What do Merv Griffin and Max Roachhave in common? Aside from the fact that they both died this week, very little. But connections are often very personal, and the thing that links them for me is that I met them both when I was a teenager and have...

In yesterday's New York Times, Edward Rothstein took up the question, "Who Cares About Classical Music?" in a review of Lawrence Kramer's recently published book, Why Classical Music Still Matters.

Rothstein rightly notes the desperation in Kramer's title, commenting, "it is the kind of title that would not...

There are many people who have the distinction of being listed in Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia "that anyone can edit." These are, one presumes, the movers and shakers of the world. There are many, many more people, of course, who are undistinguished and therefore not listed in Wikipedia....

I'd like to propose a new rating system for restaurants, cafes, and bars. Instead of the tired old star system, or some highly poetic, but thoroughly individual review of how the food or drinks taste and are served, my proposal is to rate all public locales by the music they...

First, I want to thank the people who responded to my previous post, "Who Cares about Classical Music?" about concert violinist Joshua Bell's performance in the Washington DC metro. If posting here is like playing in the subway at rush hour, then those of you who commented are my...

A couple of months ago, The Washington Post staged what it called an "experiment in context, perception and priorities" by bringing the celebrated concert violinist Joshua Bell and his Stradivarius to play Bach in the D.C. Metro. The experiment, as the Post reporter Gene Weingarten wrote, was "an...

American Idol is over! After we've recovered our senses from celebrating Jordin Sparks' triumph, let's have a moment of silence for all those thousands of people who didn't win. In fact, let's have a whole summer's worth of silence, a whole lifetime. Tough luck, folks. Get used to silence. No...