Tony Bennett sings “It Amazes Me,” by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, on a 1994 episode of MTV Unplugged:

(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“Man is a history-making creature who can neither repeat his past nor leave it behind.”

W.H. Auden, “D.H. Lawrence”

“Happy the people whose annals are tiresome.”

Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution

Buddy Rich and his big band perform Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale” on British TV in 1979:

(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“Political history is far too criminal and pathological to be a fit subject of study for the young. Children should acquire their heroes and villains from fiction.”

W.H. Auden, A Certain World

From 2011:

This is my all-time favorite George Cukor story. It comes from No Minor Chords, André Previn’s autobiography. I hope it’s true!…

Read the whole thing here.

“How can we live without our lives? How will we know it’s us without our past?”

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Forgive my three-week absence from this space. I haven’t been sick, fortunately: I was completely crushed beneath the weight of work and work-related travel, in addition to some technical problems which temporarily stopped me from blogging. (I’ve also fallen in love, which distracted me very happily and about which much more later.)

The good news is that all is well again, and starting today, I’ll spend the week ramping up to my pre-hiatus five-a-week schedule. I have to spend the rest of today clearing the rest of the mess off my desk, but I did want to let you know that all was well.

See you Tuesday!