The following is a part one of a guest post by Kevin LaVine, Senior Music Specialist. If you’ve ever sat around a campfire, listening intently to a ghost story almost against your will; or have peered through half-closed eyes, with fascination and horror, at a slasher film; or have simply heard inexplicable bumps in the …
With the fantastic rescue of thirty-three Chilean miners, the whole world can breathe a sigh of relief. But none can be more relieved than the miners, emerging into the sunshine again after seventy days trapped underground. Chilean president Sebastian Pinera sang their national anthem with Luis Urzua, the last of the miners rescued. Celebrate their return …
September always brings back memories of my school days, when I walked to class barefoot four miles in chin-high snow (winter coming dreadfully early in those times), dodging packs of rabid wolves and feral children. But the modern age provides you, the reader, with sundry opportunities to learn from the comfort of your own coffee …
The following is the last in a series of posts by our 2010 class of Junior Fellows. It was written by Carrie Smith, a recent graduate of New York University. For four years while a student at New York University, I went to class in a building on Washington Place, just to the east …
The Mid-Atlantic United States has been hit with a series of furious rainstorms this summer, and this gray day in Washington is no exception. We hope that instead of walking between raindrops and dodging cupcake-sized hail, you, gentle reader, choose to stay inside, cuddle up by the Steinway and sing a few songs – just …
Summer means baseball, and baseball has a long history of superstition, but before you decide to stop bathing after your next no-hitter, remember that the performing arts is far from immune to the allure of old wives’ tales. The most notable superstition in the repertoire may be that of theater professionals who refer to one …
This comes over the transom from Today in History. Legend has it that on this day in 1904, Charles E. Menches filled a pastry cone with two scoops of ice-cream and thus is responsible for the conical icon we celebrate today. The history of ideas, however sweet, is more complicated than that, as the cast of characters …
Forty-one years ago today, astronaut Neil A. Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the moon. The Apollo 11 broadcast from the moon on July 20, 1969, which transmitted Neil Armstrong’s immortal words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” was named to the National Recording Registry in 2004. Remember one giant …
Are you a night person? Do garlic cloves make you break out, or worse? Does Team Edward mean anything to you? If your answer to any or all of these questions is yes, you may enjoy “Vampire Polka,” by a composer known only as “Four-Eyes.” Whatever societal anxieties may be behind the twenty-first century thirst …