The Fredösphere

My buddy Steve alerts us to a bizarre fraud in the world of classical music recording: if you digitally shrink by 2% a recording of Liszt etudes played by Laszlo Simon for BIS Records, Mr. Simon "becomes" "Joyce Hatto."

For all your cinema needs, see Luther At the Movies. (Most intriguing headline: Screwtape Hits the Big Screen!) In related developments, my friend Jeremy declares the Beerbelly to be the greatest invention ever, and the University Lutheran Chapel of Ann Arbor sponsors a Theology Pub Tour.

A parish boychoir director in South London records his kids with a spacey synthesizer accompaniment, and creates a minor pop music sensation. The cheese factor is not completely absent, but I didn't dislike it. Call them Libera. Hear more here, and don't miss the stratospheric pitches of "Sanctus." Gosh, what is that tune? I just know I've heard it before.

UPDATE:  Jessica Duchen has more, much more, on "Hattogate."