Musical Wanderer

Forty years ago, most of the nation considered the re-election of Richard Nixon in the presidential election of 1972 a sure thing.  His opponent, George McGovern, was an experienced politician yet somewhat unconventional at the time in his policies and constituencies.  Democrats were split in their allegiance, some were for their nominated candidate. (well, for anyone but Nixon), while others left the party for Nixon.  Republicans were solidly behind Nixon's well-funded campaign, which even moderate and liberal members of the party supported. Almost 40 years later, Vincent Gray was the leading candidate to defeat Adrian Fenty whom voters had become disillusioned with due to changes in focus in the city in development and education.  Polls showed any candidate would handily defeat Fenty in the Democratic Primary, the de facto real election in DC.  Fenty's efforts to reach the entire city as the first mayor chosen by the majority of voters in every precinct in e...

Almost 30 years ago, I read the first Tales of the City book.   Today I just finished the eighth book. If you don't know the Tales books by Armistead Maupin, read them, in order.  I don't know anyone who has said after reading one "Well, that sucked."  He wrote the first six books about the lives of the residents of 28 Barbary Lane in San Francisco beginning in 1978 and every two years to 1989, chronicling in fiction life in the city from the wild living of the 1970s  through the AIDS-tempered days of the 1980s.  With the exception of their landlady/mother figure, Mrs. Madrigal, the main characters were in the midst of their youth in the first six books.  He wrote an update to their lives after 20 years in 2007, Michael Tolliver Lives,  and the eighth book in the series, Mary Ann in Autumn  in 2010. The characters in this last book, once young adults in their twenties like me when I first read about their lives, are now middle-aged,...

I took a music theory class when I was a junior in high school.  Though I was an awful trumpet player, I fancied myself a composer, so I took the class.  One day, when singing through harmonizations, the teacher, Mr. Preston, said "Hey, you should join the choir."  I had never sung before but I joined the BCC Choir and Madrigal Singers my senior year and started one of the two great love affairs of my life: one with singing, the other with my wife, Robin. BCC Madrigal Singers, 1979 I found out last night that Mr. Preston died a couple months ago. John Preston 1926-2013 Thanks to Mr Preston, I sang a Bach Cantata (#4), a Mozart mass (K. 257), Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb , and a couple dozen beautiful smaller works the first year I tried singing and learned how beautiful and profound singing could be sang the prelude at a service at the National Cathedral my senior year of high school.  I joined the Choir of the Cathedral almost exactly 20 years ...

I was driving home the other night and heard something on the radio that I had to hear again.  When it was over, the radio host said it was Bach's 6th Partita for piano.  At home, I went through my recordings to see if I had a recording.  When I worked at the late great Olsson's Books , I picked up a cool set of Glenn Gould's recordings on CD, boxed in cardboard sleeves reproducing the original record album covers.  One disc I had never listened to contained the 5th and 6th Partitas, so I popped it in the CD player.  There was a couple filler pieces too. One of the fillers blew me away.  I totally forgot about listening to the Partita.  It was a fugue.  Ok, it was a Bach fugue, so saying it was "a fugue" is like calling the grand canyon "a canyon."  The melody was achingly simple, do re fa mi re do, but it strode effortlessly, almost at peace, with walking counter melodies.  It was a typical Glenn Gould performance, perhaps a little ro...