Category: Music

The Beatitude of Playing Bach

Arnold Steinhardt, Violin Dreams, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006 Like the hundreds of other people who had gathered at Saint Pius V Church for Dan Horkheimer’s funeral last August, I was moving between despair and disbelief…

War Isn’t Over

Dear Laura Last night I was reading Frances Fitzgerald’s Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam This afternoon I listened to a playlist I made Of songs from the Vietnam War…

Remembering the Dead/115

As every cell in Chile will tell The cries of the tortured men Remember Allende, and the days before, Before the army came Please remember Victor Jara, In the Santiago Stadium, Es verdad – those…

Old Music by Colin McLaughlin

For years, I was obsessed with my mandolin. It was my travel companion–out of town, long walk, over night–I always had my trusty mandolin slung over my shoulder. It got worn down and weary looking,…