Merry Christmas to my faithful readers. I am very grateful to have you.
The space pen above was among the gifts I received. It writes at any angle and will come in handy when taking notes at concerts, I’m sure. My son gave it to me and had it inscribed.
Below, Christmas morning listening — perfect for the occasion, I’d say.
Classical Life 
Merry Christmas to YOU, Tim.
Quite a blast from the past (trombonistically speaking); with all those beards, I hardly recognize the lads.
Dennis
From and old bonehead: What could be better?
Hello Tim,
Merry Chrismakwaanzukah.
The pen should have been inscribed not with Stravinsky but with the true master, Richard Wagner.
‘Wagner rocks’
Get your own pen.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Tim.
And Stravinsky rocks is extremely appropriate.
Gorgeous and exquisite, epical and tender, sublimely noble, and earthly as passion and despair, the music of Richard Wagner is still, at its best, unparalleled and unapproached.
Nothing can ever dim the glory of Wagner, the conjurer of tones.
A colossal musical genius the likes of which has not appeared since…
Wow. I never knew that.
Great pen, great inscription.
Hope you and your family had a great Christmas, Tim. Among the musically oriented presents generously bestowed upon me by Santa, Mrs. CKDH, and others were:
– The awesome 22 CD “Works of Igor Stravinsky”
– “Serving Genius: Carlo Maria Giulini” by Thomas D. Saler
– The DVD of this year’s LA Phil season opening gala w/ Dudamel & Juan Diego Florez
– A BlueRay of the Berlin Phil w/ Sir Simon conducting Borodin & Mussorgsky
– Two books by Alex Ross: “The Rest is Noise” and “Listen to This”
– The re-mastered versions of U2’s early CD’s: “Boy,” “October,” “War,” and “Under a Blood Red Sky”
– The LA Master Chorale’s CD of works by Nico Muhly
Many, many thanks for your role in helping guide my loved-ones into choosing such awesome gifts.
That’s quite a nice haul, CK. Congrats and you’re welcome.
CK,
You should read this critique before you start reading Ross:
http://medicine-opera.com/2010/12/alex-ross-and-his-useless-advocacy-of-modernist-music/
Thanks, matthew. I’ve been reading Alex Ross for quite some time — I actually tend to agree with him more than 75% of the time, so your warning, while well-intentioned, is unnecessary.