Lilly

July 13, 2009
Our 16 year old cat has been sick for months, medicated for a thyroid issue and deteriorating slowly. For years, she woke us up excessively early to be fed promptly and although her meows and paws were annoying as we lay in bed every morning, I have seriously missed it recently as she seemed to stop caring about consuming food. We knew that her time was drawing near and had confronted the possibility of imminent death, but to actually walk into the bedroom and find her lying lifeless on the floor was a fresh shock. I have suffered through many…

The King Is Dead

June 29, 2009
Yes, the last ten or fifteen years of his life were controversial to say the least. His appearance changed dramatically and he slept with chimps and young boys, maybe in an oxygen chamber. He was chosen to be worshiped and from his earliest years, he was subjected to mass hysteria. We accuse him of being abnormal, but how on earth could he be expected to be normal when he had no grounding in our perceived normal reality. His life is the greatest example of our destructive celebrity culture, our obsession with fame and our deep dark desire to watch the…

Happy Anniversary

June 25, 2009
Four years ago today at The Land, Alaina and I were married. It was obviously the best day of my life (yes, better than Super Bowl and World Series victories...) and I consider myself so lucky to have found such an amazing woman to spend the rest of my life with. We have been together for almost 10 years now and I hope that we will be together for 50, 60 or 70 more years (80 may be pushing it) but I have no doubt that we will be united until death. Love is the best and most important part…

The Land Party 2009

June 25, 2009
It is one of the few annual events in my life and I look forward to it every year. This year's jam was especially special because there is now a house at the Land (in Warwick, NY) to shelter us from the elements; the weather this entire month has been dismal, and this weekend was no exception. Saturday was a rainout, but that didn't stop us from playing one of the best whiffle ball games ever. As always, the food, beverages, music and company was top notch, and even rain can't damper the refreshing feeling of being out in the…

The Road

June 17, 2009
After six months of Infinite Jest, it was nice to speed through Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" in three days. It is the polar opposite of IJ in so many ways; staccato sentences with stark descriptions in contrast to epic details of minutiae, a barren world versus an oversaturated one, a simple story of survival against a complex web of culture. Despite their fundamental differences, both books are amazing, capturing the essence of humanity from different angles. The Road is a journey though a post-apocalyptic world, where life has been all but completely destroyed, and a father and son's struggle to…

Infinite Jest

June 11, 2009
The book turns out to be depressingly finite. At 1000 pages, it took me about six months to hack my way through, and still I feel like there isn't enough -- I am cruelly left hanging (as was David Foster Wallace...) -- as it ends without any resolution. The story is bizarre and compelling from the first few pages and weaves its way through so many interconnected lives of greatness and depravity, but feels after the last page turn as if we have just reached an intermission... I have previously read D.F.W.'s "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men", which is a…

Phish at Jones Beach

June 6, 2009
I attended about 30 Phish shows between 1994 and 2004, by far the most of any band in my life, and then they disappeared from my consciousness, going underground and out of mind for five years while the internet flooded me with unlimited alternatives, but having the opportunity to finally see them again was pretty special. I got my first taste of the Jones Beach theater, which is in a gorgeous location, and enjoyed the experience with Alaina and my 22 year old cousin Lars who was attending his very first Phish concert. We were discussing live recordings we had…

Music Past, Present and Future

June 2, 2009
Alaina and I made a trip up to Newton, MA this weekend to spend time the company of Taylors. It was magnificent and included an epic Saturday night dance party in our living room with five families close to us since before I was born. Friday night was at Fenway Park, 10th row for Dave Matthews Band. Flashback to 1995 and the first time I saw DMB at The Orpheum... I have lost touch with Dave a bit since then and I was glad to reconnect. I did not recognize, but nonetheless enjoyed, the majority of his songs. I prefer,…

Superhuman

May 29, 2009
I am a fan of basically any type of entertainment spectacle, from sports contests to film and TV to concerts. I like when people demonstrate extraordinary humanity and push the limits of our own experience. But if I had to show an alien just one event in hopes of proving our survival worthiness, I might take it to Cirque de Soleil. It has everything: music, dance, comedy and unbelievable stunts. Performing feats of strength and concentration with potentially lethal risks, these performers bring you onto the precipice with them, jarring your nerves and repacing your heart. At times, it is…

i like music

May 17, 2009
It was a night of great music for me last night, beginning at Hank's Saloon, where I was introduced to the speed metal of bass and drums duo Bot. I am all for gender equality, so I feel a little weird about even making a big deal about the fact that the incredible drummer was female, but it seems unfortunately rare and special to see such a spectacle that it merits distinction. She totally rips, and she looks euphoric doing it. Actually, although I claim it to be rare, three of the bands I heard last night had fantastic female…