So It Goes: Reflections on Kurt Vonnegut (Five Years Later)
Sean MurphyApril, 2007. Kurt Vonnegut would say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. Often, he was asked:…
Robert E. Simon, 98 Years Young
Robert E. Simon, the man who named the town I live in (R.E.S.ton, get it?) turns 98 today. Here he is, in 2006, on the balcony outside his penthouse suite…
Intermission
I'm going to be "unavoidably detained" for the next week and change, storming castles, photographing coastlines and drinking as much Guinness as I'm humany capable of doing. So, while…
Better Git It In Your Soul
It takes a village to raise a family; it takes a forest to write a book.
Looking Into The Sun*
(March, 2000) I look down at my mother as she lay dying. It was worse than I expected. (You don’t expect anything; you worry and fear and anticipate and dread…
Five From The Yardbirds To Remember Keith Relf (Revisisted)
Keith Relf. Who? Exactly. Quite possibly the best vocalist you've never heard of, you still have heard him if you are passingly familiar with rock music. Trust me. He was…
Bright Moments*
Question: What’s it all about? Answer: I don’t know. But I do know a few things. I know some of the things that make me tick. Even though I write…
Mo Max
Last time I celebrated the mighty Max Roach (check out the glory, here) there was not a ton of material on YouTube. A couple of years later and all kinds…
Rebellion*
i. Question: What are you rebelling against? Answer: Whaddya got? The thing most adjusted adults eventually understand is that everyone who marches to that proverbial different beat does so not…
Five Songs to Welcome Spring
The incomparable John Fahey with the appropriately titled "When The Springtime Comes Again": Janácek's String Quartet "Intimate Letters", 3rd Movement: John Coltrane: "Equinox": Bob Marley, "Natural Mystic": Jethro Tull: "March,…