Xenon II
Wednesday update: The more time I spend with these people, the more I like them. Yesterday, we sat around for a few minutes and told something interesting about ourselves. They are interesting indeed: from Rachel, who owns a microscopic Yorkshire Terrier, to John, who is one of seven children, to Brooke, who spelunks in rural [...]
Juju Apocalypse Xenon
That’s the name the singers chose for the small ensemble I direct at the jazz camp. Juju Apocalypse Xenon…get it? I’m really enjoying the kids at the camp. Some good blues being sung; also good scat and even some better-than-average bebop. Most of my nine singers are pop a cappella performers…blues and bop are very [...]
Googling in the Age of Vanity
I’m very honored to be the first to guest here at RtB. Trivia question: who is the only person to guest host the Tonight Show during the Leno tenure? Initially I’d planned to write about my upcoming 20th high school reunion and how I thought it might resemble something out of West Side Story—MySpacers on [...]
Weekend stuff
J’ever want the weekend to get over with? I do. I hate meetings, and I have one tomorrow. Yep, a meeting on Fathers Day. Only thing I can figure out is when Brad scheduled this camp, he figured that FD would be the week before. Ah well. My dad won’t mind. He’s in heaven, where [...]
La cosa nostra
Loosely translated: our thing. Last night, the “thing” was Godfather III. Awesome. Its opening solo trumpet theme has become one of the most familiar pieces of music from any film score in history: The Hollywood Reporter described it as “so instantly recognizable that an audience could probably identify it simply from the melancholy sound of [...]