On this day in 1832, the great writer Lewis Carroll was born. This two Alice novels are still wonderfully fun to read. And you should go and do that! What bothers me is that most people think of him as some kind of pedophile. Even if he had actually been one, that wouldn’t change the work. But I accept the “Carroll Myth” theory that basically says it is all nonsense. Regardless, we have the books.

Other birthdays: scholar Richard Bentley (1662); landscape painter Arkhip Kuindzhi (1841); portrait painter John Collier (1850); labor leader Samuel Gompers (1850); composer Jerome Kern (1885); philosopher Arne Naess (1912); bluesman Elmore James (1918); actor James Cromwell (74); singer-songwriter Kate Wolf (1942); Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason (70); one of the most dangerous men in the nation, John Roberts (59); comic book legend Frank Miller (57); actor Bridget Fonda (50); actor Alan Cumming (49); comedian Patton Oswalt (45); and flutist Emmanuel Pahud (44), who in celebration of the day will perform a little Mozart for us:

The day, however, belongs to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who was born on this day in 1756. I know that most classical music fans think that I’m a neanderthal, but he is my favorite composer. I’m very fond of other composers, of course. I quite like much of Schubert, Debussy, most Les Six, and a great deal of the later twentieth century. And, yes, I like Beethoven, but I often find him exhausting. To me, Mozart is the sweet spot between the intellectual excesses of the Baroque period and the emotional excesses of the Romantic period.

The thing, though, is that I continue to find Mozart transcendent. Like the D major flute concerto above. It was originally the Oboe Concerto in C major, but Mozart got a job to write a couple of flute concertos, so he just reworked it. It is some of his weakest adult work. Yet every time I hear it, it delights me. That’s Mozart the hack. I still think he was at his best with opera, probably because of his love of the theater.

But I’m afraid that I talk about his operas too much. So here is his G Minor Symphony. It encapsulates half of Beethoven’s career:

Happy birthday Mozart!

It was a very good day for the world on this day in 41 AD. Roman emperor Caligula was assassinated that day. (Or maybe two days earlier; it was a long time ago.) Of course, he wasn’t assassinated because he was a horrible emperor. He was assassinated because he was planning to move to Egypt. This would put an end to the power of the Senate and the Praetorian Guard. So they finally killed him. He was only 28 years old. This is very important, whether you were an Emperor of Rome or are the President of the United States: the poor really don’t much matter. But if you lose the support of the upper class, you are fucked. You should act more like Emperor Hadrian, who was born on this day in 76 AD. He was no saint, but he managed to not get killed by his own people.

On this day in 1670, the English playwright William Congreve was born. I have not read any of his plays. Like too many people, there is a big gap in my English theater knowledge after Charles I gets offed by his own people. (Again: don’t anger your fellow rich!) Anyway, Congreve was a very successful playwright during his lifetime, known more for his comedies than anything. But it is one of his tragedies that we most remember him for, The Mourning Bride. There are two very famous lines from the play. It starts with, “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast…” Just to be clear here: it is “breast” and not “beast.” I think it is the word “savage” that has gotten the line so screwed up over the centuries. Think “savage” like “war weary” and “breast” like “soul.” The second line is, “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” I think we all understand that one!

The Italian castrato Farinelli was born in 1705. You may well wonder why on earth I am mentioning him. After all, I’ve never heard him sing. After all, when I think of castratos, I think of Mozart in Amadeus saying, “I mean watching Italian opera, all those male sopranos screeching. Stupid fat couples rolling their eyes about! That’s not love, it’s just rubbish!” But there are two reasons. One is that Farinelli wasn’t just a castrato; he was the castrato. And also, when I wrote film reviews up in Portland, I was forced to watch the 1994 biopic Farinelli. I now learn that the film was not historically accurate. I can tell you, it is really not worth watching, although everyone was working very hard at it. Or maybe I’m wrong, I was young and it was a long time ago. But a film about a castrato that focuses on his sex life is just not a good idea for a film, even if the denouement was pretty good.

