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The Myth of Fingerprints
Kevin and I spent as much time drinking beer tonight as we did rehearsing for next week’s Block Island Music Festival. Which is fine with me. I mean, that’s kinda’ the idea, isn’t it? In fact, I am fresh from Rumors, an unfortunately named pub on 55th & Eighth Avenue, where Kev and I topped…
Read MoreStone Harbor
There are myths in family, tales spoken so often and not that they become something other than their truth or fiction. This is mine. My parents were born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa, a manufacturing town of about 100,000, on the muddy banks of the Cedar River. It is quieter now, I imagine, than the…
Read MoreSome Kind Of Moster
This is what three hours on Academy Bus Lines, plus 30 miles in the Jeep’ll getcha’: three generations of Wagners under one roof. This weekend’s event is Ethan’s Christening in Stone Harbor, NJ (including a duathlon on Sunday). I left work early — and believe me on this one, that wasn’t easy — walked over…
Read MoreSometimes you walk out of the movie theater and everything looks just a little bit different: the city pulses with life, the dusk has a bit more color, and you can’t help but feel a little more whole. I saw ‘Metallica: Some Kind of Monster’ with a screening room full of music journalists tonight, and…
Read MoreI lost my right ring finger in a brutal knife attack last night. Yes, I was dreaming. Or nightmaring. The nightmare involved an ex who shall remain nameless. In the dream, we were about to wed when a jealous ex of hers cut my finger off with a kitchen knife. There were trails of thick…
Read MoreThere aren’t enough ‘Pro Tools For Dummies’ or ‘Home Recording Made Easy’ books, there aren’t sufficient hours in the friggin’ day to rescue me from this ‘Money Pit’ meets ‘Duplex’ hell of mine. I can’t make this f’in’ computer rock. You’re picturing, perhaps, Tom Hanks in an iso booth? Or Ben Stiller in headphones? Well,…
Read MoreI had the strangest revelation on the subway tonight. It was just about an hour ago. I was on the ACE heading home. Keane’s ‘Bend & Break’ was playing on my iPod when it hit me, less like a thunderclap than a warm sunshower. One minute the sun was still out, then next I was…
Read MoreCoupling
A few beers, a burger, and an afternoon watching three sets of parents keep up with four rambunctious children has set the likelihood of me coupling and mating back at least two years. I kid, of course. The Bolster/Wagner clan — Wagner brothers Christofer and I, Bolster brothers Brian and BJ, and respective wives and…
Read MoreUntitled No. 3
It’s 6 p.m. ET, and I’m about to crawl into bed. I have the good fortune of being able to drink a cup of coffee, and still fall to sleep quickly. I woke up this morning, went to Starbucks and D’Ags, wrote a song (‘Untitled No. 3’), then went back to sleep. After breakfast, I…
Read MoreRed Plaid Shirt
Every time I wear this short-sleeved, red plaid Polo, I feel a little like my father. I tried to subvert the association with my genuine-issue, German army cargo pants, blue suede Adidas, and red, white, and blue sweatband, but still… I feel like my Dad. My father coached my little league team, the Braves, in…
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