a treat that is when it happens! As I delve into the Top Five of my favorite comedy bits, I can’t help but think I’m forgetting one or some. For instance, I marveled at the hutzpah of […]
I’m really asking for it now. Telling you what’s funny. You know what’s funny, right? You don’t need anyone telling you what you should be cracking up about. Oh, but man, do I know funny! I truly get the difference between everyday funny and cream of the crop funny. All right, so we all have our […]
There’ll come a time when all of us must leave here Then nothing sister Mary can do Will keep me here with you As nothing in this life that I’ve been trying Could equal or surpass the art of dying. These are the opening lyrics from George Harrison’s The Art of Dying. I’ve wondered what it […]
There is no legitimate reason why that which you imagine cannot have a place in your everyday earthly existence. You may say I’m a dreamer, but… There are different levels on which a dream can come true. For instance, a person may think, “I’d like to paint.” To make that happen, a person could […]
One person I love playing music with on a regular basis is Phil Loebe, a great tenor, good guitar player and fine percussionist. Phil is legally blind. When he’s directing his gaze in your direction, he isn’t seeing you. Through a new technology, however, life has taken a providential turn for Phil. Following […]
Aretha Franklin has died. Her transition left me feeling sad and somewhat empty. I hated to see that day arrive. I have rarely felt the intensity of loss that I feel for her, at least when it comes to famous people who I’ve never met. Why would this be? We have to go way back […]
Listen…deeply. We spend so much of our time talking, planning, writing in a host of forms, and thinking of what we will say to others’ communication that we miss much of what is happening here and now. Sound is something to fill the stillness that some have come to interpret as a source of […]
Part Three! After our immersion in the ’60’s, ’70’s, ’80’s and ’90’s, their best movies and their film scores, we are primed to bring this pleasurable examination to a conclusion by taking a look at the 20 aughts–2000 through 2009, our fifth decade. The contrast from the first decade to the fifth bring into […]
In Part One, I examined some of the movies and film scores of the 1960’s and 1970’s. In the process, I set aside some of my most treasured films in favor of others I realized may be more deserving of being labeled the best in regard to the most outstanding blend of storytelling […]