Archive for August, 2008
Half Moon
Here’s the opening of my novel HALF MOON. Forward-thinking publishers and editors please take note of the link in my FRIENDS category to Writers House, where agent extraordinaire Michele Rubin awaits your call! CHAPTER ONE Horror on the Hudson The Hudson and the Palisades – more ancient than man – Rich in historic association – Aloof from the [...]
Filed under: Book talk, Fiction, Yonkers | 3 Comments
Moonshadows
Speaking of moons…here are some good poems about the moon: Moonlight slanting through the bamboo grove; a cuckoo crying. Basho —— THE HARVEST MOON The flame-red moon, the harvest moon, Rolls along the hills, gently bouncing, A vast balloon, Till it takes off, and sinks upward To lie on the bottom of the sky, like [...]
Filed under: Book talk, Poetry | Leave a Comment
Tags: Basho, Carl Sanburg, Carl Sandburg, Charles Baudeliare, Emily Dickinson, Li Po, poems, poems about the moon, Poetry, Ted Hughes
Here’s an article from The New York Times about the closing of Le Figaro, the beat/folk/hipster landmark coffeehouse at the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal streets in Greenwich Village: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/the-lost-village-mystique-of-le-figaro-cafe/index.html/partner/rssnyt/ Here’s a photo of the place: I spent many an idle moment — and was idle for many a spent moment — at this place, at [...]
Filed under: Bob Dylan, Music, Travels | 1 Comment
Tags: "Shaft", Bleecker Street, Folk City, Gerde's Folk City, Greenwich Village, Isaac Hayes, Kettle of Fish, Lance Hayward, Le Figaro, MacDougal Street, The Village Corner
Echo taps
This is the latest in a series of essays titled “Man Has Premonition of Own Death” I reminded a longtime friend that his father died at the place where my first child was born. The irony, of course, is evident – and the cold cruelty, too. His response: a mournful riff on his father’s death: [...]
Filed under: Man has premonition of own death, Non-fiction | Leave a Comment
Tags: death, death of parents, echo taps, taps
Burning rubber
When I was in upstate New York last week, I heard Levon Helm and his entourage perform “This Wheel’s on Fire,” the Basement Tapes song written by none other than Helm’s late. lamented Bandmate Rick Danko and their pal Bob Dylan, who also performed in Saratoga last week. The Dylan/Danko song includes these lines in its refrain: [...]
Filed under: Bob Dylan, Book talk, Music, Travels | Leave a Comment
Tags: "Basement Tapes", Bob Dylan, Book of Daniel, Rick Danko, This Wheel's on Fire, Wheel of fire
Wheel of fire
This is an excerpt from my novel “Gloryville.” The narrator is the novel’s protagonist, who spends his time attending the funerals of strangers. WHEEL OF FIRE By Nicholas DiGiovanni An obituary appeared in the Knickerbocker News in upstate New York. All it said was “Mr. Jacob Potter of Bedford Falls died yesterday. There will be [...]
Filed under: Fiction | Leave a Comment
Tags: Amsterdam, Fonda, Fultonville, Mohawk River, N.Y., Nicholas DiGiovanni, wheels of fire
Warnings
This is the latest in a series of essays titled “Man Has Premonition of Own Death.” Never wear new clothes to a funeral. Don’t ever count how many cars there are in a funeral procession – and don’t point at the funeral train or Death will point his bony finger next at you. If a clock’s [...]
Filed under: Man has premonition of own death, Non-fiction | Leave a Comment
Tags: death, omens, superstition
Here’s the set list from Bob Dylan’s performance on Sunday, Aug. 17, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center: Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue Rollin’ And Tumblin’ Desolation Row Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again Million Miles Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) Highway 61 [...]
Filed under: Bob Dylan, Music, Travels | 2 Comments
Tags: Bob Dylan, Conor Oberst, Dylan at Foxwoods, Dylan's tour bus, Gillian Welch, Glen Hansard, Levon Helm, Raul Malo, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Steve Earle
Ghost-hunting on Phila Street
Visited Saratoga Springs this weekend with my son. On Saturday night, we stopped by the famous Caffe Lena on Phila Street in Saratoga Springs, which I’m assuming isn’t much different than the way it was when it opened more than forty years ago — it certainly had that feel. We heard a performance by singer/guitarist Laura Vechionne. [...]
Filed under: Bob Dylan, Music, Travels | Leave a Comment
Tags: Ani DiFranco, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Caffe Lena, Christian Bauman, Dave van Ronk, Joe Alper, Laura Vechionne, Lena Spencer, Pete Seeger, Phila Street, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, Suze Rotolo, Tom Paxton, Woody Guthrie
