This is the twelfth installment in our “Conversations with Death” sub-series. Introduction My spouse had cancer 14 years ago. She’s fully recovered. I’m still not sure I am. When I think back over the complex set of interests and experiences … Continue reading →
We break at times from our regular fare of murder ballads for songs that confront mortality in other ways. Today’s discussion is the next installment in our “Conversations with Death” series. Special thanks to David Travis for his pictures in … Continue reading →
“I am here when the cities are gone. I am here before the cities come. I nourished the lonely men on horses. I will keep the laughing men who ride iron. I am dust of men.” — from “Prairie” by … Continue reading →
“When he was on, no one could auto-desecrate better. ‘He who is not busy being born is busy dying,’ he famously intoned in “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” and way before the aphorism became worthy of inclusion in Bartlett’s … Continue reading →
“I would think that a movement without music would crumble. Music picks up people’s spirits. Anytime you can get something that lifts your spirits and also speaks to the reality of your life, even the reality of oppression, and at … Continue reading →
“I feel the shadows now upon me…” I remember driving to Mt. Greylock with Pat one time, telling him about a singer I had just discovered. I said she had the kind of voice I’d like to hear on my … Continue reading →
“Sometimes you wake with the feeling tone of a dream. You stay with it. There’s something there for you if you keep listening. It’s a good idea to let your dream and waking world co-exist. From the dream you get … Continue reading →
Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan StevensI first fell in love with Sufjan Stevens’ music in 2004; I was fifteen and a friend put “Romulus” on a mix cd. In the song, a young boy, growing up in Romulus, Michigan, tells … Continue reading →
Our darling wandered far away… I had an odd reaction to that recent video of the rescue of a toddler running alone down the middle of a busy Highway 101 in Oregon. A old, favorite song popped into my head … Continue reading →
A Sharp Turn A girl. A daughter, a sister, a lover. A prostitute. Ruby lips. Thin, delicate, pretty. Big feet. A fat girl. A clutz, a clod, a chub. A drunk girl. Drowned, lost, forgotten, betrayed. A dead girl. A … Continue reading →
