The Zodiac Suite by Mary Lou Williams

Ryan Banagale on a recent arrangement and performance of Mary Lou Williams’ Zodiac Suite.

Vince Guaraldi and The Great Pumpkin Waltz

Ryan Raul Banagale discusses a perennial fall favorite: “The Great Pumpkin Waltz” by Vince Guaraldi from The Peanuts animated special, “Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

Guest Post by Matthew Mugmon: Learning to decipher archival documents, one letter (or number) at a time

Matthew Mugmon deciphers a cryptic message from the archives at the Bibliothèque national and possibly alters our reception of Mahler’s music and its legacy in the process.

Don’t Let ’em See You Sweat

Ryan discusses musicology blogs, keeping it real, and Billy Joel.

Expose yourself to art

As Ryan Raul Bañagale has mentioned before, he grew up in Portland, Oregon. And after more than a decade living away from that fair city, he is about to be joined out in Boston by his younger brother. While that probably doesn’t concern most of you, it serves as a mini prologue for the story that follows…

Benjamin Albritton’s Guest Blog: Six Fish, A Falcon, A Wounded Washerwoman, and The Dissertation Blues

Benjamin Albritton sits in the rare books room in a cold library in England. It is 3:05 pm. It’s gray out, kind of rainy, his socks are wet, and he has just been shocked out of his late-dissertation torpor by a fact that seems to make his current chapter fall into place: the king of France, in 1359, has just bought six fish from Lady Pembroke.

You Shall Know the Tooth and The Tooth Shall Set You Free

Ryan Raul Bañagale shares an interesting archival find and highlights two early literary associates of Nicolas Slonimsky. Find out why a tooth is worth a thousand words…