Diderot is one of my favorite writers, and I’ve long enjoyed Le Neveu de Rameau. So, I was delighted to find a monograph on Jean François Rameau (by André Magnan), and particularly intrigued to learn that two melodies by that curious nephew had survived.  I harmonized them, and made a piano piece from the result; here’s how it begins.

Shakespeare’s “long word” is used to create an acrostic quodlibet.  I took one measure from each composer: the first measure of a piece by Handel, the second measure of a piece by Olagué, the third measure of a piece by Nichelmann, etc.  The honor roll is:

Handel
Olagué
Nichelmann
Offenbach
Ravel
Iradier
Franck
Isaac
Confrey
Albéniz
Berners
Ives
Lully
Inglot
Thomson
Urbanner
Dunstable
Ibert
Nörmiger
Ippolitov-Ivanov
Tchaikovsky
Alkan
Turina
Inghelbrecht
Bloch
Ullmann
Skinner

“Stumbling Block” is an essay in awkwardness: wrong-note harmonies, recapitulations that peter out, a right hand motif that gets stuck while the left hand moves on.  I played this countless times in shows with Bill Irwin, particularly to accompany some clown and trunk business in The Clown Bagatelles. Here’s the first part of it.

This was John Keel’s last book: a collection of his columns for Fate magazine.  He had promised to write an introduction, but was too ill to do it.  The publisher, Phyllis Galde, asked me if she could use the bio I had written for the Mothman issue of Fortean Times. So, I got their permission, and reworked it to make it more suitable as an introduction.  Here’s the first page.

The comic strip “It’s Fortean” ran in the children’s paper Zuzu from 1992 to 1995. The editor was Beck Underwood; it was her idea. Some of them were also reprinted in the INFO Journal. Here are a few samples.

A round, on Yeats.

Dr. Docket contends with a stubborn malingerer in this instructive picture story.  And lo, this is how it begins.