Steve Berlin

The Atlanta Marriott Marquis atrium. This hotel is a classic brutalist building—not as ornately brutalist as Boston’s City Hall, but in the same family.

Reasons obscure brought me back to this Harry Belafonte gem.

But I am glad I’m here.

I had not heard Keith Jarrett’s rendition of My Wild Irish Rose before.

It’s kinda wonderful. 🌹☘️🎹

As I get older, and live through more Midwestern Winters, I appreciate Sibelius more and more.

And being able to walk to Trader Joe’s.

I don’t remember this persistent a pre-December snowfall in a long time.

Mesmerizing.

A great Beatles album.

I Iove the Beatles from so many levels and from so many memories.

Thanksgiving weekend brings back musical memories from my HS years, 72-‘76. Elton John in particular. 🦃🎶😌

Here’s to the late Lalo Schifrin. His music occupies definitive space in my cerebrum—my musical and cultural memory.

YouTube video by Wellesz Theatre. Wallingford Riegger: Dance Rhythms Op.58a (1955)

Wallingford Riegger rocks.

Dance Rhythms.

youtu.be/z8XlBLUhBDc

I’ve always liked this Springsteen song. A fluid cocktail with such weird harmonies, but it works.

My late dad bought the Warren Commission Report as soon as it came out in 1964, while in the USAF at Wright-Patterson. This shocking, haunting crime only becomes moreso with each passing year. “I dreamed that I could somehow comprehend that someone shot him in the face.” youtu.be/BlWwA5x-P9k?...

I have not gone through a Beatles resurgence in a few years. But here I am.

I have loved this particular Beatles album more than many others. A gem. Always.

Schubert’s piano sonatas are on my mind. Perfect November night music. The A major sonata, D. 959: as perfect a work as he ever wrote.

Also more and more haunting: “A Day in the Life.”

Revisiting an old friend. This album is a masterpiece. Some of the Beatles’ finest work. “She’s Leaving Home” is more and haunting, even after almost 60 of listening to it.

I love Chicago on a quiet Sunday, from the Orleans/Franklin bridge.

Stately, gorgeous.

A favorite, haunting piece of piano music—the engulfed/sunken cathedral. Dreamlike Debussy.

To all who serve and have served—thank you for your service, and your families too.

My late dad, uncle, and ex-father-in-law all served as military docs.

Veterans Day 2013, Santa Fe. Here’s to when our beleaguered species has no need for veterans.

I’m generally not a Querschnitt/highlights fan, especially with Rigoletto—a beautifully concise, thrilling opera. My favorite Verdi work.

But tonight I needed the highlights, and just the highlights, of this complex, dark opera.

Chicago is a gorgeous, “golden-noir” kind of city.

Comes to mind, ha.

It’s funny, but if I had to pick a single movement of single symphonyfirst, this one comes of mind. Mozart.Jupiter.

I have listened to this album more any other in the last four years.

I love this Chopin mazurka, op. 24, #2, in C major. It’s re-centering. 🙃🙂

It’s a gem. I worked there … seems like a full lifetime ago now. Oh well. The passage of time and all.

1984-1987!

I have rich memories of this building, 333 W. Wacker, where I worked from 1984-198. For the late, lamented Altheimer & Gray.

Kohn, Pedersen & Fox, 1983. A Chicago jewel.

I remember sitting at my desk one lovely evening in April 1986 and experiencing a mild earthquake.

Every so often, Ippolitov-Ivanov’a rendition of a grand Georgian/Tbilisian procession satisfies like nothing else.