"Cyrano is one of the most romantic movies ever made, but it’s not quite a traditional love story in that nobody really finds true love in it. It’s all evasion, heartache, yearning. This is the romance of hidden thoughts and desires, of urges barely spoken (but often unabashedly sung), of a sweet pain we all secretly... Continue Reading →
Darlene Conner, I'm calling you my Valentine because it's nearly February 14 and you're hella important to me. But I never had a crush on you; I just identified with you deeply (as, I'm sure, did scores of mold-breaking, sarcastic-but-vulnerable, masculine-energied young girls in the 1990s). Some of us were paying closer attention than others.... Continue Reading →
I've made substantial strides on the next full-length, which is a concept album, if only loosely. It is typical of me, though, after leaping forward, to reflect a bit. At the moment my retrospection is fixed on the piece of music I'm most proud of from my last album. It's actually part five of five... Continue Reading →
Joan Didion. I don't know how it's possible that I don't know more about you, because every time I see part of something you've written, it slaps me around some in a way I find welcoming. It must have been a combination of rebellion and exhaustion: too many assignments, too many unwanted recommendations and feelings... Continue Reading →
I was never a Sex and the City fan. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen more than two full episodes, and those were at other people’s homes. Aside from a host of other cultural criticisms I no doubt would have agreed with at the time, I was too much of four R-words I just coughed... Continue Reading →
Steeped in classic poetry, teenage me automatically wrote about everyday things in high-flung terms. It was the language that felt most available and came most naturally. It never occurred to me NOT to display naked longing, but my indulgences were confined to my imagination or written in controlled forms, which felt safe and dignified. I... Continue Reading →
My holiday project last year was a cover of a song from a seasonal musical that meant a lot to me as a kid. I am really pleased with how that one turned out. I didn’t have any particular ideas for this year… that is, until this past weekend, when a notion started to take... Continue Reading →
I started writing music at around age 12. Inspired by Suzanne Ciani and, yes, the man himself, Yanni (we watched a LOT of PBS music programming), much of my early output were instrumentals. Given these formative influences, my compositions of the time were rather new-agey; but upon revisiting I found a few parts to be... Continue Reading →
A couple years ago I bought a vintage trunk and stored some old accomplishments away in it. I dragged it out today and went through a thick pile of papers from college and grad school. I had saved surviving things from those days indiscriminately. But as I leafed through them today, it seemed clear to... Continue Reading →
Since the last substantial update, my first serious boss who gave me a start in my field almost 15 years ago has unexpectedly left the company; another close colleague retired earlier than planned; and the sign out in front of our old operations center building has been removed. I was too late to get a... Continue Reading →
The Sold Kingdom 