Air (1995). Aaron Jay Kernis.

I'm suffering from a bit of blogger's block, well, more specifically, from writer's block. Naturally, I'm having no corresponding problem reading blogs, given the wealth of intelligent and interesting content... 

Unfortunately, this has all prevented my expressing some pent-up idea of how Sarah Cahill may be the catalyst between Mozart and "downtown" music (through  Kyle Gann and the new Pope).  I  need to work on this thesis but in an effort to keep the flow going, or as a networking engineer might say, to flush the queue, I'll quote without commenting:

aworks:

• MUSIC AT THE MISSION: TRANSCENDENCE SUNDAY, AUGUST 14. Cabrillo Music Festival via del.icio.us/thestandingroom.
• Air is songlike and melodic, and it is the "purest" and sparest piece I've written in a few years. Aaron Jay Kernis.
• But now Phil has completed the circle with a musical portrait of Close for piano. Richard Friedman.
• This is the score as it was sent out and recorded in Kiev for Masterworks of the New Era, Vol. 5, warts and all. Forrest Covington.
• Bolcom enthused that this deliberate emphasis on text--text with an incisive narrative element--elevates cabaret above most commercial music and appeals to a particularly educated audience. Heather.

music beyond aworks:

• Nick Lowe’s “Cruel to Be Kind” is the most perfect pop song ever written.  Agreed?  Michael Bérubé via Scott Spiegelberg.
• The UK's Philharmonia Orchestra has started making available samples of orchestral instruments thru their "Notes Database": "We have recorded every note on every instrument of the orchestra at various volumes and durations." Bart Collins.
• As well as being a keen animal lover, 70-year-old [Prince] Henrik [of Denmark] is also a fan of sculpture, a gifted piano player and a poet. Hello Magazine.
• And now I'm an hour behind on all the work I planned to do because there's been no extra room in my brain to think about anything but this wondrous music. M. C-.
• but, is there a harp that's really wide and must be played only from one side with the woman standing and swaying from side to side? rec.music.classical.contemporary.

life beyond music:

• These are middle of the road people and are increasingly worried that their guy isn't executing on the economy and the war. tingilinde.
• The first of its kind, this pill-shaped precision engineered clock uses 3,000 pins to display the hours and minutes of the day. UncommonGood.
• If I'm wrong and the Senate Republicans do proceed with the nuclear option next week, we'll get to watch as this fight turns into an amazing one-stop shop for shameless displays of modern conservatism's New Left-style identity politics. The American Prospect.
• The hardest part of blogging? If you ask us, it's finding a bank that will cash those fifteen-cent checks from Gawker Media. wonkette.
• PS. Tossed aside OPEC production limits and suggesting we need to find new sources of fossil fuel? We really are in the Twilight Zone. Land of Black Gold.
• The glory days of stock splits vs. pay raises are over. Rick Segal.
• It has the whiff of buying panic to it, and that's never any good for anyone. Barry Ritholtz.
• Geoff Pullum, being a syntactician, looked at the smoke over the Sistine chapel on 4/19 and saw a moral  about the complex relations between form and meaning in language. Mark Liberman.
• I’m sure we have several weeks of stressful wackiness in store as Gunther tries to figure out how to say no to either Luann or Bernice (who asked him yesterday, for those not following along), possibly living in fear and panic until the night of the dance itself, when the monstrousness of his deception becomes apparent and both young women, their faith in their fellow humans tragically abused, discover Gunther’s two-timing and stalk off, enraged, with none of the three ever talking to any of the others ever again. The Comics Curmedgeon.
• Maybe I'm overestimating the power of Powell, but I have to think his decision to lobby against Bolton effectively kills the nomination. Ezra Klein.
• The LA Times reports on a private conference hosted in Washington last month by conservative evangelicals who urge Congress to use its power of the purse to starve selected courts of funding or shut them down altogether. Past Peak.
• She suggested the best thing we could do for all of the inhabitants of our lovely little community would be to renaturalize the plant life -- to weed out some of the invasive species that keep the ecosystem out of kilter, and to seed and plant native species. Dave Pollard.
• The top of the global economy has made a series of killings off of a process of "thatcherization". Sterling Newberry on Daily Kos :: What happens when the China phenomenon starts to act upon white collar/managerial jobs worldwide? the anti-war avenger
• People care much more about verbs than nouns. Seth Godin.
• Yeah, who knew there were so many Amish in New York? Overheard in New York.

Sorry for all those non-musical quotes. Still, Digby gets the last word:

It's true that it is reminiscent of Clinton's first term, but Clinton was always the focus of what was going on, even when they claimed he was shrinking. The press couldn't get enough of him. Bush, on the other hand, looks lamer and lamer by the day. Now we are headed toward a new version of the government shutdown and Bush isn't even a player.

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