Halfway through making his record, Marlon developed carpal tunnel. He blamed the piano, then the computer, then age, then the piano again. His wrist hurt when he played octaves. Occasionally […]

I worked a few years ago with a musician who was shitty to work with, mostly because he lied. Not enormous lies. Just the kind that slowly makes working with […]

Sandy who owned the Peter Pan died, which is a rotten trick even for Peter Pan, a place whose very name suggested nobody was supposed to get any older in […]

Dave Davies isn’t waving a little progressive-rock flag saying, “Look everybody, I’m in five.” The basic pulse can be heard as five beats to the bar, often felt less as […]

Kurt Vonnegut loved musicbecause it had the decencynot to explain itself. Nobody askswhat position it takeson capitalism. The drummer hits the snare. A trumpet plays B-flat. So it goes. Vonnegut […]

Judee Sill put Jesusin the passenger seat beside desire, heroin, Bach,and whoever hadn’t called back. No seatbelts. Her chords kept opening doorsbehind other doors, a hymn becamea love song, the […]

They sat in silence in the patient lounge of the same optometrist. Then over the little speakers the Steely Dan song Reelin’ in the Years played and after the famous […]

The piano did not become easier. It became stranger. For yearsI thought itcontained eighty-eight keys. LaterI discoveredit also containedhesitation,childhood,arthritis,three broken romances,an argument with Chick Corea,and whatever it isthat keeps arrivingat […]

Touring had trained her badly. Late-night diners after shows. Gas station sandwiches at midnight. Hotel loneliness disguised as dessert. Years earlier the body absorbed these decisions with cheerful youth. Now […]

They begin as small trespassesa voice leaning closer than speech,a chord that admits what the mouth won’t.Love songs promise forever in borrowed light,folding ordinary days into something luminous,teaching the heart […]