Author Archives: dannyashkenasi

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About dannyashkenasi

I'm a composer with over 40 years experience creating music theater. I'm also an actor, writer, director, producer, teacher and general enthusiast for the arts.

QUEER SHORTS – The Young and the Resistance

Posted on October 23, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Highlights from “Young, Queer and Woke” and “The Queer Resistance” film shorts programs at Newfest – New York’s LGBT Film Festival Another fall in New York City.  Another NewFest festival of LGBTQ films.  Last year I stuffed a dozen festival films … Continue reading →

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INVISIBLE BISEXUAL PRIVILEGE

Posted on October 14, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

  I reposted links to my blog piece on “The Nearly Invisible Bisexual Male” on Facebook (and Twitter) for National Coming Out Day.  Which led to the following exchange in the Facebook comment section which I think may serve as … Continue reading →

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NAZI LEGACY ALIVE AND WELL IN AN AUSTRIAN CEMETERY

Posted on October 6, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

I came upon a plaque on the church wall in the cemetery at the edge of the Austrian ski resort town of Kitzbühel that profoundly disturbed me.  The chiseled marble commemorates a soldier who died in World War II.  There … Continue reading →

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MONARCH BUTTERFLIES’ BROOKLYN STOPOVER

Posted on October 4, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

In which Ed and I become Monarch Butterfly Paparazzi Ed and I returned from the gym to find a flock of Monarch butterflies flapping about outside our window.  It appears that a particular vine wrapped around our garden fence was … Continue reading →

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Seeing BATTLE OF THE SEXES with the Next Generation

Posted on September 26, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Ed’s and my thorough enjoyment of the movie “Battle of the Sexes” was both enhanced and tempered by the group of preteen girls the theater’s reserved seating placed to my right.  Tempered because of the above average distractions I have … Continue reading →

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THE COW BELL CANTATA – and a Splatterrific Intermezzo

Posted on September 13, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Wild Emperors, Coxcombs and Horny Mountains in Tirol Plus Heidi-centric Encores!   COW BELL CANTATA – CANTATA DA CAMPANA MUCCA registrato da maestro Daniello Ashkenasi 1. Movimento – Allegro con Forte Subito   Encountered some musical cows on the slopes … Continue reading →

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AIDS Memorial, Greenwich Village, NYC

Posted on September 7, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

  Breaths – The Flirtations       Jesus to a Child – George Michael     Smalltown Boy – Bronski Beat       Boy Blue – Cyndi Lauper  

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SECRET GARDEN SONGS or The View From My Lawn Chair

Posted on August 31, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Secret Garden Song #1 The other day I was lying in my lawn chair under the Japanese maple tree in my little back yard in Brooklyn and I got intrigued by the variety of colors and shapes and shades catching … Continue reading →

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TOTAL ECLIPSE in PAINTED HILLS, OREGON

Posted on August 22, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

The Total Eclipse of August 21, 2017 As Seen from the Magnificent Painted Hills, Oregon With Eclipstastic Music! We left Redmond, Oregon, at 7:15am.  Madras, just north of Redmond, would be smack in the path of totality, but we decided … Continue reading →

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SONGS to RING IN the NUCLEAR APOCALYPSE

Posted on August 12, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Remember the good old days of daily nightmares of nuclear armageddon? They’re back!  Yippee!   So let’s replay some golden oldies of the atomic age! Stanley Kubrick’s Cold War satire “Dr. Strangelove or How I learned to Stop Worrying and … Continue reading →

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WATER LILIES (Pics and Tunes)

Posted on August 8, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Testing out the new camera at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Lily #1 (for details on the “Lily” songs, check on the “tags” at the bottom of the post) Lily #2

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QUEEN, ADAM LAMBERT, my dinky little camera, & ME

Posted on July 28, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Wednesday I treated myself to the Queen & Adam Lambert concert.  Today (Friday) I could have seen them up the street in Brooklyn’s Barclay Center, but I have family visiting, so instead I trekked out to New Jersey’s Prudential Center … Continue reading →

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The Passion of Rodin in the Beaux-Arts Court

Posted on July 23, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Impressions of August Rodin sculptures in the Beaux-Arts Court of the Brooklyn Museum. Most of the Rodin sculptures are casts of studies for Rodin’s monumental Burghers of Calais.        

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Will Whoopi Goldberg Get Andy Serkis his Overdue Oscar?

Posted on July 15, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

“War for the Planet of the Apes” has opened to universal acclaim and a renewed call to give an Oscar to Andy Serkis, the actor who pioneered and perfected motion capture acting as lead ape Caesar in the Planet of the … Continue reading →

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The Birthday Evocation Born in a Memorial Service

Posted on July 12, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

    It’s Ed’s birthday today.  Happy Birthday, Love.  And as is tradition now in our relationship, I will gift Ed another viola/piano duet I compose for the occasion, each one called “Evocation”.  This year my husband will receive Evocation … Continue reading →

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In Which I Complete the 30 DAY SONG CHALLENGE

Posted on July 6, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Fun on Twitter.  Last month I took on the #30daysongchallenge. Here are the complete results, lightly annotated:   No kidding.  Kurt Weill’s haunting masterpiece. The subject of one of this blog’s most widely read pieces: Speak Low, Phoenix, Speak Low…   … Continue reading →

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