Singer-songwriter Ray Stevens is 75 today. I always thought that he was just a comedy songwriter, and indeed, he has done enough of that to have made a great career. But he is a pop music legend. Everyone knows one of his songs, “Everything Is Beautiful.” (I still wonder if he didn’t write it originally as a joke.) But I will always remember him for “The Streak,” which is not a great song, but it was a huge deal during my childhood:

Another great singer-songwriter, Neil Diamond is 73. When I was younger, I thought “Love on the Rocks” was pretty clever with its double entendre. Actually, I still think it is. It infinitely improves the rest of the whiskey-soaked lyrics, that normally I would hate. Like so much popular music of that period, it is really harmed by the synthesizer use. But let’s go way back, because Diamond did get unbearable after a while. Here’s a television (lip synced) performance of “Cherry, Cherry”:

Aaron Neville is 73 today. He has one of the best voices ever. I’m sure you know his megahit “Tell It Like It Is,” so here he is doing “Don’t Know Much” with Linda Ronstadt:

The great comedic actor John Belushi was born in 1949. I admire his work and I don’t think people appreciate just how subtle it is. Check out the following clip from Animal House. Really! It still amazes me that Chevy Chase became such a big star. As an actor, he has almost no skill, and certainly nothing compared to Belushi.

Kristen Schaal is 36. She is one of my favorite comedians. Like other similar comedians (Albert Brooks, Emo Philips, Sarah Silverman), she does delight in abusing the audience. But that kind of thing tends to the create the best stand-up comedy. As a personal service, however, I will not show you anything that involves her talking about her taint. This is a good example of her surreal take on the art form:

Other birthdays: philosopher Christian Wolff (1679); the surprisingly good composer, Prussian king Frederick the Great (1712); the great Russian historical painter Vasily Surikov (1848); the American novelist Edith Wharton (1862); blues pianist Tuts Washington (1907); actor Ernest Borgnine (1917); independent filmmaker Coleman Francis (1919); most likely the last remaining “munchkin,” actor Jerry Maren (94); physicist on every documentary that comes close to the subject in the last ten years, Michio Kaku (67); actor and teenage crush, Nastassja Kinski (53); gymnast Mary Lou Retton (46); and actor Matthew Lillard (44).

The day, however, belongs to the singer-songwriter Warren Zevon who was born on this day in 1947. He was one of my favorites when I was younger. I even went to see him once. It was after (or between) drinking. It was an excellent show with a surprisingly together X opening. Here he is doing one of my favorites of his later period, “Boom Boom Mancini”[1]:

Happy birthday Warren Zevon!

[1] The song is fundamentally about the title fight between Ray Mancini and Duk Koo Kim. I don’t agree with Zevon’s take on it. Mancini seems to have been devastated by Kim’s death. But he is right that a lot of people were hypocrites about it.

On this day in 1800, Millard Fillmore was born. He is generally considered one of the worst presidents. I don’t really get this. Yes, I guess in retrospect, the Compromise of 1850 was a bad idea because the Civil War was coming no matter what. And the Fugitive Slave Act really was a vile piece of legislation. It said that slaves who made it to non-slave states had to be returned to their rightful “owners.” But it was a bad time and let’s face it, there are historical reasons why the south has been and continues to be a very big pain and, frankly, regressive in its politics. If there ever is another rebellion against the federal government it will almost certainly start in the deep south.

Brief Aside About Slavery and Health Insurance

One thing I don’t understand to this day is why the federal government can’t fix problems like slavery through money. What I mean is, why couldn’t the government have just bought all the slaves, relocated them to other states and even created new states? After a short period, since there was no money in it, there would be nothing stopping the abolition of slavery. It’s important to remember that for the slave owners, slavery was primarily about money. All the racial inferiority rhetoric was just a way to justify the “peculiar institution” to the poor white population.

