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Posts published by “David Yearsley”

Coltrane At The Bridge

The longest John Coltrane solo available on recording is said to be the title track of One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note made in the spring of 1965 in New York City. The saxophonist’s…

Musical Patriotism

With the ears of the body politic taking constant abuse from the choruses of recrimination echoing through and beyond White House and Capitol, we need the uplifting power of music more than ever. Your Humble…

Ryan Rocks

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan slyly removed himself to the Heartland for the congressional recess and the outbreak of this week’s political firestorm in Washington. In truth, this latest chapter in political dysfunction is…

The Rite Of The Pianola

It’s not just Rex Lawson’s bald head and spreading white beard that puts one in mind of Charles Darwin.  Both kindly and brilliant Brits demolished received wisdom, the latter informing Victorian ladies and gentlemen that…

Handel’s Executioners

The horrifying accounts of Thursday night’s execution of Kenneth Williams by lethal injection in Arkansas demonstrated not only the inhumane nature of this latest state-sanctioned killing, but also the power of religion to carry the…

Raiding The Tomb of Lubitsch

At the 1947 Los Angeles funeral of that genius of urbane film comedy, Ernst Lubitsch, fellow émigré Billy Wilder said mournfully, “No more Lubitsch.” The director William Wyler, yet another German-born expatriate, responded, “Worse than…

MOAB Music

“The earth felt like a boat in a storm,” Mohammad Shahzadah said after the Mother of All Bombs hit the Achin district in Nangarhar province in Afghanistan yesterday after evening prayers. The Guardian reported Shahzadah…

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