“But still — a travelling showman”

David Staunton is a guest at Sorgenfrei, home of the master magician Magnus Eisengrim. Eisengrim asks him, “Have you read the book about me?”


Robertson Davies, The Manticore (1972).

Other Robertson Davies posts
“Fellows of the first importance” : “Visible branch establishments” : “Like a duck to water” : “A designer and a manufacturer” : “The intrepid Orph” : “The socks-shorts moment” : Wealth, illusion, corruption : “A fantod when it foamed”

Teaching in a pandemic

Elaine and I were leaving Chicago after visiting our friends Danny and June. As we neared our car, we saw a copy of The New Yorker that we’d forgotten to pack, sitting in a hammock-like depression in the trunk lid. The magazine had been waiting there all that time.

Then it was time for class. “As you know, there’s a pandemic,” I said. One student raised his hand: he wanted to show everyone a photograph of an ornately designed violin, with lines carved or burned into the wood. He handed me his phone, and I in turn handed it to Elaine, sitting next to me in the subway car. We were having class in a subway car.

Then we were in a classroom. A student in the front row began to speak in a preacherly voice about Adam: how Adam was the first president, and how his orders were disobeyed.

This is the nineteenth teaching-related dream I’ve had since retiring. All the others: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18.

Swabs, stocks, and stupidity

Three observations from Donald Trump*’s afternoon propaganda show:

Every time Trump* talks about how difficult and unfun the coronavirus test is, some idiot, somwhere, thinks, If I’m not gonna get a colonscopy, I sure don’t want a coronavirus test.

A revealing slip: Trump* said that although he’s a Republican, he doesn’t believe that bailout money should be used to buy back stock.

Another slip, explaining why the federal government can’t be the clearinghouse for medical supplies: “We don’t know who to call for masks.” But the companies call Peter Navarro or Trump*, so yay.

More on getting books

From New York Review Books: how to buy books in isolation (and support your local indie bookstore).

From The Washington Post: tips on bookstores, library resources, e-books, audiobooks, and online events.

And from Archipelago Books: free e-books. (Robert Musil!)

And speaking of books, if anyone wants to write their own “By the Book,” I’d be happy to post a link. Only two takers so far, one an OCA reader, one a reader of that reader.

A related post
Support your local or not-so-local independent bookstore

Live-streaming music

From NPR: a list of live-streaming performances to watch at home.

I’ll be tuning in today to the pianist Fred Hersch, who plans to perform every day at 1:00 Eastern, here.

[Tuning in? On a computer?]

“Ceci n’est pas un président”

[Zippy, March 22, 2020.]

Hat, valise, eye, president: today’s Zippy offers variations on a theme by René Magritte.

Related reading
All OCA Zippy posts (Pinboard)

[Yes, that should be ce not ceci.]

As if 9 were 15

If six days have already gone by, why does Mike Pence continue to say “fifteen days to slow the spread” and not “we now have only nine days”? Instead of urgency, we get a special blend of stupidity and dishonesty.

[Post title with apologies to Jimi Hendrix.]

Mr. Businessmen

It’s surprising but not surprising to hear a president of the United States in 2020 refer to “businessmen,” and not, say, business owners.

[From the White House press briefing now underway.]

Danny Ray Thompson (1947–2020)

From the New York Times obituary:

For the better part of five decades, he was the baritone saxophonist and linchpin of one of the most idiosyncratic and influential ensembles in jazz.

Danny Ray Thompson, baritone saxophonist and flutist with the Sun Ra Arkestra, has died at the age of seventy-two. Or in Arkestra language, he has left the planet.

Here, from Halloween 2014, is a cheerful Tiny Desk Concert by a post-Ra Arkestra. “Queer Notions,” by the way, is a Coleman Hawkins tune, recorded by Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra in 1933. I’ve always been partial to Arkestral interpretations of good old good ones.

I was looking forward to seeing the Arkestra next month at the glorious Virginia Theatre. Now postponed, but probably canceled.

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Stan Newman, was a relatively easy puzzle. That seems right in a difficult time.

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:

1-A, seven letters, “Squealing stoppers.” OILCANS? No.

1-D, seven letters, “Holistic notion.” I hadn’t thought of this word in ages.

28-A, nine letters, “Honor for Peter, Paul and Mary.” Mildly clever.

33-D, four letters, “A matter of course.” MEAL? Something to do with golf? Even after getting the answer, I didn’t understand it, until I did.

34-D, three letters, “$2000 appliance, circa 1983.” MAC? No, wrong price, wrong year, and another answer rules out MAC. Where are (at least most of) those appliances now?

39-A, nine letters, “Tabloid fodder.” It took me a while to figure out the last six letters of the answer.

54-A, seven letters, “Part of the erstwhile Microsoft Student suite.” Also part of the Microsoft Works suite. “Suite”?

The funnest thing in today’s Stumper: the nine-letter crossing answers for 34-A, “East side” and 20-D, “Nietzsche, e.g.” My guess is that the puzzle began with that crossing.

No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.