Howard Tate, R.I.P. (Two Years Later)
Sean MurphyNot a lot of fanfare surrounded the death of Howard Tate (a couple of obits here and here). In a sad, sadly typical way, this is appropriate, since there was…
Five for Mandela
Some directly, some indirectly inspired by the great man. (Bonus!)
7 From McCoy Tyner For His 75th
McCoy Tyner turns 75 years young today. In a saner and more soulful world, Tyner would be a household name. As it is, he remains an American treasure, a remarkable…
Humanity: Kicking Cancer’s Ass
When the going gets tough, there is always hope. When hope is hard to come by, humanity can do the trick. Check this out: No matter what we are faced…
Life in the Key of Song: Strawberry Fields Forever
Living is easy with eyes closed/Misunderstanding all you see, It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out/It doesn't matter much to me. Those aren't just defining lines…
The Day The Music Died, Redux (Revisited)
(12/9/2010) It was thirty years ago today... Where were you? I was in my mother's bedroom, kissing her goodbye before I caught the school bus, and I heard the horrible…
The Intersection of Art & Innovation, cont’d: A Conversation with Jane Friedman
Yesterday we wrapped yet another conversation for CEA’s ongoing series “The Intersection of Art & Innovation.” (Previous discussions can be found HERE, HERE HERE, HERE, and HERE.) Jane Friedman, a…
Five by Frank Zappa @ 20 Years
December 4, 1993: impossible as it is (at least for me) to believe, Frank Zappa passed away (yet another casualty of the Big C.) twenty years ago, today. Zappa, to…
Backs to the Future
TAKE A GUY. Let’s say he is about my age: old enough to own a place and pay almost all his bills sometimes; young enough to understand that he is…
But I don’t weep, do you? (Three from Bukowski)
It is an enduring tribute to Bukowski's genius that his writings continue to inform, inspire and console. It is our collective tragedy, as human beings, that much of his subject…