Two brilliant singer-songwriter-pianists have just finished an album together and christened it with a duo concert in New York City. Elton John and Leon Russell recently released their well-received Union album, and the concert was by all accounts a triumph. John has long acknowledged Russell as a major influence on his music, and John’s early albums showed a strong fondness for Russell’s joyful gospel-rock sound and a laudable musical adventurousness that belied John’s pop-artist reputation. Album info here and here. Concert review here.
Noteworthy
Previously Undiscovered Vivaldi Concerto Found
A previously undiscovered flute concerto by the Italian baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi has been found—in Scotland, of all places. It will receive its modern-day premiere performance in January in Perth, UK. Story and sound sample here.
Study: Four Different Gods Rule United States
USA Today reports on a study that found Americans are divided among four different conceptions of God, which affect their ideas on all sorts of things. Or reflect their ideas on all sorts of things. Or both. It’s rather more complicated than the study suggests (I think the division into four categories is too facile), I think, but it’s an interesting angle. Story here.—STK
Mamma Mia, It’s a Beach Boys Musical
20th Century Fox is planning to produce a musical based on the songs of the Beach Boys. Think Mamma Mia with hot rods, moon doggies, and bikinis. I’m all for it, of course. I vote for Mike Love as the villain. Story here.—STK
‘Exorcist’ Blu-Ray Released
“What I was really trying to do was not to make a horror film but make a film that mostly dealt with some of the brutal mysteries of life and the power and mystery of faith.”—William Friedkin on The Exorcist, released on blu-ray today. More info here.
First Fall Season TV Cancellations Hit
Fox’s Lone Star and ABC’s My Generation have been canceled by their respective networks. Fox story here, ABC story here. S. T. Karnick’s review of Lone Star forecast this outcome, as it happens. Review here.
TV Writer-Producer Stephen J. Cannell, RIP
The late Stephen J. Cannell was a fixture on U.S. television for more than four decades.
Life in a Parallel Political Universe
In his article “2010: Dawn of the Terran Empire?” on Pajamas Media, Paul Hsieh is experiencing severe culture shock as he beholds today’s sociopolitical landscape:
“This Is for Ladies Only!”
ESPN is starting up a new programming brand for females: espnW. It will begin as a blog and could evolve into a TV channel.
Moral Imagination in Literature: The Stories We Tell, The People We Become
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute comes to Seattle, WA on Saturday, October 16th for a half-day conference on “Moral Imagination in Literature: The stories we tell, the people we become.” Visit the Pacific Northwest for a weekend, spend a Saturday afternoon in stimulating conversation, then enjoy an excursion to the oldest continually operating farmers market in the United States, Pike Place Market.
Catholic Medical Association Annual Educational Conference
The Catholic Medical Association is holding its Annual Educational Conference, Restoring the Integrity of Medicine: An Imperative for a Christian Anthropology, in Seattle, WA, Wednesday, October 27-Saturday, October 30. Speakers include Wesley J. Smith, Peter J. Kreeft, Prof. Joseph Seifert, and Rev. Robert Spitzer. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend. More here.
Criminal Protagonists Criticized
The contemporary glut of stories in which a criminal is the protagonist is far from an unalloyed good—for aesthetic reasons, not only moral considerations, writes mystery author and critic James Lincoln Warren.
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