A farewell to a summer of loss, of disappointments and another move, but one that concludes with great potential for change and no small amount of relief – punctuated by the Almost Jazz & Art Festival at Bearsville.
Homeless
When you use the term “homeless,” it conjures images of leathery street people asking for money, “washing” your car windows in the hope that you’ll tip them, and the various temporary homesteads you see in doorways or on subway grates. I always wonder how anyone who sets up one of those homesteads can ever not…
How TMJ took my hearing
Your TMJ muscles can mess with your head. It can be debilitating for musicians and audio engineers. Sometimes, the resolution just takes time.
Thanksgiving 2022 (or Salmonella on the Pillow)
A poem composed for the great American parading holiday, with a delightfully misheard title.
Election Day with the Antichrist
Antichrist, we hardly knew you. We thought we did. What silly kids we were. In the 80s, the Antichrist was one guy who we heard tell was soon to “walk the Earth.” Metalhead kids everywhere used the concepts of Satan and the Antichrist to taunt their parents. It was harmless fantasy. Most of the people…
Most of us are sad
I’ve tried to write this piece on many occasions. It has been difficult to get the words to come. Just when I think I’ve captured it, something else occurs to me. What follows is where I must leave it. About a month ago, I had the most peculiar feeling as we went about our Sunday….
The Chess King
In the summer of 1982, I was eleven years old. For one day, I garnered the unofficial title of Chess King. No one called me that, and it wasn’t even that I was unseated after that day. It just ceased to be relevant, as many things are wont to do amid the breakneck pace kept…
Try to make the knot unwind
I kept a blog for years. It had hundreds of entries. I thought this mile-high stack of personal essays was a desirable thing for some reason. Strangely, at some point I felt that it was time to retire the thing entirely. There was something about a veritable play-by-play of my psycho-emotional development laid bare that…