LITERATURE

A Good Biography of Charles Dickens

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As readers of this blog probably know, Charles Dickens is my favorite author. His writing is certainly flawed in many ways, but his novels are consistently entertaining, and they reward repeat readings. Back in 2002, Penguin publishers commissioned the American novelist Jane Smiley to write a biography of Dickens for its Penguin Lives series. I recently picked up a copy, and it is very good.

Smiley does not go into great detail in regards to Dickens personal life, instead describing significant milestones in it while referring to contemporaneous novels of his. I like this approach very much, as it gives me a greater appreciation of how his personal situations were reflected in his writing. As Smiley explains,

Biographies of Dickens, long and short, abound. A lifelong friend of his, John Forster, published the first authoritative one shortly after Dickens died. The most recent, by Peter Ackroyd, published in 1990, is more than a thousand pages long. It is, therefore, not the intention of this volume to lay out chronologically everything that we have come to know of Charles Dickens’s life as a result of some 130 years of industrious digging on the part of aficionados and scholars from all parts of the world (though admittedly mostly from England). The Charles Dickens we know is decidedly different from the man his contemporaries knew.

… In addition, I will offer interpretations of almost all of Dickens’s major works. One of the most interesting things about Charles Dickens is the way in which his style and his interest in social themes remained remarkably consistent throughout his career, while his vision shifted and evolved.

Thus, this relatively brief (207 pages) and readable biography is an excellent companion to someone who loves Dickens and would like to know the context in which he wrote his works. 

To continue reading my review, click here.

Republic of Letters

Feast of Cecilia Rose

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Dear Spirit of Cecilia readers,

I presume every once in a while you wonder where we got our name.

Well, two sources. First, St. Cecilia is the traditional patron saint of music and art. She’s often depicted playing a keyboard with angels dropping roses on her.

Second, though, and much more personally, I (Brad) had a daughter, Cecilia Rose, who passed away today, 19 year ago.

If you’re interested in learning more about my daughter, please go here.

https://bradleyjbirzer.substack.com/p/remembering-my-cecilia-rose-august

Blessings to you all, Brad

LITERATURE

Werewolf Cop: Law Enforcement Meets The Supernatural

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Andrew Klavan has become one of my favorite living authors, and his current Cameron Winter series is excellent. His standalone novel, Werewolf Cop, came out in 2015. When first heard that Klavan considers it one of his finest works, I thought, “Maybe so, but what a silly title”. Well, despite the cheesy title, it is a terrific mix of horror, suspense, and straightforward murder mystery.

It begins with a crime scene involving several bodies that have been gruesomely cut to pieces in the NYC apartment of a small-time fencer of stolen goods. Zach “Cowboy” Adams and his partner, Martin “Broadway Joe” Goulart, are part of a special investigative unit: The Task Force for Extraordinary Crimes. All signs from this carnage point to a shadowy German gangster, Dominic Abend, who has been on international law enforcement’s radar for years, but he has kept a low profile. Such a low profile that there are barely any photographs of him. However, he seems to be involved in every kind of criminal enterprise imaginable, and it appears he is moving in to take over NYC.

While going over the apartment, Zach discovers a secret storage space in which a terrified little boy is hiding. He is taken to the station and during questioning he says he overheard somebody demanding to know where the “stoomp bassard” was. The social worker talking to him assumes he heard “stupid bastard”, but Zach decides to do a little research on his own.

After digging into the internet, he finds a reference to “Stumpf’s Baselard” in a paper written by a German university Professor Gretchen Dankl. It explores the mystery of a missing 15th century dagger called the Baselard. The paper has disappeared from the internet, but Zach is able to contact Dankl via email. She sends him a copy of her paper, but she will not communicate anything useful electronically, so Zach convinces his supervisor to sign off on him flying to Germany to meet with Dankl face to face.

His trip to Germany is an almost surreal experience, where Zach is so jet lagged he thinks he’s hallucinating things. There are all kinds of riots happening across Europe, and the political order there seems to be collapsing. Professor Dankl is a wizened old woman who appears to be crazy. She tells Zach that Stumpf’s Baselard is a dagger that is imbued with the power to prolong life and cure any wound. It was used to execute a notorious murderer who was suspected of being a werewolf in the 15th century, and after reappearing a few times in European history, seems to have disappeared. Dankl then shows Zach a photograph of a group of Nazi officers from WWII, and one of them bears a remarkable resemblance to Dominic Abend.

