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from Steven Blier: To commemorate this sad, solemn day, I turn to the things that have comforted me during my life. One of them is the Verdi Requiem, a towering work of art. I first fell under its spell when I was thirteen; the Price-Bjoerling recording was a bar...
from Steven Blier: For the last few years my spouse and I have been separated on his birthday, and last April we were apart on our anniversary too. By now I’ve gotten used to postponed celebrations, and find they’re sometimes even better than the perfectly-timed ones....
from Steven Blier: I write this from my porch in Orient, Long Island. It’s the day before Labor Day. In front of me, the Long Island Sound; to my left, the Peconic Bay. The weather is heartbreakingly beautiful. This is probably my last truly calm day for a...
Song of the Day returns from holiday with a week of posts from Steven Blier: In my household I get to blast opera while we make dinner. Then, when we sit down to eat, we opt for something more soothing—Brazilian jazz, Rubén Blades, Bill Evans, Chabrier piano music. As...
There were a lot of blessings this weekend. In spite of some nasty-looking icons on my iPhone weather app earlier in the week, the weather held up Saturday and Sunday. The Orient concert was sold out. And the Latin/Caribbean music worked its wiles on both audiences in...
Thursday's big event was the arrival of Josh Vonderheide, our percussionist (pictured below). Clearly he doesn't look Latin, but he's one of those guys who can play anything from Brahms, Stravinsky, and Varèse to Cuban dance tunes. He is a calm, organized presence who...