Hearing New Music Through Vinyl Instagram

I was headed to Los Angeles’ Moroccan Lounge to see grunge-pop band Great Grandpa on March 13th, when a state of emergency was declared for COVID-19. The show was immediately canceled, as were all the others I had tickets to in 2020. Next to go was my favorite in-person music hobby: digging through vinyl bins …

On the Vagaries of Aesthetic Appreciation

In 1978, at age thirteen, I became a Bob Dylan fan thanks to his side of the multi-artist Concert for Bangladesh three-record set. My knowledge of Dylan’s life and work was extremely limited, but I was eager to learn and hear more, and my interest was piqued by his appearance that year in The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese’s …

Zenobia Powell Perry’s ‘Homage’ to William Dawson

Homage (1990) for piano by Zenobia Powell Perry opens with one hand, one line, cantabile. The spiritual “I’ve Been ‘Buked and I’ve Been Scorned” emerges unharmonized, smooth and flowing. Unlike a singer whose breath sustains the tone, the piano notes move from decay to decay to create an illusory, long melodic line. After presenting the tune …

Feeling Gezelligheid on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, December 2012

With the exception of maybe Bruce Springsteen, there is no musician I enjoy seeing live more than Andrew Bird, whom I’ve been fortunate enough to see play at least a half-dozen times over the past ten years throughout New York City. Each performance is a real show for the senses— attendees are not only treated …