1926, 1930, 1932, 1942, 1953, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1971, 2003, Music

Complete Organ Works (2003) by Maurice Durufle, performed by Friedhelm Flamme

The pipe organ must be one of the seriously neglected instruments of 20th century “classical” music, at least from the perspective of us musical naifs. I mean, even though there are plenty of notable organ and organ-centric compositions, very few of those have actually made it into mass awareness. The little bit of organ music …

2001, Music

Young Miles (1945-50, 2001) by Miles Davis et al. (1945-50, 2001)

For die-hard fans of Miles Davis, or for people really interested in how cool came out of bop, this is probably pretty nearly essential.

1961, 1997, Music

The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (1997) by John Coltrane

When Coltrane and his “quartet” recorded these performances, he was just releasing Ole Coltrane, so I think it’s safe to say that much of what was heard here came as a shock to anyone in the audience who wasn’t constantly seeing him live. And even when the LP version came out the next year, much …

1995, Music

The Heavyweight Champion: the Complete Atlantic Recordings (1959-60, 1995) by John Coltrane

If Coltrane had died before he moved to Impulse, I still think he would be ranked as one of the two greatest jazz saxophonists ever. His Impulse recordings may have moved him into first place, but his Atlantic recordings are still a marvel.

Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Society

Liberal as a Slur in the United States

Every US presidential election makes me insane. I do my very best to avoid paying attention but it is very hard, with how dominant the TV coverage is, even in Canada. I find I have to pay attention to US government policy in my current job and so I find that this year I am …

Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Society

19 Tough Questions for Libertarians, Part 4

This is part four in my series on the internet meme, “Jon Stewart’s 19 Tough Questions for Libertarians.” Please see part one here, part two here, and part three here. Today we deal with questions 10-19. You give money to the IRS because you think theyā€™re gonna hire a bunch of people, that if your …

2012, Politics, Society

The Slow Death of Precedence-Based Democratic Safeguards in Canada

A prorogue is a device: the suspension of parliament, traditionally at the end of that parliament’s “legislative business,” with a planned date of resumption. It was intended to allow parliaments to take breaks without calling an election. The first problematic prorogue occurred in 1873, when John A. McDonald prorogued parliament not because their legislative business …

Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Religion

19 Tough; Questions for Libertarianism, Part 3

In this post we look at questions 4-9. For the first part see here. For the second see here. Do we live in a society or donā€™t we? Are we a collective? Everybodyā€™s success is predicated on the hard work of all of us; nobody gets there on their own. Why should it be that …

Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Society

19 Tough Questions for Libertarianism, part 2

So, for part two, we deal with questions 2-3. You can see the previous post here. One of the things that enhances freedoms are roads. Infrastructure enhances freedom. A social safety net enhances freedom. So obviously this is not a question, but a statement. But it gets to an important point, depending of course on …

2012, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Society

19 "Tough" Questions for Libertarianism, Part 1

Around October 2011, Jon Stewart interviewed Andrew Napolitano, a prominent US “libertarian” on The Daily Show. At some point, some libertarians put Stewart’s interview questions into a meme sometimes called “Jon Stewart’s 19 tough questions for libertarians.” My understanding of this is that Napolitano did not acquit himself well enough in their eyes. This doesn’t …

1999, Music

Nights in the Gardens of Spain by Angela Cheng and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra

This seems to be an attempt to collect Spanish piano concertos from the last 150 years into one spot. We have Isaac Albeniz’s “Spanish Rhapsody” from 1887, JoaquĆ­n Turina’s “Symphonic Rhapsody” from 1931, de Manuel Falla’s title track from 1915, and Xavier Montsalvatge’s “Brief Concerto” from 1953. The result of a survey of something like …

2012, Music

Jack White live at the Sony Centre, October 3, 2012

The opener was Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three. They play a mixture of pre-rock and roll styles of music including things like Western Swing and jazz and other styles from that era. The band is very solid – especially his guitarist – and as a singer he is definitely authentic, but this is …

2012, Music

Devin Townsend Project live at the Opera House, September 19, 2012

Though I enjoy metal – particularly some of the music that is labeled “alt metal” – I can’t say I eat up the relatively straightforward or traditional stuff, or the stuff that insists on playing only one micro-genre exclusively. It has been over 8 years since my last metal show, a show involving Helloween (and …

2012, Movies, Politics, Psychology, Religion, Society

You pissed me off, it’s your fault!

Human beings are sensitive creatures. It’s interesting that this is so because, as a species, we have survived for an unimaginable length of time and more threats to our existence than we could count (none worse than ourselves). So it is always somewhat entertaining – or sad, depending on your point of view – to …

2012, Movies

Toronto International Film Festival 2012 Wrap Up

Here is my roundup for TIFF 2012. I managed to see 13 films this year, which is better than last year. Many of them managed to be documentaries, which Monique attributes to our constant attendance at the Bloor over the summer. (I guess, subconsciously, we have become documentary people.) I didn’t see a film that …

2012, Basketball, Sports

Dwight Howard Trade August 2012

Putting Howard’s ridiculous, childish behaviour – which perhaps only seems so childish because it has been amplified by our new “social media” technology – which caused this trade, I want to try to think about it from a purely practical perspective. Denver gets: Andre Iguodala (from Philly) Iguodala: 28, SG/SF: 37.7 MPG; 14.6 PP36, 5.6 …

2012, Music

Wolfe Island Music Festival 2012

This is my second year attending the Wolfe Island Music Festival, the 14th edition. Just like last year, I attended even though it is not really full of bands I would normally seek out. I like the vibe – how it is completely different from seeing something in Toronto, for example – and I have …

2012, Music

Laborintus II (2012 Ipecac) by Luciano Berio, performed by Ictus Ensemble, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Mike Patton

I should eat this up. This is a work written by my favourite Italian composer of the second half of the 20th century – and with Busoni and Puccini, a contender for my favourite Italian composer of the 20th century – performed, in part, by my favourite male rock singer of all time – and …

Personal, Psychology

On the sanity of living with another human being

I have vivid dreams. I mean: really, really vivid. Sometimes they are so vivid I am convinced I am living them, until I wake up. Sometimes they are so vivid they take the place of my memories and I occasionally get confused about whether or not something realistic that happened in a dream actually happened …

2012, Books, Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Science

On the nature of the universe

In the CS Monitor‘s book of review of Jim Holt’s Does the Universe Exist?, Troy Jollimore discusses the nature of the universe and the bizarre fact that most scientists and philosophers seem to assume that we have to prove how the universe appeared, as if what existed before the universe – if ever we can say something existed before the …

2007, Music

Children’s Corner: Debussy Orchestrations (2007 Atma) by Claude Debussy, performed by Orchestre symphonique de Quebec conducted by Yoav Talmi

The more I listen to so-called “classical” / “high art” music the more of a snob I become about it. And I guess that’s not surprising, after all I am a gigantic music snob (though I would argue that I am much less of a music snob – having let hooks into my life at …

Books, RIP

Gore Vidal was crazy but sometimes he was also awesome

I guess what I mean to say is RIP Gore Vidal. But I have a problem saying that, and my problem is that Gore Vidal believed a lot of stuff (particularly about the United States government) that was not true. Worse, he made those beliefs public. Worse, because he was Gore Vidal, he made it …

1984, Movies

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984 Rob Epstein)

So unfortunately the filmmakers made a strange – but perhaps understandable – decision when telling Milk’s story: they assumed they were speaking to a very particular audience. This assumption led to another: that therefore everybody knows everything they need to know about the backstory already.