I always used to wonder what it would feel like to live through the sudden collapse of a peaceful and integrated society. We like to scare ourselves with this question when we read books or watch movies about military invasions or hostile occupations or war crimes: what if we ourselves … Read the rest
A new episode of “Lost Music: Exploring Literary Opera” just dropped! It’s about Die Zauberflote by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Emanuel Schikaneder, and this one was a long time coming. I’ve rarely struggled so hard to produce a single podcast episode, or a single blog post.
It was a struggle … Read the rest
A weird thought occurs to me, as the summer of 2023 rolls in: Literary Kicks turns 29 years old this July.
Which can only mean we’ll be having a 30th birthday next year, and I guess I’ll have to think of some way to celebrate. What is Literary Kicks, as … Read the rest
I’m thrilled to announce that “Lost Music: Exploring Literary Opera” is back! Season 4 of this podcast kicks off with an interview with singer and actress Casey Keeler, who played the Fairy Queen in a concert production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Iolanthe” … Read the rest
A mysterious book-length poem called The Princess by Alfred Tennyson became a popular craze in England about a century and three-quarters ago. The title of this book barely hints at the complexity of the story inside — a story within a story, a poem inside a poem, featuring a crew … Read the rest
Nearly three years ago, I announced a new podcast called “Lost Music: Exploring Literary Opera”. I truly had no idea what I was doing, and proudly said so. I’ve always been a medium-is-the-message guy, and the podcast medium just has an energy and a freshness these days that attracts … Read the rest
Season 3 of “Lost Music: Exploring Literary Opera” has kicked off with something different! We are joined by Daniel Nester, poet, author, professor and podcaster, and one of only a few people I’ve ever met who has actually co-written a libretto for a modern opera, “The Summer King” by Daniel … Read the rest
He stared at me, waiting for an answer. At home we didn’t get in other people’s faces like that. You talked towards a space and the other person had a choice of entering or not entering …
I was today years old a few months ago when I first heard … Read the rest
There’s a smell of scorched earth in the air lately, here in America.
It’s smoke from Pacific coast wildfires, and it’s something more: the warning scent of an authoritarian future we must avoid, even as our society chokes on climate change, racism, social injustice, predatory capitalism and military escalation. Scorched … Read the rest
