Above is Rocket, my cat Tipsy's boyfriend, pausing under mentor Joe's gorgeous "Sir B" (seven foot special Beethoven edition Bosendorfer...

Somehow this picture reminds me of "essential truths." My very first class and first day of law school in 1970, was contracts. Women then...

What could be better than music -- and a magician -- and a belly dancer -- to celebrate my Armistice's Day 80tieth birthday party --...

Calligraphy master Alan Blackman taught a Chinese brush technique class I took at the oLd basement de young Museum Art School some...

I don't always get it right. Not the first time, and not 100%. Sometime later I usually do. It's like when I write; I have to circle the...

"Insanity is only a disorder if it's affecting your life negatively" Commenter @phitsf5475 to YouTube video of Daniel Thrasher, whose...

Intended or unintended periods of major change that are inevitable throughout our very-human lives can result in beneficial -- or...

Calliopes are usually associated with the joyful experiences of riding on colorful and fanciful merry-go-rounds when we are children. A...

The Unclear Future? (See fall 2024 see my subsequent blog on the invasion of AI into the creative process, like it or not! See this...

Where do you feel “all there”? When do you feel that you want to jump so high that you don’t have to come down? When do you feel whole? ...

DAVID GEORGE HASKELL has written a lovely book about music -- or better said, about the aspect of music that involves the ears, the...

When I'm playing my favored new style of pieces these days, i.e., simple , lyrical, and slow, I sometimes just stop dead upon hearing a...

If famed cellist Pablo Casals could do it – so can I! While Vivian Mackie was studying cello with Pablo Casals in Spain in the early...

So far away from the stage to hear the inimitable Ms. Wang play at the SF Symphony spring 2023, even in this closeup image! * * *...

What is "best" is normally not a concept that I like to promote when it comes to any aspect of music. But I clearly prefer live music up...

As promised in the earlier blog post a few days ago, The Duchess has a new "sound outfit!" Bay Area piano tech David Amendola was kind...

Seeing clearly at dawn in Death Valley, March 2023 Using different words to mean the same thing (unless one is a poet and seeks not to...

“If you feel like you’re losing everything, remember trees lose their leaves every year and they stand tall and wait for better days to...

Not long ago when I was seeking pre-publication blurbs for my first volume of poetry and approached Raven Crone, one of my BFFs who is a...

Jon Batiste got it right! Don't miss the creative process in service to the end product, he advises on a recent CBS television...