Benjamin Britten visited North America in April 1939, and found more than he hoped for. He came from Britain to perform and present some of his compositions in Canada and the U.S. What was initially planned as a relatively short trip ended up lasting several years. War broke out in Europe while he was away, and he decided for a long time not to come back to England. Since he was 26 yo, he would have had to enlist in the military in some form (he ended up coming back to England in 1942 and claimed a "conch" --conscientious objector-- status). more ›

More bad puns on Philip Glass’ name! Appomattox, which we rose our Glass to, was not the end of our wall-to-wall Glass coverage. The Glass is not full, we haven’t hit the Glass ceiling yet, ha. more ›

Outbound -- next train, N Wednesday, now approaching. Tonight: The San Francisco Public Library has invited Caldecott-winning book illustrator Tomie DePaola for the 10th annual Effie Lee Morris Lecture. Effie Lee Morris was the coordinator of children's literature at the SFPL from 1963-77 and was a pioneer in spearheading the development of children's library resources. The lecture is free and starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Koret Auditorium of the Main Library. more ›