To continue reading, click here.

Music

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit In Concert: Fateful Attractions

Visibly excited to kick off his latest US tour leg in Grand Rapids (especially after persistent rain dogged his 2025 show in the same location), Jason Isbell laid out his cards right from the downbeat of anthemic rocker “Hope the High Road”:

I heard enough of the white man’s blues
I’ve sang enough about myself
So if you’re looking for some bad news
You can find it somewhere else

Last year was a son of a bitch
For nearly everyone we know
But I ain’t fighting with you down in a ditch
I’ll meet you up here on the road

I know you’re tired
And you ain’t sleeping well
Uninspired
And likely mad as hell
But wherever you are
I hope the high road leads you home again
To a world you want to live in

It’s Isbell’s subject matter in a nutshell: Everyman up against the wall, battling his demons and straining to make contact. Whether caught up in the daily struggle for sobriety (“It Gets Easier”), a generation-spanning family feud (the Drive-By Truckers classic “Decoration Day”), the stifling conformity of big city (“Last of My Kind”) and Southern home town (“Crimson and Clay”), or the hell of war (“Dress Blues”), his protagonists constantly stare down inevitable fate. And typically, fate wins: the singer of “Gravelweed” laments the wounds inflicted on a former partner (though not without a tremulous assertion of his own growth); the folky ballad “Live Oak” shifts imperceptibly from haunting sentiment to quiet, understated horror; the elegy of “Elephant” proves unsparing in both its depiction of cancer and its devastating punchline (“There’s one thing that’s real clear to me/No one dies with dignity/We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.”) In his own voice or inhabiting a character, Isbell knows that, in the end, we all run out of road in this world.

So what hope is there, given Isbell’s grim, wry vision of God as distant at best (“Last of My Kind”), actively uncaring at worst (the exhilarating, chilling rocker “24 Frames”)? His consolations turn out to be the simple, small attractions that move, leverage and sustain connection; familial bonds unpacked in fatherly advice (his Truckers breakthrough song “Outfit”); beauty recalled in the depths of barrenness (“Alabama Pines”); pride taken in meaningless, backbreaking work (“Something More Than Free”); art and music’s power to conjure up space, freedom, little victories (“Ride to Robert’s”). And, evanescent as it can be, a love as strong as death, fiercely yet tenderly rendered in the tough country ballads “Cover Me Up” and “If We Were Vampires”.

In sum, Jason Isbell is one genuinely mighty songwriter. And while he did toss out a semi-serious apology for so many “sad-ass songs”, he knows it and revels in it. Throughout the night, he sang with conviction and gusto, his finely detailed vocals shading the dark corners or lighting up fleeting moments of triumph. And while Isbell’s songs are more than good enough to stand on their own, his 400 Unit puts bone, muscle and skin on the heart and soul at their core; like Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, they serve the music with grit and grace. Isbell considers his guitar playing “a hobby”, but he’s perfectly fine on both rhythm and lead – fluent, stylish, down-home or bluesy as the tune requires. Guitarist Sadler Vaden and keyboardist Derrick DeBorja proved both sympathetic duet partners with Isbell and down-and-dirty ensemble players; bassist Anna Butterss (the heartbeat of jazz guitarist Jeff Parker’s ETA IVTet – talk about versatility!) and drummer Chad Gamble rocked hard and grooved with flair; utility player Will Johnson amped up the power chords, held down the acoustic strumming, or joined Gamble to toughen the backbeat as the songs required.

So as the sun went down, Isbell and the 400s rolled into a pile-driving set close and encore. With Gamble slowing the beat ever so slightly and the now-vivid lighting hitting dramatic heights, “King of Oklahoma”, “Cover Me Up” and “If We Were Vampires” got the crowd on their feet; the Truckers’ melancholy, transcendent ode to The Band “Danko/Manuel” (“Can you hear that singing sounds like gold/Maybe I can only hear it in my head/Fifteen years ago they owned that road/Now it’s rolling over us instead/Richard Manuel is dead”) and fiery getaway rocker “This Ain’t It” (culminating in a Isbell/Vaden duet that reached peak Allman Brothers territory) left them hungry for more.

