The 34th Annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards Gala celebrates the winners of the writers and illustrators of the Future Contests that honor 12 writers and 12 illustrators from around the world in the genres of science fiction and fantasy on the theme of “Magic and Wizardry.” The event, with celebrity award presenters, will be […]
By Néstor CASTIGLIONE Considering the epochal nature of World War II and how its aftermath has essentially bequeathed to us our world of today, the disappearance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Sixth Symphony” from concert programs and recordings, at least in the United States, is a scandalous omission in our collective cultural memory. “[To] anyone who […]
By Néstor CASTIGLIONE The title of last Saturday night’s Salastina Society program was a tellingly double-edged one. Called “Second Class Citizens,” the program’s name resonated as much for composers marginalized from the grand narrative of musical history as for the present-day concern for those peoples who live and work in the midst of our society, […]
By Charly SHELTON “Come for my soul, you wardens of the sky! May it see my corpse, may it rest on my mummy, which will never be destroyed or perish.” ~ Spell 89, Egyptian Book of the Dead The Egyptians were great believers in the afterlife. Those who could afford it were buried in ornate […]
By Néstor CASTIGLIONE It could be argued that Beethoven’s art exploded like a dazzling supernova in the musical firmament, his art spreading disparate elements far and wide that eventually would coalesce into various independent and clashing galaxies. The nebula in which the music of Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892 – 1988) inhabits is a solitary and forbidding […]
By Néstor CASTIGLIONE In 1948, English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was riding high upon the crest of international fame. His “Sixth Symphony” had been premiered by Sir Adrian Boult that April and the work immediately seized the public’s imagination on both sides of the Atlantic, garnering over a hundred performances in the following year – […]
By Charly SHELTON Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day and that meant food, drink and music, all of which were found in abundance at Tam O’Shanter on Los Feliz. As one of LA’s oldest restaurants, the Scottish pub set in an English Tudor-style cottage is steeped in history, and one can feel the age as soon […]
By Néstor CASTIGLIONE Fortune and fame: for many, the two most glittering prizes in human existence. But as most soon learn they are also the most difficult to attain. Even if seizesd in life, they can quickly slip from one’s grasp in death. For every Beethoven or Stravinsky in music, for example, there is a […]
By Charly SHELTON Each year, Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park hosts several events to offer something new to their guests each time they visit. At Christmas, it has a holiday celebration. Over the summer, Ghost Town Alive! brings the Wild West to life. At Halloween, Knott’s Scary Farm is a must for fans of […]
By Néstor CASTIGLIONE The age of automation is upon us – or so an endless array of utopian technological theologians and despairing neo-Luddites would have us believe. They say that the storm is coming and coming at us fast; a deluge of epochal proportions that will sweep away millenia-old concepts of “work” and may possibly […]