Please Talk about Me When I’m Gone: First Reading, Revisited
Sean MurphyFour years ago today. Thanks again to the Jasmine Café (RIP). Kudos to Reston legend Robert E. Simon (RIP) for showing up. Love to all my friends and family who came…
10 for NYC by 10, on 9/11
New York City would be unimaginable without jazz, and vice versa. Here then is a tribute for --and by-- several musicians who help define and celebrate the cultural mecca of…
On Loving & Losing Man’s Best Friends
i. Schnauzers look at you. I mean they really look at you. Not through you, only people do that. If dogs, in general, are correctly credited for living entirely in…
The Death of an Indestructible Dog: What Quinzy Taught Me (Revisited)
Portrait of the artist as a young pup. Wait, did I say artist? I meant barbarian. No, that's neither fair nor accurate. It's difficult with Quinzy-- he was many things,…
RIP Walter Becker, Your Work Here is Done
RIP Walter Becker. Not many musicians were involved in a run as productive and consistently sublime as Steely Dan's. My life, in short, would make much less sense without his…
Donald Trump: The Man in America’s Mirror
i. Orwell, Again (Obviously) Even before the Reality TV circus American politics and, by extension, American life, degenerated into late last year, George Orwell was the go-to guy for…
August 26, 2002: Reflections on 15 Years
Fifteen years fails to satisfy, on both arbitrary and aesthetic levels. It's not long enough to be a significant milestone; it's sufficient time to satisfy the import it has accrued.…
Washing Dishes as Antidote for Apathy
Tom Sietsema, the excellent food critic for The Washington Post, wrote a fantastic piece about dishwashers (in general) and his experience, as a dishwasher, on 8/7/17. I highly recommend this piece…
How to Kill a Cliché: Celebrating Sam Shepard
Lee: …That’s stupid. That’s one a’ those?—?whadya’ call it? Whadya’ call that? Austin: What? Lee: Whadya’ call it when somethin’s been said a thousand times before. Whadya’ call that? Austin: Um?—?a…
Celebrating Sam Shepard and the Artistic Life
First off, before reading anything I have to say, do yourself a favor and check out this beautiful, eloquent tribute from Patti Smith. Sam Shepard is one of my literary…