A Strange Loop is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. It won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2022 Tony for Best Musical.

A Strange Loop follows Usher (Jaquel Spivey) a black, queer writer writing a musical about a black, queer writer writing a musical about a black, queer writer. The title refers to a cognitive science term coined by Douglas Hofstadter, as well as the song by Liz Phair.

Remember the Pixar movie Inside Out where within the mind of a young girl named Riley are the basic emotions (aka, Thoughts) that control her actions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. 

A Strange Loop adds a couple more Thoughts like Self-Contempt and Denial to the mix to show how a young man struggles to establish his identity in a hostile world. I thought Jaquel Spivey was incredible in the role of Usher–who is on-stage 95% of the time. The depiction of making choices (some bad) after debating the Thoughts in his mind makes A Strange Loop a provocative, memorable musical. GRADE: A

Musical numbers:

• “Intermission Song” – Usher, Thoughts
• “Today” – Usher, Thoughts
• “We Wanna Know” – Thoughts
• “Inner White Girl” – Usher, Thoughts
• “Didn’t Want Nothin'” – Thought 5, Thoughts
• “Exile in Gayville” – Usher, Thoughts
• “Second Wave” – Usher
• “Tyler Perry Writes Real Life” – Usher, Thought 3, Thoughts
• “Writing a Gospel Play” – Usher, Thoughts
• “A Sympathetic Ear” – Thought 1
• “Inwood Daddy” – Usher, Thought 6, Thoughts
• “Boundaries” – Usher
• “Periodically” – Thought 4, Usher
• “Didn’t Want Nothin’ Reprise” – Thought 5
• “Precious Little Dream / AIDS Is God’s Punishment” – Usher, Thoughts
• “Memory Song” – Usher, Thoughts 2-6
• “A Strange Loop” – Usher, Thoughts

It takes a certain sort of person to write a history of the Index and Dennis Duncan is the right kind of guy to write it: he’s smart and snarky! The subtitle to Index, A History of is A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age. Duncan takes the reader on a chronological adventure from the early times of scrolls to today’s ebooks.

Along the way Duncan shares plenty of juicy facts. Did you know the first English work printed on a printing press was William Caxton’s Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye in 1473. Did you know that William F. Buckley sent Norman Mailer a complimentary copy of his The Unmaking of a Mayor and in the Index next to Mailer’s name, Buckley wrote “Hi!” knowing Mailer would check his name first. Snarky, indeed!

Along with the history of the development of the Index, Duncan spices things up with references to how authors used the Index in various works. Vladimir Nabokov played plenty of Index games in his Pale Fire. Duncan shows where the Index is a key factor in “A Scandal in Bohemia” where Irene Adler outwits Sherlock Holmes.

Duncan deals with contemporary indexing by quoting Google engineer Matt Cutts who explains that “The first thing to understand is that when you do a Google search, you aren’t actually searching the web. You’re searching Google’s index of the web” (p. 1-2).

There was an old saying in Graduate School that if you could master the use of the Index, you would have access to all knowledge. That not far from true. Index, The History of is a great book filled with knowledge and fun! GRADE: A

Table of Contents:

Introduction 1

1 Point of Order On Alphabetical Arrangement 19

2 The Births of the Index Preaching and Teaching 49

3 Where Would We Be Without It? The Miracle of the Page Number 85

4 The Map or the Territory The Index on Trial 113

5 ‘Let No Damned Tory Index My History!’ Sparring in the Back Pages 136

6 Indexing Fictions Naming was Always a Difficult Art 171

7 ‘A Key to All Knowledge’ The Universal Index 203

8 Ludmilla and Lotaria The Book Index in the Age of Search 230

Coda: Archives of Reading 261

Notes 273

List of Figures 299

Acknowledgements 303

Appendix: A Computer-generated Index 307

Index 313

Diane decided that her deck needed an awning to protect her from the sun. She chose a local awning company and a crew arrived to install the piping that would support the awning. Now that the piping has been installed, the material Diane chose for the actual awning is being sewed and fitted. Another crew will show up in a couple of weeks and install the finished awning. What do you think?

Just when you think things couldn’t get worse…the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Sure, we all knew this was coming since the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion a month ago. But, now it’s Real.

In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas suggests this opens the door to overturning gay marriage, contraception, and transgender rights. With their super majority, Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett can do whatever they want.

There are Dark Days ahead, my friends. Real Dark!

John M. Ford died in 2006 of a heart attack. He was 49 years old. Aspects, with a brilliant Introduction by Ford’s friend Neil Gaiman, consists of a 480 page novel that Ford’s death left unfinished.

