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Glass, Concrete & Stone
I have arrived in Los Angeles. The evidence is everywhere. Outside my window, through a thicket of palm trees, across PCH-1, and over the Santa Monica Mountains, the sun is setting. I see the ocean, the “deep and frozen sea.” Gary Coleman is on the TV. “Need a loan?” Local news is reporting a freeway…
Read MoreBringing It All Back Home
That’s me hobnobbing with Pennsylvania Governer Ed Rendell. You know how it is for guys like us. Just another weekend shaking hands and kissing babies. It was to late for me to jump a Metroliner to Philadelphia by the time I was done at the office Friday night. So I maxed out on a few…
Read MoreRandom Notes
That’s me sorting through resumes. I have four positions to fill at The MTV. Like, soon. Work is crazy. I lobbied long and hard for my new title, but couldn’t have begun to imagine how different my life would be. As if a laptop, cell phone, digital camera, and iPod weren’t enough for one messenger…
Read MoreBetween The Covers
It’s good to get out. Tonight was a fairly major aboration. I didn’t work late. I didn’t rehearse with any of my bands. I didn’t watch some art house film on DVD. I went out. To the New York Public Library. To see a bunch of writers perform. Sounds anomalous, right? Writers? Performing? The Moth…
Read MoreCalifornia II
I’m going to Los Angeles on Monday. Used to be L.A. was something of a break for me, even if I was there on business. Once upon a time, I dated a woman there (she of “Intent on St. Paul” fame). We met at my buddy James’ wedding in Kauai. (Who wouldn’t fall in love…
Read MoreThis Is Really Happening
In the end, in the waning hours of this weekend, I am left, miraculously, speechless. I am, as you might gather, rarely without something to say. And at numerous times over the course of this ridiculously active weekend I have wondered aloud why my gums were flapping at all. What was the point of what…
Read MoreOn Automatic
I am some 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia on Amtrak #138. I am going home. For 12 hours. And I will admit straight up: I have some beers in me. Three, to be exact. And a turkey sandwhich. Here’s the back story. Michael Penn is playing the Point in Bryn Mawr tonight. (In 28 minutes,…
Read MoreRock Candy
When I say I played a blistering two hour set last night, I really mean it. My hands are shredded. Because I don’t have enough else going on (launching MTV Overdrive, closing the chapter on The Smith Family, three solo shows, a new record, marathon training), I decided it was hight time to get back…
Read MoreThings Are Looking Up
Rain is in the air. I can smell it. Oddly enough, it smells like the desert: warm, and dusty. I’m in my bedroom on the sixth floor above West 80th Street. The windows are all open. The sliding door is thrown wide. A strong breeze is blowing in from the west, scattering the Post-It notes,…
Read MoreWhat If I Was?
Michael Penn asked me out tonight. I don’t have a ton of heroes. You know all about Mr. Rogers. The rest of them are musical: Michael Stipe, Jeff Tweedy, Aimee Mann and Michael Penn. One of the perks of my day job is the opportunity to meet some of them. I’m drawn to these opportunities…
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