circa 1991 photo featuring Glenn Branca, David Byrne, and John Cale (from a Orchestra of St. Luke's concert program)

A normal person, procrastinating: eh, I'm gonna watch some videos

Me, procrastinating: I will spend 90 of my finite, God-given minutes tracking down the shirt David Byrne is wearing in this promo photo

(It's Versace, right? It has to be Versace)

Grande sonate pathétique My insomnia has returned as of late, so, the other night, I decided to fill up a few sleepless hours by rewatching my very favorite movie of all time. And I realized that, apart from a passing came…

Sleepless ramblings on Lawrence and Chopin and Couperin (and Paul and Agnetha and Frida) www.sohothedog.com/2026/03/27/g...

M[r.] Nelson[s] Is Missing I, too, have spent the past week wondering just what is going on at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. To recap: on March 6, the BSO Board of Trustees and president and CEO Chad Smith released a fairly…

I wrote about the BSO and why orchestral programming is like hot dogs (with bonus J-pop for dessert) www.sohothedog.com/2026/03/13/m...

Scores of George Crumb’s “Little Suite for Christmas” and Ferruccio Busoni’s Sonatina no. 4 on the music rack, waiting for the late service

Wolcum Yole

Please let me wonder Less than four years separate Surfin’ Safari, the Beach Boys’ first studio album, from Pet Sounds, their eleventh. Brian Wilson was 20 years old when the former was released; he was still 23 when t…

Of course I wrote about Brian: www.sohothedog.com/2025/06/12/p...

Chin Music An announcement: this Saturday, January 18, I will be in Boston, handling the lecture part of a lecture recital on Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, with baritone Randall Scarlata and pianist Tany…

Not unrelated procrastinatory tangents here: www.sohothedog.com/2025/01/13/c...

Unrequited Love | Beethoven & Romanticism

Coming to Boston this Saturday to talk about Beethoven's "An die ferne Geliebte," Romanticism, and the perils of knowing too much www.bso.org/events/unreq...

Equally unexpected bits of information, not quite sure what to do with either

This week I learned that a) Oreo cookies dipped in ranch dressing actually are pretty tasty and b) Jorge Bolet conducted the Japanese premiere of "The Mikado"

While double-checking I discovered that, in the autograph, Bach did the last phrase in tabulature, crammed into the margin, like it was late theory homework, which made my day

Ach, you're right—my source had the tenor wrong but the C# disappeared behind some dodgy formatting. Fixed now, many thanks!

Tentatively back, with a holiday bibelot: www.sohothedog.com/2024/12/20/s...

Credit card from "Ellis in Freedomland" (1952): "James Mason as The Refrigerator Voice"

FRIDGE: You've got that little something extra that Ellen Terry talked about—Ellen Terry, a great actress long before you were born. She said that that was what star quality was: that little something extra

ME: Where are you hiding the yogurt