Are you looking for a class...

...about a songwriter who’s

“outrageous, alarming, courageous, and charming”?

(Have we got a class for you!)

SPRING 2015

 

 

Eng 213 Studies in American Literature –

Randy Newman’s American Voice(s)

M/W 10:50-12:05

Starting with his first album in 1968 and continuing through his most recent release in 2011

 (as well as many of his very popular film soundtracks), Randy Newman has populated his music with a series of characters that reflect the complexities and contradictions of the late-20^th-century and early 21^st-century United States.

Often misunderstood because of his preference for dramatic monologues (as opposed to the more personal/confessional approach of the rock/pop/folk singer-songwriter), Newman – steeped in our national, musical and cinematic history – offers his audience unflinching portraits of an array of outcasts, patriots, bigots, dreamers, simpletons, loners, and lovers struggling to understand our world, even as its very foundation seems to be shifting beneath them.

For more info:

 Dr. Gilbert L. Gigliotti

Department of English

Emma Hart Willard Hall 329

Central Connecticut State University

New Britain, CT 06050

 

860/832-2759     gigliotti@ccsu.edu

 

I may be out of step, but I've always been that way...

...since I've always preferred:

Lost in Space to Star Trek

Jose Feliciano's "Light My Fire" to The Doors'

network television to cable

The 12 Chairs to any other Mel Brooks film

Miracle on 34th Street to any other Xmas film

Popeye to any other Robin Williams film

most films without Robin Williams to films with him

and, just to make it clear,

Mindy to Mork.

I also prefer:

Zelig to Forest Gump

Ava Gardner's Barefoot Contessa to that cook's

Peggy Sue Got Married to Back to the Future

gambling on baseball to PEDs

American Graffiti to any other Lucas film

Richie Cunningham to Fonzie

Susan Saint James to Jill Saint John and Eva Marie Saint

Roger Moore as "The Saint" to Roger Moore as "James Bond"

Pierce Brosnan as "Remington Steele" to Pierce Brosnan as "James Bond"

The Montefuscos to The Sopranos

Toy Story II to Toy Story

30 minutes of Cronkite to 24/7 of any other news

Bewitched (the series NOT that Will Ferrell thing) to Harry Potter

Homicide to The Wire

Mr. Bubble to Michael Buble

Law and Order to Law and Order SVU, CI, MIA, PDQ, and WTF

Neil Sedaka's "Stairway to Heaven" to Led Zeppelin's

and, of course,

The Scarlet Letter to The Catcher in the Rye

Waking Up to Emmylou Harris

On this morning's early walk, I left the house at 6:40 accompanied by 1970s Emmylou Harris (Pieces of the Sky, 1975, and Luxury Liner, 1977).  Now, I've always known who Emmylou Harris is, both abstractly and in recordings I've had for years with the Band, Elvis Costello, and John Denver, but this was a TREAT!

Her own "Boulder to Birmingham," Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors," Lennon and McCartney's "For No One," Chuck Berry's "C'est La Vie,"  the Louvins' "When I Stop Dreaming," and Merle Haggard's "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" are just a few of the gems, tied beautifully together with that voice.

Given her longevity and the names of those who have held her in such high regard, I shouldn't be amazed, and probably should be ashamed for taking so long to take this walk, but better late than never.

I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham

I would hold my life in his saving grace

I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham

if I thought I could see, I could see your face

Two musical reasons I can't wait to teach Latin again this Fall

Cat Stevens' O Caritas (1972) and Enya's Cursum Perficio (1988)

In 1713, Alexander Pope published the satirical "A Receit to Make an Epick Poem"

...in 2010, my fifth-grade daughter has been given the following recipe for responding to a Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) writing prompt:

Paragraph 1: TTQA -- "Turn the question around" (cue Vickie Sue Robinson, please!)

Paragraph 2: Include a quotation

Paragraph 3: Include a statistic

Paragraph 4: Include a sound

Paragraph 5: Restate the answer

Ah, the beauty of great writing!

Another musical memory of my youth

It's 1974 all over again.

Reunion's "Life is a Rock (but the Radio Rolled Me)"

Back when New Year's Eve still meant listening to the Top 100 Countdown on some Cincinnati radio station.

(Was WSAI still Top 40 then?)