This excellent bit of business has been around for a while, but Doug Ramsay’s excellent jazz blog Rifftides turned me on to this a while ago. It’s very good. The music, as we all know, is “Leap Frog”, with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
Married Writer and Publisher in Same Name Shock
This evening we are having a small party at our home to say goodbye to two of our dearest friends who are breaking our hearts by moving away from Columbia, to Washington D.C. David is a proper blogger – he is the managing editor of the excellent Talking Points Memo – and he is relocating to open up their Washington …
How to Eat Ice Cream
My father took these photographs while we in France last month. This is in a restaurant in Albi, near to my parents’ home. This is my daughter Catherine, who is four, and who is displaying a gratifyingly Epicurean streak. Good to the last drop, or dollop. Update: my mother has written to tell me, somewhat indignantly, that she was the …
We Always Swing
I’ve just received an advanced preview of the We Always Swing Jazz Series line-up for the upcoming season, its fifteenth. It’s an astonishing list, with world-class talent and a whole bunch of shows that I can’t wait to see. Once it’s been formally announced, I’ll write about it some more here. I’ve heard more live jazz in Columbia, Missouri than …
That Old Cape Magic
I got my hands on the new Richard Russo yesterday. Blogging activities may fall off for the next few days. (It strikes me now that this should have been filed under the “Distractions and Prevarications” series.)
Rise and Shine
Here’s a great post from Leo Babauta of the excellent Zen Habits blog about the benefits of getting up early. I started writing in the mornings because I realized that the only way I could guarantee myself time to write every day was if I started early, before the rest of the world was up. Evenings were often busy (less so …
The Benefits of Youth
There’s an old cliché that the US and the UK are two countries “divided by a common language”. Despite the long and generally amicable relationship between the two places (if you, you know, forget about the war of independence), people still relish the little things that divide us, like the funny way I talk. When I first arrived in America …
Distractions and Prevarications, Part 4
One of my greatest regrets is that I cannot write while I listen to music. I need my quiet. There is no such thing as background noise for me. The music rushes to the forefront of my consciousness, demanding attention, and I can no longer hear the words I’m forever trying to grasp. Sentences swim in front of me but …
Suddenly Homesick…
… I have just seen that on October 15 Brad Mehldau will be playing a duo gig with Josh Redman at the Wigmore Hall in London. The Wigmore Hall is principally a classical music venue, but it will suit these two nicely, I would think. I remember going there on a school trip in about 1985 to listen to my …
A New Perspective
I went flying on Sunday morning. Hallam and I drove to an airfield about twenty miles away from where we live. It was a beautiful day – clear blue skies, and not a cloud to be seen. After a while a small plane landed gracefully on the short runway and taxied to a stop. Out of it climbed our friends …