The apparently tireless Norman Conquest (aka Derek Pell) has started a new magazine. It’s called TYPO, which he describes as a “Journal of Lettrism, Surrealist Semantics, and Constrained Design.” He and Farewell Debut are the editors, and I’m on the masthead for “Special Collections.” I contributed a stereoscopic word ladder, as well as brief articles […]

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For the “Errata” edition of the Black Scat Review, I came up with a list of unfortunate typos on title pages. I particularly enjoyed inventing fictional publishers. Here’s how it begins: TYPOS ON TITLE PAGES H. L. Mencken once observed that a book is most likely to have a typo on the title page, since […]

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Some piano music, all in the upper register.

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I’ve now been posting my work on this website for ten years, having started in June 2011. According to the numbers here, I’ve posted 787 examples of my work. I hope some of you enjoyed at least some of it. Coming up in the months ahead are another album of my songs, It All Went […]

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2 + 2 = 5 is now available from Black Scat Books! This, if you’re doing the math suggested by the title, is my tenth translation of France’s master humorist, Alphonse Allais. 2 + 2 = 5 (in French, 2 + 2 = 5), was first published in 1895. Allais is in his prime here, […]

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Here’s the beginning of a short story to appear, or so I’m told, in the next issue of Black Scat Review. It’s a rollicking tale of a love triangle. Although rather bawdy in spots, it uses no four-letter words. TWO AND ONE Ivy was the one for Ira, and Ira was the one for Ivy. […]

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A short trio for flute, clarinet, and bassoon, with a few notes for offstage violin, just to confuse the audience. I wrote this when I was 17; it’s been recopied for legibility.

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That Regrettable Weekend contains 20 of my songs, plus the eponymous instrumental. You can find it on Bandcamp. I play soprano, banjo, and baritone ukuleles; keyboards; Tremoloa; Ukelin; bulbul; xylophone; melodica; bells; psaltery; ocarina; grunt call; trombone; and assorted percussion. And sing, of course. Carol Benner plays viola on three songs. The tracks are: Little […]

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In 1974, as a composition student at Oberlin Conservatory, I wrote three songs for “The Donner Party: Its Crossing,” developed and performed by the company Kraken, and directed by Herbert Blau. The words were by Stuart Friebert and Herbert Blau. I posted the program here, and finally got round to revising and recopying the songs. […]

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Here’s another excerpt from The Doug Skinner Dossier (see last post). It’s the first bit of “Trevor’s New Job.” TREVOR’S NEW JOB “I didn’t think I’d need a job in the afterlife,” said Trevor. Mr. Wallingford smirked at him from across his desk. “Didn’t you need a job in life?” he asked. “Well, yes,” said […]

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