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CHANGING TIMES IN SEPTEMBER

Changing times are one thing: Fall back, or spring forward. Okay, two things. But the month of September is my big change month since first grade and every grade after. For everything:

NEW EXPECTATIONS? HOPE ISN’T ENOUGH?

Who says we need new expectations? Every baby boomer on the planet, if they’ve got any awareness. Who else? Every millennial on the planet. They don’t get off so easy. First the old people:

THUNDER ROAD ON NW LOVEJOY, PORTLAND

Thunder Road is a map of the love/hate relationship I’ve felt for Bruce Springsteen since 1975. I love that Bruuuuuce has persevered beyond all expectations. I hate the decision I made when Mary Anne in the Philadelphia clinic invited me along with her friends to see the local phenom across the river in New Jersey. […]

JOHN PRINE: WORDS FOR ASMR CALM

I heard of John Prine in 1972. This is his first album cover. He’s a guy sitting on a hay bale like it was just another day. Then he became the Mark Twain of songwriters.

LEGACY BOOMERS LEARN TO TELL TIME AND TURN BACK CLOCK

Legacy boomers showed up early. They were the first wave of kids when Johnny marched home after WWII. Families started between 1946-1952 produced future hippies and draft dodgers and leaders. Those are the people referred to when millennials drag baby boomers with “Ok Boomer.” So the rest of us get a pass? Uh, no. And […]

MY STILL LIFE WATERCOLOR

It’s a still life watercolorOf a now-late afternoonAs the sun shines through the curtained laceAnd shadows wash the room Every time I walk out the front door I hear water falling. Instead of running to find the source, I remember it’s a yard fountain. I’ve grown so accustomed to the sound that the silence left […]

GUITAR SEARCH NEVER ENDS, BUT IF IT DID …

Every guitar search starts in the same place: sound. How does it sound the first time played? In different rooms? What’s it sound like when you thump the flat top? What does it feel like in your hands from fret to pick? Look until you can’t look anymore, or just get the same guitar Bruce […]

FOREVER YOUNG LASTS FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS

A song like Forever Young is a nice thing until something sears it right into your brain instead of bouncing off your ear, turning the dial, and moving on. Forever Young is such a song for millions. It’s the song for every parent who has seen their kid move from stage to stage, from rolling […]

Dylan Song For 2018 Mid-Term Elections

Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don’t stand in the doorway Don’t block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There’s a battle outside And it is ragin’. It’ll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin’.  

Bob Dylan Time Shift From Second Gear To Overdrive

    Like so many today, I also feel change in the wind, and like any baby boomer worthy of the tag, I consult the only text reliable enough to lay it all out in understandable language.   No, not the Bible, or any religious narratives.   I turn to Bob Dylan, and so should […]