Songwriter When I was 14, I wrote my first song. I went out to find the morning it began. I walked through crooked feelings I wrote it on the guitar my father had given me a few months before – a Martin 000-18. Those numbers meant nothing to me at the time; I didn’t […]
I married Jamie Faunt, bass player extraordinaire, in 1982; we divorced in 1984; in our time together he introduced me to Scientology, where (I’ve often thought) I squandered too many years of my life. In spite of being out touch for almost a quarter of a century (!), news of his death, which arrived yesterday—a […]
I am a single woman with two cats. Actually, three cats. With that admission, I sense a rustle of discomfort rise: A single, older, woman who lives with two cats, much less three, is probably needy, emotionally damaged, best to be avoided. Also, her house is sure to smell of cat pee. That this supposed […]
During a recent visit to England, my friend Scott and I motored (Scott’s word) out to the Cotswolds. As he negotiated a series of roundabouts, he told me how following an extra-bad breakup with a lover, he’d gone to see a therapist. In one of the sessions he told her that he just wanted to […]
Photo doesn’t look like much but here’s the story: The Cedar Rapids airport is a small one—there are no double doors to pass through en route to ground transportation and baggage claim; one just strolls past a security guard who is yawning in his chair. As I do that the other day—I’m in Iowa to […]
As in, home again, home again. After the concert in Squaw Valley, Maggie packed her bags and instruments into yet another car, to be driven by our good friend Tom Taylor back to her Nevada City home. About a week before Luke had called to say that he “was now officially lonely.” And her dogs, […]
As I awoke in Amanda’s house a gun loomed to one side of the bed. It took me a moment to realize it was attached to a lamp. And another moment to remember that amongst other things Amanda collects are odd and wonderful fixtures. I rolled over to look at this one more closely and […]
Before leaving Carbondale, we headed down to the campus of Colorado Rocky Mountain School and walked around a bit, with lots of pointing and gesticulating and exclaiming (Maggie was a tremendous good sport through all the endless reminiscing). To our delight (it was Sunday) we found an unlocked door along one side of the familiar […]
That midnight scramble up the mesa might have seemed like a dream, save for those dusty boots and a white skirt with a filthy hem to tell the tale. After a bit of clean up, we resolutely set off for our next concert, in Carbondale, but almost immediately veered over to take in a thrift […]
Dana not only created an enticing concert hall and stage out of her multi-stepped back yard, but provided a turkey, cold cuts and crudité, fresh baguettes and wonderful cheeses, and plenteous beverages. Guests began to arrive at 7:00, as the beautiful day segued into an evening that sustained a lingering warmth. A lovely, generous, […]