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It Got Late Early This Year
I spent an afternoon last weekend enjoying myself in Union Square, taking quick turn around the Strand before I ended up browsing the Manifestation section of the Namaste Bookshop. (14th Street and 5th Avenue. It’s easy to find. There’s a life-sized Buddha sitting outside on the sidewalk.) While the incense felt like quicksand for the…
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The Death of A Dream: Part 1
Shortly after the election this month, I read about our national mourning. The article aptly asserted that millions of Americans had experienced a death: the death of a dream. The writer was referring to the emotional devastation so many were feeling about their candidate’s loss. It had been unthinkable in view of the seemingly unprecedented…
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Threat
I used to have a friend. I knew him for more than 25 years. We didn’t always agree on everything, but we had a kind of shared history. We lived through key life experiences at roughly the same times. As we drifted deeper into adulthood, our experiences diverged, but we would come back together time…
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Sliding Into Christmas
As I write this, I’m listening to a SomaFM internet radio channel called Department Store Christmas: Holiday Elevator Music from a more innocent time. There’s only so much Lite-FM (New York) one can stand. I’m enjoying the elevator music, especially the Ray Conniff Singers. They always remind me of Vietnam and the hustle and bustle…
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Thanksgiving 2023
Here’s what is fast becoming my traditional Thanksgiving post. Last year, I wrote a poem just in time, but this one, I’ve designed specifically for headphones.
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“Now and Then,” a dirge by the Beatles
The “last Beatles song,” was released today. “Now and Then” was originally slated for inclusion on Anthology 3, the last in a series of dust bunny triple albums the band released in the ‘90s. I have them all and they are a wonderful piece of archaeology. It’s great fun to listen to studio works in…
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Summer of 2023 in the rear view
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.
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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…
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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.
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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…