Category: All Posts

Classical Music’s Gateway Drug

Until February 2 the logo picture in the upper left corner will be the cover of one of my all-time favorite records, a 1971 recording by the BSO of “The Planets” by the English composer Gustav Holst. I am surprised and pleased that Deutsche Grammophon is putting the LP back in print, and my pre-ordered copy will be here on Friday.

“The Planets” is categorized as a suite, and not a symphony, but for all practical purposes a symphony it is. I first heard the Steinberg BSO recording of “The Planets” at the start of my freshman year of college. My roommate Brad played his copy on my then-new Dynaco A25 speakers, and I was totally blown away, as the old saying goes.

The legendary Dynaco A25 speaker, made in Denmark.

I certainly wasn’t unfamiliar with Classical music, but I did not yet have any Classical records in my collection. The previous April I had been in Boston Symphony Hall for the first time — not for a BSO concert, but with my girlfriend to see Randy Newman, whose warm-up acts were Sandy Denny and Martin Mull!

The suite was only 60 years old when I first heard it, and it was unlike any other symphonic music I had ever heard. “The Planets” inspired me to buy Classical records — on budget labels — almost exclusively for a while, including Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and some Mozart Symphonies. Deutsche Grammophon isn’t a budget label, and for Christmas that year I requested my own copy of the Holst album. My mother worked in Concord, Massachusetts, and she bought a copy at a small record shop in the center of town. I was very excited and appreciative on Christmas morning, and I played the LP many times during the semester break.

Thanks in part to my generation’s embracing of “The Planets,” as well as the popularity of John William’s “Star Wars” score, Holst found his way into the standard symphonic repertoire. I still play my Christmas present from Mom, but those grooves have a lot of mileage on them, and I’m looking forward to having a new pressing. As YouTube sound quality goes, this transfer of an original copy of the LP is about as good as it gets. The record is in excellent condition, and the guy who posted it used a $700 Nagaoka MP-500 phono cartridge.

https://youtu.be/4flEfDF5r30

Disney Girls Gone By

Shelley Fabares and Doreen Tracey

Annette is gone, and so is my favorite Mouseketeer, Cheryl Holdridge. Being concerned with things closer to home recently, I failed to notice the passing of Doreen Tracey last week. Doreen was one of the Mouseketeers who made the cut to the teenage material Disney produced later, that introduced soap opera elements of romance and conflict between the kids.

The only Disney Girl in this picture I didn’t have a crush on was the one every other boy lusted after — Annette. Shelley Fabares was a regular in the cast, and she became BFF with Annette. Shelley is, thankfully, still with us, having survived a serious illness that required a liver transplant.

The Disney Girls — Cheryl Holdridge, Shelley Fabares, Annette (no last name needed), Doreen Tracey

Rose is Rose

ARGH! Just a few days ago I posted a video from Charlie Rose on PBS, and now he’s caught up in the unwanted sexual advance scandals.

BREAKING NEWS ALERT

Eight women have come forward to allege that longtime TV host Charlie Rose made unwanted sexual advances toward them, according to a new Washington Post report.

The women, who ranged in age from 21 to 37 at the time of the alleged encounters, were employees or aspired to work for Rose at the ‘‘Charlie Rose’’ show from the late 1990s to as recently as 2011. Rose, 75, whose show airs on PBS, also co-hosts ‘‘CBS This Morning’’ and is a contributing correspondent for ‘‘60 Minutes.’’

Shortly after the report was published early Monday evening, PBS said it is immediately halting distribution of Rose’s interview program and CBS News suspended him.

David Letterman survived his sex scandal, but there was blackmail involved. These are the related questions, as I see them in all such cases:

  1. Is the person being pursued at least at the legal age of consent, preferably 21? Whether or not either person is married is a personal matter, relevant only in a divorce case, and irrelevant here. As bad as Bill Clinton’s involvement was with Monica Lewinsky, they were two consenting adults.
  2. Was the advance actually a verbal proposition, without any touching involved?
  3. If it was a proposition, and the person’s answer was no, was it accepted immediately without further discussion? If not, this is where an unwanted advance crosses the line into harassment.
  4. If the man (assuming it’s a man) was in a position of supervision or professional influence, does that violate the policy of the workplace? Were there no consequences as a result of the offer being declined? Again, this is where the line into harassment is crossed.
  5. Is flattery automatically considered to be flirtation, and is flirtation an unwanted advance?
  6. “Unwanted advances” begs the question of what is a “wanted advance?” It’s ridiculous that saying “no” would automatically turn a proposition into an unwanted advance. Who is supposed take the lead, or are we at the point where no social interaction can be allowed, as is the case in Muslim countries?