My listening post this morning, Christmas morning, is in front of the tree (now laden with presents to be unwrapped later today), with our cat sitting, ludicrously, in the middle of the floor, and the 1947 holiday movie The Bishop’s Wife on in the background. The Bishop’s Wife is a classic through and through. It … [Read more…]
My listening post this evening is with the TV series Grimm in the background, a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon to my left, and a fresh page of a note pad to my right. (If you’ve never seen Grimm, you owe it to yourself. It’s a great cop show set in Portland, Oregon. It’s like a … [Read more…]
My listening post today is the same as it was yesterday. Same lake view. Same gray skies. Same cat tower, only – this time – sans chat. There’s one major difference: The conductor and the orchestra. Today, I find myself listening to French-American conductor Pierre Monteux (1875-1964), the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. … [Read more…]
My listening post this evening is in my recliner in front of the TV, with the classic movie The Dirty Dozen playing in the background. In the foreground is French conductor Pierre Monteux (1875-1964), the Boston Symphony, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor. It’s an interesting juxtaposition, I can assure you. In my … [Read more…]
This morning, under mostly cloudy skies and a temperature of just 56 degrees F., I’m glad to be inside, in another of my Happy Places: a Chick-fil-A restaurnt. But I’m not alone. I have my ninja to keep me company. I like to think he’s a friend. But he’s a ninja. So, like our cat, … [Read more…]
I have a love/hate relationship with Fall. On the love side, I dig the cooler temperatures, the lower humidity, and the snap in the air. As Fall progresses (at least, here in Michigan) I enjoy the changing colors on the trees. October is my favorite month, partly because of Ray Bradbury’s incomparable book Something Wicked … [Read more…]
This morning’s conductor of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major is a fellow I had never heard of before, Frenchman (Pierre Monteux), on an Italian record label I’d never heard of before (Memories Reverence). And those two reasons are precisely why I chose this no-frills box set. And I do mean no frills. There … [Read more…]