Larry Kensington

Mid-day Host Monday-Friday 10:00AM-2:00PM

HOMETOWN

Utica, NY

FAMILY

Wife Nikki, son Daniel

ACTIVITIES / HOBBIES / INTERESTS

Walking and hiking; playing piano;
American history and literature; British history and literature

MY FAVORITE BOOKS

Son of the Morning Star, by Evan S. Connell—not because I’m any fan of George Armstrong Custer, and not because I avidly want to know every last thing about what happened along the Little Bighorn River in June 1876. I love this book because of the way Connell combines meticulous research, his novelist’s eye for the telling detail, and a great dry, ironic wit to make the point that history is all about asking questions of the past and getting nothing but more questions in return.

MY FAVORITE MOVIE

Citizen Kane. Because of all of Orson Welles’s innovations, but also because it’s just a damn good story about a larger-than-life character who merits pity even when he’s getting what he deserves.

MY FAVORITE COMPOSER / MUSIC

Depends on what mood I’m in. I’ve learned to appreciate Haydn because of his inexhaustible store of original ideas, Brahms for the uncanny way he tempers passion with intelligence, and Copland for the hard work he put into developing his trademark “Americana” sound.

MY PASSION

Jazz and the Great American Songbook. I like nothing better than to listen to a good small jazz group dig into Kern, Gershwin, Arlen, Porter, etc., and make the old tunes sound fresh and new.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT DAYTON

The vibrancy of its arts scene.