November 2014
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Glenn Phillips If there is anyone reading this who has heard of Glenn Phillips, I'd like to know. Without looking back over the whole list of people I've posted about this year, I feel pretty sure he is the least-known. I believe–again, without checking–that he's one of the two people I've featured whom I've seen…
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To believe that Darren Wilson was guilty of murder, you have to believe either that a very extensive conspiracy to lie about the evidence exists, or that facts and law are irrelevant when "the community" feels very strongly about something, or both. It looks to me like most of the outrage over the verdict is…
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Robert Randolph There was another guy on the Crossroads 2007 DVD who played a guitar that lies flat and was pretty amazing. This is worlds away from last week's Indian music. Surprisingly, I can't find the 2007 clip on YouTube, but here's one from the 2004 festival. He looks like he's having so damn…
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I am on record as saying I don't care much for stories of static, hopeless suffering. I didn't have to know much about this book to be pretty sure it was one of those, and I have recently learned that it is in fact honored as a classic of misery literature. I would never have read…
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Taylor Swift has a new album out. It's called 1989, and I may or may not hear it. I've always assumed that her music was the sort of commercial pop that doesn't interest me, although I know of two people with excellent taste in music who think highly of her work. (Well, maybe I should say…
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Vishwa Mohan Bhatt Just a country boy and his dobro: I didn't have in mind to venture away from standard guitar in this series. The other night I was watching the 2004 Crossroads concert, a guitar festival organized by Eric Clapton to benefit a drug treatment center he founded. It's two DVDs, four hours,…
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Coincidentally, in relation to our discussion of the situation of the humanities in contemporary education, this piece on that very subject appears in The New Criterion. It's by Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory. He argues–if I may allow myself an over-simplified summary–that the academics who should be fighting to preserve the place of the humanities,…
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I get a daily email from the Catholic News Service summarizing the pope's doings of the previous 24 hours, generally including excerpts from his addresses. Usually I just look at the subject headings, and if it's all appointments of bishops and other Church business I delete the email without reading it. If there's an indication…
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Gary Moore When Jack Bruce died a week or two ago, all the obituaries described him as "former Cream bassist." But Cream only existed for a couple of years, and Bruce had a very long and productive career afterwards, including several albums which are more interesting to me than Cream's stuff. He worked with a…
Light On Dark Water 