I had a good night’s sleep, but I woke up early and couldn’t get back there–so I got up. I saw my son off to school, I was on the meditation cushion by 8:15, and after that I made myself a pretty decent breakfast. And no, I am not suddenly since yesterday a “single” man,Continue reading “On the Eighth Day of 2024: Mastering My Singles, Listening”
Tag Archives: music
On the Sixth Day of 2024: The Creative Impulse, or What the Hell Am I Doing?
I must say that the sixth day of 2024 has been a rough one. I slept in a little bit longer than I usually do, then, diverging from my usual practice of hitting the cushion before doing anything electronically, other than calling up my meditation timer, I read a text message. Needless to say, myContinue reading “On the Sixth Day of 2024: The Creative Impulse, or What the Hell Am I Doing?”
#457: Let’s have more buildings about songs and food . . .
The first line of today’s sonnet is an allusion to the title of the second album by Talking Heads, 1978’s More Songs About Buildings and Food. I think it’s one of the finest album titles in rock history, but you’ll notice that I’ve spun the thing a little bit. I was thinking about how architectureContinue reading “#457: Let’s have more buildings about songs and food . . .”
The Book I Read: I Got the Music in Me–Talking Heads 77 and Annie Kim’s Award Winning Eros, Unbroken
Listen to the podcast version of this blog entry! I’m writing ’bout the book I read I have to sing about the book I read I’m embarassed to admit it hit the soft spot in my heart When I found out you wrote the book I read David Byrne, from “The Book I Read,” TalkingContinue reading “The Book I Read: I Got the Music in Me–Talking Heads 77 and Annie Kim’s Award Winning Eros, Unbroken”
To Be a Life-Long Listener
In education we often bandy about one of our most sincere hopes for our students and aspirations for ourselves, to be life-long learners. I’m a huge fan of this concept. I never want to be complacent about my learning, about expanding the horizons of my brainiac: I want to read new things, write new things,Continue reading “To Be a Life-Long Listener”
Educational Music Shopping: Why Did These Artists Win Grammys?
Okay, I know exactly why the Laurie Anderson/Kronos Quartet record won a Grammy: because it is awesome. But I wondered about the other winners, the ones that, of course, I had heard of (you’d have to be living under a rock not to have heard of them), but had never listened to. So, at MusicContinue reading “Educational Music Shopping: Why Did These Artists Win Grammys?”
#272: Let There Be Rock
In the beginning Back in nineteen fifty-five Man didn’t know about a rock ‘n’ roll show And all that jive The white man had the schmaltz The black man had the blues No one knew what they was gonna do But Tchaikovsky had the news He said Let there be sound There was sound LetContinue reading “#272: Let There Be Rock”
Notes Toward a Musical Autobiography: Volume IV, Letter C
Welcome to Volume IV of my crazy project of listening to a single compact disc from start to finish from each musical artist represented in my neglected cd collection and then writing about it in a blog post. Wow, that was a mouthful. The B section was bountiful; it took two volumes of blog and manyContinue reading “Notes Toward a Musical Autobiography: Volume IV, Letter C”
#159: Listening, Drinking, Watching
(a landay/ghazal hybrid) Last night–I stay up late listening: new records spin in the dark and there’s bourbon to sip. A police car pulls in across the street, lights ablaze, I leave my headphones on and watch. I cannot tell what is happening but there is no indication of violence here so I continue listening, watching as theContinue reading “#159: Listening, Drinking, Watching”
Notes Toward A Musical Autobiography: Volume II, Letter B
Herein you’ll find volume two of a written record of the experience of attempting to listen to at least one compact disc from every artist represented in my collection. I think I’m crazy and I don’t know how long I can maintain or persist in this folly. I managed in two weeks and aboutContinue reading “Notes Toward A Musical Autobiography: Volume II, Letter B”