Archive for June 2006
AAA
I received an email from a Canadian pen pal last week. It began with a request that I cover Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue” (which I may yet do), and concluded thusly… My Toronto Blue Jays beat your Mets at home today. There’s nothing like just being there as a fan at a ball…
Read MoreLearning How To Die
I’m half-way through three books right now, and have cracked the spine on two more. I would tack it up to coincidence, or some sort of Borders/Barnes & Nobles/Amazon harmonic convergence. But you know me: I look for meaning in signs, symbols, and patterns. All of the books are about bands. So it dawned on…
Read MoreLife In A Northern Town
Chris and I pulled into the Richmond Airport Hotel & Convention Center just after midnight. We were bone tired from our full day at the Human Kindness Foundation, not to mention our three hour drive up to Richmond. The shoot (click here to read all about it) was intense; a thousand times more difficult than…
Read MoreSummer Song
I’m not sure I even knew what the summer solstice was until college. My freshman dorm room lacked direct sunlight. It was in the interior of the building, with a window overlooking a ventalation shaft. I’m sure that’s not the sole reason for my near-depression that year, but it didn’t help. I’ve become acutely aware…
Read MoreSuperman (It’s Not Easy)
The credits had scarcely begun to roll when Kurt asked me, “So whaddya think?” Listen, the guy may be one of three reasons (along with Cameron Crowe and Chris Connelly) that I do what I do, but he clearly didn’t get the memo my Top Five Rules For Movie Screenings: 1) Never go to an…
Read MoreFavorite Things, Volume IV
My parents signed me up for piano lessons when I was about seven-years-old. Lessons were held at a small, Gothic conservatory on Lake Street in Oak Park, Illinois. Chris and I walked the quiet, tree-lined avenues dotted with Frank Lloyd Wright homes after school. The lobby’s white linoleum floors reflected cold, fluorescent lights. I sat…
Read MoreThe Starting Point
Perhaps no film better summarizes popular culture’s dueling concept of The Weekend than the new classic, “Old School.” The Bed, Bath & Beyond vs. Mitchapalooza Conundrum, as it’s come be to called in Academia, is revealed in this one, hilarious scene. Frank: I told my wife I wouldn’t drink tonight. I got a big day…
Read MoreSummer Friday
My boss insisted I take the day off. I think his prime motivator was when I told him I’d punched a wall following a phone call with one of my, um, thicker colleagues. “You’re the happiest guy in the building, Ben. If you’re stressed out, I know we’re in trouble.” So I took today off.…
Read MoreHere She Comes – MP3
Phew. For a minute there, I wasn’t sure I’d ever write a new song again. Well, I guess I just needed some free time. And I got some today. I had the day off. So I picked up my guitar. And while the chords I was playing weren’t exactly innovative, they sounded new enough. So…
Read MoreBetter
I caught a story on the local news as I pulled on my running shoes this morning about a mother of two from Staten Island who died when her minivan rolled off a cliff at a state park. That story was followed by one about a Brooklyn livery cab driver was killed in when his…
Read More