My Blog
A week ago today, I was riding across the rocky hills of Texas on a beautiful Appaloosa mare named Dee Dee. The sky was wide and endless. The cypress-lined vistas were peaceful. Dee Dee was a sweet and steady girl. I grew up riding horses, even competitively. Still, it had been at least 30 years since I’d been on a horse. I wondered if I’d remember what to do. But the moment I climbed into that saddle, it all came back to me. The southern…
Dedicated, with mad love always, to my fabulous E's. Mother’s Day. For such a quirky little holiday, it sure kicks up a lot of emotional dust. I'm not particularly sentimental but I've been reminiscing a bit lately. In honor of the day, here are 15 things I wish my mother had told me: 1. It’s important to take care of yourself, no matter what. You have to attend to your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs on a daily basis. Sleep. Eat clean. Breath deeply.…
Chloe is a retired sumo wrestler who lives in my head. I brought him on board about a year ago. Although he’d recently retired from professional wrestling, he was still looking for some action and I needed help. Chloe provides a security detail of sorts. I have these little thought bubbles that often evolve into full-blown characters. Once this happens, they create all kinds of trouble. Individually, they’re unhelpful misfits. But they tend to run together in an insidious group that I can the…
This post has been temporarily removed. Kate Bornstein *** Stay with us. Don’t sink to the bottom like a fish going to sleep. Be with the ocean moving steadily all night, not scattered like a rainstorm. The spring we’re looking for is somewhere in this murkiness. See the night-lights up there traveling together, the candle in its gold dish. Don’t slide into the cracks of ground like spilled mercury. When the full moon comes out, look around.…
Assholes. Every creative community has a few. They slime around the scene, inflicting varying degrees of unpleasantness and leaving an acrid aftertaste in their wake. Ugh. Assholes aren’t a particularly upbeat thing to write about; neither are cockroaches or plumbing problems. But we all encounter them from time to time, right? It’s good to think about how we might be more skilled at dealing with them. Here are six ideas: 1. Ascertain the degree of assholery you’re dealing with. Not all assholes are created equal. They…
I am super duper, uber stoked to announce the upcoming release of my new CD The Wind & the Sunshine! The Wind & the Sunshine is a 12-track mélange that features jazz renditions of KC & the Sunshine Band songs with me on tuba. Although I was not into this band during its heyday of the seventies– I was strictly a child of rock & roll–I’ve since come to appreciate the funky grooves and colorful flamboyance of this iconic group. As a tubist, I’ve enjoyed…
A few days ago, my friend Jason Parker, trumpeter, bandleader, educator and KPLU blogger, wrote a post entitled “Why Jazz Fans Shouldn’t Be So Quick to Dismiss Pop Music.” Jason is a member of a Facebook group “Jam of the Week” and wrote his post in response to negative comments that some “jazz snobs” had made about pop music. Jason makes a lot of good points. He questions the logic behind cutting oneself off from an entire genre of music. He also gives examples of…
