The Secret of Life …is enjoying the passing of time. According to the James Taylor song “the secret of life is enjoying the passing of time. Any fool can do it. There’s really nothing to it… “ I’m not so sure about the second part but I’m nearly completely convinced of the first. A [...]
Fathom That One thing I haven’t done in a long time but used to enjoy a lot is scuba diving. I got into scuba diving through the influence of my Uncle George on my mom’s side. He’s the one who had twin girls at the age of 76 and is now 83 or so. [...]
When I was at Maranatha* playing trumpet was really my escape. For one thing, it got me out of at least part of the mandatory evening study halls. I would find a large room in the upper floor of the school building and play for hours on end. At the time I had dreams of [...]
Distance I got to contemplating the concept of “distance” yesterday. It started in a strange way. I was flipping through channels late last night and came across “Passage to India”, the E.M. Forester story. It’s not that good of a movie but it was on a hiDef channel and had [...]
One of the untold secrets of parenthood is this; solitude is gone. If you’re not dealing with your child; feeding her, caring for her, rocking her to sleep; you’re definitely thinking of her pretty much all the time. Mundane decisions now involve a different dynamic. New parents find this shocking. I know some who [...]
I tossed a poem to the sea That took with it my questions And my voice. Like a slow ship It got lost in the spray. I asked it not to return Without having seen the open sea And in dreams Telling me of its visions Even if it didn’t return I would know [...]
My First Tape Recorder I think in a way I'm lucky to have grown up in an era where a certain number of things have really changed in technology; nothing like my grandmother who saw the invention of the automobile and the airplane and many more significant advancements in her life, but still there's [...]
On Sunday I was walking along the familiar strip of beach at the secret place. It was a beautiful, verdant day with so much promise of Spring. I was doing the usual - scoping for sea glass. The tide was high so there was very little beach which usually means that you’ll find a [...]
I was moving some books around on my shelves tonight and dropped one. I remembered that scene in “Next Stop Wonderland” where the book shop owner advises the woman to read something out of a book she drops. Well this was a little book I’ve never read. It’s by Anna Quindlen, who has written [...]
I was cleaning out these old music magazines from the studio and I came across this ancient interview with Coleman Hawkins, widely considered one of the greatest jazz players ever. The interview is reprinted here from the late ’40s. I noticed whenever I had read this the first time (must have been like when [...]