Monthly Archives: September 2012

Then all was blooming; sunshine and odour; not a breeze disturbing the meridian splendour. Then the world was not only made for a few, but a very few. One could almost tell upon one’s fingers the happy families who could do anything, … Continue reading →

As ever, The Onion leads the way.

The General Reader whose attention has not been specially drawn to the subject which these volumes aim to illustrate – the Condition of the People – might suspect that the writer had been tempted to some exaggeration in the scenes … Continue reading →

Over the weekend I finished “The Jazz Standards”, Ted Gioia’s compelling new survey of the core repertoire. It’s so wide-ranging it even makes room for surely the oddest Miles Davis cover of them all, taken from  the 8-bit tribute album Kind … Continue reading →

Robert Greenfield’s biography of pioneering promoter Bill Graham had a particularly grisly chapter on Jimmy Page & Co. Now there’s another glimpse of life among the hell-raisers: Rock mythology holds that Page was somehow a “dark” force: he collected occult … Continue reading →

Bernard Avishai’s typically thoughtful piece on Netanyahu and the balance of power has been cross-posted in Peter Beinart’s Daily Beast forum, Open Zion.

Good to hear that Bebel Gilberto, 21st century bossa diva, has been working with Carlinhos  Brown, the master-musician and shaman from Bahia. [Via Ted Gioia]. Reading about her latest project gives me the perfect excuse to revisit her 2004 version … Continue reading →

Thirty-four years of age, a married father of three, Thomas was, in his mind, little more than a literary hack, writing all the hours that he could manage to bring home a modest income. The relentless, ungratifying work left him … Continue reading →

Suddenly, it’s autumn. The view from the Tuileries yesterday.

I don’t know whether Arthur Balfour ever went on the Edwardian equivalent of “Have I Got News For You”, but this extract from Barbara Tuchman’s book “The Proud Tower” (no puns, please) certainly reminds me of someone: Balfour was careless of … Continue reading →