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Archive: 2009 (80 Posts)

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Carl Reiner Webcast Now Online

Posted by: Matt Raymond

Legendary comedian Carl Reiner spoke to a standing-room-only audience at the Library the other day, and I had the very good fortune of attending. I guess I should not have been surprised that this 87-year-old man was every bit as funny and incisive as he always has been.  He spun terrific yarns, was always quick …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Come Taste the Music!

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

Friday evening at the Library of Congress, our ongoing “Music and the Brain” lecture series will tackle a truly fascinating phenomenon: people whose senses sometimes cross-stimulate, causing them to “hear a color” or “taste a shape.” This phenomenon, known as synesthesia, has been identified in a surprisingly large number of people over the years, including …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Wait … Wasn't That Alan Brady?

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

Carl Reiner, whose influence on comedy in the U.S. may be unsurpassed, will speak at the Library of Congress’ Madison Building in the 6th-floor Montpelier Room on Monday, Oct. 26 at 1:30 p.m. Doors open one hour earlier! Don’t miss it!

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Now Tweeting: Law Library of Congress

Posted by: Matt Raymond

Now that we have a couple of years or more of using social media to benefit the Library’s missions, we’re letting other folks around the institution get in the act. The “Books and Beyond” series in the Center for the Book launched a Facebook page, which is essentially an online book club, with the recent …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

The Sound of Memphis … Memphis, Egypt

Posted by: Matt Raymond

(The following is a guest post by Patricio Padua of the Library’s Collections and Services Division, h/t to Bryan Cornell in the Recorded Sound Reading Room.) Some years ago, a monk decked in an elegant black robe visited the Recorded Sound Reading Room in search of the music of his elders: Coptic Chant, which comes …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Songs That Go Bump In The Night

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

‘Tis the season to be frightened, and the Performing Arts Encyclopedia is full of ghastly tunes for the musical goblins in your life. We start with Jean Schwartz and William Jerome’s “The Ghost that Never Walked.” The team, best-known for the song “Chinatown my Chinatown,” put this 1904 number into the show “Piff! Paff! Pouf!” to tell the …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Carl Reiner! In Person!

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

When it comes to laughter – flat-out, clutch your sides, tears-springing-from-your-eyes laughter – Carl Reiner is an American icon. For something like four generations he’s been cracking us up, from his writing and skit performance on the legendary Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” (external link) to his creation of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” …