a poem is a sermon
Come, dig the grave, but not too deep; the eighties were a shallow time. We spent a decade just to learn how to maintain appearance’s sake and delve with questions, off-the-cuff, in cocktail conversation bluffs. Come, dig the grave, the shovel’s mouth will gouge the earth enough to serve as depth-gauge for the swollen corpse; […]
I have heard the mockingbird’s own personal song: late at night when other fowl have found their nests, the tune comes sweet and low, passed like a hot plate between two diners at an all-night chop house, whose whispers barely rise above the constant hum of the deep freeze and yellow-red heat lamps on the […]
One of the experiences in my life that has been the most exhilirating is playing music before an audience. It doesn’t matter how big the audience is, really. I started out playing live music with my family on holidays. From the time I was 8 or 9, at Christmas and other family gatherings, my grandmother, […]
I will blaspheme to instruct if those still listening can hear: the pretense of this world is fucked beyond repair; that much is clear. I will replay classic moments in a whirl of light and sound; relive near death’s self-wrought torment in my history’s chains, bound. I will speak in words, in whispers of potential […]
When you play the blues, at some point, you’ve got to decide. Whether to play around the issue, like Charlie Parker, flitting in and out just hinting at the melody, giving subtle suggestions on the point you’re trying to make but usually ending up burning out to some tangent at the far reaches of reality; […]
Away from the bustle of the lakefront trade across the wide expanse of clouded blue on a small knot of land pushed out into the bay behind a copse of trees down the gravel lane – the house sits small and squat, not much to look at from the outside, save for the flowerbeds, its […]
OK, here’s where it’s going to get tricky. After high school, with full time employment, my album purchasing power increased dramatically. A lot of energy was spent building a record collection. I’d go out and buy complete catalogs (yea, a fool and his money are so soon parted). The years 1983 to 1985 consisted of […]