Archive for May, 2009
Just in time for Bob Dylan’s birthday ( OK, a few days late — his 68th birthday was May 24th), I’ll note that at this very moment the public library in Toms River, N.J., at the most southern end of the Jersey Shore, is hosting a talk by none other than Suze Rotolo — yes, [...]
Filed under: Bob Dylan, books, Dylan, Music, New York City, Three chords and the truth | Leave a Comment
Check out the links in my Friends list and you’ll find a new addition: a blog called SilverLining, with essays and photos by Mary McAvoy. Here’s one of her photos (the flowers are bluets): And here’s a link to a recent post inspired by Joni Mitchell’s song “The Circle Game,” titled “Spring Comes A-Round.” After [...]
Filed under: Nature, writing | Leave a Comment
Where bluebirds fly…
Further proof that I’m out of touch with what’s truly important: I’d never heard of Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole until I received an email containing links to four different version’s of “Over the Rainbow,” including this beautiful one by “Iz.” Here’s the video: Such an amazing voice! The singer died in 1997 but his music remains [...]
Filed under: Music | 1 Comment
Tags: "Iz", "Over the Rainbow", Hawaii, Hawaiian music, Kamakawilwo'ole
The cultivation of grapes
You ask when I’m going to get around to writing about my visit to Concord. You would think, when I finally did get around to it, that I’d write about visiting the graves of Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne and Louisa May and all the other Alcotts, all of whom sleep their endless sleep within the green [...]
Filed under: books, Nature, Non-fiction, Robert Pinsky, Travels, writing | 2 Comments
Tags: Alcotts, Colonial Inn, Concord, Concord grapes, downtown Concord, Emerson, Ephraim Wales Bull, grape arbors, grape vines, grapes, Hawthorne, Louise May Alcott, love, Mass., Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Thoreau, transcendentalism, Walden, Walden Pond wildlife
“It’s our karma…”
I wrote recently about the poet and editor William Packard, and the acts of kindness he extended to me when I was a young man, just out of college, trying to pay the rent by writing and reading poetry — which led to episodes such as the one, which I described in my previous essay, [...]
Filed under: Book talk, books, New York City, Poetry, writing | 1 Comment
Tags: literary magazines, New York Quarterly, Poetry, William Packard
On the road
The soundtrack wasn’t the late-night bop sounds of Symphony Sid and I wasn’t driving with one hand while my other hand typed my spontaneous beatific scroll. I was listening to Bob Dylan’s newest album on my stereo and I had one hand on the wheel and my Mapquest directions in the other — but I [...]
Filed under: Bob Dylan, Book talk, Delaware Valley Poetry Festival, Music, newspapers, Poetry, Robert Lax, Robert Pinsky, Travels, writing | Leave a Comment
Tags: Delaware Valley Poetry Festival, Dylan, Kerouac, Lowell, Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Poetry, Robert Lax, Robert Pinsky
