Uncategorized

How lucky are we to be living in a world with so much incredible literature and entertainment unimaginably accessible? Growing up, I had bookstores (Barnes and Noble and Borders in the Chestnut Hill Mall), music stores (Newbury Comics and Tower Records just a short T ride away on Newbury St), walkable video rental (Newton Highlands Video and Blockbuster), movie theaters and some good music venues (Middle East, Ryles, Sanders Theater, The Orpheum, Great Woods). I thought I had it pretty good! Then computers and the internet shifted every paradigm! With the exception of live music, which I now enjoy at…

The annual return to school and work is underway; a transition that lasts several weeks, ramping up to full employment again. It's hard to give up the freedom of Summer for the schedule of Fall but I have been really enjoying my reentry this year; I feel very fortunate to have such a fun job, playing music with enthusiastic kids! I have been teaching for 20 years, but I still strive to do it better every class, learning from my mistakes and always seeking new approaches to stimulating a love of music in my students! After attending a Kodály conference…

I have just enjoyed a phenomenal 10 days of music! First was a trip to Nashville--we left the kids with grandma and spent four days in Nashville, Tennessee with eight of our closest friends. It was a true music safari, and I was blown away by the quantity and quality of musicians we heard. The main strip, Broadway, is known as The Honky Tonk Highway and it lives up to its name and reputation, with live music pouring out from every floor of its multi-storied bars from morning to late-night. Some venues, like Robert's Western World, focus on the country…

She became a grandmother when I was born and when I first made noises, I dubbed her Mommom (and her husband Daddad, of course). Summers at her house, Asticou, on Cape Cod and holidays at her home in Bethesda, Maryland was ample time spent with the matriarch (and her four sons’ families). When I went to college, the time together dwindled, sometimes to just a day or two in the summer. When Daddad died almost 17 years ago, I lost my connection to her almost completely; I moved to Brooklyn, and started my own life. But when I had my…

I skied yesterday! For the first time in 9 months I schussed the alpine slopes, with a wonderful solo day at Hunter Mountain. I had never skied at Hunter before and they are reporting a 1" total snowfall on the season at this point, but there was plenty of terrain open and the conditions were solid; it was a beautiful sunny day with zero crowds on big, fast lifts and I rode from 1st chair to last chair for 40,408 vertical feet and a max speed of 55.3 MPH. I look forward to more of that soon! The Beatles documentary,…

We have temporarily relocated quarantine to one of my favorite spots on Earth, Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park in Maine; we have spent the last few days with my parents and will visit my brother and sister and their families on this excursion, which will take us to another of the most important places in my life; Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It has been a long time since we've been able to see any of them and we've missed them dearly! Hugging my mom and dad was so comforting and felt like a taste of normalcy in this isolated…

We are six weeks into the quarantine and time has gotten weird. Every day is very similar to the day before with no big scheduled events to define it and no future events to look forward to. This weekend had been on my calendar for months and I was very excited to attend The Long Play Festival at BAM, but alas, there will be no such event. When this began for us, and we packed up and left Brooklyn, everything was unfurling rapidly -- in the course of a few days we went from normal schedules to everything canceled indefinitely.…

We have settled into our quaranroutine here on the homestead. Mornings are dedicated to schoolwork--I am impressed with how quickly and efficiently PS130 has adapted to the new reality, posting assignments and videos from the homeroom and special subject teachers using the school message board and Google Classroom to stimulate home learning. We have had video calls from their teachers to check in and Miles is loving his everyday karate classes. My work has been disrupted by the fact that being in the same room as anyone else is currently prohibited, so we have pivoted to making videos and hosting…

Saturday was Alaina's birthday. We had a fun party planned in Brooklyn, but the rapidly unfolding coronavirus situation led instead to us packing up and leaving the city indefinitely. It has only been a few weeks since the first case was discovered in the US but it has progressed exponentially and 48 hours ago, all major sports leagues were suspended and Broadway closed; schools across the country including my various work establishments were shut down, leaving me without scheduled obligations for the forseeable future. The general, worldwide consensus for this disease seems to be "duck and cover and prevent its…

I have highest of hopes for this new year but it began with the death of my Uncle Tom. He had been suffering from cancer for several years and was struggling with immense pain recently, yet somehow found the energy to travel from his home in Naples, Florida to Washington, DC to visit family for the holidays. His health deteriorated rapidly upon arrival and he was placed in hospice at his sister's house. I made the journey to see him as soon as we returned from Vermont but arrived a few hours after he passed away... It has been a…