My favorite recording of my favorite Louis Armstrong tune, “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue,” features the great trumpeter Byron Stripling and his friends. They bring that great jazz masterpiece[i] to life in ways that would make Louis smile that great big grin of his. As jazz performances frequently go, this one begins with the entire ensemble...
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Some people, many in fact, believe the absence of religion would make for a happier, more peaceful existence here on planet earth. In the early 1970s, John Lennon enshrined that sentiment in his best-selling ballad Imagine (though many hardcore rock historians give the songwriting nod to his widow Yoko Ono). Set to a haunting, almost...
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On May 6, 1776, thirty-two “sons of Virginia” representing every county of the state met at Williamsburg to pass a resolution calling for the Virginia delegates at the Continental Congress to move for independence from Britain.[1] This Virginia Convention was also tasked with drafting a bill of rights and a constitution for the now independent...
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Mikel Bulgakov’s Russian masterpiece “Master and Margarita” follows the Devil, Woland, and his minions as they descend upon Moscow to terrorize, destroy, and uproot society. However, despite his unsettling violence, Woland ultimately serves as a force of good and truth for the Russian people. Bulgakov uses Woland to uproot truths about the corrupt, oppressive reality...
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Life is full of unsexy tasks. For example, unclogging toilets, roofing, spreadsheets, thank you letters, file sorting, quality control, set striking… the list goes on. I’ve done all of those things listed above and then some, and most of them more than once. It’s not that we do those types of work because we particularly...
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