My son Edward, a composer, sent me a cryptic note: Great article about two of my favorite things…. music and Vin Scully. The article is about the Dodgers’ legendary announcer. Professors at USC’s music school studied why Scully’s lines were so memorable, why so many people remember them verbatim. I’ll hope you watch the video …
When a luthier is making the top of an acoustic guitar, he or she is faced with a delicate balancing act: the spruce used for good tops is thin, 1/8” or less. And the tone of the instrument depends on putting enormous tension on this fragile sheet. The top needs support, but too much support …
Yes, I know it doesn’t sound like writing. But it is. Music, that is. And my son Edward, not me. See a first review from the Berlin festival. Edward Rogers and Tony Morales wrote the music for this Netflix original by the creators of the enormously successful Damages. Am I proud? You bet.
I was privileged to hear jazz singer Kate McGarry interpret Show Me, the Lerner and Loewe classic from My Fair Lady. Most of my thoughts these days turn to writing, and these lyrics seem to me worth several pages explicating the admonition to Show, Don’t Tell: Don’t talk of stars Burning above; If you’re in …
Just a quick personal note that SyFy’s Warehouse 13 will finish out with a short fifth season beginning April 14th. My son Edward has written the music, and it’s been a good run. Each episode goes to a different time, different place, which made it an exciting creative platform for a composer. The theme song …
Over the last couple of years, I have been forced to learn about the difference between the drive to create and the (apparent) expectations of potential readers. Writing is writing, and the doing of it is reward in itself. It’s just that you need a saw and hammer sometimes to fit it into the genre. …
I knew it had to happen, but I figured I’d be reading Hemingway or Shakespeare, Steinbeck or Joyce when it did. I’m talking about the hit-upside-the-head feeling of being a talentless drudge. I recognized it right away, because I’ve had it more often than I care to admit as a musician, listening to other guitarists …
My Story Blues Highway was published in the May, 2013 annual Bacopa Literary Review, and I was asked to read a portion of it at the Bacopa annual meeting in Gainesville, FL. Here’s the reading: The Bacopa Review had 80+ short stories, creative non-fiction and poetry. See the Bacopa website for a copy. My whole …
I need a pick-me-up, folks. In these dark days of gun-blasted insanity, I need something to remind me of the deep current of goodwill and understanding that runs through most of our lives. Something comforting. As a child, I loved bedtime stories … didn’t we all? Maybe that’s why one place I have turned for …
I’m finding that the process of writing sometimes gets in the way of the goal of writing, which is storytelling. Language may be the most important gift from the genetic dance that formed us. It allows us to remember things and share ideas beyond tribe and lifetime. But writing is a johnny-come-lately at maybe 6,000 …
