Friday evening. It’s sweltering out. My apartment is a sauna. I should be practicing but all I feel like doing is lying in front of the fan and watching Netflix. At the very least, I should be writing. Yeah, I know, I’m writing now. What I mean to say is that I should be writing something inspired. But at present, this is all I’ve got: She wanted to feel dizzy in his presence. She wanted explosions, shooting stars and hyperventilation. She craved the experience of…
It’s actually the “Caribbean Seasoned Roast Beef Torta Sandwich"– a monster of a feed with a whopping 10 ounces of beef on a ginormous bun, topped with a garden of cilantro and enough jalapeño peppers to kick you from here to Texas and back. It’s the ultimate gastronomic bliss-out for meat eaters. And oh yeah, I’m a vegetarian of over 20 years now. Did I ever think I’d be writing about a roast beef sandwich on my blog? Er, no. So why am…
I recently sat down and wrote a letter to my muse, kindly asking her to please return. At some point in the spring, she wandered off. It seems I wasn’t paying enough attention to her. My mind was so engrossed in just trying to survive the last few months of my teaching gig that I didn’t notice she was gone right away. That is, until I needed her. It took a little work to coax her back. She rightly wanted to know, “What’s in it…
"Our Creative Lives" is a new blog series dedicated to the examination of the creative experience. Throughout my own evolution as a writer and a vocalist, I’ve often been curious about how other artists think and feel about what they do. I am interested in everything from the inner workings of the creative psyche to the day-to-day challenges of working our craft, whatever it may be. Each month, I’ll throw out a topic, put in my two cents to get the ball rolling and then…
Every now and then, I come across a piece of writing or a musical recording that settles a little more deeply into my psyche than most. It floats dreamily along with me and ultimately inspires me to think bigger. “Tattooed By Passion: Music Inspired By the Paintings of Dale Chisman”, the new CD from Seattle jazz drummer Matt Jorgensen, is such a work. Dale Chisman was a Denver native and received his MFA from the University of Colorado. He worked in New York City for…
I’m depleted. I’m talking about that all-consuming exhaustion that creeps into the bones on a cellular level, sucks the very life out of a person and basically renders her brain dead. My body is running on empty at present and even the smallest exertion of energy feels hopelessly cumbersome. If I stop for even a second, I risk stalling out completely. Worse, my mental faculties are completely dulled and foggy. Some kind of base, reptilian autopilot is running the show. It’s a wonder that I’m…
