Little known facts

My students have been giving their end-of-semester group presentations yesterday and today. The nugget of wisdom from yesterday: Takemitsu is the Japanese Billy Crystal.

From today's presentations: David Del Tredici has led an interesting life.

After many years of separating his musical persona from his personal life, Del Tredici's experiences with 12-Step recovery from alcohol and sex addiction, losing a lover to AIDS, and Oakland's Body Electric School (founded by Joseph Kramer), led to Del Tredici's total public embrace of his own sexual orientation. With his liberation came a virtual outburst of song. In the last five years, he has written over 50 songs, 12 of which comprise this 75-minute disc. Del Tredici accompanies all the selections in grand fashion.

At least no one gave me old-person pangs this year.