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Blue Skies Ahead
I’m back in the city after a brief trip to Philadelphia. I ran the Broad Street 10 miler this morning in 1:17:42. I’m on a WWII kick. Not very rocknroll, maybe, but amazing to learn about. It started with Tom Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation” and led to Stephem Ambrose’s “D-Day.” Robert Mitchum’s “The Story…
Read MoreBattered, Not Broken
A guy I work with who’s also in a band — a band with an actual record deal — asked me how my music was going. What could I say? What do I have to show for ten years and thousands of dollars spent pursuing this dream? Not much. Not enough. The fact is, I’m…
Read MoreAfter A Storm
The fog is back hanging over Manhattan as thunder storms roll in from across the Hudson… I just rode way down to 2d Street and Avenue B, where I dropped off a minidisc of new songs for cellist Julia Kent to learn for our May 17th Sidewalk performance. I also called drummer Clayton Pettis today,…
Read MoreThe World Beyond The Fire Escape
The city and I are locked in a dense, creeping fog. The sky is white. The buildings are gone, New Jersey is gone. It’s as if there is no world beyond my fire escape. It’s one of those days when you can’t see but maybe two, three feet in front of you. It conspires to…
Read MoreAutumn Of An Insect
As my friend Jamie is want to say, “Worlds change in the belly of an insect.”
Read MoreOn Duane Reade, Left Eye Lopes, And Root Canals
I’m sitting in the Duane Reade pharmacy on 57th & Broadway, bathing in harsh florescent light. Behind me, a couple of computer technicians with Southern accents are making a racket replacing registers. Something’s beeping somewhere, non-stop. A child is crying; his father squeezed his head. An elderly Russian couple just walked pat clutching a half…
Read MoreRIP: TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes
I was sleeping in fits and starts, tossing and turning. My cell phone rang at 3:15. It was my co-worker Rahman Dukes calling to tell me that TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was reported dead. My cell phone rang again. It was my co-worker Robert Mancini with the same news, confirmed by Arista. I logged…
Read MoreClive Davis & Me
I was an inch from the Clive Davis last night, but I didn’t make a move. I just shuffled by him, humbled and silent. Mr. Davis — legendary Svengali to Bette Midler, Whitney Houston, and Alicia Keys, to name a few — was at Fez to celebrate his new singer, Llamya. Freshly signed to J…
Read MoreCreating The Ultimate Back To School Soundtrack
I have a turkey burger deluxe getting cold in the other room, and Francis Ford Copolla’s The Conversation paused on the DVD player, so I’ll be brief… I visited Kevin Anthony’s Control One Studios on 23d Street after work today. He and I sat a while listening to “Summer’s Gone,” discussing a remix, and listening…
Read MoreThat Winter’s Planets
<i>Ed Note: What follows is a short story I wrote for Tobias Wolff’s creative writing workshop my senior year at Syracuse University that is based on my memories of growing up near Chicago, IL.</i> That Winter’s Planets I bought a mobile of the planets on a field trip to the planetarium that winter. I had…
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