All This Useless Beauty: The National Spelling Bee*
Sean MurphyLook: More death and destruction. On TV, obviously. Only this is the worst one yet, the most gruesome, uncomfortable competition I’ve ever made myself suffer through. Worse than football. Worse…
Schizophonia: Cantorial Recordings Reimagined
There is a common theme that connects Yoshie Fruchter with his occasional partners in crime Jon Madof and Aram Bajakian: They all play guitars. More, they have all recorded on…
Mark Twain: The Big Daddy of American Letters (Revisited)
On April 21, 1910, author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, died in Redding, Conn. Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is…
The Song Remains The Same or, The Agony of Influence (Revisited)
Two thoughts from T.S. Eliot: April is the cruelest month... Whatever. Good poets borrow; great poets steal. Now we're talking. And here is where it gets interesting: debate rages (well,…
April 15, 1985: THE FIGHT
IT PROBABLY SAYS SOMETHING about evolution that younger generations see the future as expansive, malleable and positive while the older generations eventually—and inexorably—see the past as safer, simpler and more…
Now’s The Time, A Short Story (Part Five)
The life and times of a minor jazz legend are recounted through his narrated memories. In this fictional treatment of jazz music in the mid-to-late 20th century, issues of race,…
Now’s The Time, A Short Story (Part Four)
The life and times of a minor jazz legend are recounted through his narrated memories. In this fictional treatment of jazz music in the mid-to-late 20th century, issues of race,…
Now’s The Time, A Short Story (Part Three)
The life and times of a minor jazz legend are recounted through his narrated memories. In this fictional treatment of jazz music in the mid-to-late 20th century, issues of race,…
Now’s The Time, A Short Story (Part Two)
The life and times of a minor jazz legend are recounted through his narrated memories. In this fictional treatment of jazz music in the mid-to-late 20th century, issues of race,…
Now’s The Time, A Short Story (Part One)
The life and times of a minor jazz legend are recounted through his narrated memories. In this fictional treatment of jazz music in the mid-to-late 20th century, issues of race,…