First Looks category archive
We Went to a Concert 0
The violin soloist was marvelous, as was the guest conductor.
And the musicians of the VSO gave their usual excellent performance.
Aside:
Last year, the VSO performed Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade as a tribute to the first violinist, who was celebrating his 25th anniversary with them.
Scheherazade has been my favorite bit of classical music since I first heard it back when “stereo” was new (I still have the album), but I did not know until I saw it performed that it is a tour-de-force for the first violinist; much of it is the first violinist in solo. They–and he–nailed it.
Absolutely nailed it.
If you live in this area, be sure to take in a VSO concert. If you go their website a few days before the show and the show is not sold out, you can pick up tickets cheap. But, be warned! you’ll be buying a subscription the next season. That’s what happened to us.
A Poem, Not by Henry Gibson 0
This poem by Alastair Read was in the preface to a slim volume about DNA which was part of my tenth grade biology class. The class sucke–was less than desirable, as the teacher taught it as if we were college students, which we weren’t.
But I’ve never forgotten the first verse of the poem. (Attribution.)
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Curiosity may have killed the cat; more likely
the cat was just unlucky, or else curious
to see what death was like, having no cause
to go on licking paws, or fathering
litter on litter of kittens, predictably.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Virginia Beach Drinking Liberally Tomorrow 0
When fellowship is needed, join us . . . .
When: Thursday, January 10, 6 p.
Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)
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‘Tis the Season 0
The Tampa Bay Times shares a Festivus List.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Recommended Reading 0
Edmund Crispin’s Gervase Fen mysteries.
They are extraordinarily fanciful and so extraordinarily well-written that suspension of disbelief comes easily.
In an interesting contrast, the novels are long and rambling and full of side trips and digressions and peopled with quirky characters, whereas the short stories, with a few exceptions, are short and quite bare-boned.
A warning, though: The author takes no prisoners. The stories are replete with classical and literary allusions, so have a dictionary and encyclopedia, real or electronic, at hand. Not looking them up does not interfere with the story itself, but looking them makes it richer.
