Category: Melodies and Memories: Music, Songs, and Singers
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All the Things She Taught Me
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, All the Things You Are, Creative Writing, Elizabeth Joan Owen, Elizabeth Joan Owen (Ms. Owen), Life in Central Florida, Life in Florida, Life in Miami (1972-2016), Melodies and Memories: Music, Songs, and Singers, Music, Music & Concert Specials, Personal Thoughts, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, South Miami High School in fiction, South Miami Senior High SchoolAll the Things She Taught Me Tuesday, July 7, 2026, Orlando, Florida On this exquisitely hot July afternoon in Central Florida, I find myself thinking about the lasting impact truly great teachers have on our lives—and how even the smallest things can bring their memories back. That feels especially true as we grow older, and…
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An American Musicale
Friday, July 3, 2026 – Orlando, Florida In honor of America’s 250th birthday, I offer this Independence Musicale! American Salute (Gould) Goin’ Home (Largo from Dvorak’s Symphony from the New World Yankee Doodle (Traditional) March from “Midway” (J. Williams) March from “1941” (J. Williams)
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(More) Songs Ms. Owen Taught Me (In Memoriam)
Wednesday, July 1, 2026 – Orlando, Florida “The best teacher is not the one who knows most but the one who is most capable of reducing knowledge to that simple compound of the obvious and wonderful.” — H.L. Mencken In loving memory of Ms. Elizabeth Joan Owen (September 8, 1929 – December 28, 2025), the…
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Songs Ms. Owen Taught Me (A Sunday Musicale)
Sunday, June 28, 2026, June 28, 2026 – Orlando, Florida In loving memory of Ms. Elizabeth Joan Owen (September 8, 1929 – December 28, 2025) If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again! it had a dying…
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Summer Heat, a Mentor’s Passing, and a Memento Mori
Saturday, June 27, 2026 – Orlando, Florida It is brutally hot outside. According to my Microsoft Weather app, the temperature here in my corner of Orange County is already 91°F (33°C) under partly sunny skies. The humidity is 56%, the wind is barely stirring out of the east-southeast at 4 MPH (7 Km/H), and the…
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A Musicale for a Hot Sunday Afternoon (Summer Solstice Edition)
Sunday, June 21, 2026, Orlando, Florida On this hot and potentially stormy summer afternoon, I don’t have much to write about, so how about a Sunday musicale for the Summer Solstice?
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How Pop Culture and Music Inform the Garratyverse
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in A Bridge Too Far (1977 film), Alex Diaz-Granados, All the Things You Are, All the Things You Are (Kern and Hammerstein), Amazon, Billy Joel, Classical music, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, John Williams (Composer), Kindle, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Ludwig van Beethoven, Melodies and Memories: Music, Songs, and Singers, Movies, Music, Music & Concert Specials, Pop Music, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Star Wars, Superman: The Movie, The Summer of Two Movies, West Side Story – Original Broadway Cast (1957)How Pop Culture and Music Inform the Garratyverse If you spend enough time inside the Garratyverse, you eventually notice something: Jim Garraty’s world doesn’t just contain pop culture and music—it breathes through them. Songs, films, TV shows, and the cultural noise of their eras aren’t background decoration. They’re emotional weather systems. They shape memory, mood,…
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Florida Summer Has Entered the Chat
Here we are, 12 days into Summer 2026—at least if you subscribe to “meteorological summer,” which starts on June 1. The traditionalists will point out that summer doesn’t officially begin until 4:24 AM Eastern Time on Sunday, June 21, but Central Florida clearly did not get that memo. Outside, it already feels less like early…
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Music Album Review: ‘West Side Story – Original Broadway Cast Recording’
West Side Story – Original Broadway Cast Recording (1957, 1990 CD Reissue) Label: Columbia – CK 32603 Format: CD, Album, Reissue Released: 1990 Genre: Classical, Stage & Screen Style: Soundtrack, Musical West Side Story has generated several indispensable recordings, but the 1957 original Broadway cast album remains the most historically revealing of them. Released shortly…
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Say It With Music: A Sunday Musicale
If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. – William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
A Certain Point of View, Too 