John M. Ford won the 1983 World Fantasy Award for his novel The Dragon Waiting. Ford also won the Philip K. Dick Award in 1993 for Growing Up Weightless.

Aspects is being marketed as a fantasy novel, but it is much more than that. The main character, Varic, Coron of the Corvaric Coast, opens the novel with a duel. The politics of this world Ford invents is complicated with many factions including sorcerers.

As you might expect, there’s plenty of action, conspiracies, and skullduggery. I have other John M. Ford books and now I’d like to drop everything and read them. Have you read unfinished books? GRADE: B+

I’m still in the mood to listen to live performances on CD that I’ve had on my shelves for decades. VH-1 Presents Donna Summer Live & More Encore! came out in 1999. I bought it and never listened to it until last week. This live CD presents most of the Donna Summer hits like “She Works Hard for the Money” and “Bad Girls.” Some people hate her rendition of “MacArthur Park” but I think it’s okay. The final song, “I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro)” sounds a lot like “Time To Say Good-bye” to me. If you’re a Donna Summer fan, you’ll enjoy this concert version of her hits. GRADE: B

TRACK LIST:

		MacArthur Park	6:38
		This Time I Know It’s For Real	3:12
		I Feel Love	3:50
		On The Radio	4:29
		No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)	4:21
		Dim All The Lights	6:03
		She Works Hard For The Money	4:31
		Bad Girls	3:06
		Hot Stuff	4:19
		My Life	5:58
		Last Dance	7:08
		Love Is The Healer	3:23
		I Will Go WIth You (Con Te Partiró)	4:10

Diane loves Carole King and James Taylor which explains why I bought Carole King & James Taylor at the Troubadour. But, for some unknown reason, the CD/DVD set from 2010 remained unopened until last week. There’s some overlap with songs on both the CD and DVD. I tend to like Carole King’s songs better than James Taylor’s songs, but the two artists seem to be having a good time singing together. GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

CD-1		Blossom Written-By – James Taylor	3:09
CD-2		So Far Away Written-By – Carole King	4:42
CD-3		Machine Gun Kelly Written-By – Danny Kortchmar	3:00
CD-4		Carolina In My Mind Written-By – James Taylor	4:16
CD-5		It’s Too Late Written-By – Carole King, Toni Stern	4:59
CD-6		Smackwater Jack Written-By – Gerry Goffin-Carole King	5:25
CD-7		Something In The Way She Moves Written-By – James Taylor	4:04
CD-8		Will You Love Me Tomorrow Written-By – Gerry Goffin-Carole King	4:13
CD-9		Country Road Written-By – James Taylor	3:49
CD-10		Fire And Rain Written-By – James Taylor	5:45
CD-11		Sweet Baby James Written-By – James Taylor	3:35
CD-12		I Feel The Earth Move Written-By – Carole King	4:05
CD-13		You’ve Got A Friend Written-By – Carole King	5:52
CD-14		Up On The Roof Written-By – Gerry Goffin-Carole King	4:09
CD-15		You Can Close Your Eyes Written-By – James Taylor	2:49
DVD-1		Intro
DVD-2		Blossom
DVD-3		So Far Away
DVD-4		Machine Gun Kelly
DVD-5		Carolina In My Mind
DVD-6		It’s Too Late
DVD-7		Smackwater Jack
DVD-8		Something In The Way She Moves
DVD-9		Will You Love Me Tomorrow
DVD-10		Country Road
DVD-11		Fire And Rain
DVD-12		Sweet Baby James
DVD-13		I Feel The Earth Move
DVD-14		You’ve Got A Friend
DVD-15		Up On The Roof
DVD-16		You Can Close Your Eyes
DVD-17		Credits

I’m sad to admit I’ve had Neil Young Unplugged since 1993. I have no credible reason for not listening to this CD (or the other dozen Neil Young CDs on my shelf) before now. Unlike the two other CDs in this blog post, this Neil Young CD is NOT a greatest hits compilation. Neil Young includes “Harvest Moon” and “Helpless” but many of his other song choices must be personal favorites. In this MTV concert, the vocals, the acoustic guitar, Young’s harmonica have never sounded better. GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

		The Old Laughing Lady	5:15
		Mr. Soul	3:54
		World On A String	3:02
		Pocahontas	5:06
		Stringman	4:01
		Like A Hurricane	4:44
		The Needle And The Damage Done	2:52
		Helpless	5:48
		Harvest Moon	5:20
		Transformer Man	3:36
		Unknown Legend	4:47
		Look Out For My Love	5:57
		Long May You Run	5:22
		From Hank To Hendrix	5:51

Isaac Asimov is best known as an iconic Science Fiction writer, best known for his Foundation trilogy. But Asimov also wrote SF novels with mysteries in them like Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun.

