I was pleased to be asked by David Starobin to write a piece for baritone, guitar, and percussion, to be premiered this evening by Speculum Musicae. While casting about for a text to set, I happened to hear Calvin Trillin read excerpts of his latest book, “A Heckuva Job,” on the radio. His lines about the Bush administration were concise, insightful, infuriating, and hysterically funny. In short, they begged to be set to music, right then.