SST Blog

6/21/18   A few days ago was Fathers’ Day. I got a phone call from my daughter and my 3-year old grandson. Before they called, I was wondering if Elliott would wish me happy Fathers’ Day. He loves talking to me on the phone, but I didn’t know if he understood how I was his father once removed. And did he even know the words or what Fathers’ Day means? Then all of a sudden he leaned into the phone and said, “Happy Fathers’ Day.” It’s funny how a holiday invented by Hallmark Cards can evoke a deep feeling of...

6/15/18   I’m sitting in my living room watching Nicole Wallace’s show on MSNBC. I love this woman. I know, I know, she worked in Dubya’s White House, but dig what she says. She understands democracy. The same for Steve Schmidt (who brought us Sarah Palin), George Will, David Frumm, Jennifer Rubin, and all the other Conservatives who are now former Republicans. I know that there are issues that we would disagree on, but the big issue (and the only one that matters right now) is the preservation of our democracy. These Conservatives are patriots. And then I had an...

6/3/18   The usual conversation starter: What do you do? “I'm a musician.” Really? That's so great. What do you play?   If you're a musician, you know how this goes. Today, on the bus on the way to the airport, a young woman stinking from cigarettes sat down in the seat next to me. We quickly got into a conversation, and within a minute, we got to the above exchange. Instead of asking me more about what I do, she told me that she played saxophone in high school. Naturally, I asked her where, thinking that I might have...

I was asked three questions by an interviewer. Each one prompted further questions and suggested that listeners to my music may be experiencing it substantially differently than I intend as I am creating it. Perhaps my answer to question 3 might have been, "Get my message.” I’ll certainly try to answer your questions as best I can with the understanding that my responses today may be different tomorrow. Moods and musical circumstances can change.    1) Pick a “dream band."   How might I pick an ideal drummer? Kenny Clarke, Max Roach, Roy Haynes, Larry Bunker (surely among my favorites) or...

5/27/18 The year was 1965. I was 16 years old. The Dodgers and Giants had long ago abandoned us and moved west. Mickey Mantle’s career was pretty much over. The Knicks were starting to turn their fortunes around and create one of the greatest basketball teams of all time. On Friday nights Bob, Chip, and I would take the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station and then walk up to 50th Street to Madison Square Garden where we could purchase the cheapest seats in the stratosphere and then hope that the ushers wouldn’t notice when we moved forward once the...