Celebrity Series of Boston Blog

Braindead Megaphone to get Sedaris' nod

George Saunders

Those of you who have seen author David Sedaris do readings know that he picks a favorite book to tout, rather passionately, on each tour, even going so far as to ensure it is offered for sale alongside his own work (those of you who have never been to a Sedaris reading, well now you know).

This season's recommended book is The Braindead Megaphone, by George Saunders. For the impossibly up to date who must own this book before Sedaris comes to Boston in October, here's a link where you can buy The Braindead Megaphone. And here's George's web site.

Turns out, Mr. Saunders teaches at Syracuse University, which gives us all another reason to recommend beautiful Syracuse, New York, besides Dinosaur BBQ, The Orangemen, the swell locals, the fine sledding, and SU's now extra-huge record collection.

Slonimsky in the Summertime

Nicolas Slonimsky

Like many blogs, Aisle Be Seeing You reflects the tastes, shortcomings and discoveries of its author. With your permission, gentle reader, I would like to introduce you to a recent discovery (the tastes and shortcomings are, surely, already on display). Among my summer reading selections is Perfect Pitch, the 1988 autobiography of the composer, conductor, musician, music critic, lexicographer and author Nicolas Slonimsky. I recommend it highly.

Slonimsky crossed paths with an astonishing number and variety of people from the music world and beyond, and is just the writer to do justice to the resulting anecdotes. He delivers stories of Charles Ives, Henry Cowell, Fyodor Dostoyevsky's widow (at a dinner party), Serge Koussevitsky, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Eugene Ormandy, George Eastman (of Eastman Kodak fame), Leonard Bernstein, Mike Wallace (as host of a TV game show), Edgard Varese and Frank Zappa (Slonimsky performed with Zappa in 1981 and named his cat Grody-to-the-Max, a nod to Moon Unit Zappa's Valley Girl lexicon), among many others.

Many know Slonimsky today for his work editing Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (which is named for Theodore Baker, its original editor, whose work was complimented, then eclipsed, by Slonimsky over decades) or for his Lexicon of Musical Invective, which chronicles horrible reviews of famous musical works (more fun than it sounds). I had used Baker's for some time before I read its delightful (there's no other word for it) forward, written by Slonimsky. That discovery has lead me to Perfect Pitch.

If I haven't convinced you yet, here's a wee snippet from the book jacket:

"It was discovered early in my life that I possessed the precious gift of perfect pitch, which enabled me to name immediately and without fail any note played on the piano or other musical instruments. My maternal aunt, Isabelle Vengerova, later to become a famous piano teacher, took me under her wing, and on 6 November 1900, according to the old Russian calendar, gave me my first piano lesson. I was exhibited to admiring relatives and friends for whose pleasure I rendered the popular tune, 'Little Bird, What did you do? I drank vodka, So did you.'"

Globe reviews new Sedaris title

The Boston Globe's Chris Muther takes a look at the latest title from author/ humorist/ Half-Frenchman/ Half-Englishman David Sedaris, When You Are Engulfed in Flames:

"Much the way that Celine Dion will never run out of hot air or Middle America will never lose its appetite for funnel cakes, so it seems that David Sedaris will never lose his ability to recall the most minute details of his curious North Carolina childhood."

. . . snap?

Read all of Sedaris treads familiar ground with a more seasoned step.

No matter what they think we'll be presenting David Sedaris at Symphony Hall on October 12. Subscriptions are on sale now, individual tickets in September, at www.celebrityseries.org.

Alex Ross on The Colbert Report

Thanks to The Standing Room (I could just leave it at that: Thank You, Standing Room!) I can now share with you Stephen Colbert's January 29 interview with The Rest Is Noise author and blogger, Alex Ross on The Colbert Report:

Bob Blumenthal's "Jazz"

Boston-based jazz critic Bob Blumenthal's book has been mentioned in this blog before. John Garelick of The Boston Phoenix gave us an overview in yesterday's edition. Here's a smidge:

"To illustrate the historical slipperiness of the meaning of jazz, Blumenthal recalls what bassist Christian McBride said when asked whether Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon,” from the 1973 Head Hunters album, was jazz: 'It wasn’t then, but it is now.' 'I thought that hit the nail on the head. At the time, it was a real controversy — had Herbie Hancock sold out? But now, no one would even question that ‘Chameleon’ is jazz.' Or he considers two recordings from 1964. 'If you asked most jazz fans that year, ‘What is jazz?’, they would have said John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. But if you asked a person on the street, they’d say Louis Armstrong’s ‘Hello Dolly.’ And they’d both be right!'"

