The Artist

Fabienne (feat. Cory Weeds)

The Music You Need

Stompin' At The Savoy

The two years, two months, and two days Henry David Thoreau spent at Walden Pond represent one of the most well-known experiences in American literary and philosophical history. Thoreau’s time at Walden has become something of a legend, one that is alternately lionized and criticized.

Yet though many people know of Thoreau’s experience at Walden, and the book he wrote about it, far fewer really understand its whys, whats, and hows.

My guest, who’s dedicated his career to studying Thoreau, will unpack the oft-missed nuances and common misconceptions about Walden. His name is Jeffrey S. Cramer, and he’s the Curator of Collections at The Walden Woods Project, as well as the author and editor of numerous books about Thoreau, including Walden: A Fully Annotated Edition. Today on the show, Jeffrey explains the reason Thoreau went to Walden, which wasn’t originally to write about that experience, and which ended up evolving over time. We discuss what Walden Pond was like, the dimensions and furnishings of the house Thoreau built on its shores, and how he spent his days there. Jeffrey explains why Thoreau left Walden, how he was less attached to the experience than we commonly assume, and how the significance of the experience came less from living it and more from writing about it. We then discuss how Walden the book became a classic despite an initially slow start, before turning to what Jeffrey thinks of the common criticisms of it, and the popular impulse to tear Thoreau down. We end our conversation with what we moderns can learn from Thoreau’s experiment with living deliberately.

#841: What People Get Wrong About Walden

The Twilight Zone is arguably one of the best and most influential shows in television history. The reason it endures, and is still being watched and talked about more than sixty years after its debut, can not only be traced to its superior storytelling and innovations in the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, but the fact that each episode is embedded with a lesson on how to grapple with life’s moral and existential dilemmas.

Here to unpack those life lessons is Mark Dawidziak, author of Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Twilight Zone. Today on the show, Mark and I discuss the parable-like morals from a selection of Twilight Zone episodes, drawn from those that are my favorites, Mark’s favorites, and simply classic. And, since Halloween is coming up, Mark and I both offer our picks for the just plain scariest episodes to watch.

#844: Life Lessons From The Twilight Zone

This is a piece I've been working on for songwriter/composer Hal Dickens. Hal wrote this as a fantasy love song from Esmeralda to Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame. He will be recording this as a song later this year but in the meantime, here is my orchestral arrangement of Hal's original piano composition. 

You hear hear Hal's original version by following this link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To8cH9WxQLk

I should have some of my own original material coming soon :)

YOU'RE NOT MADE OF STONE

Little cinematic improvised piece at piano.
Evening.

Piccolo pezzo cinematico improvvisato al piano. Sera.

Piano tuned at 432Hz.

Intersections

Composed and produced by Chivicke Home Studio/2019

#841: What People Get Wrong About Walden

The Art of Manliness

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