I’ve thought much the same thing about the modern health insurance industry. Why not just have the government buy all of them so that we wouldn’t be stuck with a stupid insurance company-based system of healthcare reform? The truth is, the healthcare insurance industry really isn’t worth all that much money. I don’t mean to equate the insurance industry with slavery. Clearly, slavery is not even in the same moral universe as health insurance. But they are both systems that harm our society generally for the sake of relatively small profits for a small number of people. But instead of just buying the end of slavery, we had a war that cost far more just economically, not to mention in terms of human life. As for our healthcare system, our sub-optimal system (Obamacare) will cost some lives, but mostly it is just a huge waste of money.

Amazing Morning Coincidence

This morning I felt like listening to Jean-Pierre Rampal. That isn’t totally unusual. I admire the man greatly. He was a great performer with an easy and enjoyable style. It seems like he isn’t even trying, even while playing pieces that I know from my own brutal experience to be terribly difficult. Anyway, so I put on the wonderful Suite for Flute & Jazz Piano that Claude Bolling had written for Rampal (a lot of great composers wrote specifically for him—see later). Anyway, it was very interesting that I chose to listen to Rampal, because when I went to do today’s birthday post a few hours later, I found that it was Rampal’s birthday. He was born on this day back in 1922. Here he is playing the whole Bolling Suite (with some “behind the scenes” footage) with Bolling himself at the piano:

Of course, I’m sure that I’ve read Rampal’s birthday before, so it is very possible that some vague brain connections led me to wanting to hear him this morning. I doubt it has anything to do with God or the astral plane.

Alone in a Cage of His Own Making

I never know exactly what to make of Nicolas Cage. Is he a brilliant actor or just an interesting person up there on the screen. I don’t think it much matters, because he is interesting and he’s starred in a number of very good movies. I’m still very fond of Lord of War and he really seems to act in Adaptation. I could provide you the excellent compilation of Cage saying nothing, Cage Does Cage. But I so love this scene from Adaptation that I wrote an article about it, You Are What You Love:

Other Birthdays

One of our many racist Supreme Court justices, John Catron (1786); postal innovator Heinrich von Stephan (1831); the original Alfred from the television Batman, Alan Napier (1903); surrealist artist Roland Topor (1938); and singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins (66).

Finally: the Great Composer

The day, however, belongs to the great French composer Francis Poulenc who was born on this day in 1899. He was one of Les Six, a group of (six) composers who in many ways weren’t alike. But they were not Debussy and Ravel. I think of them all, however, following from their stuff but with more attention to melody and less with the atmospherics that was typical especially of Ravel’s worst work. I would almost call Poulenc neo-classical—the Mozart of the modern period.

Now is the time that I would normally embed Jean-Pierre Rampal playing Sonata for Flute and Piano, which Poulenc wrote for him. But I’ve already done that in the article, Jean-Pierre Rampal Plays Francis Poulenc. Instead, I present to you one of the last pieces that Poulenc wrote, Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. Here it is performed by the great German clarinetist Karl Leister with the great American conductor James Levine on piano. It is a lovely piece of music: sad and playful—even silly at the end. It is everything that I love about Poulenc. I really think that people who don’t think they like modern classical music should give this piece a listen.

Happy birthday Francis Poulenc!

What we know of the Elizabethan theater world is largely due to Philip Henslowe‘s diaries. He was owner of the Rose in partnership with the greatest actor of the period Edward Alleyn. We don’t know when Henslowe was born, even the exact year. But we know when he died and it was today in 1616.

On this day in 1412, Joan of Arc was most likely born. To me, she’s a cautionary tale. Strong belief in God is dangerous. And it is especially when he starts telling you to do things. Given her age, I assume she was suffering from schizophrenia. She was of that age, as I will discuss more in a bit. But whatever the sources, they got her involved in the conflict between England and France. She supported France regaining its independence. This ended with her being put on trial for heresy by a the Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon, who supported the British. She was found guilty as people pretty much always were. It’s kind of like being accused of “Gribble temporal trending folk bottles.” What do you say in your defense? So she was burned at the stake at the age of 19. Just so you understand: she was a Catholic and she was killed by part of the Catholic Church. Twenty-five years later, the Pope looked at her case and found her innocent. If you are a Christian and believe all its dogma, then that might mean something to you. To me, a young woman was tortured to death because she was born in the wrong country.

