Up & Down

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

small bits

Dear Little Pieces,

Today your song is called Fragment II; and it's what they call a musical project, which is kind of nowspeak for what we might once have called a 'band.' 

I have been thinking about my own musical projects, in a kind of fantasy baseball way.  Here is a rundown of the projects I have been working on, albeit wishfully, and only in my imagination.

I have been playing cowbell for Exene Cervenka now for about a decade, and later this year, we will head out on tour, opening for Laurie Anderson.  I have been co-writing a song with Jonathan Richman; it will come out sometime next year.  In January, I will play keyboards in a project with Y La Bamba, and do some vocals too, on a filmscore for a new John Sayles movie.  For the holidays, I am doing a duet with Elvis Costello; we will be singing Greg Lake's I Believe in Father Christmas.  I am also playing the buzzing fish shaped percussion thingy that I can't remember the name of, in a supergroup called Torch and Twang- we cover Kraftwork songs, and we are really killing it with the Sylvan Esso fans.

Dear You,

I am tired of trying to be polite about this, and actually, it might have been kinder if I had told you how I felt from the beginning.  I wanted you to accept me, to like me, to hear me.  I regret my lack of confidence more than anything.  I know you won't let me down, and I should never have doubted you.

It's a life and death matter now, and everyone now knows it, so, I need you to be honest about this, I need you to say something out loud, I need you to act on it.  I need you to mourn our luxurious lives.  I need you to sacrifice for beings less fortunate than you.  I need you to voluntarily use less of what you currently use, and I need you to come out on Friday and stand around the gazebo in the park with me:  Global Climate Strike

See you there, my humans! 

Now sky.

Dear Everyone,

I am so often amazed at the beauty we are offered from the sky.  Today there is this amazing texture and coloring in the sky.  It's a sky that demands setting out some chairs, and silently watching this vaporous spectacle together.  Join me!

Story & Song

Dear What's New,

A wonderful woman I know showed me this great Story Corps film, and so, of course, I wanted to hear Lavender Country, and you will want to too.

Wait for me.

Dear Waiting,

Today on Radio Dodo Anaïs Mitchell's Wait for Me.  Her folk opera, Hadestown is on Broadway now, if you happen to be out that way.

If you are staying put, have another version, and this one, too.

A little.

Dear Look & Listen,

One song, one picture. 

That's all!