Monthly Archives: November 2011
When the Saints Go Marching In
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th November 2011Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye in a scene from The Five Pennies – 1959. Here’s an encore. Danny Kaye – Tchaikovsky (Weill/Gershwin) Here are the Russian composers mentioned in the song, in order: Witold Maliszewski, Anton Rubinstein, Anton Arensky, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Wassily Sapellnikoff, Nikolay Dmitriev, Alexander Tcherepnin, Ivan Kryzhanovsky, Leopold Godowsky, Nikolai Artsibushev, Stanisław…
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The Photographs of Robert Cahen
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th November 2011This post is the first of a series devoted to the photographs of Robert Cahen. Not only has Mr Cahen photographed virtually every important opera singer of the past 60 years, he has been a close friend to many of them. The series starts with singers now active, but will later include artists whose careers flourished as…
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The Kindle Fire – First Impressions
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th November 2011I received Amazon’s new venture into the tablet market November 16, a day earlier than it’s announced delivery date. Here are some first impressions after moderate use for a little more than a week. The screen is bright and clear. Colors are brilliant and sharp. Since it’s a touch screen device and said screen is a magnet…
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Satyagraha in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th November 2011Philip Glass’s opera Satyagraha was presented today on the Metropolitan Opera’s HD network. First performed in 1980 this work is essentially an opera without music. It consists entirely of chanting for soloists and chorus accompanied by orchestra. Further complicating things is that the words have nothing to do with the story. And the story is mainly implied….
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The Joys of Proofreading
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th November 2011For the record, the 49ers won 27-20.
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Whom Should We Kill?
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th November 2011The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers. Henry The Sixth, Part 2 Act 4, scene 2 Every child should be tested for high cholesterol as early as age 9 — surprising new advice from a government panel that suggests screening kids in grade school for a problem more common in middle age…The…
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Siegfried in HD – Walking the Planks
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th November 2011Before going to a performance of Wagner’s third Ring Cycle opera you should wear comfortable shoes, loose clothing, and drink no fluids starting six hours before the curtain. Thus prepared I got through Siegfried without losing consciousnesses more than two or three times. In fact I enjoyed the performance. Robert Lapage’s Rube Goldberg set consisting of a couple of dozen planks driven by…
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Screening For Disease – When Not to Do It
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd November 2011The above is the title of a presentation I gave today at Medical Grand Rounds at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Below is the PowerPoint file of that presentation. Screening for Disease – When Not to Do It
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