I had come from the State Library on my bike, a long-term rental courtesy of an excellent and cheap Dutch company called Swapfiets with outlets in many European cities. I’d just pedaled down Unter den…
Posts published in “Essays”
We were at Todd Grove Park and he was explaining where the old Chevy pickup truck with a For Sale sign was parked. “You take Dora here,” he said, pointing east down Grove Street, “and…
Once weekly, sometimes twice, I have breakfast at a cheap restaurant. Always it’s alone, always the same restaurant, and I’m poor so always I second guess the expense. It’s splendid, though, starting a day with…
Claudio Abbado was conducting Mussorgsky right next to the Dave Brubeck Quintet. The collision made crazy, coincidental sense, a compelling mash-up: Taking Five on Bald Mountain. Nearby, Elly Ameling sang Bach while leaning on a…
In the summer of 1966 my father (who was then General Manager of the Danish Creamery Co-op in Fresno) asked me if I wanted to fill in for a couple of weeks while one of…
So my old pal Jimmy Eldridge, living alone and already at fair remove from the best of health, went ahead and fell down enough times to frighten his kids. They moved him to an old…
I’ve sung this song but I’ll sing it again, about George Meany, President of the AFL-CIO, accepting Richard Nixon’s invitation to a party at the White House instead of leading a march of union members.…