Doug Skinner: An Archive on Your Gizmo

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Entries from October 2014

Index Cards (72)

October 27th, 2014 · Comments Off on Index Cards (72)

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Tags: *Index Cards

How Pleasant to Know Mr. Skinner (the musical version)

October 20th, 2014 · 3 Comments

At a recent reading/slideshow of selections from The Unknown Adjective, I performed a musical version of the last page.  Ralph Hamperian played the tuba.  

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Tags: *Music · H

Two Moments

October 13th, 2014 · 5 Comments

I had forgotten about these two short pieces for flute, ‘cello, and piano, written for my composition class at Oberlin Conservatory, back in 1972.  They seemed lively enough to keep, so I made a legible copy from the penciled antique.

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Tags: *Music · T

Happy Readers

October 10th, 2014 · 3 Comments

The book blog “Wuthering Expectations” has posted a nice review of the Selected Plays of Alphonse Allais.  You can read it here. The book in question is available from Amazon. Norman Conquest, of Black Scat Books, has sent these photos of happy readers:

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Tags: *Words · H

Son of a Gun

October 6th, 2014 · Comments Off on Son of a Gun

A little song about guns: in the first verse, Fred’s son shoots himself; in the second, Fred shoots his wife; and in the third, the singer suggests that Fred shoot himself, so we’ll be rid of him. The son of a bitch.

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Tags: *Music · S

Twilight in the Sinkhole

October 1st, 2014 · Comments Off on Twilight in the Sinkhole

This melancholy little piece features the Tremoloa, a curious instrument once made by the Manufacturers Advertising Company, which has a single slack string played with a steel bar. On its first performance, I was joined by David Gold on viola, Ralph Hamperian on tuba, and Doug Roesch on guitar.

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Tags: *Music · T