Quote of the Day

Act like you belong, until you do belong. 

-- Cameron Crowe, on the best piece of advice he's ever gotten

Quote of the Day

When I was starting to write, James L. Brooks told me, "Buddy, think of the privilege we have.  We got the greatest job in the world.  We get to tell stories."  I still feel that every day. 

-- Cameron Crowe 

Quote of the Day

Glenn [Frey of the Eagles] was such a student of how to slip into a room and make everybody part of your sport, which is "Let's all do great stuff together." 

-- Cameron Crowe 

Quote of the Day

You’re never going to get the story done or delivered in time if you’re that guy who is there for a dual purpose. And I think there’s a kind of journalist that gets filtered out of the process pretty quickly if you realize that they’re there to make friends more than write something from the heart. 

-- Cameron Crowe 

Quote of the Day

"Do you know who Billy Strayhorn is?" I said no.  (Max Roach) kept playing music -- beautiful music -- on the piano.  He finally stops and says, "If you don't know Billy Strayhorn, you don't know anything about the drums."  I was 12, and I didn't really know what he meant by that.  But I know now.  He meant that ... you first and foremost are a musician, and you need to learn about music ... and open your mind and ears to all the possibilities ... Then you're able to play music instead of just playing drums.

-- Joe Farnsworth

Quote of the Day

Joy doesn't just find you ... it takes work, and it takes intention ... We're going to do this one thing to bring us some joy and then continue on with what we're dealing with.

-- Brandee Younger 

Quote of the Day

Your instincts are composed.  They're affected by what you practice, by what you think about, by what you hear, by what you talk about.  And they change.  And they develop.  And they hopefully get better. 

-- Phillip Golub

Quote of the Day

(The Westerlies' album Paradise) asks the question of what paradise means, and to us it's gathering around art and fostering empathy, which is something music instinctually does.  With the state of division especially in the U.S. today, that feels more important that ever.

-- Andy Clausen

Quote of the Day

A piece of art doesn't have to be a piece of art for everybody.  It does not have to cause feelings in everyone.

Art doesn't have to be eternal.  There could be something that works as art for a few people for a few weeks, for a lot of people for a hundred years, for one person for a lifetime, for a small number of people for a thousand years.  There are all sorts of levels.

It is always a conversation, even if there is only one person involved in the conversation.  You might make art as a conversation with yourself.

-- Brian Eno and Bette A., What Art Does: An Unfinished Theory

Quote of the Day

Sometimes you can take the whole of the world in, and sometimes you need a small piece to take in.  I think that is really what a work of art is: it is a small piece that you can ingest, that gives you an idea of the richness of the whole.

-- Sister Mary Corita Kent

Quote of the Day

Well, somebody can take your publishing and somebody can take your records or take your songs or take whatever money you've made out of the thing, but you can drop me out of an airplane anywhere in most parts of the world, I'll land, and I'll light up somebody's night.

-- Bruce Springsteen 

Quote of the Day

You know, musicians have a tremendous responsibility.  At the very least, bring comfort to people in chaotic and confusing times.  But if you can also give them some affirmation, let them know they're not alone -- a lot of people are struggling in these times...

-- Don Was 

Quote of the Day

A poet makes science out of everything the scientist ignores.

-- Callum Angus, "Moon Snail"

Quote of the Day

We live in such a fast-paced world: poetry helps us slow down, deepen our attention, connect and live more fully.

-- Arthur Sze

Quote of the Day

A protester made a sign at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020 that said, "This is the age of rage and tenderness."  It encapsulated to me the feeling of the times.  Sometimes, it feels like there's waves of evil coming towards you, and you have to combat those by being a decent person and standing up for people who cannot stand up for themselves.  But to do that, you have to be open to those feelings.  You can't shut yourself off if you don't want to get steamrolled by racists and sexists and fascists.  There's a lot to rage against, and it's because you have some kind of love in your heart that you want to fight.

-- Tunde Adebimpe

Quote of the Day

Women who wear black lead colorful lives.

-- Neiman Marcus

Quote of the Day

Let your heart break so your spirit doesn't.

-- Andrea Gibson 

Quote of the Day

And then there's a moment where you're in your kitchen, you're listening to the news and you think, "Does it really matter to write a poem?"  When what we need is so huge, what we need is so monumental.  The collective action that is required in this moment.  And then you think, "What if poetry can bring you back to wonder, to kindness, to care, to sensitivity, to tenderness?"  And even in that small moment, isn't that a radical act?

 -- Ada Limon

Quote of the Day

I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.

-- Mary Wollstonecraft

Quote of the Day

It's a strange part of me that I feel people's sadness really heavily.  And my own shit I feel pretty heavily.  Maybe that's just being human.  Or maybe you need to feel that if you're the kind of person songs get sent to.

-- Chris Martin

Meeting Ananda Lima and Roger Reeves

I was pleased to attend this school year's last installation of the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series, featuring authors/poets Ananda Lima and Roger Reeves, at Hope College last night.

Hearing Cody Daigle-Orians

Last night, author Cody Daigle-Orians was the featured guest at my local book club.  He joined us virtually and spoke about his latest book, The Ace and Aro Relationship Guide.

Quote of the Day

I would tell my younger self not to always fight the gatekeepers.  It's just important to look for a path around them.  Always look over their shoulders to see what's happening on the other side and how you're going to get there.  You don't have to jump in and fight everybody, because that doesn't always work.

-- Cyndi Lauper, "The Last Word," Rolling Stone

Quote of the Day

He was preternaturally curious.  He seemed always to be pushing at the edges of any situation to find the underbelly of wisdom and poetry.  He looked for the truth of a person, a situation, a moment, a question, an action.  More often than not, he found it, and offered it back to the rest of us, transformed into sublime jewels of rhymes and melodies and ideas that pushed far past convention.

-- Rosanne Cash, Tribute to Kris Kristofferson

Quote of the Day

Everybody has the Blues.  Everybody longs for meaning.  Everybody needs to love and be loved.  Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy ... In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quote of the Day

The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quote of the Day

Jazz speaks for life ... This is triumphant music.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quote of the Day

The blues had a baby and they named the baby rock and roll.

-- Muddy Waters