Monthly Archives: January 2011

Shall We Dance?

Posted on January 31, 2011 by midiguru

I enjoy creating new music in my home studio. Trouble is, who is ever going to hear it? The five people who visit my website? Emily Dickinson, who put her poems in a shoebox, is not one of my heroes. … Continue reading →

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Once More, with Feeling

Posted on January 30, 2011 by midiguru

Milton Babbitt has died, at the ripe age of 94. I had never paid much attention to his music; what I knew about it (Babbitt advocated “total serialism”) failed to pique my interest. But today people on Facebook were posting links, so … Continue reading →

Posted in music | 1 Comment

One No Trump

Posted on January 27, 2011 by midiguru

For most of her life, my mother has been an active bridge player. In the 1940s and ’50s, when this started, there pretty much wasn’t any such thing as television. People got together in the evening to play bridge. Until … Continue reading →

Posted in music, society & culture | 4 Comments

What’s the Point?

Posted on January 24, 2011 by midiguru

On a 3-by-5 card tucked into a little tin box of recipes (now, in all likelihood, on its way to the landfill), my mother wrote down a few notes about my childhood accomplishments. After recording my SAT scores, she added, … Continue reading →

Posted in random musings, society & culture | 3 Comments

Is Religious Tolerance Necessary?

Posted on January 23, 2011 by midiguru

The more I think about religion, the more disgusted I become. The evils perpetrated in the name of religion outweigh the good a thousandfold. Not all religions are equally reprehensible, of course. The Quakers seem, from what I’ve read, to … Continue reading →

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Talking Moose

Posted on January 21, 2011 by midiguru

My interview with Pomplamoose is out! It’s featured in the February issue of Keyboard. Not available online, of course — you’ll have to actually buy a copy. (How 20th century.) I don’t remember how I stumbled onto them. They have … Continue reading →

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The Pill Trolley

Posted on January 21, 2011 by midiguru

Three months ago we had to move my mother into an assisted living facility. She’s still pretty sharp mentally, but she needs around-the-clock care. I shopped around and found what seemed to be the best place. It’s clean, the staff is … Continue reading →

Posted in random musings, society & culture | 1 Comment

The Times, They Are a-Changin’

Posted on January 19, 2011 by midiguru

In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins makes some fascinating observations about the forward movement of our collective moral zeitgeist in the past 100 years. The kind of racism, sexism, and rampant cruelty toward animals that was considered normal in 1910 … Continue reading →

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Clay

Posted on January 17, 2011 by midiguru

Tonight I heard a man describe how he got through a tough time in his life — a time when he lacked the emotional resources he needed. He said, “A priest told me I needed to ask God to throw … Continue reading →

Posted in religion | 3 Comments

Why I Am Not a Patriot

Posted on January 16, 2011 by midiguru

Patriotism is widely regarded as a natural and essential virtue. Other views of the matter are, however, defensible. I do not feel even remotely patriotic, and I’m suspicious of the motives and intellectual capacity of those who do. Here are … Continue reading →

Posted in politics, society & culture | 6 Comments