Heinrich Schliemann was born in 1822. He was one of the most important archaeologist of all time. In particular, he was the first person to dig at Hissarlik, which later archaeologists were able to prove was the actual site of the Trojan War, which by the 19th century was thought to be pure myth. Schliemann also, unfortunately, destroyed much of the site because of his belief that old sites had to be deep. And it turned out that seven main cities had been built on top of the site dating from about a thousand years before Troy. The whole story is amazing, and I highly recommend watching In Search of the Trojan War, which you can find links to in my article, Jesus and Troy. For any Homer fan (And Schliemann was definitely that!) it is a joy.

E L Doctorow is 83 today. He is known for his historical fiction in the best sense of that phrase. His books are expansive, even epic. But I have to admit, I’ve only read Ragtime. It’s interesting. Milos Forman made a great film based upon the book. But he only used a tiny slice of the novel. And the movie is pretty complex. So that ought to give you some idea. Both the book and the movie are recommended. I really should read more of Doctorow’s books. There is so little time!

Other birthdays: co-inventor of the hot air balloon Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier (1745); the great French painter and engraver Gustave Dore (1832); the great Romanian painter Stefan Luchian (1868); poet Carl Sandburg (1878); suprematism painter Aleksandra Ekster (1882); actor Danny Thomas (1912); actor Loretta Young (1913); musician Earl Scruggs (1924); actor Vic Tayback (1930); and comedian Rowan Atkinson (59).

The day, however, belongs to Syd Barrett who was born on this day in 1946. He was, of course, the founder of the band Pink Floyd. He is probably best known for going crazy and having to leave the band. I’m not going to go into it much here, because I discussed it in some length in, Cause We’re the Fishes. But there is a general belief that Barrett became schizophrenic because of his use of the drug LSD. I don’t think that’s true. Barrett, just like Joan of Arc, developed the disease at the age when people develop it: the late teens and early twenties. I just found this very short video of a television interview where Barrett shows himself to be extremely wellspoken and intelligent. Regardless, if you want to know more about him, read the other article. For now, enjoy one of his many great songs of The Madcap Laughs, kind of the title track, “Octopus” (note: a couple of the images are of Pink Floyd without Syd, but mostly they are correct):

Happy birthday Syd Barrett!

Christmas preparations are already getting in the way of work. But it’s all food related, so at least it is stuff I enjoy. But that means I haven’t posted anything today for my many bored fans. And this birthday post ain’t gonna be great either. It’s just not a great day for birthdays, although there are some pretty interesting (And yes, Andrea: great!) people. But I don’t have a whole lot to say.

The great physicist David Bohm was born on this day in 1917. He made important contributions to quantum theory. He is best remembered today for his ontological beliefs. He believed that because of quantum effects, thinking was not localized in the brain. That may sound bizarre to you, but if you accept Richard Feynman’s work, you really can’t deny it. As we burrow down into the reality at its extremes (small, fast, high energy), we see more and more that reality is not what we think of as reality. And why would it be? It all leads me back to Schopenhauer and the idea that consciousness is just a trick. But I don’t see it as a trick that the Will plays on us, but rather a trick that we play on ourselves. But I’m not sure Schopenhauer would actually disagree with that. One could take a pantheistic approach to the Will and say it is just the sum total of all of us. Regardless, Bohm understood this kind of stuff. I would have loved to have known him. (Note, however: I get pretty tired of spiritual types talking to me about quantum mechanics. They pretty much never understand it. And they make the mistake of thinking that quantum mechanics defines some reality. It doesn’t. It’s just a bunch of tools. Philosophers have been trying to figure out what quantum mechanics “means” to the nature of the universe for a hundred years. As I note all the time: there are no answers to those questions—just better questions. God was once a clock maker based on Newton. Now “the eternal spirit” exists because of quantum mechanics. It’s all hogwash. The best you ever get is a great big existential, “Wow!”)

