I watched the Towers fall from Union Square. It’s the sound I remember most. And the smell. A couple of weeks later I wrote this story.

Being in a rock and roll band is like getting in bed with a rattlesnake; you don’t get much sleep and there’s a good chance you’re going to get bit in the ass. At least that’s the way the King taught me to see it.

That night we rocked. Jerry the drummer found just the right pocket for the groove; Larry on bass locked to it like a leech; Tom sang from way down…

3 moving tips you need to survive moving.

They trace the night. Lines of 18 wheelers, interstate whine, neon pit stops. In the back of one these articulated behemoths are my t-shirts. And graphic novel collection. And my opera vinyl. My stuff.

We decide to go to Chicago for a year. Post-pandemic urge. We haven’t been off Manhattan since the 19th century. Feels that way. Need a different perspective. Lake time. Hot dogs. Somebody calls Chicago ‘Brola’ – Brooklyn/LA. Sounds like a cool combo to us.

Then I enter the dark lanes of interstate commerce.

We have too much stuff. Doesn’t everybody? You never realize how much stuff…

Wearing a Yankee hat in Boston used to be no big deal. I went to college up there in the 70s and spent tons of time in Fenway. I’d sit in the bleachers wearing my dad’s old Yankee cap and nobody said a word. Nobody chanted _____ sucks either. Last time I drove though Boston, people honked and cursed at me because I had NY plates.

Where is the anger coming from? …

I charged into 2020. I started a new business. I opened an account at a new bank. I met this fellow at a party and he seemed like a nice guy, so I asked if he would help me open my new account at his branch. Not the sort of thing you plan, but often the way life works best. I saw a TED talk about it. Let life flow.

I hired two people! From a post on Linkedin. That’s how optimistic I was. The American entrepreneur. Confident, brash, risk taker. Let’s go. Then February rolled round.

I was a…

The aftermath of the pandemic is brutal, especially for creative workers in our cities.

In 2019, 61 million people visited New York City, and they didn’t come to watch rich people fly out to the Hamptons. They came to dine in restaurants staffed by beautiful young people, painting by day, serving by night. They came to watch dancers in A Chorus Line, or hear a sweet sax in Bar 51. They came to feel the epic vitality of the world’s #1 city.

What they didn’t see is the daily struggle of living in a city that was built by the creative spark of a thousand pens, sings the songs of a century of Broadway…

We light the Olympics torch in a changed world.

I used to dream of being in the Olympics. As a teen, I started running long-distance. Every day it was my favorite time of day, putting on my shoes and running for hours, getting lost in cities, across bridges, through parks, down market lanes and hidden alleys. I dreamed.

My dreams were of competitions against runners from all over the globe, measuring myself against others. I never thought I was the best. I just wanted to experience running with the best; to feel their energy, their perfection of the human form.

That’s the enchantment of the Olympic dream. What limits…

Florida is gone. The Sunshine State becomes the Pirate State, as the Keys advance north to the Georgia border. Flooded Florida, already a haven to the financially and morally corrupt succumbs to total pirate lawlessness as America abandons the remaining dots of land slowly sinking from sight.

Texas is gone. After decades of corrupt privatization of infrastructure, Texas is left defenseless against vicious hurricanes to the south and advancing heat domes to the west. The gun culture takes over, turning the state back to the 19th Century of outlaws and gunslingers. Only this time, the frontier features automatic weapons.

Nevada…

You’re always wrong. You walk on egg shells. Your goal is to make them happy. You try a million different things. Money, presents, expensive vacations, houses, cars, gifts, letters, even generosity, compassion, patience.

You want to please, but there’s no pleasing, there’s only a constant blaming, demeaning, bullying, fault finding of everything you do. If this describes you, the chances are good you’re trapped in a relationship with a narcissist, and until you escape, your life will be a living hell.

But how do you escape? And what price will you pay? There’s no good answer here. You will pay…