Of Loss, and Moving on: Thoughts on The West Wing
Most of the great stories ever told involve, on some level, dealing with loss. Hell, most of the pretty good ones, too. It’s an essential part of the human experience: how does l
Sparks
I can’t begin to speculate on when or where the first book-signing in history was held, but I’d bet the house that someone in the audience asked—maybe in Latin or Aramaic—s
The Bookshelf Diaries (An Occasional Series): Carole King, Scott Turow, Greg Kihn
“Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” “Chains.” “The Loco-Motion.” “I’m into Something Good.” “Crying In the Rain.” “I Feel the Earth Move.” And of course: “(You
Synchronicity
It began, as it often does, on a walk. Walks just before lunch have become a part of my weekday routine recently, offering not just a touch of exercise, but a chance to clear my he
The Bookshelf Diaries (An Occasional Series): Rachman, King, Hill
This one didn’t come easy, in part because it doesn’t hew to our normal format of four discrete book reviews. Instead it only covers three, and two of them are closely related
The Power of Story
There’s something you should really know before getting in a car with me: if classic rock is playing, you’d best prepare yourself for an unsolicited history lesson at some poin
Dancing About Architecture
“Writing about music,” Elvis Costello once famously said, “is like dancing about architecture.” His point being, don’t review my work, because you’re wasting your t
The Bookshelf Diaries (an occasional series): Fountain, Sedaris, Connelly, Caillat
After a recent outing to Bookshop Santa Cruz, the stack of books at my bedside grew to resemble Jack’s beanstalk. There is only one solution to this problem: read, man, read. On
The Person Who Gets It
My friend Mark Doyon of Wampus Multimedia wears many hats: writer, publisher, producer, singer-songwriter, record label head, marketing communications guru. Lately I’ve taken to
Tribe
Humans are tribal by nature. Our first tribe is our immediate family; from there, our tribes spread out in overlapping circles of connection and mutual interest: extended family, f