The next several days are busy ones for the Library of Congress regarding our national television profile. First, the Library was featured prominently last night in the season premiere of ?History Detectives? on PBS. Our vast resources and preservation experts were a key to solving some of the mysteries behind a 1913 poster for a …
I’ve mentioned my penchant for playing an internal soundtrack based on whatever is going on around me. Just like clockwork ? or calendar-work ? June 1 of each year brings a rock-solid guarantee that the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “June Is Bustin” Out All Over,? a raucous celebration of the turning of the seasons, will …
Wow. Wow, wow, wow! I promise that I will quit posting so heavily about Paul Simon ? maybe after the concert airs on June 27 on PBS ? but I do have to gush a bit about Wednesday night’s performances. Where to begin? First, leave it to the Library of Congress’s blogger (moi) to be …
Big night last night, big night tonight. Paul Simon was in the Great Hall last night to receive the first Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. His acceptance remarks were funny and humble. He touched on the moment when he was first inspired to write music: He was listening to the radio as …
I hope this whole Gershwin Prize thing can help serve as my mea culpa for the sparse posting, but I did want to point out this Richard Harrington story in the Washington Post’s Weekend section on the selection of Paul Simon as the first recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. …
I just came from Dr. Billington?s office, where he conducted a media interview in advance of the fast-approaching Gershwin Prize and all-star concert. (I hope to link to the news story within the next few days.) What was especially interesting to me before the interview was that a few other staff members were there, each …
For people of a certain age ? for instance, mine ? few performers or artists have defined American music quite so distinctly and significantly as Paul Simon. I remember watching ?Simon and Garfunkel: The Concert in Central Park? on HBO as if it were yesterday, and Paul Simon?s ?Graceland? was one of the first CDs …