A Mighty Wind, and Greenwich Village

Origins and origin stories are important. They act as baselines for where you came from, where you went, and have ongoing implications on your directions going forward ( I almost wrote direction home). I've dissected my origins on the blog regularly. But there are inflection points in most stories that seem more important than others. …

Romancing On The Road?

There is a lot of romanticizing about being on the road. And Jack Kerouac's book On the Road is responsible for lots of it. The Romance of the Road? You bet. Having been on the road myself for several years, I found familiar passages and events in it that I found reflected in my own …

The Kitchen Concert Hall!

Four people sitting around a wooden table playing acoustic guitars in a cozy kitchen

The concert hall was usually someone's kitchen. I guess you can figure out why. Someone would be baking cookies, or the pot of stew would be on, and five or so of us would be doing a round robin of songs. There would be a sprinkling of whoever was in town, some folks from the …

No Risk? No Reward

Teenage guitarist plays electric guitar on stage with amazed crowd around him

I was fourteen, and the taunting words of my friend lingered in my ears, "No risk, no reward." He had meant it as a joke. But Bart would not get on stage himself, even though he was a very advanced classical guitar player. I had only been playing for a bit over a year. I …

Deja Vue, All Over Again- or the Pius Itinerant spills the beans

Daily writing promptWhich aspects do you think makes a person unique?View all responses On the road as a Pius Itinerant, being unique was a survival trait. Different styles of survival for ever-changing environments. I had a knack for finding short-term jobs in strange places and making local contacts rapidly. My frequent travel buddy Bill ( …

The Folkie Apocalypse -The Mighty Wind Actually happened!

"Be aware, traveler, you'll never pass this way again." 

D-Ring Greasy Calfskin Engineer Boots!

The boots were greasy calfskin, d-ring engineer boots out of a second-hand clothes store in Lower Manhattan.

Be Aware!

I understood from my father and uncle that in the nineteen thirties and forties roadside signs competed to lure you off the high road and to interesting attractions. But my time on the road was fairly standard fare - Turnersville - 10 miles, an arrow, and in small print underneath, " Home of Cecil P. …

How to be obscene, and influence people

Let's face it, punctuation, delivery, facial expression, and body language have lots more to do with obscenity than four mere Anglo-Saxon-derived letters. If I gesture at you, sneer, cackle, and call you an infructescence carbuncle, you won't even think to puzzle out what I said. You'll be out the gate, ready for Freddy, and swinging. …

Probability Zero

We huddled in a patch of woods about a hundred yards from the cemetery. From where we crouched, we could see the police car's searchlight and the sounds of the night watchman walking by the stonewall.