aging professor
She could emphasize rules, convert curiosity into paperwork, stamp it approved or denied like a bored customs officer. She could tighten the boundaries, turn the room into a padded cell […]
Playing an F Bob
Near the end of Robert Priest’s show, I get waved onstage to sit in. Bob Cohen starts flashing chord shapes at me helpful like hand puppetry. I say, “No thanks, […]
the reflection
The threat was never spoken aloud. No one challenged her directly. No one told her she had reached the end of something. It arrived the way weather does, without announcement. […]
stepping on the gas
Before music was written down and locked in filing cabinets, it lived in the body. It came out of throats, hands, kitchens, bars, wherever people were trying to survive. Before […]
feeling notation
Reading notation is a gift. It gives you access to work you would never otherwise touch, to a language you can share with strangers. Like being handed a set of […]
trust it
For some musicians I’ve known, the page becomes the authority figure.It tells you what is correct. It tells you when you’re wrong. It tells you when to stop. Over time […]
what a long strange trip it’s been
The high school performance was like that Dead song – what a long strange trip it’s been. I sat there listening to them grind through songs from the ancient record, […]
robert lepage
The notes I got back about my book were interesting. I am starting to think there is a possibility I could intrigue a filmmaker. Robert Lepage! Why don’t you make […]
best email ever
My favourite moment organizing 30 dates Mike and I are doing in Western Canada next winter, came from Lorna Evans. I have had terrific exchanges with her but the first […]
montreal
Playing La Sala Rossa was a high-water moment. The place I’d been aiming for, for years. In memory it had grown monstrous, twice the size, maybe more. Memory does that. […]