HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAESTRO! PART 2
WE ARE CELEBRATING the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein. After a triumphant conducting debut in 1943, at age 25, Bernstein composed the ballet Fancy Free in 1944. … Continue reading
HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY, MAESTRO! PART 1
LET’S CELEBRATE the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein. In fact, let’s do it in Part 1 today and Part 2 tomorrow. Bernstein’s immense talents have given pleasure … Continue reading
ON ALFRED NOBEL AND GÖSTA MITTAG-LEFFLER—A RUMOR SQUELCHED PART 2
ADDRESSING THE RUMOR of why there’s no Nobel Prize in Mathematics, yesterday’s SimanaitisSays wrote about the two principals, Alfred Nobel himself and fellow Swede and mathematician Gösta Mittlag-Leffler. It concluded … Continue reading
ON ALFRED NOBEL AND GÖSTA MITTAG-LEFFLER—A RUMOR SQUELCHED PART 1
UNBEKNOWNST TO Alfred Nobel’s family, friends, and colleagues, this Swede bequeathed 94 percent of his fortune to establishing five annual prizes: in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. … Continue reading
ON BACH, VON KEYSERLING, GOLDBERG—AND GOULD PART 2
YESTERDAY AT CENTERSTAGE we had Bach’s Goldberg Variations and how they got their name from the insomniac Count von Keyserling’s harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg. Today, Glenn Gould still delights us … Continue reading
ON BACH, VON KEYSERLING, GOLDBERG—AND GOULD PART 1
THE MUSIC of Johann Sebastian Bach has delighted me ever since I realized that music was more than patty-cake. I’m not a musician of any sort. But a far-sighted Cleveland … Continue reading
KABUKI ART—AND A GREAT NEW SOURCE
I LOVE THE art of Kabuki and find I have much in common with a Frenchman who goes by the name Shôriya Aragôrô. It is he who researches, composes and … Continue reading
CELEBRATING THE ZILDJIAN FAMILY—ALL 400 YEARS OF IT
AT ONE TIME, our next door neighbors were a cymbal salesman and a violist. She played professionally and, as I recall, he also had gigs as an orchestral percussionist. They … Continue reading
THE ART OF MILTON GLASER
LET’S CELEBRATE Milton Glaser, graphic artist extraordinaire, renowned for everything from “I ❤️ NY” to the psychedelic Bob Dylan poster to logos for, among others, Brooklyn Brewery, DC Comics, and … Continue reading
GASOLINE RATIONING AND OLD-TIME RADIO PART 2
YESTERDAY’S TOPIC here at SimanaitisSays offered details of U.S. gasoline rationing during World War II. Today, a SiriusXM “Radio Classics” broadcast of Lum and Abner describes its effect on the … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 