Third wheel spiel
I’ll call them Dan and Donna. They were a married couple and I was their third wheel for a time. A lot of people find themselves in the position of … Continue reading
Stung
Not long ago, a news correspondent asked a Democratic voter what he felt after a few weeks of the Trump presidency. He gave a one-word answer: “Despair.” I hear that. … Continue reading
Traffic jams
Something led me to go back and listen to old albums by the group, Traffic. Holy crap, does this stuff hold up. Right now I have “The Low Spark of … Continue reading
Listening tour de force
I’ve been reading a book by Ben Ratliff, former jazz critic of the Times, about how to listen to music. It’s called Every Song Ever: Twenty Ways to Listen in … Continue reading
Whack in the USSR, part II
The next evening was New Years Eve, and our lovely guide, Amabelle, walked my destitute group through an old part of Moscow that looked like it hadn’t changed much since … Continue reading
Whack in the USSR, part I
All this talk of Russia, and I tumble into memories of my one trip there was I was twenty. I’d learned of a cut-rate tour from London underwritten by the … Continue reading
Things Trump has done since last Wednesday
The more frustrated he gets, the more cuckoo things he does. Here’s what Tiny Hands has done just since February 15th: ・Communicated with Russian intelligence (via aides) during the 2016 … Continue reading
James Baldwin speaks
I had to post this as soon as I finished listening to the great James Baldwin in his 1965 Cambridge Union debate with the irritable William F. Buckley. Watch JB … Continue reading
The fightin’ Vorticists!
Somehow I got picked to be on the team of Percy Wyndham Lewis, trailblazing artist and editor of BLAST. I learned very quickly that Percy didn’t like to be called … Continue reading
I found this for you
The rainy season is lasting too long here in Northern California. I thought I’d try to put a positive spin on it (as the rain comes down in buckets this … Continue reading
