I’ve selected, translated, and annotated a choice selection of plays by Alphonse Allais for this book. First performed in the cabarets and theaters of Paris in the rollicking 1890s, these plays include satire, absurdism, he-she sketches, a burlesque operetta, even a play for dogs.  You’ll find ten monologues, three one-act plays, and twelve shorter skits […]

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There’s always an explanation…

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I found a musical cipher on a tearsheet from an old encyclopedia, so I wrote a quatrain to try it out. This is what it sounds like.

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I did this drawing a number of years ago.  I don’t recall what prompted it.

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Animal skulls, from the sketchbook.

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“Shrubs and Bushes” is a set of four short pieces for orchestra.  As I recall, I chose the title for its decorative associations.  I wrote it for my high school orchestra back in 1972, when I was 17.  I had already written a piece for strings, and orchestrated a piano piece by Turina to learn […]

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A skyline in Buenos Aires, from my hotel window.

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“Shofar Bells,” an arrangement of “Jingle Bells” for shofar and viola, can be heard over at the Holiday Recording Party site.  Meg Reichardt’s annual holiday album is a Brooklyn tradition; I’m happy to participate.  As is traditional, it was written the night before, and recorded during a marathon session among children, dogs, alcohol, food, and […]

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I’ve drawn a few one-pagers that present alternate, abbreviated versions of the classics.  Here’s Dante’s Inferno.

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