Read all of The Long View.

Pianist and poet Alfred Brendel from "Cursing Bagels"

Alfred Brendel

Pianist Alfred Brendel's poetry has graced this blog before. I can tell myself that the distinctive dry wit of his poems may offer some insight into his piano performances, but the truth is I just like his poetry. I think they would be funny, irreverent, etc. witty even if they were written by my dry cleaner (actually more so in that case). But then I would have a hard time justifying singing their praises in a blog more or less representing my employer. Because Mr. Brendel has often performed here under the auspices of the Celebrity Series of Boston - and will again, and for the final time, on February 22 - I have had the excuse I need:

That pianos
should not merely be cooked
but also smoked
has recently been discovered
by pure chance
A fire in the local piano store
surprisingly revealed
that smoked pianos
sound nobler than cooked ones
In huge fireplaces
they now hang
those dispensers of musical delight
like blackened hams
before
smokey-grey and spicy
they satisfy the cognoscenti
Henceforth
the famous house of Bösenstein
will refrain
from boiling pianos hard or soft
according to taste

-by Alfred Brendel with Richard Stokes (translator) from Cursing Bagels, Faber and Faber, 2004

Bob Blumenthal on Eric in the Evening tonight

Former Boston Globe jazz critic Bob Blumenthal will be on WGBH radio's Eric in the Evening program tonight. Here's some official copy:

"Eric Jackson welcomes renowned Jazz critic Bob Blumenthal to the WGBH 89.7 studios, tonight at 8pm. They will spin some records and discuss Blumenthal new book, Jazz: An Introduction to the History and Legends Behind America's Music.

Blumenthal began writing jazz criticism in 1969 for the Boston Phoenix, where he was a contributing writer until 1989. He began writing a weekly column for the Boston Globe in 1993 and contributes to publications including the Atlantic Monthly, Village Voice, and Down Beat. Blumenthal's other projects include an ongoing affiliation with the RVG reissue series from the Blue Note label; serving as critic in residence at the Discover Jazz Festival in Burlington, Vt.; and serving as a permanent creative consultant for Marsalis Music, the Boston-based record label founded by saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Blumenthal received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jazz Journalists Association in 2005.

Tune in at 8pm TONIGHT on 89.7 in New England and worldwide at http://wgbh.org/jazz."

Bob is also a remarkably skilled parallel parker. Really. You should see him in action. Bios so often leave out the best stuff...

Everything Typepad: A short interview with Alex Ross

The good people at Typepad, or more specifically, the Everything Typepad blog (I use their service for this blog, as you may have noticed) recently posted a short interview with author/blogger Alex Ross. In it he talks a bit about writing his very popular blog, The Rest is Noise (also the name of his new book, which I just bought...it looks terrific), and about some other music-related blogs he reads. The post also features a link to his New Yorker article, The Well Tempered Web, The Internet May be killing the pop CD, but it's helping classical music.

The Rest Is Noise, the book

 
Advance congratulations to critic/blogger Alex Ross on the impending publication of his book, The Rest Is Noise, Listening to the Twentieth Century. The books' release is scheduled for October 16. You need this book. In the meantime, you can read Alex Ross' blog of the same name.

Going up to Harlem to Learn from James P. Johnson

Garrison Keillor reviewed Wilfred Sheed's new book on George Gershwin, The House That George Built, With a Little Help From Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty, for the July 22 New York Times Book Review. Keillor has praise for Sheed's prose, among other aspects of the book, but I was struck by Keillor's writing about music in his review. As you may have heard, Mr. Keillor has a way with words himself:

"George Gershwin is the main man, though Sheed traces the jazz song back to 1914 and Kern’s “They Didn’t Believe Me” (“And when I told them how beautiful you are, they didn’t believe me”), not some jiggly novelty tune but elegant, swingy, “a perfect loosey-goosey, syncopate-me-if-you-care, a relaxed and smiling American asterisk-jazz song.” Gershwin is the president of the fraternity, the all-American golden boy, hyperactive, booming with self-confidence, who went up to Harlem to learn from James P. Johnson and Willie (the Lion) Smith and whose ascent was swift (“no songwriter ever wasted less time reaching his prime”) and who, when he reached the top, was openhearted and went out of his way to praise and encourage his brethren."

Read Garrison Keillor's complete review.