Musical Mixes
In their great song, "Ex-Girl Collection," the Wrens sing, of an series of affairs, that "it's just how men mark time." I don't do that, instead I make these musical mixes, eventually adding covers and liner notes. ****Hyperlink at top of the liner notes of these mixes will take you to a Spotify playlist
Posts
Phoenix Noir
This is one of my favorite mixes, although some of the more morose songs grate on me now (some say I can be morose - say it ain't so). But Sante Fe is great and don't miss I Was a Lover.
Phoenix Noir liner notes.pdf
As the World Warms, A Word About Whaling
An environmentally themed mix with some Herman Melville thrown in.
Panoramas and Labyrinths
A residue of one of my failed scholarly pursuits - although I would say my treatment of panoramas and labyrinths in the classroom bore some fruit.
Thirty Years In...and Nothing to Show for It
Presumably, the cover image reveals that the title is a joke. This about my longtime, wonderful, and sadly late Tyrone Williams, the innovative poet. He and I got together twice a week for beers for nearly 40 years. He's the best friend I ever had. Starting in 2013 I began to record our conversations and so I have many, many hours of recording. Perhaps I will share some on this site. I will share, soon, the two from this mix (Spotify, of course, does not have those cuts!).
Des Plaines
I Partyed (Almost) Every Night I Was on the Planet
A sad boost. Still sort of true but I hardly ever drink at all any more.
The State of the Jack
Seems like I'm saying about a lot of these mixes that they chronicle a difficult time. But, gee, I've had a charmed life. Honest. And I'm grateful. This one riffs on Memorial Days, present and past.
The Church of the Fallen Angels
I shed a tear rereading this one, a celebration of my mother's 90th birthday. She passed away on Veteran's Day, 2023, no doubt greeted in heaven by her fallen, a World War I vet.
Johnny's Gonna Live
from before I started doing liner notes; some fun cover art though, perhaps. I lost my digital copies of a bunch of mixes, so this one is recreated from a photo graph. Some good tunes.
Mid-Ocean Reconnoiter
My dear and sadly late friend Tyrone Williams used to say, in the wake my separation from my wife, that I'd eventually “come up the other side.” Never could quite believe it and this mix is my response.
