Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before*
Sean MurphyLet me tell you a story. It involves a white male born in a steadily prospering town to a slowly prospering family. His father, the first in his Irish family…
Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength: Rush’s ‘Permanent Waves’ (Revisited)
How unbelievably appropriate that Permanent Waves was released on January 1, 1980? In virtually every regard, this album ended the '70s (literally) and foreshadowed the fertile grounds (reggae, pop elements,…
My Annual New Year’s Eve Message
As always, it’s a hell of a lot easier to keep these things in perspective by considering the (increasing) number of our brothers and sisters who are struggling just to…
2014: Time To Die, Part Two
2014: In pace requiescat! Theme video for this annual series (especially instructive for those not familiar with the title or the photo, above): 7/14/14: 1959 was a watershed year for…
2014: Time To Die, Part One
2014: In pace requiescat! Theme video for this annual series (especially instructive for those not familiar with the title or the photo, above): 1/14/14: Another one gone way too soon.…
Yusef Lateef: R.I.P., Gentle Giant (One Year Later)
We have lost one of the great, indeed one of the greatest, ones. Yusef Lateef, aged 93 years young, was finally stopped by cancer on December 23. I say "finally"…
The Narrow Path: A Tone Poem for Christmas
You are alone. You are back in the city and you are alone as you emerge into the open and empty space, stepping out from the stale depths of the…
My Kind of Christmas Music (Revisited)
Tchaikovsky Corelli Bach A couple from John Fahey The Who Chuck Berry a three-fer from Jethro Tull! Sonny Boy The Godfather Donny Satchmo Ella! (An embarrassment of riches here, here,…
What We Talk About When We Talk About Sex (In Fiction)
WRITING ABOUT SEX is like engaging in sex: it’s hard. Or, it should be. It’s that time of year again, where we can count on three things: shopping-related stress during…
Brooklyn Reading #8: Drinking
May 29, 2014. It was billed as a throwback to the old Beatnik days, minus the bongos and clove cigarettes. As such, New York City was a mandatory locale; Brooklyn…