The great film director of my youth, George Roy Hill was born in 1921. He directed a number of films I enjoy to this day: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, and (Keep your comments to yourself!) A Little Romance. All of his films are quite watchable. He comes from a tradition where directors just did their jobs—think of people like Edward Dmytryk. There was no buzz that he was some kind of creative genius. He was just great at his job, and a big part of that was working with a lot of other people who were great that their jobs.

Other birthdays: the great Dutch Golden Age painter Pieter de Hooch (1629); cricketer with unfortunate name Bill O’Reilly (1905); lyricists Paul Francis Webster (1907); actor John Hillerman (81); magician Uri Geller (67); and one of my favorite character actors Michael Badalucco (59).

The day, however, belongs to musician Mike Watt who is 56 today. He was more or less the leader of one of my very favorite bands, Minutemen. Since then, he’s gone one to do a lot of fine work, most notably with Minutemen drummer George Hurley in Firehose. But the death of D Boon, really did end a great thing. Here they are at their peak, doing “The Glory of Man” from Double Nickels on the Dime, probably my favorite of their albums:

Happy birthday Mike Watt!

I’m feeling a bit better today. And trends are all that really matter, you know? I mean, there is no such thing as absolute happiness; there is just relative happiness. And relative to the last couple of days, I’m flying high. And by that, I mean I don’t want to crawl under the bed. And that means, writing today’s birthday post is a lot more fun. Of course, the winner today (That’s her on the left; ain’t she cute?) is a singer of sad songs who had a sad life. But she is also one of my very favorite singers. So there’s that.

On this day in 1852, the great experimental physicist Albert Abraham Michelson was born. He was very important in the first modern light speed measurements. But he is best known for the Michelson–Morley experiment. Before that experiment, it was thought that light waves must move on a kind of structure, the way that waves move in water. No water, no waves. And this structure was thought to be the “ether.” Given that the earth is moving around the sun, and the sun around the galaxy, and the galaxy around the universe, the ether couldn’t be constantly static with regard to us. So if you sent out a light ray one direction, it ought to be at least slightly different in speed to one you sent out the other way. They showed this wasn’t the case. Eventually, Einstein would explain why. Anyway, the experiment was undoubtedly the most important one of the 19th century if not of the entire modern era.

The French writer Jean Genet was born in 1910. I’ve read a fair amount about him, but I don’t recall ever reading anything by him. I only bring him up here because of David Bowie’s song, “The Jean Genie,” which is a pun on his name. The song is not about him, however. I suspect Bowie knows as little as (or less than) I do of the man. Still, it’s a good excuse to listen to the song:

Other birthdays: Spanish playwright Manuel Breton de los Herreros (1796); women’s rights advocate Mary Livermore (1820); historian and founder of Black History Month, Carter Woodson (1875); inventor of an early fax-like machine Rudolf Hell (1901); blues (and so much more) musician Professor Longhair (1918); musical film songwriter Robert Sherman (1925); British actor James Booth (1927); actor Cicely Tyson (80); singer-songwriter Phil Ochs (1940); actor Tim Reid (69); actor Jennifer Beals (50); and everything that is wrong with modern magic in one person, Criss Angel (46).

The day, however and by a mile, belongs to Edith Piaf who was born on this day in 1915. I always think of her as a French Billie Holiday, both as an artist and as a person. It just goes to show that it is better to be French. Anyway, Piaf has a beautiful voice and has probably sung every French song you’ve ever heard that was sung by a woman. Although she only lived to be 47, her output was prodigious. Here she is the year before she died of liver cancer, singing one of her many hits, “Milord.” Wikipedia says that the song “recounts the feelings of a lower-class ‘girl of the port’ (perhaps a prostitute) who develops a crush on an elegantly attired apparent upper-class British traveller (or ‘milord’), whom she has seen walking the streets of the town several times (with a beautiful young woman on his arm), but who has not even noticed her. The singer feels that she is nothing more than a ‘shadow of the street.'” She perfectly captures the joy and sadness of young love. There is at least two minutes of standing ovation at the end of this video clip:

Happy birthday Edith Piaf!