Jason Isbell is the real thing, one of the leading voices in today’s American music, fearlessly digging deep into the human condition, the pull of fate and the push of attraction. The 400 Unit fit his songs like a glove; as a collective, they make a powerful, compelling noise that straddles rock and country, yielding maximum emotional impact. On record, this music is impressive; live, this band is even more so, well worth hearing and seeing when they head in your direction.

Jason Isbell tours, with and without The 400 Unit, through November 2026; show dates are here. Setlist at Meijer Gardens Amphitheater, July 23, 2026:

  • Hope the High Road
  • It Gets Easier
  • Outfit
  • Traveling Alone
  • Last of My Kind
  • Gravelweed
  • Decoration Day
  • Live Oak
  • Alabama Pines
  • Elephant
  • Crimson and Clay
  • Ride to Robert’s
  • Dress Blues
  • Overseas
  • King of Oklahoma
  • Something More Than Free
  • 24 Frames
  • Cover Me Up
  • If We Were Vampires
  • Danko/Manuel
  • This Ain’t It

LITERATURE

Ultimate Prizes: The Third Book of Starbridge

I’m rereading Susan Howatch’s Starbridge Series, and I am noticing all kinds of details and themes I missed the first time around. The series chronicles three Church of England clerics: Charles Ashworth, the traditionalist theologian with a privileged background; Jonathan Darrow, the pious monk with incredible psychic gifts but potentially dangerous pride; and Neville Aysgarth, the Starbridge Archdeacon from Yorkshire who is a Modernist that dislikes any whiff of “Popery”.

The first book, Glittering Images, was narrated by Ashworth, and we soon learn that he is not the perfect man he appears to be. He suffers a breakdown, and through the effective counseling of Darrow, is able to emerge whole. Book two, Glamorous Powers, is narrated by Darrow, and he is shown to be extremely complicated. He also suffers a breakdown, and is healed by the empathetic counseling of his college rival, Francis Ingram. Near the end, Darrow butts heads with Neville Aysgarth, and it’s clear there is an immediate antipathy between them.

In the third book, Ultimate Prizes, Aysgarth is the narrator, and we see Jon Darrow from his perspective. But before Darrow enters the scene, we learn how Aysgarth is a young, ambitious Archdeacon with a gift for administration. It is set in 1942, and he is married to the perfect wife, Grace. They have five children – four sons and a daughter. The fifth child, Alexander, was a surprise, and Grace is exhausted taking care of him and their toddlers. She is unable to attend the social functions Aysgarth needs to “get on” in his career.

At one significant social event, a dinner with the bishop, Aysgarth meets a young socialite, Dido Tallent, and he is swept off his feet. He knows that to commit adultery is career suicide for a clergyman, so he resists his desire, but poor Grace soon realizes that something is wrong. Meanwhile, another character from Glittering Images shows up, the wily old Alex Jardine, who resigned his bishopric suddenly. He has mentored Aysgarth and assisted in his swift rise through the Church hierarchy, and he warns him to avoid all contact with Dido. Aysgarth takes strong offense to this advice and agrees to her request that he be her spiritual advisor.

To continue reading this review, click here.

Music

The Bardic Depths: Some Things Are Worth Remembering

Some Things Are Worth Remembering  is the fourth album from The Bardic Depths. Dave Bandana once again takes the reins, with lead vocals, bass, keyboards, and overall production, while Gareth Cole returns on acoustic and electric guitar, Tim Gehrt handles drums and percussion, and Peter Jones sings and plays sax and keyboards. The ever-clever and polyhistoric Brad Birzer supplies most of the lyrics, which, as the album’s title suggests, are full of reminiscences, longing, and nostalgia.

I’ve listened to Some Things Are Worth Remembering several times now, and my overall impression of the album is one of mellowness. There is a gentle vibe to most of the songs that wouldn’t be out of place on a early-to-mid-70s rock album. Given that I pretty much came of age in the 70s, I find Some Things Are Worth Remembering a most pleasant and entertaining listening experience.

