moon traveller herald

  Jack Vaughan 3 · StPatsPoems2017

Nobody, wise or unwise, knew or now knows when depressions are due or overdue.–JKG, The Great Crash 1929 I cozied round the fire with two books during the winter. Two books on The Great Depression. One, The Great Crash by John Kenneth Galbraith; the other, 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History – and How It Shattered a Nation by Andrew Ross Sorkin. The backdrop for anyone reading these books would probably be the same at most any point at time – a nagging feeling that the stock market is exuberantly closing in on a correction, or worse. And that our common days will see soup at least a little thinner. The always-around-the corner feeling of nearing contagion is sharp just now, as 2025 saw a hellbent parade of investment in Generative AI, with promises but not proof of a big return.  There must be some message to be learned in history, right? The radio stocks of the 1920s bear some likeness to AI, hyperscaler and data center equipment stocks of the 2020s. The era saw...

  Went to the New England Conservatory the other night to see The Conservatory Jazz Orchestra. The students - led by Ken Schaphorst - are exceptionally amazing. A great jewel of Boston. The Jazz is big band music. Must be heard! This evening was dedicated to the music - often in collaboration - of Melba Liston and Randy Westin. I made an embedded Spotify playlist based on the program that anyone on the web can sample, and Spotify users can add to their playlists. The New England Conservatory has a special resonance here. One of my first research interviews ever was here when I tracked down the great Jaki Byard . My father as a youth in the 1920s took violin lessons there. I can imagine, as if watching a silent film. The boy in knickers navigating the long set of trolly connections, violin in case, from Dorchester to Huntington Avenue. The case holding a dream of his mother's for better things for him and his family.  Thinking tonight: Every violin has a story or two, doesn't ...

  My first encounter with the Velvet Underground was at a friend’s house – and I was put off. Can’t remember why. I might have thought they were an invention of Andy Warhol, and maybe  a put-on. Heroin was ‘too much for my mirror’ – to borrow Beefheart’s line. That Cale viola was seriously grating. Most likely the exceptionally dark and New York Noire of it didn’t fit my dharma then – there were innumerable records to listen to in 1967. From: The Doors, The Fish, The Grateful Dead, Moby Grape, the Who, the Kinks, Love, Procul Harum, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. Other records I was listening to in that time frame: Canned Heat’s First, Jimi Hendrix Are you Experienced, Electric Flag. Now we get to 1968. Eden was receding. The hippie had been buried. It was the second record, White Light White Heat – that really got me. I am in high school and always doomed to be out the door at 7:30 am. The clock radio with the flipping digits would go off at 6:30 am – at this point the ...

 Birdsongs of the Baroque Fourth Hour Alfonso Ferrabosco the Younger (c.1575-1628), Dovehouse Pavan, Musica Dolce Recorder Consort, Clas Pehrsson, BIS, 305,  ENGLISH CONSORT MUSIC Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), Flute Concerto #3 in D Op 10 RV428 The Goldfinch (Il Gardellino), I Musici, Aurele Nicolet – flute, Philips, 420188,  VIVALDI: 6 FLUTE CONCERTOS OP. 10 Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), Dainty fine bird, Cambridge Singers, John Rutter, Collegium, 105,  FLORA GAVE ME FAIREST FLOWERS George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), Organ Concerto #13 in F HWV295 THE CUCKOO AND THE NIGHTINGALE , Academy of Ancient Music, Richard Egarr – organ, Harmonia Mundi, 807447/48,  HANDEL ORGAN CONCERTOS OP.7 William Williams (?1675-1701), Sonata op.1 #6 in F – IN IMITATION OF BIRDS, The Parnassian Ensemble, Sophie Middleditch & Helen Hooker – recorders, Joseph Crouch – cello, David Pollock – harpsichord, Avie, 2094,  A NOBLE ENTERTAINMENT: MUSIC FROM QUEEN ANNE’S LONDON George F...