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Paging Mike Moore: I Could Use a Title, or Even a Punchline
I’ve written stories since I could write words, even started a couple of novels as early as 3rd or 4th grade, but I’d never finished a book when I met Mike Moore in high school. He’d finished two...
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ROCK & RAP CONFIDENTIAL No. 233 Please feel free to forward or post this issue widely, in whole or in part. We only ask that you include the information that anyone can subscribe free of charge by...
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X, City Winery NYC 8/2, Beyond and Back
The impact of re-encountering X after 25 years has been profound. And that's not just because I have spent way too much time digging around for my laundry-markered Los Angeles and Wild Gift t-shirt. It...
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The Message in Her Music (or What Might Make a Book Tour More than Just...
In less than five months, University of Texas Press will be publishing my first book in twenty years. While I've spent the better part of three years focused on the art of Mary J. Blige, this book is...
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Jovie
Named after a Christmas Elf,Assumed tribute to a hair band from Jersey,You were our Edward Scissorhands,Nails clipped,Razorblades--Like an angelBorn with weapons for hands.You sat and waited,For...
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I received more response to this Facebook status than most things I've written in the past year. Perhaps a blog is a place to put such things.I was born into a boom economy that is not coming back....
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Fingersnaps, Real Love and No Drama
When the young poets and artists at my Chicago book talk finger-snapped in response to something I had to say about Mary J. Blige's vision, I thought it was some idiosyncratic holdover from the beatnik...
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A Father's Hands
I shared some thoughts about my Dad at his memorial service last Saturday, September 24th--When I think of Dad, I tend to think of his physicality, his big voice, his presence in the room, but mostly I...
View ArticleWe Gotta Get Outta This Place
I think my father's death has driven home to me the callous nature of most of the political discussions that happen in social media. He was a loyal Democrat, who sometimes voted for a Republican or an...
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To Bring Some Understanding Here Today
IThe Industrial Revolution--Inspired hundreds of political revolutions;Destroyed centuries old family systems and replaced them with semi-autonomous "nuclear" families;Moved massive numbers of people...
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Scattered World--Unpublished Reviews 2015--2016
After 30 years, it's harder to find an outlet for much of my writing than ever. Material conditions have created a strange gulf between national and local presses and what they're editorially prone to...
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What Time Is It?, Intro 1, First Day of Marches
It's a long, long way from 1982, but it's still the right question. For the most part, I suppose my listserve posts and Facebook status updates have taken the place of my blog. Still, once in a while,...
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What Time Is It?, Intro 2, After the Inauguration Protests
What Time Is It? Intro II, On the Second Day of Marches... As of this semester, I've worked with about 5600 writing students. (This isn't counting summers or the literature courses I often pick up for...
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What Time Is It?, Intro 3, After the Worldwide Women's Marches
Intro #3 to "What Time Is It," after a weekend of action and reaction--“Women…all they say is ‘fuck it, we need housing, we need homes, we need food,’ and THEY LEAD!....and I follow!” –raised in...
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Objectivity and Possibility
Earlier this week, I exclaimed to my class my thanks for the thousands of people who made my teaching possible that day, through their sense of objectivity and their ability to cooperate. Without those...
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My Sixth Folk Alliance International, Part 1, "Bigger Than That"
My Sixth Folk Alliance International Down.....like each one, a set of entirely new experiences (and, yes, comfortingly familiar ones). But unforgettable things! I have at least a dozen stories I want...
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"A Small Circle of Friends," Folk Alliance Part 2
The hardest thing about this year's Folk Alliance was just how inspirational it was. Not because inspiration's a bad thing....God knows we could use more of that.... But, because, any sense of what's...
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"Carnival of Hopes," Folk Alliance, Part 3
A compilation of weekend status updates--My first showcase at this year's Folk Alliance featured Janice Jo Lee and Alysha Brilla. It was brilliant, very participatory including some Advil-as-shaker...
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The Velvet Underground and the Making of Lou Reed
45 years ago this month, Lou Reed released his first solo album. A couple of years ago, I wrote this article about the latest box set of material surrounding 1969's The Velvet Underground, an album I...
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WoodyFest #1, Grown-Up Anger
It’s times like this when I know why I keep a blog. When I had regular writing gigs (which became a soul-killing complication for me after 25 years), I kept regular writing rhythms, telling one...
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