Current Essays
Navigation

Me at the Mike

Here is a Sup—I mean repository of the texts of my wireless essays together with some readings of them.

The essays were broadcast by WXXI 91.5 Classical of Rochester, NY on Salmagundy each Saturday at 9:35am Eastern Time, from the beginning of time (1985) till May 2009 when Entropa (evil Goddess of Change-for-the-Worse-or-Possibly-the-Worst) troubled the minds of the WXXIites and they retired Simon and Salmagundy, and Rochester went into a terminal decline---for ever.

I continued on that brilliant bastion of all that's good and kultured, WCLV's syndicated Weekend Radio on many (mainly NPRish) stations traditionally on the first and third weekends of the month, though weekendage varied, till the horror crept ever onward and that too was devoured (in August 2023, a date which will live in infamy or at lease mild irritation)... and only I remain, defiant though wimpering.
    Richard Howland-Bolton

There are pop-up pics and links all over the place here. In text they are indicated by a double underline like this:
    
           mouse-overing brings the pop-up up and clicking (usually) goes to the link

You are browsing Literature - View All Essays

America | Arts | Britain | General | History | Language | Literature | Music | Science | Society | Favourites (mine not yours)
Literature: Ivo On:2007-08-17 11:27:20
Well, with all the zooching around the strato- and other spheres that I’ve been doing this summer, I’ve had a golden opportunity to watch a lot of the sort of movies I would not usually be caught dead watching.

Read More...
Literature: The Secreits of Late Middle Scots On:2007-04-16 10:47:44
Now listen up you lot! I’ve been mollycoddling you and grading you on a curve for far too long, and now it’s time to get down to some serious and scholarly work; so for the next period we are going to look at some Middle Scots Poetry, but don’t worry too much because it will be late Middle Scots Poetry, and very late Middle Scots Poetry at that. The text for today’s lesson is William Dunbar’s touching and notorious poem of courtly love ‘In Secreit Place This Hyndir Nycht’ written around the year 1500.

Read More...
Literature: Shed 'em now On:2006-11-30 04:37:49
Prepare to shed ’em now! …

Read More...
Literature: Copy Till You're Droppy On:2006-08-10 04:21:49
I almost, but not quite, had an argument the other day with Lee-the-Lady-Friend (who she insists should never be confused with Conan-the-Barbarian, which is probably why the argument wasn't quite). This almost disagreeable occasion occurred, during a reading of my most recent essay to her over the phone, when she recognised one of the many un-attributed quotations I lard my texts with. She accused me of plagiarism and just couldn't be convinced that it wasn't bad, evil and rather shady (lady friends can be like that).

Read More...
Literature: Pootering About On:2005-08-12 04:45:08
I'm sure that you, my listener, are certain to be numbered, along with that unknown tribe in the deepest Amazon and those guys doing that complete isolation experiment hidden away wherever it is, numbered among those who have not been bombarded for the last six months with special offers to pre-order the latest Hairy Pooter book at an amazing discount, and who then didn't, as a direct consequence of this, rush out at midnight (whichever day pre-ordering became, in the natural order of things, ordering) to get one, thus adding to the greatest event in publishing history and helping to countersink one of the more ultimate-ish nails in the coffin of literacy.


Read More...
Literature: On Catching the DaVinci Cold On:2005-05-27 06:57:33
I have long been accused of having a problem with obscure and irrelevant snippets of information---that I collect it (or more accurately them) almost incessantly and really obsessively; and then happily and needlessly regurgitate it (or more accurately them) in a horribly unstoppable way, just like a large, insistent and broody bird with an over-masticated bolus of worm-squashings and some poor, unwilling chicks.


Read More...
Literature: Theseus and the Minicar On:2005-05-05 17:50:30
The Classical, and indeed the pre-Classical, Greeks were a fascinating lot: all those delicious snacks made out of octopus giblets; and all those complexes; and all that philosophy and art; and all those Gods and Heroes; and of course all those wonderful, lovable monsters without whom none of the above would be anything but a pretty boring load of old cobblers. I'm sure you know them all (or at least the famous ones, the ones you find in every edition of Who's Who, What's What and What the Hel Is That?!)...


Read More...
Literature: Sorry Man, No Xanadu On:2004-10-01 04:52:48
"...Could I revive within me her symphony and song
"To such a deep delight would win me
"that ....1 I would build that dome in air,
"That sunny dome! Those caves of ice!
"And all who heard should see them there
"And all would cry Beware! Beware!
"His flashing eyes and floating hair,
"Weave a circle round him thrice,
"And close your eyes for holy dread
"For he on honey-dew hath fed
"And drunk the milk of Paradise..."
I bet that by now you are all saying "Thank God for that person from Porlock" or perhaps since I'm sure you are by now also in a more jaundiced and cynical mood "Thank God for drug induced memory loss" and you don't care if it's mine or Coleridge's.


Read More...
Literature: Writer's Blog On:2004-05-07 14:19:58
Well! I'm sure that by now you are aware that the office where I work is a hotbed, a veritable "well it's not my fault it was on fire when lay down on it" hotbed, of modern technology, so it should come as no surprise to you when I tell you that the other day I overheard Mandy and Diana giggling, as technological girls will, about the fact that Mandy had mentioned me in her blog.


Read More...
Literature: Beoutloud On:2004-03-25 17:50:06
As the year starts its inexorable crawl towards the heat of summer and the season of open windows and drive-by boomings and parties and loud music and I retreat into my shell, I am minded of that old story of noise abatement and the consequences of taking the law into ones own hands.


Read More...



Home | Essays | Notes | Gallery | Miscellany | Contact

ÐISCLAIMER - I claim ðis!

All contents including writing, cartooning, music, and photography unless otherwise specified are
copyright © 1965-2023 howlandbolton.com and Richard Howland-Bolton. All Rights Reserved.
All logos and trademarks on this site are property of their respective owners.
Web work* by
*as distinct from Wetwork