The Tudor Fair Blog
Favorite Places and Spaces: Soho in London
When I lived in London, I worked at 76 Brewer Street, on the end of Soho near Golden Square, on the eastern end, tucked away from the tourists of Piccadilly, Leicester Square, and Oxford Street on all sides, a neighborhood of its own. What used to be a hunting ground…
Old Music Monday: Biber’s Resurrection Sonata
There’s something about Baroque music that just screams Autumn to me. I don’t know where it comes from – I suppose the main baroque music my family listened to growing up would have been a recording of the Messiah which would begin its heavy Christmas rotation soon after Halloween, so…
launching the bigworld tour company, and why I love early choral music
This year I am embarking on a new project as an entrepreneur who leads cultural tours to England, specializing in trips to listen to great choral services in cathedrals. My dear friend Jim and I are building a tour company, our first trip is scheduled for May 2016, and I’ve been working on…
Random Friday Fun Facts: The South Sea Bubble
Fair warning – I am sitting in an airport in Berlin as I write this. It’s 9am local time and I’ve been here for almost two hours on a layover waiting to go back to Spain after an overnight flight during which time I didn’t sleep, but I did watch…
Writing about Reading: More Library eBook Hosting Expansion
This was originally over on The Digital Reader yesterday, but I wanted to get it posted over here as well, as it’s a pretty big deal. The field of library-developed ebook platforms has grown by six states, thanks to the upcoming launch of the Amigos eShelf Service from Amigos Library Services, a library consortium based in Texas. Offering libraries…
Favorite Places and Spaces: Downtown Lancaster Pennsylvania
I grew up in Lancaster Pennsylvania. For much of the country that means Amish Country. But most tourists, who hang out on the eastern end of the county shopping at the outlets, ogling the Amish buggies, and visiting places with names like, “the Amish Farm and House” (it’s not Amish,…
Old Music Monday: Tudor Anthems from the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
One of the things I love about Spotify is that when you ‘follow’ an artist (ie click ‘follow’ on their artist page), you get a notification whenever a new album from that artist is added to the database of music. I adore that. I don’t have the time to keep…
Six Reasons why Studying History is Still Important (a cheat sheet for parents of reluctant students)
This won’t surprise anyone who knows me, but I was a history geek in school. Somewhere around sixth grade I realized that I loved history. In high school I was introduced to early choral music, the great English anthems of Byrd and Tallis, and suddenly my passion for history became…
Random Friday Fun Facts: Dr. David Skinner and the music of the 16th century
About a month ago I was in the UK for a girls’ weekend (by myself), and as I’ve been trying to do more with my Renaissance English History Podcast lately (like my Tudor Minutes on youtube), I decided to find an interesting person to interview for the show. At the…
The Week in Books
Normally I post on Thursday’s about the books I’ve finished. And I’ve had a ton of time to read while I’ve been away from my daughter and home responsibilities while traveling for my shoulder tests. I read two hours a day, at least. So you’d think I’d have all kinds…
Writing about Reading: NYPL and Library Simplified
This article I wrote first appeared in The Digital Reader several weeks ago, and I’m reblogging it here. — New York is a place known for risk taking, for innovation, for not being satisfied with the status quo. Nowhere is that as evident in the library world as with the…
Favorite Places and Spaces: An 8 Hour Layover in Copenhagen
I recently had an unexpected 8 hour layover in Copenhagen. It shouldn’t have been unexpected – my flight left Spain at 11am and didn’t get to Iceland until midnight, 2am Spain time, so it obviously should have been a long layover. But I hadn’t realized just how long it would…