If you’re the kind of person who follows people on Twitter, and a reader of this blog, you’re invited to join me there as well. I’ve been posting for a while, but haven’t made a lot of noise about it. See you there, I hope!

Long story as to how and why, but within a few days of the Berlin Wall opening on November 9th, 1989, I was on an overnight train from Budapest to Berlin to check out the scene.  Then I was removed from the train in the middle of the night at the...

John Adams’ newly remodeled web site now includes a blog.  Am I the last person to realize this? Posting has been consistent for the past week or so.  The name “Hell Mouth” promises a lot.  I hope he’ll have time to stick with it.  Interestingly,...

Well, now I have Lithuania to add to the list of countries whose folk music to be obsessed with. In a discussion with my teaching colleague Arkadi Serper about what folk music traditions might have influenced Stravinsky’s ear in his youth, I brought...

This was originally part of the previous post. I’m separating it out here because it deserves its own URL for posterity. Seán Deibler, 1947-2009 My college teacher, mentor and great friend ever since then, Seán Deibler passed away on August 19th....