Asimov also wrote traditional mysteries. Starting in 1972, Asimov wrote more than a 100 mystery stories. His most popular mysteries involved the Black Widowers, a fictional men-only dining club for a series of sixty-six mystery stories.

Asimov uses the Black Widower stories to delve into aspects of science, history, culture and his other interests: for example, Goldbach’s conjecture in “Sixty Million Trillion Combinations“; Gilbert and Sullivan in “The Year of the Action”; and the origins of the name “Susan” in “The Intrusion”.

Isaac Asimov’s other mystery series, Union Club, features stories set at a club known as the Union Club, in which a conversation between three members prompts a fourth member, Griswold, to tell about a mystery he has solved. These are often tall stories, and often based on his time in US intelligence. The format is based on that utilized by P. G. Wodehouse in recounting his golf stories. Asimov wrote 55 Union Club stories.

If you’re a fan of Isaac Asimov, you might be familiar with some of these stories. Some of these stories were published for the first time in this collection. I found these stories clever and intelligent. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Black Widowers
  • “The Obvious Factor” — 3
  • “The Pointing Finger” — 20
  • “Out of Sight” — 36
  • “Yankee Doodle Went to Town” — 55
  • “Quicker Than the Eye” — 73
  • “The Three Numbers” — 90
  • “The One and Only East” — 109
  • “The Cross of Lorraine” — 126
  • “The Next Day” — 144
  • “What Time Is It?” — 162
  • “Middle Name” — 180
  • “Sixty Million Trillion Combinations” — 197
  • “The Good Samaritan” — 213
  • “Can You Prove It?” — 230
  • “The Redhead” — 247
• Union Club
  • “He Wasn’t There” — 267
  • “Hide and Seek” — 274
  • “Dollars and Cents” — 281
  • “The Sign” — 288
  • “Getting the Combination” — 295
  • “The Library Book” — 302
  • “Never Out of Sight” — 309
  • “The Magic Umbrella” — 316
  • “The Speck” — 323
• Other
  • “The Key” — 333
  • “A Problem of Numbers” — 366
  • “The Little Things” — 372
  • “Halloween” — 376
  • “The Thirteenth Day of Christmas” — 381
  • “The Key Word” — 386
  • “Nothing Might Happen” — 391

Partrick, Katie, and Diane knew how much I enjoyed Bob Dylan’s music so for Father’s Day weekend, they arranged an impromptu visit to New York City which included tickets to Girl From the North Country, a musical based on Bob Dylan songs.

The setting is Duluth, Minnesota in 1934. It’s winter and a band of desperate people stay at a boarding house on its last legs. Everyone has problems, everyone seems doomed. Music seems to be the only thing that can raise their spirits.

I found the Dylan music in Girl From the North Country an eclectic mix of songs that jump around from the Seventies and Eighties back to the Sixties. There are more songs in the Second Half of Girl From the North Country than in the First Half. And, the musical ends with “Pressing On,” a gospel song from Dylan’s 1980 album, Saved. You can listen to my favorite version of “Pressing On” here.

If you like Bob Dylan’s songs, you’ll enjoy this musical which celebrates his diversity of tunes. I’m sure touring companies of Girl From the North Country will be traveling around the U.S. in 2023. Are you a Dylan fan? GRADE: A

Jeremy Denk, a professional musician, writes a memoir about how he became a concert pianist. Denk tells us about his alcoholic mother and his workaholic father. Although Denk is a piano prodigy, he admits he has faults. Plenty of faults.

Denk routinely makes the same mistakes over and over again. Denk, both insecure and arrogant, admits he didn’t study or rehearse or prepare for key recitals. Most of the time when Denk does this, his performances crash and burn. You would think he would learn from this…but a chapter later, the same thing happens.

Jeremy Denk loves music, but he struggles with instruction. Denk’s teachers try to advise him, help him, show him how to improve his playing…but it’s an uphill journey with this guy.

I’ve known many gifted but wayward students like Jeremy Denk. They’re talented, clever, even brilliant. But, some of them become resistant to change believing they know more than their teachers.

Allowing the reader to see deep personal flaws borders on bravery. Denk didn’t have to share his failures in romance, various performances, and personal relationships but he does in Every Good Boy Does Fine. Those of you that have more musical knowledge–and maybe even play the piano–will get plenty of insights into the classical music Denk plays as he expounds on them.

If you’re interested in how someone from a dysfunctional background manages to overcome his situation to rise to stardom, Every Good Boy Does Fine shows how. Do you like classical music? GRADE: A