I’ve been asked to write about my mother, CeeCee. She was born February 28, 1928, and she died October 13, 2013. CeeCee was a mystery. She and I never got along, but it was due to a secret she carried. I discovered it after she died. It wasn’t written down anywhere; it’s just that I’m…
A prayer for William Cox
June 23, 2015
I had a business associate name William Cox. Though we never met, we spoke on the phone. William was thirty-two. His best friend “Mark” told me a couple of days ago that William had committed suicide. He’d gone out in his car, parked in the nearby woods, run a garden hose from the exhaust pipe…
Who must do the hard things?
December 30, 2014
I can’t remember where I read the adage, “Who must do the hard things? He who can.” I admired the “he” in the saying, because I could never do hard things. I was a lost, scared, self-loathing teenager when I read that, and I figured that was was. As the singer David Crosby said, “I…
Thank you, Miss Carol Colman
July 7, 2014
When I wrote Ghosts and Ballyhoo, I had to leave out tons of stuff I wanted to include. There just wasn’t enough room. Also, I’m not interesting enough to publish a multi-volume memoir. One of the bassists who I didn’t mention in the book but who had a huge impact on me is Carol Colman,…
The arrival of the man intended
May 5, 2014
Mom always told me that I was the happiest baby and toddler she’d ever seen. To be frank, I have no memory of being happy. Today, however, I announce the arrival of the man intended. He showed up after fifty-one years. You might find it hard to accept why I’m now truly, permanently happy; the…
Introducing my two favorite con artists
January 23, 2014
I’d like to introduce you to my two favorite con artists, Mike Albee and Lura Dold of Sandpiper Publicity. Stand up, kids! Don’t be shy. Mike also runs another fake company, Magnus Publicity. Let’s give Mike and Lura a hand! Mike has a long history of defrauding people. Unfortunately for me I didn’t see this…
Noreen in the Rat Palace
December 5, 2013
I’ve received several queries about Noreen in the Rat Palace. One came from Scott Thunes. So I’ll tell the story. First, an explanation: Ghosts and Ballyhoo is an art project. It isn’t a memoir per se. Everything in it is true, but I wrote it in order to elicit a certain reaction among readers. I…
Dead son rising
October 29, 2013
I belong to a very small club. A one-man club. Actually, I belong to several: I’m the only person to be screwed by five Web designers in a row when creating one Website; I’m the only person to have had a spontaneous recovery from total hepatic failure; and I’m the only person in the world…
Not a chance
October 8, 2013
I got a message. You’re too young to write your memoirs. Feels like a suicide note saying, “Thank you world and fuck you.” Well, I wrote the memoir because readers forced me to. No, that’s only partially true. Readers of Talkbass.com did demand that I write a book, but the truth is that I wanted…