BACH IN A MINUTE
I’M HAVING A BALL learning more about the history of music. But not from the work of just any musicologist. Rather, it’s from a favorite author, actor and one-of-a-kind, Stephen … Continue reading
“DO PUT DOWN THE REVOLVER”
THIS WONDERFUL TITLE appeared in the London Review of Books, August 14, 2016, in a book review written by Rosemary Hill, whose other work in LRB I’ve enjoyed. I’m sure … Continue reading
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIMANAITISSAYS!
THIS ITEM BEGINS the fifth year of SimanaitisSays. Once more, I thank you for your readership and interactions. Indeed, celebrating this camaraderie, I recall several notable items of the past … Continue reading
A 1953 TIME CAPSULE—BUGATTI LORE AND MORE
ETTORE BUGATTI, Le Patron, died in 1947, the same year that Road and Track published its first issue. In November 1953, the magazine was six years old when it chose to … Continue reading
“#&*%@!!” HE SAID
A FEATURE IN The Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2016, is titled “Vol. 29, No. 7: Vulgarities.” It updates this newspaper’s treatment of words and phrases that once weren’t uttered … Continue reading
THE WEEKEND
VIOLET CRAWLEY, Dowager Countess of Grantham, delivered a wonderful line at Downton Abbey: She asked, quite innocently for once, “What is a weekend?” The Countess was responding to Matthew Crawley, … Continue reading
R&T, MAY 1954
MY DAD, rest his soul, wasn’t really a car nut. But he was interested in keeping his kid off the streets and out of the pool halls. I’ve forgotten the … Continue reading
AUTOMOTIVE ART—IN PAINT AND PRINT
IN MY CONTINUING quest of bringing a modicum of order to 33 years of R&T memorabilia, I came upon several 24 x 36-in. poster boards that were part of the … Continue reading
IT USTA BE SAID…
COLLOQUIALISMS ARE here today and gone tomorrow. But like this temporal analysis, some remain. A little research and some thinking revealed several gems of both categories, which follow in no … Continue reading
GOVERNING BY WORD
WHAT WITH our being in the midst of highly divisive presidential campaigns, it’s a good time to discuss the etymology of words that are associated with how people rule themselves—or … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 