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The wind was terrible and swift last night. The walls buckled and swayed. The rainspout slammed against the stucco. The window panes threatened to pop from their frames. It was another long, cold, sleepless night. My apartment felt haunted. I mixed “Carmelita.” I listened to it over and over for two hours straight before committing…

It began with a celebration, and ended with a nightmare. I prepared my taxes today, and discovered that it was a banner year for Benjamin Wagner Deluxe, LLC. I nearly broke even. For that reason, and on account of the good fortune that I received a mysterious direct deposit of $117.67, I decided to celebrate.…

My friends are the best. They’re the kinda guys who’ll willingly sacrifice the first 60° Saturday afternoon of the young year to lay down a few rockin’ tracks. And afterwards, they’ll gladly down a few pints and hot wings at the local dive bar. Chris and Tony came over to record today. In four hours,…

This is the second time in a row. As you know, I’m working on a new record, “The Desert Star.” Just a little one — an EP — to keep me busy, keep me creative, yunno. And twice now I’ve tried to re-track songs I wrote and recorded in the desert. And twice now I’ve…

I stopped cold at a box of wind-up bunnies as I walked through the Hallmark store last night. I couldn’t resist. I wound one up, and watched it hop around in circles. I bought three, wrestling with the urge to immediately walk over my brother’s place and give ’em to Ethan. Many years ago, my…

I am occasionally asked, “How do you do it? Full-time corporate media executive? Part time rock star? Sometimes teacher? Marathoner? Triathlete? Blogger? Adoring uncle?” And I appreciate the compliment. Part of it is just my obsessive-compulsive, hyper-maniacal nature. Part of it is making up for lost time, and making the most of time left. And…