The Vision

Many of us spend our lives pursuing a certain vision. An idea, a dream, a blueprint. There is something we are supposed to work on, in this life. No matter what we do, and no matter what else we think we are doing, this is what we work on, every minute, every day.

I don’t know how it became my dharma to work on two different monthly podcasts at the same time, and to pour my heart into each episode of each as if I were packaging the secrets of the universe for the world to enjoy. All I know is, I’m glad to have some creative outlets, and I hope you will listen to the two podcast episodes I recently put out.

I’m so glad I talked to hiphop artist and antiwar activist Miles Megaciph on the World BEYOND War podcast. I’ve been wanting to interview him since hearing him perform at a #NoToNATO protest in Washington DC over a year ago. His new release “No Fear Now” connects the coronavirus pandemic to Black Lives Matter, and that’s where attention needs to be right now. Thanks to Megaciph for covering so much territory with me in this wide-ranging talk about peace, music and life.


I dug into the cultural legacy of Miguel de Cervantes’s amazing psychological comedy “Don Quixote” in the new episode of Lost Music: Exploring Literary Opera. The French composer Jules Massenet’s opera “Don Quichotte” was a hit at its premiere in Monte Carlo in 1910. It’s a beautiful and touching opera, filled with exciting music and culminating in a strangely moving love story. The love is thoroughly misguided and unfulfilled, of course, because this is “Don Quixote” – but the story is deeply moving nonetheless. After talking about this wonderful opera, and about “Man of La Mancha” and Wagner and Mozart and lots of other stuff, I look into the evidence that a single terrible review in a New York newspaper in 1926 is the reason this worthy work has not played at the Metropolitan Opera House in nearly 100 years. I have a quixotic hope that Massenet’s late-career triumph will play someday there again. I also have a quixotic hope that the Met will open again, and that other live music venues in New York City will too … and at least this hope has some decent shot of eventually coming true.

I took the photo at the top of this page in a rainy playground in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, this week.

2 Responses

  1. Well written, well read.
    Well written, well read. Found myself drawn past the deadline I set for myself with every intention to make a work related appointment on time. Yes, I was late; gotta get a handle on this “time management” thing I’ve been hearing so much about.
    Your breadth of knowledge slips into the kid glove of intimacy without a stitch. I’m very impressed.
    Life is an unread encyclopedia . . . the best confederates make light work of devouring the collection as far as health and the Fates permit . . . you take M through Z . . . I got it from A.
    Wine and beer were simply created to vitalize the exchange . . . Thanks for taking the time to produce this site.
    Confession: I don’t know how this popped up on my screen . . . I’m afraid to close it as I’m not sure how to find it again.
    Any help you can offer will be appreciated.

  2. Thanks, Jeff. You and I came
    Thanks, Jeff. You and I came up together in the same town, many decades ago. We were both intellectual refugees stuck in suburbia, trying to find our way to somewhere we belonged. Your knowledge of culture and art and music inspired me a lot, and I’m glad my words are impressing you today. Indeed, life is an unread encyclopedia. And you can always find me by googling these eight letters: “litkicks”!

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What We're Up To ...

Litkicks will turn 30 years old in the summer of 2024! We can’t believe it ourselves. We don’t run as many blog posts about books and writers as we used to, but founder Marc Eliot Stein aka Levi Asher is busy running two podcasts. Please check out our latest work!