Summer 2024: Entertainment and Recreation

July 18, 2024
It's hot! Brooklyn is blazing right now and I am baking in this atmospheric energy. Fortunately I have enjoyed ample time off and have ensconced to cooler climes frequently over the past month. Our annual Taylor convention in Maine is always a highlight and while our general itinerary is the same; great company of siblings, parents, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles and cousins, fantastic food, boating, fishing, island camping in Casco Bay, hiking in Acadia and relaxing at the cabin, we somehow manage to improve it every year and enjoy it even more as the nine cousins rise in…

Comprehension

June 3, 2024
I am eternally curious! I know I'll never know all there is to know, but learning is always exciting. I could engage with just about any subject and find it fascinating; if I gain any context, perspective or insight into existence, I am enlightened. I seek the Ultimate Truth, and I am on a lifetime quest to understand the nature of Reality; it sometimes seems that the more I learn, the less I know. Most books that I read are non-fiction, but sometimes stories can reflect a truth beyond facts and inspire me in profound ways. I present here my…

Long Play

May 7, 2024
This is my perfect music festival; situated in my hometown across multiple venues over three days, featuring an eclectic mix of some of contemporary music's most interesting composers and performers, this year's Long Play Festival was beautifully curated and well-organized, and it introduced me to some phenomenal new music while showcasing some of the best modern classical and avant-garde of the past 50 years. The range and diversity of the concerts was vast and every one that I saw was unique and fascinating! Patti Smith and Soundwalk Collective performing spoken word with field recordings, ambient sounds, cello and percussion to…

Eclipse

April 11, 2024
Ever since I learned that a total solar eclipse would pass through Northern New York and Vermont on April 8, 2024, I felt compelled to go. I had seen a few partial eclipses, but never experienced totality; it seemed like this might be my best (if not only) chance to see one in my lifetime. So I was determined, considering different options to be in an observational position. We decided on an excursion to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, which lay at the Northern edge of the path, with a plan to drive South and catch it along the centerline near Plattsburgh.…

Ski Wrap

April 2, 2024
For years it felt like I was not in sync with ski-friendly weather patterns, always missing storms when obligations called elsewhere or watching temperatures climbing and bringing rain when our planned trips came due. Skiing will always be fun and anytime with my family is most prized so I am content to slide down a mountain in any conditions... BUT... Sometimes it all lines up perfectly! I have a few spring break days in March, so I plan months in advance to be somewhere North at that time. Weather had been bleak for weeks and it looked like the Northeast…

Illinoise

March 9, 2024
Sufjan Stevens is amazing. I was mesmerized when I first heard "Michigan" 20 years ago, and again a few years later when "Illinois" was released. Then in 2007, I saw what I still consider to be the best show I've ever seen, "The BQE" at BAM; incorporating triptych video of the elevated expressway through my borough while hula hoopers twirled and spun to the orchestrated concept album. Follow-up audiovisual experiences "Planetarium" and "Round-Up" solidified his esteemed standing on my personal ranking of most interesting and exciting artists. When I received a mailer announcing a dance interpretation of "Illinoise" I was…

Skiing

February 26, 2024
Nothing stresses me out like ski season! A limited seasonal window to enjoy my favorite recreational activity makes me feel like any second I'm not on skis is a missed opportunity. And as soon as I schedule a trip, I am watching the weather, which to an Eastern skier can be excruciating. Snow, the miraculous atmospheric phenomenon, needs to be timed perfectly and if it doesn't line up with my chosen dates, can be easily spoiled by warmth or cursed by rain. I spend most of my days between ski opportunities fretting about the impending Spring and deteriorating conditions. But…

Good Reads

January 26, 2024
Books are explorable Universes and Authors are Gods! The Wager - David Grann The Lost City of Z - David Grann Two books of incredible historical adventures by David Grann. The Wager depicts the 1741 shipwreck of a British ship in Patagonia. The voyage itself was excruciating, but the scurvy-laden, storm-throttled crossing was almost benign compared to the trauma that ensued when they landed on a rock in one of the most remote regions on earth. The Lost City of Z follows British Colonel Percy Fawcett in his obsessive search for civilization in the Amazon until his disappearance, along with…

Creation

January 25, 2024
I make Art. I have always felt compelled to express myself creatively and it has manifested in many different media at various points in my life. When I was young, I loved to draw, doodling characters and scenes (and especially inventing ski mountains and trail maps!). As I grew older, I liked to write stories and acted in plays, imagining narratives and dialogues reflecting my life and experiences through fictional plots and relationships. When I began learning music, I was drawn to improvised and spontaneous composition, synthesizing whatever skills I could muster on any instrument I could find to create…