Digger came back into town the next day. When I walked into the lobby of the Copley Square hotel, he was already sitting there with a bunch of papers spread out on a low table. I wasn’t sure, but I thought he was wearing the same thing he had been the day he’d come to [...]
It took a few days, but rehearsals began to get somewhat better–either that or I was just adjusting to my crippled state. The transitions were smoother, and even though I felt held back by the limitations of my fingers, the new material did not sound as bad as I’d feared. I couldn’t play chords or [...]
Digger left the contracts with me and I decided to read them later. The plan was to mail them to him with a list of the things we wanted done right away, and then he could get started. We left the studio shortly after that, Chris begging off with a tricky wrist and reminding me [...]
It was two o’clock when I went up to the studio, and from the look of the pile of gear inside the door Chris had been there and then left.
I set about setting up his Roland D-50 for myself on the off chance that I might have to play it. I was never a [...]
Digger met me for lunch at the Imperial Tea House, a big two-story Chinese restaurant around the corner from the loft. I shuffled my feet a little faster down the street when I saw him, standing under their bright red awning in the wintry drizzle, the lapels of his collar hunched up around his neck. [...]
I tried to sleep, I mean really tried.
Lay down, closed my eyes, recited the circle of fifths, tried to remember as many alternate tunings as I could, stuff that put me to sleep during theory class but which didn’t work now.
I kept flashing on that moment, his hand reaching toward me and me [...]
I have this memory from my early childhood, one of those things you forget and then periodically remember. I must have been maybe four or five, and my older sister Beth was doing a piano recital.
The recital was at the piano teacher’s house, and all her current students had little songs to play while [...]
(Thanks to all who donated so that all readers could enjoy this piece, the SPIN cover article that Daron was refusing to read the rest of. It actually cuts off just before Bart’s Q&A, but it was at 3000 words and I had to stop somewhere or this would never get posted!)
Fly Me to the [...]
The doorbell woke me up a few hours later and I knew Digger was back. Everyone in the band had a key to the house and wouldn’t have rung it. I started changing my clothes, then remembered I’d put these on clean before I fell asleep. The hair on the back of my head was [...]
Bart came upstairs a little later, while I was trying to get my clothes on. I could comb my hair but not put it into a ponytail holder. I lay on top of the bedding staring at the ceiling and holding my splinted hand in the air.
“So, what was he telling you when we came [...]
