Ten Ways of Looking at Four Decades
Sean MurphyI. Listen: When some of your best friends are people who exist elsewhere—characters in books you’ve read, musicians you’ll never meet, people from the past who died decades (even centuries)…
Four Poems For Four Decades
You’ve Seen Me Before (1989) I am the nimble sparrow who is surprised By eager claws that approach without a sound. Security lies in lofty branches, overhead But I feel…
What’s It All About, Then? Part One: Jazz, Featuring Eric Dolphy
Question: What's it all about? Answer: I don't know. But I do know a few things. I know some of the things that make me tick. Even though I write…
A Day To Remember; A Life To Celebrate
August 30, 2002* Everything that is good about me is because of my mother. Fortunately, I was able to convey this simple truth many times in my adult life, but…
No One Has Ever Done Anything as Well as John Coltrane Played the Saxophone
The question isn’t, really, about who might be interested in this documentary; it is about who might not be. For fans who already know everything, or those indifferent to jazz…
Ummagummolympia
Not sure I'm sold on the synch-up of the music (Pink Floyd's uber-psychedelic dreamscape "Quicksilver" from the criminally overlooked soundtrack to More) but this footage, from Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia is --and…
May 3: Props on Pops
I have written more than once about my mother (here and here) but I haven't said a great deal (here) about my old man. That is, in part, because he…
Let Us Now Celebrate Great Men (And A Great Friend)
The primary reason you are reading this blog right now, aside from the fact that I'm the type of dork who actually takes the time to maintain a blog, is…