Two nights with Wolfgang Muthspiel at the Bird’s Eye in Basel, 5-6 May 2026
On Tuesday and Wednesday, 5 and 6 May, the two concerts at the Bird's Eye in Basel by the Wolfgang Muthspiel Chamber Trio (with guitarist Muthspiel, pianist Colin Vallon, and trumpeter Mario Rom) may have shared a number of the same compositions, but they were strikingly different—and not just
Your last evening and your last day
On your last evening, may you not know it is your last evening. May you and your beloved go to a concert to hear young musicians playing music new to you, or to a film or play by a young director and actors new to you. On the next day,
The history of my multi-colored hair
I first got my hair dyed in September 2019. It was only three stripes on one side, two red stripes with a black stripe in the middle. I did it just for fun, but I liked it, so since then I have often gotten my hair dyed when I get
Finding words in Gerald Clayton’s “The Water’s Edge” as he and John Scofield played it in Basel
As guitarist John Scofield played pianist Gerald Clayton's melody "The Water's Edge", I found words for it:
I walked down to the water’s edge where I had been before.
I walked along the water’s edge till I could walk no more.
I sat down by the water’s
“All men” when it’s about the past; “not all men” when it’s about the present
A man from the past, famous for creative work (such as painting, acting, or writing), is revealed to have constantly harassed and abused women. A call arises for his work to be put aside in favor of the work of others who did not harass and abuse women. Then the
War in Vietnam, the Voting Rights Act, and War in Iran
On 7 March 1965, "Bloody Sunday", civil-rights protestors crossing Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama, were beaten by Alabama Highway Patrol Officers. On 8 March 1965, the first American ground troops landed in Vietnam. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed on 6 August 1965. On Wednesday, 29 April 2026,
The “terrible” wild things and the “terrible” gruffalo
In our session this morning on "Where the Wild Things Are", the 1963 picture book by Maurice Sendak (1928-2012), my students and I discussed the repeated description of the wild things: "they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible
The richness and complexity of Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” (1963)
Tomorrow morning, I'll be teaching a class on "Where the Wild Things Are", the 1963 picture book by Maurice Sendak (1928-2012). Having prepared it now, I'm thrilled at the book's richness and complexity. I knew it as a child, of course, and I read it to my own children, too,
Snoopy thinks about Don Q, then reads about him
On Sunday morning, Snoopy woke up after a good night's sleep and went to make his morning coffee. While the water was boiling, he suddenly wondered if Don Q might have died back in Plunderland. He didn't know where the thought came from, and while he poured his coffee, the
Works from the Bührle collection at the Paul Cézanne exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler
At the Paul Cézanne exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler on Friday afternoon, I was taken aback to read the provenance of several of the paintings: they are on loan from the Kunsthaus Zürich's controversial collection of the Swiss arms manufacturer Emil Bührle (1890-1956). Not only did Bührle make a fortune
Andrew Shields