As anyone who reads this blog is aware, brevity isn’t my strong point. With music, though, I am always concerned with making a performance the “correct” length. If it’s meant to be epic, then longer is often appropriate. Sometimes, though, it’s a matter of making a pithy statement and then letting it be absorbed. Certainly as a listener, I have a soft spot for songs that feel complete and compelling while clocking in at under 120 seconds.
Continue ReadingMother’s Day is here, and it is a time of celebration and acknowledgment for some (most?) and a time of bringing difficulty into sharp relief for others. I am certainly not advocating that those who are experiencing the telephone-commercial version enjoy their day one iota less. Quite the contrary, taking a moment to empathize with those who are dealing with loss should only enhance the edict to enjoy and savor each moment of love and togetherness.
Continue ReadingLately it’s easy to get the feeling of swimming against the current. Messages and actions of peace and love are so important, yet the voices of the hateful are so much louder at times. And I will admit that since the Boston Marathon bombing, it has taken me some time to regroup both from the horror that so many of us feel about the event and from the demoralizing sense of being unable to keep pace with the amount of tragedy going down. Is chanting “love wins” a realistic and energy-efficient thing when there is such evidence that we’re better off saving our energy and curling up in a fetal position under the kitchen table as we await Armageddon? Ultimately, I’ve concluded that the answer is YES, and I want to offer posthumous thanks to my young friend Lester for helping me solidify that position.
Continue ReadingThose of us pulled toward activism and positive change of any sort need to use our strengths, resources and passions to that end. If our strengths are artistic, then a whole world of questions emerges about how to create and present socially conscious art. I find that the answers tend to come fairly organically if the questions are asked thoroughly enough and the questions here should help with this process.
Continue ReadingToday would have been my aunt Margie Pozefsky’s 72nd birthday. Today offers a particularly good opportunity to look at Margie’s legacy and, perhaps more importantly, to look at what we can learn from her.
Continue ReadingThe inspiration behind my recent composition “The Countdown Began” comes from the phenomenon of aging out of the foster care system.
Continue ReadingJust be there and keep it real. Well, that was easy. Oh, you’d like me to elaborate? Sure thing . . .
Continue ReadingHere is a piece I wrote for the introduction of a book my daughter Ariana is compiling of stories told by foster youth. Those stories will be the heavy part, but hopefully this piques your interest in the meantime.
Continue ReadingMany have noted the irony of Valentine’s Day coinciding with the 2-month anniversary of the Newtown massacre. Many have also chosen love as the antidote to the madness and as the way out of the despair. Every day is a good day to declare that “love wins,” but this is a particularly timely opportunity to affirm that. I truly believe that if love is strong in our hearts, it wins because it shapes our reality and thus has the potential to guide our every action.
Continue ReadingWhat better way to celebrate Wayne Shorter’s awesomeness than to explore some of my personal favorites from his discography as a bandleader? None, exactly.
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