Little Boys and Trains
One of the great benefits of being a grandparent is that one can do the things one always wanted to do as a kid and excuse it as "showing the kids a good time."  Sometimes the kids even enjoy it too.Trains were made for little boys.  Ranking right up there alongside watching a campfire, the mesmerizing effect of watching a train pass is genetically ingrained in the masculine DNA.  Most of the grand old steam engines were gone when I was a kid.  The really big ones worked all th

Schoenberg: An Acquired Taste?....... Naaaah!
Listen to Pierrot Lunaire here! (The occasion for this post) Entering into the dark domains of musical criticism is a surefire means of arousing contempt no matter what position one takes nor the degree of actual expertise that one possesses in advancing it.  As to the latter, actual expertise, I offer no defense or apology.  In formal academic, specialized knowledge, I have lit