Category Archives: Popular music & culture

Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II

Posted on August 29, 2018 by barczablog

Tonight was the opening night concert of the 2018 Ashkenaz Festival at Koerner Hall, an unforgettable evening of Yiddish culture titled “Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II”. For awhile Soviet scholars worked to assemble an archive of … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Politics, Popular music & culture, Spirituality & Religion, University life | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

To re-purpose

Posted on August 12, 2018 by barczablog

The word is in my head after The Death of Stalin. Iannucci’s film takes music and uses it in new ways. Whether we’re talking about John Hughes, Stanley Kubrick or your organist at church, the re-use of an existing piece … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Popular music & culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The pain I felt reading Kathleen Turner’s interview

Posted on August 12, 2018 by barczablog

There’s a great deal in Kathleen Turner’s fascinating recent interview with David Marchese.  So naturally if you’re a beautiful actress people will react, comment, and draw their own conclusions about what’s really important. I find it desperately sad when I see what … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Food, Health and Nutrition, Personal ruminations & essays, Popular music & culture, Psychology and perception | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

The Death of Stalin

Posted on August 11, 2018 by barczablog

It was promoted as a comedy. That reminds me of a joke I heard years ago. Stalin is addressing the Supreme Soviet, speaking and suddenly: a sneeze is heard. Stalin stops speaking, and asks sternly “who snyeeezed?” (my friend who … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Politics, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Demoralization as a tactic

Posted on July 14, 2018 by barczablog

Don’t lose heart. But do you ever wonder whether someone might be deliberately trying to wear you down, demoralize you, persuade you to give up? I know that as a persistent CBC listener & CNN watcher, as a voracious consumer … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Popular music & culture | Tagged | 3 Comments

What I learned from Bourdain

Posted on June 10, 2018 by barczablog

Anthony Bourdain, a man of contradictions, has died.  Yes he ended his life, but he seemed to know more about how to enjoy life than anyone I can think of.  As I watch CNN’s marathon of favourite episodes of Parts … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, Health and Nutrition, Personal ruminations & essays, Popular music & culture | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Opera: Passion, Power, and Politics

Posted on June 1, 2018 by barczablog

There it all is, everything a boy or girl could want in one headline. Now in fact that’s the title of a big beautiful book that I’ve been reading.  And what good is a book if it doesn’t push your … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Opera, Politics, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Laird’s new Leonard Bernstein biography

Posted on May 27, 2018 by barczablog

2018 is the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, as I’ve mentioned in reviewing recent commemorative performances of Candide by TIFT, TOT and the TSO.  Anniversaries usually trigger a flood of books as well.  I’ve just read one of them cover … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Music and musicology, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Against the Grain Orphée+

Posted on April 28, 2018 by barczablog

Orphée+? That plus sign might signify an opera updated, enlarged, perhaps even reformed(?). The “+” means some remarkable additions and changes from Gluck’s original, Orphée et Eurydice (or the Italian version aka Orfeo ed Euridice). Gluck created more than one … Continue reading →

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Frisch takes us Over the Rainbow

Posted on February 2, 2018 by barczablog

Sometimes we read a book to learn something, to discover answers to questions. And sometimes we read simply to get lost in the conversation. Walter Frisch is taking me on one of those latter sorts of journeys in his 2017 … Continue reading →

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