George Hunka

Notes and comment

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    “Trust the good things that happen”

    And one of those good things that happen on occasion is the arrival of a new issue of Mineshaft magazine from the fine folks in Durham, North Carolina. The striking wraparound image is the creation of Simone Baumann, a rising star of the comix scene, who is also represented in this issue by “Human Fly,” a ravishingly hallucinatory visit to the world of comix publishing. There are also contributions from the usual gang: a selection from Mary Fleener’s similarly hallucinatory “Happy Hour” (she also contributes an illustration of Poe’s “The Raven”); two fine paintings by Sophie Crumb; a terrific portfolio of work from Minnesota’s underground comix scene (a stunning painting by Nathalie Tierce here); Drew Friedman’s portrait of Chris Ware; Christoph Mueller’s latest metaphysical musings; and more. Sixty-eight pages of good things in this lovingly produced issue, with a rare four-color cover; you can order it, and subscribe to future issues, here.

    A word to the wise, too: Ms. Baumann’s new self-published book Alice will soon be available for purchase here, and Mr. Mueller is hawking a new anthology of short stories called The Nincompoopje, 28 full-color pages “made by a human,” available from concertobooks.nl in Amsterdam. (Unfortunately I can’t locate a link to purchase, but I’ll add it here when I find one.) It’s never too soon to put together your Christmas list.

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    2 responses to ““Trust the good things that happen””

    1. J. Haynes

      George, MINESHAFT is the best! Not since the days of Crumb’s WEIRDO back in the 90s have I enjoyed a magazine so much.

      Alas, mine has been trapped in the Austrian postal system customs department for almost two weeks and counting. And when will it arrive in my mailbox? According to the guy at the PO my wife talked to, “maybe this week.” And how much will I have to pay in customs fees (ransom?) Who knows. That will be the Last Big Surprise before I’m finally able to view #48.

      It’d be nice to take it to Lisbon with me this Friday. If it has not by then been released unto me, maybe it’ll be waiting for me on my return. We shall see.

      But you know what? Some things truly are worth waiting for. MINESHAFT especially.

    2. George Hunka

      I’m sorry to hear that PostAG is being so uncooperative. But what was it the old Heinz ketchup advertisement urged? “Anticipation”? All good things (like Mineshaft) come to those who wait.

      Enjoy Lisbon!

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    J. C. Bach, Mozart, Schubert

    The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, in rehearsal.

    My dance card for September seems to be rapidly filling up. On September 25 and 26, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia opens its 2026-2027 season with Mozart 40, a triple bill of music spanning the half century or so between the late Baroque and middle Classical periods, a span quite appealing to my own musical affections. David Hayes will lead the orchestra in Mozart’s 1788 Symphony No. 40 in G minor, which Charles Rosen called “a work of passion, violence, and grief” in The Classical Style; Hayes will follow this with Johann Christian Bach’s 1760-or-so Symphony in G minor, Op. 6 No. 6, “arguably the darkest and most dramatic he composed,” said Tom Service in the Guardian in 2014; and the program will close with Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, D. 485 of 1816, a conscious tribute to Mozart. “O Mozart! Immortal Mozart! what countless impressions of a brighter, better life hast thou stamped upon our souls!” went the slightly (though understandably) over-the-top appreciation Schubert wrote in his diary that year. Tickets are available now at this link.

    The rest of the Chamber Orchestra’s season looks similarly enticing, with a holiday presentation of three Brandenburg Concertos and an all-Haydn evening of his early symphonies on the schedule. More about the season here. A series of intriguing discussions about Bach and Beethoven accompanies this year’s concerts.

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    Free Bach in Philadelphia

    St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.

    It looks like I got here just in time: Now in its second year, the Philadelphia Bach Collective is an ensemble offering free performances of Bach cantatas at the St. Mark’s Church in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square, and it’s just announced its 2026-2027 lineup. The first concert of the year, on Tuesday, September 22, at 1:00 pm, pairs Bach’s Jesu, der du meine Seele: BWV 78 with Telemann’s Concerto for flute and strings, TWV 51:G2. I’ll certainly be there, but I’ll especially be there in March, when the Collective joins with the New York vocal outfit TENET Vocal Artists for a rare Philadelphia performance of Bach’s St. John’s Passion. Spikier and darker than St. Matthew’s Passion, St. John’s Passion comes close to broody opera, and I suppose Bach has me there; I have fond memories of hearing it earlier this year in Vienna. I’ll very much look forward to revisiting this, one of the great masterpieces of the Baroque and, as such, one of the great masterpieces period.

    The Philadelphia Bach Collective is the brainchild of co-artistic directors Steven Zohn, Heather Miller Lardin, and Rebecca Myers, who put together the organization to “[make] the music of Johann Sebastian Bach accessible and relevant for audiences across Philadelphia … [and] offer regular opportunities to hear Bach’s cantatas in an accessible, informal setting.” Free weekday concerts of Bach? Sounds suspiciously European to me. And not only to me; the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Peter Dobrin wrote last year that the Collective’s concerts are “the kind of thing that, had you experienced it in Paris or Berlin, would make you say you wished we had that back home.” WRTI’s Meg Bragle called it “a gathering of friends and an invitation to the community” in this profile of the group.

    More information about the Philadelphia Bach Collective is here, and tickets are already available for the March St. John’s Passion. I won’t miss it.

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