I’m enjoying a week between before and after, lots of dog time, music, reading, and writing. Aside from discovering that the dogs pulled apart some of the ductwork under the house1WTF, it’s only money., it has been a lovely way to spend time before I surrender to the cruel intentions of a cabal of mad […]
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I’m nearly done with my second read through of Alan Moore’s epic 2018 novel Jerusalem. At 1262 pages, reading this book once is quite the commitment. Reading it a second time (while also listening to the audio version, brilliantly delivered by Simon Vance) is most likely a sign of some sort of obsessive disorder. And […]
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Muddy sez it’s gonna be alright. When last we met, an unexpected recurrence of lymphoma in my neck derailed plans for a stem cell transplant, which is really the only viable option I have for any kind of long term remission. No sure thing, to be sure, but in this situation you gotta grab the […]
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In yet another turn of fate, the game board has been flung skyward. I spent the first part of the week at the hospital getting tested for my fitness to endure an autologous stem cell transplant. The good news is that I am a picture of health, passed all my tests with flying colors. The […]
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Life since the last update has been fairly routine, if by routine one means a seemingly endless succession of inpatient chemo sessions punctuated by deep exhaustion, malaise, and occasional mild bouts of tummy tumult. The last round of standard chemo left me pretty well flattened, a piece of unidentifiable road kill sprawled on the sofa, […]
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Or maybe I’m a dog that lost his bite. The first six weeks of chemo were relatively uninteresting. Fatigued, but not hammered in the fashion all those movies of the week and after school specials had me expecting. I thought I was special, that rare creature immune to the horrors. Everything would work exactly as […]
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Dear Bill, Your wife introduced us a few weeks ago, just after the Bill Frisell Harmony performance at the Big Ears Festival. I had just finished sobbing over the “We Shall Overcome” arrangement, so not at my most composed. I tried to express a sliver of what your work has meant to me, but it […]
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From the moment Big Ears announced their grand themes for 2019 – anniversary celebrations for the Art Ensemble of Chicago and ECM Records – it was clear that this year’s hullabaloo would occasion extended reflection on my not-yet-long-enough life of digging into music. Add in my approaching 60th and the 35th anniversary of my betrothal […]
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Springtime in Tallahassee offers a glut of high-caliber creative offerings that puts our little town, if only for a few weeks, on equal footing with the most celebrated cultural capitals. This weekend (April 12-14) , the Word of South Festival hosts its annual takeover of Cascades Park with a terrific lineup of music and literary […]
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I promised daily posts from the Big Ears hoolie. I failed. I promised an all-encompassing roundup that connects the dots between Africa, Appalachia, jazz, and the Euro-derived sonic explorations of the likes of Lucier, Budd, &c. I failed. Mea culpa. I apologize for not getting back to you sooner, but I’ve been busy having cancer.1I […]
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