When I disemboweled Knoxville Ballet School, liquidated it in the summer of 2012 just before my divorce was final, I was flush with pianos. Shortly before his death, my Uncle Stan had implored me to take the piano from my grandparents’ house in Chattanooga, the one he’d grown up playing before he launched himself into … Continue reading Piano Story: Taking Care of (Unfinished) Business
Uncle Stan
Music Story: Remembering Aretha
This morning I listened to a rare interview with Aretha Franklin, talking about what it was like growing up the daughter of a celebrated pastor who was close friends with Martin Luther King, Jr., and who routinely hosted Nat King Cole and others of his ilk in the Franklin home. The interview included an excerpt … Continue reading Music Story: Remembering Aretha
Traditions: Peering Through the Lens of Nostalgia
There are a couple of late November moments that fill me with so much nostalgia and sentimentality I get chills. One is hearing the strains of Tchaikovsky's Miniature Overture to The Nutcracker for the first time in the long Nut season. Don't get me wrong: I am not a fan of the ballet, nor the score, with the … Continue reading Traditions: Peering Through the Lens of Nostalgia
A Most Happy Ear Worm
On a day some time in the early 90s a song from The Most Happy Fella insinuated itself in my head as an earworm--you know: that refrain or tune you get in your head that will not leave you? The show had just enjoyed its second Broadway revival which is probably why I was thinking of … Continue reading A Most Happy Ear Worm
Pressing Reset
Time for a change. Not How The Story Ends served its purpose, saw me through the thousand-mile journey which in so many ways continues. And although I think the overriding message there is one of hope, it is still a bit backward looking. My hope now is to live in the moment and tell stories … Continue reading Pressing Reset
Sycamore Stories 