Big bands: A book about Bunny Berigan, his life and times
Originally this was an "ON THE AVENUES" column from July 25, 2017. It has been lightly updated.
I was born in 1960, and grew up...
Roger’s year in music, 2022
It never hurts to repeat fundamental truths.
Music does something to me, and I’ve never been able to explain exactly why. It just happens. Sometimes...
Killer diller, or thinking about big band music and my father’s WWII musical reveries
As introduction, during my 1990s salad days at the Public House, I maintained a collection of swing, big band and jazz CDs behind the...
The Songs for a (P&u) Departure (4): “Once upon a time I stood for...
We're told that Nov. 15 will be the last day for Pints&union in New Albany prior to the pub's inglorious "Hail Mary" flight to...
Absent Ian Gillan, it’s less of a Jesus Christ Superstar to me
Recounts the last days of Jesus Christ from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, his betrayer. As Jesus’ following increases, Judas begins to worry that...
Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, et al (Part One)
A Duke Named Ellington was a two-part "American Masters" film on PBS in 1988.
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974) was a musician and orchestra leader...
The Songs for a (P&u) Departure (2): “Empty souls will leave their homes”
Previously: The Songs for a (P&u) Departure (1): “These cameras never lie”
We're told that Nov. 15 will be the last day for Pints&union in...
Quadrophenia: “Ain’t it funny how we all seem to look the same?”
Emerging from the shadows of The Dolphin pub in Plymouth’s Barbican, we began walking toward the stunningly perfect natural harbor, the open sea a...
A pint of bitter, please, because it’s The Dubliners at the The Wheeltappers and...
In which three fascinating Anglo-Irish topics collide amid my frequent references to the adjective "elegiac."
It's the mid-1970s lineup of the Irish folk band The...
40 Years in Beer (Book II, Part 43): Facing the music at Rich O’s...
Previously: 40 Years in Beer (Book II, Part 42): Barr built the bar, and the Guinness began pouring.
Music?
That's right, music.
After all, this series is...
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Euro Pilgrimage ’85, Ch. 7: Vienna and the dawning of a Habsburg fixation
Previously: Euro Pilgrimage ’85, Ch. 6: Pecetto idyll, with a Parisian chaser.
During my stay in Rome, a veteran Australian wanderer taught me a “wedding...
Euro Pilgrimage ’85, Ch. 6: Pecetto idyll, with a Parisian chaser
(I'm including examples of songs I heard while in Europe in 1985. I'd like to say that I recall music of local origin, but...
Euro Pilgrimage ’85, Ch. 5: A critical Mass in Rome — and the famous...
Musical introduction, or "the songs I heard playing in 1985 as I traveled around Europe." I had no Walkman or radio of my own,...
