"Sing us a song tonight"


Chamber Music Magazine: The Piano Man gives back (June, 2007)

“Composer Laura Kaminsky was looking for scholarship money. She has started in 2004 as dean of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, part of the State University of New York, and soon identified some specialized area that needed funds that could not come out of a state budget. Chief among them: a graduate string quartet-in-residence. Help was on its way. “Out of the blue, we got a phone call,” Kaminsky reports. “The man told us he was representing a distinguished person in the entertainment field who had selected a number of musical institutions for grants of approximately a quarter-million each. The net result: This fall, the young iO quartet came to Purchase as its first Billy Joel String Quartet in Residence.”

Billy Joel, who is not motivated to write pop songs, despite his current single, performed around here recently, giving his fans what they came for; the preview story is here.

What brought this to mind is a book somebody gave me some years ago – it has a 1991 copyright – about the worst songs, the worst albums, and the worst rock and roll performers. At #1, worse than Paul McCartney, who was a runner-up, was Billy Joel.

I don’t buy it.

I saw Billy Joel back in 1973 or 1974, in the gym at my college, SUNY New Paltz. The band got lost somewhere between Long Island and our upstate town right on the Thruway and the concert started over two hours late. He was stiff and was practically glued to his piano stool. But somewhere along the line, he became, well, “The Entertainer”, putting lots of personality into his performances. I have a handful of Joel albums, including one of the first CDs I ever bought, his greatest hits volumes 1 & 2.

Oh, BTW, Billy Joel is 58 today.

ROG

ROG

She’ll Need Schoolin’

For me, one of the motivating factors of urban life is my long-standing belief that if the middle class leaves the city, the city will die and the ‘burbs around it will as well.

Anyway, I was having this discussion about wanting Lydia to go to school in the city, if at all possible. There was a story last month in the paper about the 38% graduation rate at Albany High School. (A later story noted a reporting error on the part of the school, so that the number was really a still dismal 53%.) Her elementary school is brand new. The middle school is problematic, though I don’t know how it’ll be seven years from now, and I indicated that, by the time she’s ready for that level, perhaps we’d put her in private school, or even home school her, but that abandoning the city was not my desire. To which someone noted, “Do you want to sacrifice your daughter for an ideal?”

You have no idea how much this ticked me off.

I never criticize those people who move out of the city to do what they think is best. But I don’t want to be criticized for staying and trying to make things better. I noted that suburban schools are not bereft of problems; note the location of many of the mass school shootings.

Anyway, this article, which eventually be at a different address in the Metroland archives, best expresses my love for the city.
ROG

ROG

Me Me

People Envy Your Generosity

You’re a giving soul, and you’d do almost anything for those you love. And they’d do anything for you!
People may envy how giving you are, but more than anything, they envy those you open your heart to.

This is terrible. It’ll ruin my image as a hard-boiled, brooding hermit.
***
Barbara Waters used to be mocked for asking, in several of her interviews, “What kind of tree would you be?” Well, apparently I’m a weeping willow.
***
Rumor has it that the movie Spider-Man 3 has come out recently. It cost about a third of a gazillion dollars, but will probably make a full gazillion, so it’ll still turn a profit. I saw the first movie, even own it on VHS, but haven’t seen the second one yet. I will, I will. Here’s a review or two or three, all somewhat more favorable than the lukewarm consensus so far.
***
I’ve seen this a couple places recently. It dovetails well with a Bill Moyers special on selling the war, and the press buying it, which I watched recently that I hope you watched – excellent.
ROG

ROG

The Right Outcome

Schadenfreude doesn’t begin to cover it. I am SO happy that the primary person mentioned here and here is going to jail that I’m seriously thinking about being present at his sentencing. The former barber and, incredibly, assistant Secretary of State, was not only greedy, but arrogant, rude and surprisingly…I’m looking for a less harsh word for stupid. If you were on the phone, he’d want to talk with you – NOW – and would have a hissy fit if he didn’t get his way. Someday, they’ll be LOTS more to say on this. Knowing him, though, he’ll probably end up in a place like this. Still, just know that the news has made me giddy all week.
***
Oh, and one of his patrons came up with the damndest reasons for opposing Governor Spitzer’s gay marriage proposal, reports Uthaclena here: “This governor has his priorities wrong… given the fatal shooting of a state trooper this week, Spitzer should be worried more about bringing back the death penalty for those who kill police officers.”

Wha?

OK, so I do oppose the death penalty; I’m not convinced of its efficacy, among other things, and there are too many errors by the criminal justice system. And I do support gay marriage, and it’s enhanced, interestingly, by my interpretation of my reading of this week’s lectionary passage from Acts 11:1-18. But what precludes the NYS legislature from, e.g., introducing BOTH a death penalty bill AND a gay marriage bill? It’s not that they are somehow overworked. Moreover, the stated motivation for the death penalty for cop killers legislation NOW is that recent death of a New York State trooper by accidental friendly fire. To be fair, right after this recent shooting of a state trooper – six dead in 13 months – the state senator was concentrating on the death penalty instead of campaign finance reform.
***
I’m at my annual work conference last week, and two people come up to me to settle a dispute – being both a librarian and a JEOPARDY! champ, this happens a lot. The question: did Mork and Mindy start off as a spinoff of Happy Days? Why, yes it did, though only Mork appeared. (And in the “not that you asked” category, Happy Days was initiated from a segment of Love, American Style.) Anyway, Mork & Mindy reminded me of Tom Poston, who appeared on that show, three different Bob Newhart shows, and To Tell the Truth, all of which I watched regularly. I had forgotten that he was married to Suzanne Pleshette, who played Newhart’s wife on The Bob Newhart Show. Anyway, the actor, who also guested on many a series I watched, died recently, alas.
***
Art in less than 10 minutes.
***
Locally, here’s how to celebrate 50 years since the opening of West Side Story on Broadway!
ROG

ROG

Stress Busters QUESTION


I’m pretty sure that my wife gave me a gift certificate for a massage. not a massage from her, but from a professional outfit. (Not that I mind getting one from her.) It’s been two months, I just came from a conference, I need to go to another soon, and have I gotten this massage? I have not.

That recent report suggesting that boomers may be less healthy indicated that stress, along with weight, long commutes and the like, as one of the factors.

So, what I want to know is simple in concept, and perhaps difficult to achieve. How do you relax? Yoga, meditation, alcohol, drugs, television, turn off the TV, game night? We here at Ramblin’ will not judge you on this; we just want to know.
***
Another way to relax is to laugh well. Some news report, in anticipation of the Republican Presidential debate this past week, indicated that it would be moderated by “Christ Matthews”. I wrote a comment indicating that Matthews had a big enough ego without having a Christ complex. Curiously, they didn’t print my reply; they did, however, fix the post to “Chris”.
***
Is this a real story? George Bush Receives Purple Heart Award.

ROG

ROG
Ramblin' with Roger
Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial