Music
Back To The Garden
The definitive song about a seminal event in the counterculture of the 1960s was written by someone who wasn’t even there. Joni Mitchell was supposed to be at Woodstock. She was also booked on the Dick Cavett Show the day after the festival was to end. Joni and her...
The Phil Zone
The word of Phil Lesh’s passing at the age of 84 came via a text message last Friday from an old Deadhead friend of mine in New Jersey. It was a bit of a shock as I wasn’t aware that Phil had been sick. Most of the musical heroes of my generation are in their late...
Old Friends
Q: When are 50 year old jokes the funniest? A: When they’re told among the same three friends 50 years later Of all the blessings in my life, and there are many, I count my friendship with Tim and Benji as one of the most blessed. And those 50 year old jokes? They’re...
Song In My Head
Research has shown that the most effective way to conjure up an old memory is through the sense of smell. Well, the researchers never got around to my house because for me it’s always been music. Growing up in a house where music was always playing in the...
Musical Merlins: The String Cheese Incident In Santa Cruz
I just spent the past three days dancing at the center of a swirling vortex of bliss. Tie dye, rainbows and glitter burst forth from its center and up into the air creating a vortex of its own. There were hugs and kisses and smiles, dust and sweat and joy…so much joy!...
Dicky Betts and The Allman Brothers Band
I can’t recall for sure exactly when I first heard the Allman Brothers, or who turned me on to them, all I know is their music has been part of my life for over half a century. The Allman Brothers, it seems like they’ve always been there. It was sometime in high...
The Best Job I Ever Had
On a typical day at Tower Records there was sex, there were drugs and there was most definitely rock and roll. Rock stars and movie stars were regular customers, members of the San Francisco Giants and 49ers could be spied browsing the racks. Famous bands would make...
The Marriage of Music and the Movies
Since the dawn of cinema, music and the movies have been integral to one another. Even before the advent of sound, films would be accompanied by live musicians in the theater. Back then a movie theater was a palace, the viewing of a film a shared experience in the...
Penny Lane
I have yet to fully mine the depths of my love for the music of The Beatles. Since I was six years old, The Beatles have been an integral part of my life. I was there from the beginning. My older brother Ray and I bought every Beatles record as soon as it came out....
My Next Guest Is…
The guest star is a time honored tradition in rock and roll. Whether it’s during a live performance or in the recording studio, the appearance of an unannounced guest is always a pleasant surprise. I’ve seen thousands of concerts, from intimate nightclubs to baseball...
James, Cat and Carole
I listened to Jim Croce today and America and Seals and Crofts. Harry Chapin? You betcha! England Dan and John Ford Coley? Why not? Hell, I even sat through Bread’s syrupy confection Make It With You. You know what, I loved it all! Sirius XM station #17 is...
My Main Inspirer
By now the anticipation level was pretty high. Think kid in a candy store. Think six year old at Christmas. Over the past week I’ve tried to keep my expectations in check but sitting here at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theater, the scene of so many evenings dancing to the...
Second Wind
I'm pretty damn excited to announce the release of my new album Second Wind. This is my third album of original songs. My first effort, 2007’s Lifesongs was a stripped down, all acoustic affair. I played all of the guitar parts and sang all of the vocals. In 2010 I...
In the Flow at the Hog Farm
The Hog Farm Hideaway is a three day music festival held on a bucolic ranch in southern Mendocino County, California. The following is my reflection on one particular morning there. There are moments in life when you just get into the flow. Like a slow float...
My Lomaberry Family
There’s the family that you’re born into and the family that you choose. Almost everyone has the former but only the most fortunate of us also have the latter. Like all families, there are ups and downs, joy and conflict, we try and overlook the blemishes and burnish...
A Hippie At Woodstock
The summer of 1969 was the summer of Woodstock. While the festival was unfolding at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in upstate New York I was at the Jersey Shore on our family’s annual week long vacation. I was fascinated by it all. Hundreds of thousands of young people...
A Letter To David Crosby
Dear David, Well, you’ve finally crossed over to “the other side”, wherever that is. Perhaps Guinnevere, she of the green eyes and golden hair, was waiting when you arrived. Hopefully your beloved Christine was there too. David, your music has touched me to my very...
On Demand
How amazing is Spotify? Just think, for a small monthly fee I can listen to practically any song I want whenever I want. On demand baby…what a concept. The person or persons who first conceived of online music streaming should be knighted or elevated to sainthood, or...
A Suite For Sweet Judy
Throughout Stephen Stills’ much celebrated love affair with Judy Collins I’m sure she was many things to him: talented, intelligent, beautiful and most certainly sweet. When first hearing “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” announced on the radio, one would naturally think the...
Considering Guinnevere
While listening recently to the Crosby, Stills and Nash version of David Crosby’s “Guinnevere” I had a bit of a vision. Here’s what I saw. She is all green cat eyes, her liquid gold hair doing the wind dance, waving wild and free like ribbons in the salty sea breeze,...
Camp Loma
The narrow two-lane road that leads us in is a snake; a slithering S winding its way over the Santa Cruz Mountains. Civilization slowly melts away as we make our way through a tunnel of redwood, bay laurel and madrone trees, over dry creek beds, a cascade of small...
Heaven at the Hog Farm
About and hour north of Santa Rosa, CA on the 101 freeway, the Welcome to Mendocino County sign promises: “Wilderness, Waves and Wine”. Perhaps another time for us, this weekend we’re here for the music. Self proclaimed hippie icon and Woodstock legend Wavy Gravy is...
The Musician
My mom is a musician. There weren’t any instruments in our house when I was growing up. My mom didn’t play the violin or strum the guitar. As a teenager she did play a bit of piano. Mom often spoke of that period in her life. There was a piano in the small flat that...
Desert Island Books
Back in the 1970’s there was this thing on FM radio called “Desert Island Discs.” From time to time DJ’s would pose the question, “If you were stranded on a deserted island, which ten albums would you take?” A friend and I were reminiscing about this recently and she...
The Sounds Of Christmas
Out of all the holidays, major or minor, Christmas has by far the most songs associated with it. Thanksgiving? Well, there’s Over The River And Through The Woods and… Hanukah? There are two that I know of. Great songs, but still only two. Halloween? There are quite a...
Songs In The Key Of Life
My son has a particularly creative English teacher. For a recent assignment she had her students choose 7-10 songs that were important to them at some point in their lives. They were to write a short vignette about why each song was important, create a playlist and...
Free At Last
Carol and I went to the movies this afternoon. Upon walking into the lobby we were immediately greeted by the twin aromas of melting butter and popping popcorn. We took our seats among the twenty or so other people inside the dimly lit theater. The only sounds were...
My Sweet Lord
Do some things really get better with age or does our familiarity with them over time deepen our love and appreciation, thus making those things more special to us? I think one of the keys to answering this question is to make a conscious effort to always be looking...
Guitar Gods
In the late 90’s I was in the midst of a major career change. I’d reached the end of the road in non-profit management and began to look for something more fulfilling. I decided to become and elementary school teacher. Since I had graduated college nearly 20 years...
The Thrush and the Fair
It’s one of the more unusual sounds in the bird kingdom. Beginning on a low note it gradually rises in pitch and speed, spiraling up and up, note by note until the sound just disappears into the forest air. It’s the sound of a wood faerie’s flute. The song of the...
It’s Just A Kiss Away
Among the endless stream of frightening news about COVID -19 came a piece the other day that really stood out for me. Evidently the European Union has asked Netflix to slow down their streaming for fear of some type of Internet crash. With movie houses, museums,...