OPERA GOSSIP
IT’S TIME to approach once more the “razor edge of absurdity” that constitutes opera. This time around, I’m tapping an entertaining book, Opera Anecdotes by Ethan Mordden, and other gossip … Continue reading
HENRY FORD LORE
WHAT WITH his putting America on wheels, paying his workers enough to aspire to those wheels (albeit controlling the workers’ private lives as well), being strongly anti-war, but also notoriously … Continue reading
ORSON’S WAR AND WORLD
THIS IS the 75th anniversary of The Mercury Theater on the Air October 30, 1938, broadcast of H.G. Well’s War of the Worlds. A tale oft told, Orson Welles’ radio … Continue reading
THE NEW BENJAMINS
THERE’S A new $100 bill entering circulation—not that it matters much to me directly, as even Grants ($50s) make me nervous. Nevertheless, these new Benjamins are accompanied by lots of … Continue reading
IMERO FIORENTINO, EXPERT OF LIGHT
WHEN I was in high school, my ambition was to design theater set lighting. Then someone told me that perhaps six people in the entire world specialized in this and … Continue reading
VERDI, HITLER & GODWIN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Joe Greens! In fact, October 10, 2013 is a very special birthday—the 200th of Italian opera composer Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi. Verdi is renowned for such famous operas … Continue reading
VIRGIN ISLAND KITCHEN
THERE’S SERENDIPITY in organizing old books. Where else would I expect to find my signed edition, from 1969, of Erva Boulon’s cookbook? And why else would I research this Virgin … Continue reading
WHY “THE FAT LADY” IS FAT
AS THEY say, “The opera ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings.” And, with evidence of two wonderful cookbooks in my collection, I believe I know why the fat lady … Continue reading
CARS AND THE ‘BURBS
SOME OF those into social engineering delight in disparaging the automobile and its suburban environment. From whatever their view—a luxury midtown loft?—they want to shame us out of the ’burbs … Continue reading
NICK SLONIMSKY
“MUSICOLOGIST” CONJURES up the image of a musty academic muttering something or other about a dominant-seventh chord in Sixteenth Century works for the shawm. But then there was Nicolas Slonimsky, … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 