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Posts published by “David Yearsley”

Danube Blues

On the one-year anniversary of the storming of the U.S. Capitol many were the dire assessments of the state of the American republic. Nor were…

Encanto’s Chart-Topping Enchantments

Beginning with Disney’s first animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs of 1937, the Mouse House’s message has always been about family. That…

Listening Up To ‘Don’t Look Up!’

At well over two hours running time, Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up (streaming on Netflix) isn’t exactly a bagatelle, but it mostly retains its satiric…

Wynton Marsalis Comes Down to Earth

Wynton Marsalis is a one-man American Institution, a legally incorporated entity of vast reach, unflagging energy, and the rarest talents. He is Managing and Artistic…

The Musical Mission of Barry Harris

Covid claimed the jazz legend Barry Harris last week. The pianist died in a hospital across the Hudson River from Manhattan in North Bergen, New…

Camping with Campion

Jane Campion’s Power of the Dog, now out on NetFlix, recognizes no borders. It’s a Western that crosses the frontiers of geography, genre, and gender…

A Tale of Two Trees

One of the most famous trees in music is the one hymned by the title character in the opening scene of Handel’s 1738 opera Xerxes.…

The Rap On Brandon

As the flag-waving scenes of this election week recede in the rearview mirror of the campaign bus, the numbers of the discontent increase in the…

Founding Father of American Song

Less than a month before the first presidential election of December 1788, Francis Hopkinson published his Seven Songs for the Harpsichord or Forte Piano, dedicating the set…

Balls to Masks

He had oil in his beard and defiance in his eye. Both gleamed in the October sunshine streaming through the windows at the back of…

Big Sky Over Ithaca

The playlist of life follows patterns, tends to the familiar. We don’t need Silicon Valley algorithm makers to seduce us into routines. We fall into…

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