I’ve always been a whistler. Always, though it frequently drives my wife, my boys, and my co-workers — even, ironically, me — nuts. Actually, maybe I should rephrase that: I’d always considered myself a whistler. Until the day I heard this for the first time: My folks listened to Roger Whittaker religiously when I was growing up. Especially on Fridays, when we did the majority of our housecleaning. So many fond memories. (Yes, I like housecleaning. Does that make things... Read more
Last night was nerve-wracking. Crawford was surprisingly spectacular, and Kershaw was solid. The defense was neither. Freddy Garcia was crafty (as I feared he would be). The Braves were scrappy (as I knew they would be). After six, all we knew for sure was that it was as if none of those innings had even happened. We were back to Square One. Only without Kershaw. Great. As you can imagine, things got very tense in the house right around the 7th inning.... Read more
A few months back, this post popped into my NotGoogleReader®. Like so many of my memories — lying dormant ’till rudely awoken by the triggers of unexpected images and sounds — it instantly reminded me of my mostly-misbegotten youth. And of one of my all-time favorite TV show openings: the animated sequence from PBS’ Mystery! I suppose it’s no surprise, given my fascination with animated things (and with title sequences). But the recollection was so instantaneous and so powerful, I decided... Read more
We have no use for melodramatic Starkian warnings here in Wyoming. Winter isn’t “coming;” it is, or it is not. Yesterday evening, I walked home across a chilly, rainy, snowless landscape. This morning, this: I’ll bet the Public Works folks are less than thrilled, but the boys sure do love it. Well, most of the boys love it. Nathan is a bit more…restrained in his enthusiasm. “Mother, look! What’s all that white stuff?” Attribution(s): I am responsible for all the photos (and... Read more
Franz Joseph Haydn is easily most famous for his symphonies. And so he should be. Yet as an inveterate contrarian, I’ve long had a soft spot for his lesser known chamber music and concerti. (And yes, I realize that saying something is lesser known than Haydn’s symphonies is a far, far cry from saying it’s obscure. But comparatively…) His baryton trios, for example — composed during his employment by “renowned” barytonist Prince Nikolaus Esterházy — are wonderful. So are his horn works. But... Read more
Nathan, our youngest, has reached that hilarious transitional stage where he adjusting from receiving his sustenance almost exclusively through breast-feeding to actually eating solid foods. (And by “solid,” I mean “mostly mashed bananas and rice cereal mixed with yogurt,” of course.) He’s both extraordinarily adept — I guess that goes with the early walking — and almost insatiable. Especially that last one. There’s a voraciousness and desperate speed to his eating, so I can barely keep up. No sooner does... Read more
View image | gettyimages.com The Susanka Seven are huge Tintin fans. Well, I guess I can’t speak of Nathan’s fandom definitively. Not yet, anyway. But the older 85% are passionately committed. Even The Sixth, Cormac, reads Hergé with regularity. Many’s the time I’ve found him sitting calmly in the basement, leafing through one of the wonderful “Adventures of Tintin” volumes that adorn the floor-to-ceiling shelves of his bedroom. Right before bedtime. (OK, so I’m not always sure how much of his demeanor is Tintin... Read more
I (semi-unexpectedly) spent the last three days almost entirely unplugged. First, because a late September snowstorm knocked out all power at the office until surprisingly late in the weekend. And second, because we embarked on an exciting three-day Hunter Education course with all of the boys. Yep, you heard me. ALL. THE. BOYS. As a result of the former, I’ve spent most of the morning being terrified of my feedreader/inbox and responding to emails as quickly as possible. And as a result of... Read more
This comes from Ola Gjeilo, a contemporary Norwegian composer I’ve been exploring of late: There isn’t anything wrong with dissonance, as conflict and discord is a natural part of life and necessary for all positive development and maturation. And in most areas of society, conflict is something we very much want to resolve. But in a great deal of avant-garde art, the goal seems to be to stay in the conflict itself, which to me becomes a way of just inflicting the listeners with our own neurosis. Dissonance and... Read more
I’m a sucker for Improv Everywhere. They’re a blast. (And their mission statement moonlights as a description of The Susanka Seven. “Prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places?” I’m living that every day.) But their latest offering hits new heights of awesome, even for them. For our latest mission, we put a Carnegie Hall orchestra in the middle of New York City and placed an empty podium in front of the musicians with a sign that read,... Read more
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