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Posts published in “Essays”

Hearth & Home

I wish I hadn’t been so young when my mother died. Like many Baby Boomers, I was so wrapped up in outside things, the day-to-dayness of working fulltime, trying (and often failing) to keep up…

The Agile And The Aged: Paris Comes To Berlin Musikfest

Midway through its near non-stop, culture-packed calendar running from August 30th to September 24th, the Berlin Musikfest last weekend brought two French symphony orchestras to the German capital’s famed concert hall, the Philharmonie. On Friday,…

Murky Weather For Burning Man 2025

Mother Nature is tampering with the spirit of Burning Man campers. Really…the voice of experience here. The year 2023 was “Mudman” not Burning Man, but when one of the events goals is Radical Self Reliance…

Salonen & The Swans

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…

Ukiah, America’s Mystery Spot

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…

Headbanger

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…

Vinyl Afterlives: Lots O’Liszt

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…

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