The opening track, “Islands”, is, according to the notes provided by Mr. Bandana, Brad Birzer’s tribute to the classic Big Big Train song, “The Underfall Yard”. In that track, BBT expressed their admiration for the Victorian engineers who surveyed and constructed the railways that crisscrossed the UK. BBT sang how those engineers “using available light, they could see far”.  Birzer’s lyrics are a worthy tribute to the spirit of “The Underfall Yard”, as he writes, 

The song that longs to linger in our souls

Long after we’ve heard the last notes

A memory so pure so delicate

The song that cries to the skies

The song that hovers over that moment

Away from eternity

The music of “Islands” has a nice jazzy feel, thanks to the excellent saxophone work of Peter Jones. 

Next up is the very melodic “Fallen Leaves”, featuring beautiful wordless vocal harmonies that conjure memories of CSNY and The Beach Boys. 

Things get a little funky on the third track, “Arribabok”. Birzer’s lyrics explore how language is like a living thing, always evolving and mutating. I really like Bandana’s bassline on this song, and Cole’s sinuous electric guitar solo. The arrangement reminds me a bit of classic Peter Gabriel – shades of “Secret World”.

Side One closes with my favorite track, “October Sun”, which is Birzer’s ode to Michigan autumns. Maybe because autumn is my favorite season, this song really speaks to me with its evocation of “greens and reds and yellows and browns”. There is more to the song than mere colors, however:

The veil between this world and the next

Is ever so thin

It’s always twilight here

October holds its breath

In the dusk of it all

And on the verge of death

October sun shines through

I may be reading too much into these lyrics, but they remind me of Ray Bradbury’s memoir of small town America, Dandelion Wine, where natural beauty coexists uneasily with darker undercurrents. The music for “October Sun” is outstanding as well, with the final half consisting of an instrumental workout. Peter Jones’ sax and Gareth Cole’s guitar play a game of tag in the October sun!

Side Two opens with Peter Jones’ composition, “From Empty Trees”. He plays keyboards on this one, and it brings to minds Barleycorn-era Traffic. It’s a very fun track with a lot of drive.

The next song, “A View”, is, according to Bandana,  “about a man in space who awakes after his craft has been attacked and after finding out he is the only one left on board sees the Earth below in a totally different light.” Appropriately enough, the melody captures the longing and homesickness of that astronaut perfectly. 

“Harder to See” is the portrait of a man who is not the most likeable person. Bandana wrote the lyrics on this one, and he describes someone who is trying to find himself:

You make it I’ll break it you bake it I’ll take it

You grow it I’ll blow it you know it I’ll throw it

It’s not easy to please me it’s harder to see me

I like you can’t find me no ties to confine me

I need to get me a plan find out if I really can

I need to see where I am… see where I am as a man

Some Things Are Worth Remembering  closes with “Rewind”, which is Bandana’s recounting of attending a 1975 Genesis concert in London. Once again, there is a sense of longing for something that can never be recaptured.

I wish I could easily rewind my brain

All of the sights and the smells of old London Town

Sit and wait for the lights to die down

Music and drama and spells before our eyes

Stories of strange folk behind a disguise

I was there but I can’t remember now

Cole’s acoustic guitar work is outstanding, cleverly bringing to mind Steve Hackett from A Trick of the Tail-era Genesis. Cole also provides a muscular electric guitar solo that provides an intro to a beautiful vocal interlude. And when you think the song is over, we are given a wonderful pastoral coda that lasts almost five minutes. 

All in all, Some Things Are Worth Remembering is a fine addition to The Bardic Depths’ discography. I especially enjoyed Peter Jones’ saxophone work throughout, and Tim Gehrt’s work on drums and percussion is excellent. As I stated at the beginning of this review, this album is mellow – it’s a genuinely pleasurable listening experience that is perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon (in October!). Even though there isn’t an explicit concept – such as the Inklings in their previous album, What We Really Like In Stories – a common thread of nostalgia and longing runs throughout all the songs. 

Finally, I noticed that the back cover has a disclaimer stating that, “No AI was used in the making of this album”. It’s a shame artists have to make that clear, but these are the time we live in. I hope Bandana, Cole, Jones, Gehrt, and Birzer continue to produce authentic music far into the future.

You can preorder Some Things Are Worth Remembering here.

