Apropos of nothing

• Roger Bourland has found some footage of a Jack Paar Tonight Show, with guest Richard Nixon playing his own piece. As a piano player, I'd say that Nixon ranks with Truman, but his composing chops are new to me. Should we be worried that the only composers among prominent American politicians include Nixon and Orin Hatch? (I know that we should be worried that Kent Wheeler Kennan was the brother of George Kennan).

• Adam Baratz has a nice bit of reflection on recipes, score reading, and performance practice, one of my favorite clusters of topics.

• And here are some links, to YouTube footage of Groucho Marx with Jackie Gleason, with Professor of Hippology Lord Buckley, and with Frank Sinatra. And of course, Groucho's grand arrival as Capt. Jeffrey Spaulding from Animal Crackers, and this account of Capt. Spaulding's adventures, wonderful reminders of the lost juncture between operetta, vaudeville, and film comedy, and the fact that Michael Jackson stole all his moves from Marx.