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Notes from a Composer
“Speakeasy” Selections
Author Archives: dannyashkenasi
Resurrection of my own personal NEW YORKER CARTOON captions
He got him from a breeder in Vienna. And we’re back with the 15th installment of my own personal New Yorker cartoon captions. Having exhausted all possible biblical book titles, I must now cast about elsewhere for inspiration in naming … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', LGBTQ Alphabet Soup
Tagged camping, caption, cartoon, catamaran, dung beetle, Elephant, Game of Thrones, ghost story, hot dog, in the room, Iron Throne, kayak, New Yorker, Resurrection, sausage, snail, subway, Vienna
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The Picture is Locked
“The Raven – a musicabre” is completed I signed off on the final version and my editor Stolis Hadjicharalambous sent me the files – “The Raven – a musicabre”, the third is a series of Poe musicabres, short film musical … Continue reading
COMPANY XIV’s PETIT ROUGE
Company XIV are still at it. Eleven years ago I marveled at their cheeky blend of circus and burlesque, opera and pop, corsets and tassels when they presented Cinderella at the Minetta Lane in Manhattan. The company now has their … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Live! On Stage, Melodies Linger On
Tagged Big Bad Wolf, Billie Eilish, brooklyn, burlesque, Can Can, cheesecake, Cinderella, Company XIV, corsets, fairy tale, Lady Gaga, Little Red Riding Hood, Lunch, Monster, Petit Rouge, tassels, Three Little Pigs, Wolves
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RESURRECTION now in full on line
The Film Where I Play a Resurrected Corpse “Resurrection”, the short comedy/drama by Sam Zaslov-Braverman, in which I play Randell, a deceased man alloted extra life to give the eulogy at his own funeral, is now viewable in full on … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Scope, Notes in the News
Tagged actor, casket, comedy, corpse, Dane C. Cook, drama, eulogy, film set, funeral, Isaac Conner, Ithaca, Resurrection, Sam Zaslov-Braverman, short film, Susannah Berryman
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Ed is at Sixes and Sevens Today
It’s Ed’s birthday today. Ed Elder, my partner of 33 and husband of 28 years. He turns 67 today, so I joke that he’s at sixes and sevens. Which is all in jest and not at all truthful. Nothing about … Continue reading
Posted in Beginnings, Chamber Works, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Melodies Linger On
Tagged birthday, Casa Rosada, composition, Don't Cry for Me Argentina, duet, Edward Elder, Evita, Evocation 33, Fair Moon, Gen Alpha, HMS Pinafore, husband, idiom, music, piano, Rachel Zegler, sevens, six seven, sixes, to Thee I Sing, Viola
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Looking Up in BROOKLYN
In conjunction with my “Looking Up in NYC” post (Part 2 for that forthcoming), I hereby post “Looking Up in Brooklyn”. And even though these pics capture the variety of Brooklyn visual splendor by looking up, I admit that maybe … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged 4th Avenue, 6th avenue, Bridge, brooklyn, brownstone, churches, Clouds, DUMBO, Fulton Street, Grand Army Plaza, magnolia, Manhattan, museum, ornamental pear, Park Slope, Rose, sky, spire, Spring, town house, tree blossom, Williamsburg Bank Tower
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PRIDE NYC 2026
Video Diary of Watching and Marching in New York’s Pride Parade – with a special appearance of the Pride Puppy! Ed Elder and his Trophy Husband We arrived just at the 12pm start time, and thought the bikers were the … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Notes in the News
Tagged 5th Avenue, Ariana DeBose, asexual, bisexual, Bowen Yang, cheer leaders, drag, hunk, LGBTQIA, marching band, New York, Parade, Pride, Puppy, Quakers, rainbow flag, trophy husband, Zohran Mamdani
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THE RAVEN at the REFLECTING POOL
Footage of the the Memorial Waters before the Drumpfian Disaster Little did I know when I traveled to Washington D.C. last fall to shoot footage for my third musical short film Edgar Allan Poe adaptation “The Raven-a musicabre” that I … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Cinema Scope, Notes in the News, Poe Musicabres, Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged algae, D.C., Drumpf, Edgar Allan Poe, Felon-in-Chief, film, John Stewart, Lincoln Memorial, Michelle Cottle, mountain dew, musicabre, Poe, Reflecting Pool, short film, tear, The Raven, Trump, Washington
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Revelation of my own personal NEW YORKER CARTOON captions
Meanwhile that fool Hare is still waiting for his visa into the US. I suppose after 10 installments of my own personal New Yorker cartoon captions that took their title inspiration from the Old Testament, I suppose I should allow … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Literary Lyricism, Notes in the News
Tagged allemande, Book, caption, cartoon, chicken, cross the road, football, lab rat, little piggy, medieval, New Testament, New Yorker, Old Testament, proposal, receipt, restaurant, Revelation, running gag, shopping, siege, soccer, trebuchet, turtle, visa
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BROOKLYN PRIDE 2026
Last night was Brooklyn Pride, just down the street from where we live in Park Slope. Two weeks before the big NYC march that goes down 5th Avenue in Manhattan, the Pride march that goes down 5th Avenue in Brooklyn … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Notes in the News, Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged brooklyn, Cheer, Cheerleaders, Drew Warshaw, Dykes on Bikes, Edward Elder, Herstory Archives, Hetrick-Martin, Knicks, lesbian, Letitia James, marching band, Park Slope, Pride, Quakers, Queer, Queer Big Applecorps, schools
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MONET in VENICE
Impressions from Last Winter’s Exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum with close up details of those famous paint strokes
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged Alice Monet, architecture, art, beauty, brooklyn, brush stroke, canal, Claude Monet, detail, enveloppe, Giverny, Harmony, Impressionism, light, Monet, museum, oil painting, Painting, Palazzo, reflections, Series Painting, Thomas Mann, Venice, water, Water Lilies
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Prospect Park, Brooklyn
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged baby carriage, bench, Bridge, brooklyn, Clouds, lawn, park, Prospect Park, rambles, sky, stream, stroller, trees, tunnel, underpass, woods
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Every Brilliant Thing with Daniel Radcliffe
This Sunday we experienced Daniel Radcliffe’s final performance in Every Brilliant Thing. This play is a singular Broadway experience, as the audience is enlisted to engage with the only regular cast member to bring the performance to life. As such … Continue reading
Announcing the New Musicabre: The Raven
“Raven” is the New Page in the Notes from a Composer Banner I’ve been teasing this announcement for a while now. Three previous posts have already revealed that I am working on the third short film Poe musicabre, to join … Continue reading
Wisdom of my own personal NEW YORKER CARTOON captions
If it ain’t pastels, it don’t pass muster! This will be the last of the caption installments whose title is inspired by books of the Old Testament. Only the Catholic and Orthodox churches recognize Wisdom, the Protestants and Jews consider … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', Literary Lyricism, Notes in the News
Tagged art, Atlas, Book, Bunny, caption, card game, cartoon, Cheshire Cat, Contest, Easter, flute, Goldilocks, Lego, Moon, New Yorker, Old Testament, pastels, shark, stone age, weightlifting, wheel, Woodwinds
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Notes from a Composer 