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A number of remarks on Vonnegut's passing have made the point that his work is an enthusiasm one outgrows. And I suppose that's true. I thought of him as a one-trick pony, and had no great urge to read more of his work after the three or four that I did read: Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's…
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I did, as promised, finally manage to read that Russell Kirk essay on neo-conservatism, as well as more from the blogger who signs herself neo-neocon. The Kirk essay is pretty much what what you might expect: he is partly sympathetic to the neo-cons, and partly skeptical: sympathetic insofar as the neocons are simply conservative (in…
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I’ve discovered that I can make these posts, which are almost always late, show up in their correct chronological position by changing the posting date. However, that means that they don't show up as the most recent post. So here’s a link to the March 18 entry (a selection of chants from the choir of…
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Bach: St. Matthew Passion Now that I understand why this is considered one of the landmarks of music, I have no intention of trying to communicate that knowledge in a paragraph or two. Not that I would be able to do it justice at any length: aside from my lack of technical knowledge, there is…
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by Joseph Bottum. Good Friday meditation starts with the "Midway on life's journey…" paragraph. If you don't already know the Donne poem he quotes, be sure to click over and read the whole thing. Pre-TypePad http://js-kit.com/for/lightondarkwater.com/comments.js
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Robert Gotcher asks how I convert lps to cds, and I thought I would answer in a post rather than a comment, so it can be found again more easily, as it's going to include some links that are worth remembering. First: Erik supplies this link, which is extremely thorough (thanks, Erik). Second: here's a…
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Van Morrison: Common One The reader who signs himself “Jack” quotes—strikingly in the context—a lyric from this album in a comment on this month-old thread, prompting me to avail myself of it as another Music of the Week entry which I can write about without listening to again. Jack shortens the line a bit: where…
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The discussion about the Incredible String Band got me curious about what Robin and Mike have been doing for the past twenty years or so, so I went over to AMG to look and got a big and intriguing surprise: Robin is now recording for ECM. If you don't know, ECM is very much a…
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Discovering Traherne (2) I mentioned last week that this has so far been a rather unreflective Lent for me. The main problem is the medium by which you’re reading this. It doesn’t do any good, or not much, to turn off the television and stop the flow of hysterical “news” from that source, or to…
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Arvo Pärt: Kanon Pokajanen I’ve heard only a fairly small portion of Pärt’s music, so I can’t say that this is his masterpiece. I do feel justified in saying that it is a masterpiece. I’m sorry that I was not able to get this note onto the web well before Lent was over, as Kanon…
Light On Dark Water 