Arts & Letters

Bald Cow Live July 15, 2011 Chicago

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I am told we will be playing at 9:00 p.m. (going on first and early since we are old and our friends are also old) at Gallery Cabaret in Bucktown. I am troubled to see we are not shown on the calendar … . Details to follow as I get that clarified. (The drink specials that night are Jever Pilsener and Huber Bock, both $3 bottles. )

Four songs recorded in 1989 here. We will be dragging out these old warhorses, for sure. We will be adding one new cover to the set: Who Will Save Rock’N’Roll? I wish Handsome Dick Manitoba could be there with us, physically, not just in spirit.

Victorian / Edwardian Paintings

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This is a great site with many excellent paintings.

Check it out, if you are interested in the era, or the art of the era.

Josef Fluggen, “The Last Resource.”

Feast of St. Thomas More

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(I highly recommend Peter Ackroyd’s balanced and brilliant biography, The Life of Thomas More.)

Siegel’s Brain’s Day Off

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Noted internet alcoholic Stephen Green takes the  pseudo-intellectual Alan Siegel to the woodshed for Siegel’s pompous and error filled critique of the John Hughes ’80s classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Here’s my take:

Siegel is simply revealing his own egocentrism in his review. In the guise of lambasting Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, he is really shouting, “This movie isn’t about me! It doesn’t make people think about me and how I should be more important!”

Siegel wants people to care more about the political issues Siegel is publicly identified with and by extension to make Siegel more important. Virtually all leftist criticism of art comes down to this dynamic. They like art about themselves and art that makes them feel more important. It’s kind of disturbing how deeply the modern American Left has absorbed the world view of the fascist and communist wherein politics was the only valid purpose of art.

I think Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a great movie because it explores universal human themes.

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Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011), Writer, Soldier

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Rest in peace, sir.

I recently read Fermor’s two travel books, set during his walk from Holland to Constantinople in 1933-34, A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople: From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube

Fermor’s greatest feat was kidnapping the German commander on Crete during World War II.

This site is dedicated to Fermor’s life and career.