Compelling Interest

The Art of Self-Deprecation

2008-09-23T21:02:47-05:00

Today's Guest Author is my brother, Karl Henning. No, seriously. You've got Mark Twain, Susan B. Anthony, and my brother, Karl. A logical progression, don't you think? As we were growing up and soaking in the comedy of Dick Van...

The Myth of the Blues

2008-07-31T20:18:55-05:00

Here’s something that’s been rolling around in my head for a long time that still makes me laugh. In about the mid-90’s, I was part of a blues trio called The Bluesmen. I played upright bass, Jim Richardson was on...

Great Pop

2008-02-15T15:17:28-06:00

Here are some of the best pop tunes ever produced (in my opinion): ABBA: Dancing Queen GO WEST: The King of Wishful Thinking KATE BUSH: Wuthering Heights THE B-52's: Dry County; Topaz TOTO: Rosanna CHUCK BERRY: Johnny B. Goode* TAYLOR...

A Word About Stage Fright

2007-12-21T22:23:40-06:00

I was in junior high when I got the coolest birthday gift I could imagine - a piano. It was a surprise, and I was absolutely floored as the piano movers brought it through the front door. When I got...

I Can Take It With Me

2007-11-24T00:17:24-06:00

So, in case you were wondering (and I know you were), these are the CDs that currently ride around with me in my car (in no particular order): Soundtrack to The Five Pennies. Danny Kaye, Louis Armstrong. Nat King Cole....

Never Bow to the Demigods

2007-09-17T01:04:33-05:00

I think the practice of idolatry in music is at once hilarious and pathetic. I am speaking of the idolatrous nature of the classical music world – a world for which I was groomed during my Master’s program at Northwestern,...

Of Butch, Basie, and Bowl Haircuts

2007-08-10T00:05:22-05:00

Butch Miles. For me, just a silly name my best friend and I used to throw around in high school. Someone would be talking to us and trying to remember a person's name when we would quickly offer suggestions to...

What does it really mean to be an ingenue?

2007-07-04T14:40:03-05:00

I went to see a rehearsal for Oklahoma! the other night. Community theatre. The only thing I'll say about the orchestra is that they are using an electric bass - that, to me, says it all. Why do today's directors...

Program Notes from the Music Director

2007-07-04T01:29:39-05:00

Of all the operettas written by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, Ruddigore is definitely one of them. Ruddigore has everything one would want in a 19th-century English operetta: music, dialogue, plot, scenery, intermission. As one considers the entire output of...

Thoughts On 3 Different Recordings of Damn Yankees

2007-07-04T00:39:54-05:00

Original Broadway Cast Recording Strengths: Includes all of the original music. Orchestra swings very well. "Joe Hardy" NOT played by Tab Hunter. Weaknesses: Vocal performances by Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston a little flat compared to movie recording. Some great...

Listening From the Outside

2007-07-04T00:22:21-05:00

The few revival recordings I've heard recently have much in common that I find lamentable (Damn Yankees, Anything Goes, Singin' In the Rain): Vocals: Singers tend to sell their voice, not the song. I get the feeling as I listen...

Things They Didn't Cover in "Guffman."

2007-07-04T00:05:22-05:00

[written to a musical colleague] Thought you might want to know what you're missing by not being involved with community theatre. I've played bass in six shows since February, and these are my observations: Drummers seem not to be aware...