There was a band made up of session musicians who got together for a few drinks. Some of them were very well known for their studio work. Others were “invisible” despite their many contributions to the oeuvre of better-known artists. To make a long story short, they decided that they had something to contribute …
Category: music
Apr 04 2024
For The “Post-Humorists”
The Left is rabidly opposed to a huge fraction of our cultural heritage. Possibly all of it, really. Historical totalitarians have usually striven to destroy their subjects’ cultural memory. The contemporary Left is as totalitarian as any of its ideological predecessors. Why let it happen? Preserve what you can. Make sure your children …
Feb 16 2024
Beautiful Music About Something Horrible
Have a little: He was just a social drinker but social every night He enjoyed a pint or two or three or four She was just a silent thinker, silent every night He’d enjoyed the thought of killing her before Well he was very rarely drunk but very rarely sober And he didn’t think …
Feb 12 2024
They say that innocence is bliss
It’s not Lent yet. But still, in my life I find myself recognizing that I’m not the person that God wants me to be. Some of the most beautiful music is when we fallen sinners acknowledge that we are imperfect, and we ask God for forgiveness. I guess I’m not as ignorant as I want …
Jan 31 2024
Music For An Unexpected Reverie
For no clear reason, just a little while ago I found myself remembering a friend from my high school years. I didn’t have many friends back then – prodigies seldom do – so I held on tight to those I managed to acquire. But this particular friend proved to be a mistake. He proved …
Jan 18 2024
Music From A Great Old Movie
My favorite two tracks from the 1981 animated classic Heavy Metal: Ah, to be young and stupid again!
Jan 12 2024
For Peace
This is the twelfth movement of Sir Karl Jenkins’s Mass The Armed Man. It’s titled “Benedictus.” And yes, that’s Stjepan Hauser of “2Cellos” on solo cello. If only.
Nov 20 2023
For Those A Great Distance From Their Loves
A little something from the great Tom Rush: To those who have their loves close by: Be grateful.
Nov 08 2023
Have A Little Afternoon Music
…for lovers in the afternoon of life: Dan Fogelberg wrote it; Glass Hammer raised it to glory.
Oct 30 2023
Stories Told In Song
I love a song that tells a good story. Here’s a traditional, performed by Pentangle: In Bruton town there lived a farmer Who had two sons and one daughter dear. By day and night they were contriving To fill their sister’s heart with care. One told his secrets to no other, but to his …
Oct 26 2023
Things Have Been Getting Too Heavy
…so let’s have some music. Here’s Emmylou Harris, from her Stumble Into Grace album: God bless you, Emmylou.
Sep 23 2023
A Musical Reminiscence
The older I get, the more my thoughts are occupied by my past. That’s hardly unusual. Neither is it difficult to explain. After all, more of a septuagenarian’s life lies behind him than ahead of him, exceedingly unlikely advances in human longevity excepted. Besides, a man in his seventies hardly has the range of …
Sep 16 2023
Music For The Ages
In my not-terribly-humble and completely irrelevant opinion, in all the annals of classical composition, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti reign supreme – and Brandenburg Concerto Nr. 3 is the pinnacle of the group. It’s been my favorite classical piece ever since I was a boy. But the Brandenburg Concerti were written for a chamber orchestra …
Sep 13 2023
De-Angrifying Music
Sometimes, nothing else will do the job for me. Herewith, The Telling, with the concluding track from their brilliant first album Blue Solitaire: May you know peace and contentment. They’re getting pretty hard to find, lately.
Sep 10 2023
Some Music For Your Afternoon
With the summer drawing to a close, preparations for the autumn season are in progress. Here at the Fortress, we’re slowly gathering the outdoor impedimenta of summer and taking it to storage, while inside we’re making adjustments to the décor, unloading the summer rounds from the guns and reloading with autumn-appropriate rounds. Yes, really! …
Sep 08 2023
Music For A Friday Afternoon
Each decade has its stand-outs. Sometimes, the dominant modes and motifs of a particular period can cause some of the best offerings of that time to languish in obscurity. It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing to be done about it, other than to enjoy what you enjoy and cluck over the neglected artists’ misfortune. …
Aug 24 2023
When The World Is Too Much With Me
I’m old: 71. The older I get, the less patience I have for a great many irritating and inconveniencing things. A barrage of those things will send me to one of my “escape hatches:” fiction; music; yard work; chess; weapons (this is a big one lately); cooking; or some other. Each of them possesses …
Jul 27 2023
Music For A Windy Afternoon
We’re getting gusts of thirty to forty knots out of the northwest, and Weather.Com is predicting thunderstorms, so let’s have some thematic music. This is Glass Hammer’s cover of the Yes classic South Side of the Sky, featuring Jon Anderson and Susie Bogdanowicz on lead vocals: A river a mountain to be crossed The …
Jul 19 2023
It’s Time For Music
…here at the Fortress – but nothing too upbeat today: It was a night meeting Somewhere in a troubled land They came with no greeting Left without a shaken hand. Nearby the town sleeping Was unaware of what was done No need for watchkeeping They’ll be gone before the sun. You may not see …
Jul 09 2023
Yes, I’m still here
I’m pretty sure that when our gracious host invited me to blog here, he expected a bit more output from me. I do apologize, but my time seems to constantly be gobbled up by all sorts of various undertakings, both physical and mental. However I do try to find some time to smell the roses, …
Fran’s Recent Novels
Margaret’s Recent Novels
