Never No Lament in “Sonny’s Blues”

While drinking my third cup of coffee, and reading all this talk of heroin and Charlie Parker, I got to thinking of James Baldwin’s beautiful short story “Sonny’s Blues” (1958). Around the same time that certain Beats were extolling the subconscious primitive impulses of . . . . Continue Reading »

Bayles and Ellison on Charlie Parker

In the comments to Kate’s heroin post below, Peter says that heroin was a drug of productivity for Charlie Parker. Well, to rule that out, or, to say it is the truth, would require one to be able to look pretty far into Parker’s soul, and most particularly, into his musical genius. One . . . . Continue Reading »

A Populist Party Or A Business Lobby?

National Review has it about right on the Gang of Eight’s immigration proposal. The “amnesty “absurdly includes people who aren’t even residents of the US. The internal enforcement mechanisms are too slow and their implementation should precede amnesty in any case. The Gang . . . . Continue Reading »

Harvey Mansfield on the Bowdoin Study

Here’s his piece from the CRB now available on Real Clear Politics. Read the whole thing, especially for its Bloomian characterization of Bowdoin’s openness, and its wonderful paragraph on the banning of the alcohol-free dorm, but make sure you study the second sentence here. Maybe we . . . . Continue Reading »