About two weeks ago I wrote about my brother being featured in James Taranto’s Best of the Web column in the Wall Street Journal because of a piece he had written using Mr. Taranto’s name. While I was visiting with my brother last week, Mr. Taranto called for a follow up interview about the premier of the piece. Today’s WSJ has an article entitled “Fanfare for the Column Man” about my brother’s musical composition. The article has a link to a recording of “Kerfuffle”, so you can hear the piece as you read the article.

The article also mentioned a piece that my brother wrote for me for my wedding. That composition used a motif based on my wife’s maiden name.

After the interview, my brother said Mr. Taranto had asked him to define a fanfare. I told him that given Mr. Taranto’s love of language, he should have said something like, “To understand what ‘fanfare’ means, you have to break it down into its root words. A ‘fan’ is someone who enjoys sports, while ‘fare’ is food. ‘Fanfare’, therefore, is something that a sports enthusiast eats, e.g., a hotdog.” My brother didn’t take my advice, which explains why he is mentioned in the WSJ now, while the last time I was in the WSJ was 1994 (although my story was on the front page above the fold).

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