A few notes from your humble host.
1 -- Think of it as a live edition of Critical Thinking . . .
For those of you in Chicago, my good friend, journalist and professor Laura S. Washington is hosting a "salon" Wednesday night, 20 February, at Yoshi's Café, her home away from home, 3257 North Halsted Street, where I will be in conversation with Toni-Marie Montgomery, accomplished concert pianist and the Dean of the Northwestern University School of Music.
Montgomery, who came to Northwestern in 2003, is Northwestern's first African American woman dean.
Northwestern plans a major announcement regarding the future of the School of Music [no, I don't know what it is, but I smell a big financial gift] tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday 19 February, and Toni-Marie also hopes to bring the new director of the School's jazz program, Victor Goines, with her to the salon. The virtuoso clarinet and saxophone player was until recently the director of the Institute for Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School in New York City.
Cocktails 6:30 p.m
Dinner 7:00 pm
Conversation all around that. I believe that each person just orders off of Yoshi's menu.
RSVP by Feb. 19 to l[email protected]
2 -- Boulez and Carter -- together again tonight
The broadcast and webcast version of Critical Thinking airs/streams tonight at 10 p.m. Chicago time. It's the second part of a new conversation I had last month with Pierre Boulez, this part on the music of 99-years-young Elliott Carter. I'll also play in full performances of two works that bracket a half-century of Carter's output -- Joel Krosnick and Gilbert Kalish's 1995 recording of Carter's 1948 Sonata for Cello and Piano and the 1999 recording of the 1996 Clarinet Concerto with soloist Michael Collins and Oliver Knussen conducting the London Sinfonietta. Enjoy!
3 -- Surely you have better things to do . . .
Somehow, this baby weblog topped 235 page views today -- more than double any of its previous single-day highs. Thanks to all! And links to recommended blogs and other exercises of weblogian etiquette to come.