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The Rise and Fall of the Harpsichord in the 1960s
Between 1965 and 1969 the harpsichord lit up recordings by everyone from Miles Davis to Brigitte Bardot, the Beatles to the Four Tops, Elton John to Waylon Jennings. But what was it about this boxy, donkeyish uncle of a piano that could transcend such disparate contexts? And what made it such a ubiquitous presence internationally in the music of the 1960s? By Tom Greenwood
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Dreams of a Third Arm. Essay by Tom Greenwood
In my dreams I am a man named Pierre and have three arms. My third arm is not a tentative genetic aberration like a flipper or feeler or wimpy ghost of an ancestral tail. It’s as arm-like as my other two, both of which are quite arm-like. It is a thing to behold, this third arm, an evolutionary leap forward in the human chain, thrusting mankind far beyond his (and her) potential as a two-armed beast. Yes, it’s a decisive third arm, a dominant trait with a subliminal animal musk that has women everywhere overtaken by instinctual urges to unite their ova with my spermatozoa. Click to read the article.
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A Brave New World. Essay by Tom Greenwood
There is a tendency for every generation to believe that it is the brave new world. To believe that what it is doing is braver and newer than anything before. That it is the bee’s knees, the cat’s meow, and even the cat’s pajamas. We are no exception, and justifiably so: It’s a fact that our world is the most chronologically advanced ever. We’ve got the internet, smart phones, and low-fat latte macchiatos. New, today, is renewed at a faster rate than ever before, and in many ways, our world is new each day. But what exactly does it mean to us to be new? Or brave? By Tom Greenwood