A half century of award-winning journalism, from best feature story of 1974 (Chicago Newspaper Guild) to more than half-a-dozen consecutive annual column and profile honors (Northern Illinois News Association).
Shostakovich on Cuts to the Fourth Symphony: “Let Them Eat it All!”
DSCH Journal, January 2020 Letters to the Editor: As a first violinist in the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra from 1965 to 1973, Victor Yampolsky had the opportunity to see Dmitri Shostakovich
The Write Stuff
Evanston RoundTable, Jan. 29, 2020 “Words, words, words. I’m so sick of words,” sang Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. That seems truer than ever these days. The world is
2020: The Year of Insight
Evanston RoundTable, Jan. 15, 2020 Some of my friends are expecting 2020 to be a difficult year. One of them told me she believes it will be “apocalyptic.” Gosh, I
Winter is Hard
Evanston RoundTable, Jan. 1, 2020 So far the weather has been mild: no sustained snowfall, no frightening ice storms, no polar vortex. It is downright balmy for mid-December. But we
The Golden Age
Evanston RoundTable, Dec. 18, 2019 In my column of Nov. 14 (“Goodbye to All That”) I argued that the vast changes and trends that have swept through our world in
Harold’s Hardware: A Four-Generation Business
Harry Cawley was a veteran train man, a conductor for the North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, when the opportunity came along to try a different trade: the hardware business. He
Goodbye to All That
Evanston RoundTable, Nov. 14, 2019 “When you come to the end of one time and the beginning of a new one, it’s a period of tremendous pain and turmoil.” –
On Dying
Evanston RoundTable, Oct. 31, 2019 A high school classmate of mine, diagnosed with end-stage cancer, wrote that in his despair he went online searching for the best end-of-life joke. This
Hidden Treasure
Evanston RoundTable, Oct. 17, 2019
Steve Winwood is having a moment. His Grammy-winning “Higher Love,” a No. 1 hit in 1986, has gone to No. 1 again, this time in a recording by Whitney Houston from 1990 and recently rereleased. Another version, performed by the Ndlovu Youth Choir, was awarded Judge’s Choice on America’s Got Talent last month and has almost 3 million views on YouTube.
It’s a great song, especially the original Winwood version with his incredibly powerful high tenor voice, complex arrangements, joyful melodies and harmonies and the exuberant, ecstatic coda.
Is there is a more brilliant musician who enjoys less fanfare and recognition? Probably not. Few people appreciate the enormity of Mr. Winwood’s amazing talent or the scope of his career. He has sold 50 million records and won numerous awards, from Grammy and Jammy honors to BMI Icon for his “enduring contributions to the music industry.” In 2008 he received an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music, where he told students that at the age of 15 he was kicked out of . . .