a poem is a sermon
Last night, a friend and fellow bass player commented that after having seen me play lead guitar (I usually play bass with Hardrick Rivers, but occasionally fill in on guitar when another bass player is available and wants to sit in), he understood my approach to bass. He classified me more or less as a […]
I’ve been involved in the business (and to some degree, the art) of music for over 30 of my 42 years. I’ve traveled it, studied it, played it, written it and in the process I hope have learned a little about it. I’ve traveled, studied and written other things as well; but underlying everything that […]
The failure of the American public school system is that while we have emphasized the importance of those skills that “get things done” or that provide our children with the technological tool set to “compete” on a global scale, we have neglected to teach them the reasons WHY one should avail themselves of that technology. […]
The definition of “musician” is given as: 1. a person who makes music a profession, esp. as a performer of music. 2. any person, whether professional or not, skilled in music. Interestingly enough, the definitions of pianist, guitarist, bassist, flautist, etc. are not, as I would have expected “a musician whose instrument of choice, or […]
To call me a musician is to miss an important point. There’s a certain convenience to the label, sure. But labels have a way of limiting their objects, of glossing over the inconvenient details in an attempt to simplify the classification of the whole. There’s a laziness about that kind of thinking. A desperation, almost, […]
Being the King of Americana might mean nobody knows your name: except for the local bartenders who still serve you just the same, while you’re sitting on the mike for three hours, singing songs that nobody knows, wearing out strings for a hobby that brings in about thirty dollars a show. Being the King of […]
I don’t begrudge a twelve year old their wish to idolize an artist of their own time-frame with the same likes and sense of space that come from being twelve a while. But for adults to seek the same — to push aside their own age peers, in some great quest for “the next big,” […]