Fantasia on a new-music collective's name

This has been running through my head for several weeks now.

A commissioning fund for new sacred music: Bang on a Canticle

A concert series pairing new pieces with classical favorites: Bang on a Canon

A Marathon concert held on a battleship or a Civil War site: Bang on a Cannon

A Marathon concert held at a famous outdoor site in Arizona: Bang on a Canyon

I could go on all day.

Pipes and drums

Two recent pieces:

"The Rock Tenor," a theatrical classical/rock mishmash, previewed for the Courier-Post. It opens tomorrow night at Phiadelphia's Wilma Theater.

Plus, an interview with legendary Nigerian musician King Sunny Ade for Phawker. The King plays tonight at Wiggins Park on the Camden waterfront. Definitely worth the trip across the Delaware.

Duo

In the July 5, 2009 issue of the Courier-Post:

Two new exhibits at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, my first venture into art criticism that features the work of Haddonfield native John Vick.

Also, Globe-trotting with Opera New Jersey, a preview of ONJ's summer season.

Image: William Klein (American, born 1928), The Pope Appears, Saint Peter's Square, 1956 (negative), 1979 (print), Gelatin silver print, courtesy of PMA.

Constructive summer

At long last, my treatment of David Foster Wallace and "Infinite Jest" has arrived on Phawker. It reflects on Infinite Summer, the summer-long group-read of "Jest" that began last week, and on Wallace's legacy in the wake of his death in September. My reading of the book spanned that sad event, and though the 75-page-a-week pace makes it sound reasonable, I'm not feeling up to making another attempt just yet.