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Century Old Visions: Joplin
The first time I heard Scott Joplin’s music it was played by Marvin Hamlisch on the soundtrack to the 1974 film The Sting. By that time Joplin had been dead almost 60 years. He composed 44 ragtime pieces as well as a ballet and two operas and is considered the king of the music… Read more
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Eleazer French’s Arm
At a 90th Birthday Party for my Aunt Lorraine last weekend, my cousin Bob loaned me a book that looks like something out of an old movie. Genealogical History of the French and Allied Families, written by Mary Queal Beyer in 1912, is the kind of book they just don’t make anymore. Even then,… Read more
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Spontaneous Erection
It was my first spontaneous erection in a while. I had been following her for a long time before I turned to see her coming up behind me. I watched the long early-morning shadow of her bike creeping up the sidewalk, getting closer all the time. She stopped alongside me and, putting one leg on… Read more
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Pieces of a Man
This song has haunted me from the first time I heard it. The despair in the lyrics is matched by the clear-eyed pain of the vocals. The poetry stands on its own but it’s the singing that makes the hairs stand up. The piano and bass are pretty tasty too.The son of an opera singing… Read more
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DEMO: She Comes To Me
She comes to me in silent dreams When there’s nothing to say She comes to me in whispers That take my breath away She comes to me with questions Whose answers break my heart She comes to me with nothing That she makes a work of art I hear her in the silenceI see her… Read more
Words & Music 