 

 

Republic of Letters

Onsegen Ensemble: Sheer Northern Beauty

I’m sure like many of us who love progressive rock, we’re always looking for music that actually progresses.  Of course, we love and adore The Yes Album and Trick of the Tail and Songs from the Wood, but we also want something rooted in that music that goes beyond it as well.

Well, my search, at least for 2026, has ended.  It ended when I discovered the Finnish band, Onsegen Ensemble.  I knew absolutely nothing about them until the great Karisma Records sent Spirit of Cecilia a review copy.

Here’s what the band says about itself:

“ONSÉGEN ENSEMBLE IS A GROUP OF MUSICIANS FROM NORTHERN FINLAND. BEING FAITHFUL TO ITS OWN PURPOSE, THE SPIRITUAL HOME OF ONSÉGEN KEEPS ITS DOORS OPEN FOR EVERYONE TO ENTER. THE MUSIC TAKES YOU TO A MYSTICAL TRIP WITH EXCURSIONS INTO WONDERFULLY CINEMATIC AND FLAMBOYANT LANDSCAPES.”

From the very opening few seconds of the latest album, A Tale, I was hooked.  I’ve remained hooked for all 42 minutes of A Tale now too many times to count.  For what it’s worth, I always buy a personal copy of an album sent to me for review if I love it.  That is, I very much want to support the artists, especially when they trust me with a review copy.  It’s an honor to be on the receiving end of such beauty, and I never want to break that trust.  Just so you know, I bought three copies of A Tale—one for me, and two to give to friends.  That’s how much I love this band and album.

As to specifics. . . the instruments, the vocals, the lyrics are all astounding.  The production is outstanding, a true aural delight.  Truly, I felt like I was being drawn into the musical equivalent of Tolkien’s profound essay “On Fairy Stories.”  Yes, I was entering fairy by listening to this band.

The lyrics are pretty minimal, but they’re excellent nonetheless.  I’m especially taken by the lyrics of track no. three, “A thought”:

“Peace is a thought

Followed by the word. . . . 

Peace is a flame

Lit by devastation

Dependent on shelter

Never meant to fade.”

I have no idea if the word is a Word in the Stoic or Christian or just hippie sense, but I like it nonetheless.  It’s evocative of truth, beauty, and goodness.

As to the music?  Well, it’s original, to be sure.  I hear bits of Traffic, bits of Jethro Tull, bits of Talk Talk, bits of Kate Bush (especially side 2 of Hounds of Love), and bits of David Gilmour.  But, in the end, this is original music. Something straight from the northern most parts of the world.

If you’re looking for something beautiful and original, look no further.  You have reached your destination.

If you’re in the U.S., make sure to patronize our best prog rock store, Band Wagon USA. Elsewhere in the world, get it from Bandcamp.

LITERATURE, Music

Cecilia in Proghalla, Ep. 2: Phil Keaggy and Kevin Belmonte

In Episode 2 of Cecilia in Proghalla, Brad Birzer, Kevin McCormick, and Tad Wert have a wide-ranging conversation with the incredibly talented musician Phil Keaggy, and his gifted collaborator, author and poet Kevin Belmonte. They have a new album: Things of Heaven, that is a beautiful set of songs celebrating everything from Paul McCartney’s lost and then found Hofner bass to Easter and Christmas.

Along the way, we touch on Kevin’s new book, G K Chesterton on Life, and Phil’s fascinating career in music. Give it a listen:

Philosophy, Politics

The Rider’s Model of Reality

For the past few months, I have been working on a hobby project —reworking all my posts at SpiritOfCecilia. Took each one of them and did an AI editorial review for internal consistency and structure. The Machine pointed out the flaws, and I addressed them. Inputs related to flow, bridging sentences, and tone. Essentially, the logic, ideas, and structure are still a human creation. In fact, there were instances where I had to correct the Machine’s understanding of Friedrich Hayek.

As always, the whole exercise of writing brought additional structure to my own thinking. I also realized that the posts can be organized into three larger essays, each dealing with different aspects of reality. Once completed, I provided this content layout, along with motorcycling photos, to the Machine, and it generated HTML pages. Uploaded those pages to my personal WordPress blog with a custom domain name.

www.ridersmodel.com

Music, Books, Poetry, Film