Listening again to LA Woman — Of course I was aware of The Doors in 1967. Who of that time wouldn’t have been since “Light My Fire” spread everywhere? Even in Birmingham, Alabama, where they burned Beatles’ records, a song about igniting sexual craving couldn’t be denied. …

New York before and after… — Heat to Boil “It was also clear…in 1988 that the political process had already become perilously remote from the electorate it was meant to represent…It was also clear in 1988 that the rhetorical manipulation of resentment and anger designed to attract these target voters had reduced the nation’s political dialogue…

And our rights — Two weeks before Christmas, 1983. I’m home from grad school, sound asleep, my parents both at work, and the phone rings: “Hullo.” “Terry, it’s….I’m pregnant, and I need some money for an abortion.” “Oh. Sure. How much is it?” “$250.” “I’ll go to my bank this morning and wire it…

How to Chase your dog without really trying — My mother referred to our dog Donald as a “rogue,” meaning that in every season, but especially in the summertime, he liked to go tearing through the neighborhood searching for gold. Or for what passes for gold to a dog: house welcome mats; new, slightly used, or weatherbeaten garden hosepipes…

Here on The Riff and around every corner in your neighborhood — I remember a trip I took to Tuscaloosa while I was in high school. Likely a High School Glee Cub experience, my best friends and I had a couple of hours to idle around — and why our choirmaster thought THIS was a good idea, who knows? — and rather…

Which is what he meant when he said… — It wasn’t even his fault, my academic advisor Paul, because I’m the one who had this bad idea. The idea to go out clubbing; the idea that I should go with him, and that he should do all the driving. I would love to keep this story from dripping with…

All apologies to Phillip K. Dick — First, I might have changed my name, but that wasn’t my choice. I didn’t encounter Mr. Dick’s work until I saw Blade Runner back in the Reagan era — that time when sheep were sheep and former cowboys were glad of it. …

Finally complete — With completion comes the internal sighs of accomplishment. Something else checked off a list that no one other than me even knows about. And the strange thing with these last few years is how quickly records have been released and have somehow aged six or seven years. I also understand…

of my desert island books — Janice Harayda issued a challenge yesterday that I should have seen coming: 7 Books I’d Take To A Desert Island What’s on your list? Post it with the tag Desert Island Booksjaniceharayda.medium.com I’m thankful that she set the bar at seven, though as I formulate my response, I’m betting that I’ll end up cursing that number in the end. I’m the kid who had much rather stayed at home to…