When I was sixteen, I wrote a piece for string orchestra, which was played by the high school orchestra.  It was not a particularly sophisticated piece, relying heavily on tritones, but I learned a lot doing it.  And I can still remember the thrill of hearing it for the first time.  I apologize for the […]

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For Virginia Matthews’s dance “Check Mate,” I provided piano music (severe, contrapuntal, and diatonic), a spoken text (scrambled chess instructions), and chess pieces with bells in them.  This was all back in 1980, in San Francisco.

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“Clowns” was an orchestration exercise I did in high school, back when I was sixteen. Fortunately, the public school I went to in D.C. had an orchestra, so I was able to hear what I did. My subject was a piano piece by Joaquin Turina, chosen simply because it was short and suitable. I had […]

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On December 17, 2011, I did my bit for the annual “Filthy Song Night,” at the Jalopy Theater in Brooklyn.  I brought out my baritone horn, which I seldom play in public, and offered a traditional variant of the hymn tune “Old 100th.”  You can listen to it here. Addendum: No, I guess you can’t.  […]

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When I was 13, I played ‘cello in a city-wide youth orchestra in Washington, D.C.  I had forgotten about this performance at the White House until I rediscovered this program.  Simply to amuse myself, I slipped “played ‘cello at the White House” into a couple of bios.  So, if you happen across one of those, […]

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Every year, Meg Reichardt holds a holiday recording party.  Everyone writes a seasonal song; and records it with whoever and whatever is available.  My contributions for 2011, “Jesus Under the Mistletoe” and “The Easter Bunny’s Noel,” are now online over here. I also participated in 2009, with “Or So I’ve Been Told” and a round […]

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A tape cassette of my songs, from 1991, in the days when people made tape cassettes.  This, of course, is the artwork; which was cut, folded, and inserted into the little plastic box.

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On November 17, 2011, I joined Bill Irwin and the cast of King Lear, then at the Public Theater, at Joe’s Pub.  The show was called Late Night Fools; Bill and I reprised some of our old material, and I sang some of my songs.  We also resurrected the song “Home in Pasadena,” which I […]

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A lament about one of our most unpleasant holidays.

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A lilting number for viola and piano, on the outskirts of ambience, with some bitter dissonance to linger on the palate.  “Parget” is ornamental plasterwork; this is the sonic equivalent.

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