In Reference to Murder

Your Sunday Music Treat

The output of John Philip Sousa, the American "March King," wasn't just "Stars and Stripes Forever." He also wrote works like "Hands Across the Sea," which the composer said was "addressed to no particular nation, but to all of America's...

Your Sunday Music Treat

Today is the birthday of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, born on this date in 1935, and to celebrate, here's a short haunting, ethereal piano piece called "Für Alina" considered to be part of his Tintinnabuli or "chant like" style. (Note, I...

Blood on the Keys

Back in my piano days, I played a piece called "Lotus Land" by English composer Cyril Scott (1879-1970), which utilized what was then (1905) a novelty - glissandos on the black keys. Those glissandi were almost my undoing, as I kept leav...

Your Sunday Music Treat

Music is naturally subjective, but I probably won't get much argument that one of the most sublimely lovely pieces ever composed is Beethoven's Piano Concerto #5 ("The Emperor"), with the middle movement being particularly haunting (it's...

Your Sunday Music Treat

They call them "ear worms," which is a rather disgusting term for something that's often lovely - but when those songs do stick in your head, it can be hard to unstick them. One of the ones I've been hearing a lot lately careening around...

Your Sunday Music Treat

Last week, it was Russian oktavists, this week, it's Tuvan throat singing. If you're not familiar with it, it's a technique used by the people of Tuva, Mongolia, and other Asian regions wherein the vocalists sings not one tone at a time,...

Media Murder for Monday

MOVIESWarner Bros. is "near a deal" for Blood on the Snow, the first of a two-novel series by Jo Nesbo, to be published next year and written under the pseudonym Tom Johansson. The studio is planning on it being a vehicle for Leonardo ...

You Must Remember This

This weekend, the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian is dedicating its new Warner Bros. Theater. The studio donated $5 million to renovate the museum's old Carmichael Auditorium into a modern theater with 3D-project...

Ian Ranks With the Best

Yesterday I posted about some of the articles and tributes pouring in for recent birthday-girl PD James, a sprightly young 88. Ian Rankin is only about half that age, but his Inspector Rebus novels have already been around for a couple o...