by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. So, whose bright idea was it anyhow; you know, to get Marilyn Monroe (of all people) to slither down the runway to sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” the night of May 19,1962 in the Big Apple? You know this film clip… everybody does. But just in case you …
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. I have always liked Charles Dickens. Not only was he a writer able to make words do his bidding, but he roused multitudes of people, people who after reading this master could never see the world as before… but only through his eyes. That is power indeed. When …
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. A funny thing happened while you were at your office bemoaning the demise of America and its Great Republic: they didn’t die after all. Quite the reverse. See for yourself. Skim the business pages of your local newspaper today, and you’ll see one piece of cheery economic news …
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. The sound was unmistakable. It was, quite literally, that harsh, grating noise made when steel of the most tenacious kind scrapes against unyielding concrete; that immutable thing that insists (to the outrage of your ears) it is here today, here tomorrow, here forever. And I cringed, snug abed …
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. Men, it’s time for your annual Valentine’s Day update and reminder. For, as you will recall, Valentine’s Day (along with her dog Pookie’s birthday) is the most important event of her year. If you get it right (or as right as any man can get this minefield) you’re …
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant I have been thinking a lot lately about Eddie Slovik. He was a private in the US Army during World War II and had the unsavory distinction to be the only soldier of the Great Republic to be court-martialled and executed for desertion since the American Civil War. Eddie Slovik was …
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. When I was a little whippersnapper 60 years ago and more, my young father used to take me on his knee, his only very occasionally used guitar in hand and sing me a song that I hadn’t thought of in all these years. It’s the kind of childhood …
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. I am writing this article to launch an international movement in favor of uncles, good people, solid, loyal, lovable and (as in my case) quite good looking, too. But for all these substantial qualities we hold a place of insufficient importance… and after more than 20 years of …
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. In 1962 one of the grandest American musicals hit the cinemas of the Great Republic. It was Meredith Wilson’s “The Music Man”… and we got up and marched as we heard its effervescent score. No high fallutin’ Eye-talian music you had to scratch your head about, understanding hardly …
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s program note. I doubt that the subject of today’s article is familiar with the celebrated English novelist E.M. Forster, but he ought to be. Foster’s famous aphorism “Only connect” is the basis for what is already one of the greatest fortunes in the history of the world. Only connect… and …