Category: music

• Thursday Evening

  Jun 14

  Sitting here on a Thursday evening listening to PJ Harvey play on Apple TV while Stephen bakes a cheesecake from scratch for Shayne’s birthday, which we will celebrate tomorrow when… more ›

• Legend

  Feb 27

  I don’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t know of Van Cliburn. From small-town east Texas, he became a legend–and one of my heroes–of both classical music… more ›

• Listen

  Dec 12

  Voice precedes face, revealing the necessary disruption of alterity that subtends our subjectivity, our identity. We hear before we see. We know that we can always close our eyes, turn… more ›

• Twenty-One

  Aug 1

  Twenty-one years ago he was traveling by train from Warsaw to Szczecin with his friends in the Corps. It was late and after a bottle or two of Żubrówka. He wanted to doze,… more ›

• Fireworks

  Jul 2

  During the holiday fireworks over the weekend he remembered his grandfather who lost his sight in the early days of World War II. Every Fourth of July his grandparents would… more ›

• Nothing Really Matters

  Jun 25

  Madonna’s “Nothing Really Matters” was on heavy rotation on British Airways on-flight music programming during the summer of 1998 while he enjoyed his summer break from teaching in Japan. He… more ›

• In Budapest

  Jun 4

  He remembers: the last time he heard a live cover of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” was late February 1996 in a basement pizza parlor in Budapest before heading… more ›

• The Rites of the Storm

  May 29

  We woke up early today, earlier than usual. But no day’s sleep can really be called that: usual. Even after resorting to sleeping apart. Alone. Last night it was the… more ›

• In vino veritas

  Nov 18

  In a year of Thursdays, today remains the greatest Thursday of all. Today is not only World Philosophy Day but also the day on which the Beaujolais nouveau is released. I… more ›

• Around the World in 80 Songs

  Aug 27

  Song 2: “God’s Child” – David Byrne and Selena This is what I remember about Montréal: Spring Break 2001, drinking Turkish coffee (by way of Beirut) at Salam’s flat. Later… more ›