SST Blog

In 1946 a young Jewish slapstick clown from Newark, New Jersey was performing at a small club on the same bill as a suave Italian crooner from Steubenville, Ohio. It was love at first sight. Jerry was awkward and needy. Dean was cool and secure. They couldn’t have been more opposite, but Dean was everything that Jerry wanted to be. A little while later they once again found themselves sharing a bill. They horsed around a little after the show, and got some laughs. That’s all it took. Three years later they were the biggest act in show biz. Didn’t...

Some years ago the great jazz alto saxophonist Phil Woods wrote an article advising young musicians to go beyond practicing their instrument and experience life—to read, watch plays and movies, look at paintings, and, most of all, live a full life.  His point is that art reflects life, and if you haven’t lived, what can you be talking about?    This morning Steve Almond, in his advice column, responded to a letter from an accountant who was asking advice about whether to quit his job to become a writer, which has always been his dream.  Almond said, “What matters to...

This morning, when I returned from playing tennis, I mustered up the energy to take a shower and officially start my day.  What is it about when I’m all sweaty and exhausted, and the beautiful stream of warm water cascades down my body?  At once I feel rejuvenated and as if I am in my mother’s womb.  Everything beyond the shower curtain is far, far away.  I am deep in thought.    40 years ago, I was taking a trumpet lesson with Jimmy Maxwell, and he had a little black box on the table next to him.  He told me...

In this morning’s New York Times article on Michael Moore, Chris Lehmann, editor-in-chief of The Baffler, is quoted as saying, “the problem with being an outsider is you can sometime confuse truth-telling with self-indulgence.”  Being a life-long outsider, I’ve got to think about this.   I used to read explanations of why Jews and Blacks have contributed so much to the arts in America—especially music.  Being excluded from many other fields of endeavor (which explains the numbers but not the quality of the contributions), being an outsider gives us a different perspective and an intense desire to belong.  Growing up...

In response to my thoughts about my recent high school reunion and growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, I got an email from a schoolmate from my teenage years, Nancy, who said that she will share my piece with her kids, as it would give them a glimpse of what her life was like.  She went on to say that the only thing that was missing for her was the plight of girls and women at that time.    So often Baby Boomers speak about Civil Rights advances in our lifetime for Black folks and the LGBT community, and...