I drove south with a guitar,three shirts,two boxes of CDs,a half-eaten appleand the dangerous intentionof playing music. At the bordera man in a uniform asked, Purpose of your visit? Music, […]

I tune the guitar before every show. Then again after the second song. Sometimes after the first. It has become part of the evening, almost as dependable as introducing the […]

At first it was only one note, a familiar keythat seemed to have movedduring the night. He blamed the piano. Then the humidity. Then his glasses. Then the audience. Then, […]

There are concertsno audienceever sees. The morningyou manageone page. The afternoonyou stopbefore forcing it. The eveningyou deciderestis not surrender. I used to thinkpracticemeant repeatinguntil mastery. Nowit sometimes meansreturning tomorrow. The […]

They told methere would be empty chairs. I believed them.Empty chairs always honest companions.They never ask for encores.They never wait by the merch tablepretending not to look. I rehearsedfor absence. […]

Musicians spend yearstrying to soundlike themselves. Actors spend yearslearningto disappear. Some crywithout grief. Some laughwhile mourning. Some kisspeoplethey would neverinvite to dinner. The audiencecalls this talent. Lifecalls it Tuesday.

Lyrics rarely arrivewearing a tuxedo. They shuffle inmissing a shoe,carrying somebody else’s umbrella,insisting they belongin the second verse. Usually the first lineis wrong. The second pretends to understandthe first. The […]

The suitcase weighs less now.I learned what not to bring.The unnecessary shoes. The hardcover book.The certainty that applausewill repair what aches. Highways unroll their grey ribbon.Hotel keys demagnetize.Soundchecks occurin rooms […]