National Poetry Month Meets Marvin Gaye
Sean MurphyI was aware (and in awe) of John Goodman before I reviewed his book (10 years ago!) Mingus Speaks -- an indispensable document of the great Charles Mingus (a lot…
National Poetry Month Meets Howlin’ Wolf
National Poetry Month rolls on. Thanks again to Decolonial Passage for publishing "Howlin' Wolf's Harp" last summer. This one appears in Rhapsodies in Blue (and I read it last week…
Original Poetry: Six Haikus for America
Just in time for #NationalPoetryMonth, the amazing team at Exterminating Angel Press has dropped the Spring 23 issue of their magazine on the theme of Recipes for Disaster. Tons of…
Introducing “Rhapsodies in Blue”
Just in time to properly celebrate National Poetry Month, my second collection, Rhapsodies in Blue, is now available! You can pick up a paperback or Kindle version here. I'd love you to…
Original Poem: Charles Mingus’s Memento
It remains a blessing for this writer to find publications that “get” him –and what I’m attempting with my ongoing project (the first installment, of course, being The Blackened Blues, released…
Gary Rossington: The Man in The Band
And another guitarist who left us with indelible solos from the '70s gone. Gary Rossington cheated death for decades, so we are fortunate he rocked this world as long as…
Why Wayne Shorter Matters
Wayne Shorter is, for my money, possibly the most underrated genius in any genre of music. To be sure, he certainly received plenty of props within jazz circles and the people…
David Lindley: Jackson Browne’s Right Hand Man
One of the more unheralded "guy behind the guy" guys, David Lindley did plenty of amazing stuff, but he shined brightest backing up Jackson Browne on some of the '70s…
I’ll See You on the Dark Side of the Moon: Rock Music’s Apex at 50
It doesn't matter whether Pink Floyd's masterpiece is the best rock album of all time (just as we can agree that there are other worthy contenders for the imaginary throne,…
Original Poem: Imagined Conversations with People I Love about Trauma
van Gogh, Vincent; Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear; The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust); http://www.artuk.org/artworks/self-portrait-with-bandaged-ear-207202 I appreciate that this one got picked up by Humans of the World, as trauma (experiencing…