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I am on Substack enough to know that there is a serious movement to discourage and ban any AI from creative work. But I need to confess this: I do use AI (in my case, Gemini) to proofread what I post here. The prompt I use is this: “Please edit the following for typos:” and… Read more
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“Sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own” ~cf. “Eyes of the World” by Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia Just shy of 100 albums into my album-listening project—which I have come to call “My Jazz Project”—I find myself listening over and over this week to a single track: “Cigar Eddie” by… Read more
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“In my time, Ernest Hemingway wrote a certain kind of story better and more effectively than it had ever been done before. He was properly accepted and acclaimed. He was imitated almost slavishly by every young writer, including me, not only in America but in the world. He wrote a special kind of story out… Read more
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Throwback Thursdays” at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on March 11, 2020 In one of my favorite chess quotes, writer Edward Lasker (not to be confused with chess great Emanuel Lasker) once said, “It has been said that man is distinguished from animal in that he… Read more
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Album Money Jungle Artist Duke EllingtonCharles Mingus Year 1962 Personnel Duke Ellington (piano), Charles Mingus (bass), Max Roach (drums) Era / Style Piano Trio / Modern Jazz Favorite Tracks “Warm Valley,” “Solitude” First Listen Reaction Three “Legends” together. A compelling and historically important album that I admired throughout, even though only a few tracks fully… Read more
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“The more a man knows, the more he forgives.” — Ivan Turgenev Read more
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One of the truisms of American poetry is that some of the most original poetry written in the 20th century was written by non-professional poets—that is, poets who had their primary careers in fields other than writing or teaching writing. Unencumbered by more traditional poetic relationships and poetic responsibilities, poets like Wallace Stevens and William… Read more
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Album From Sweden With Love Artist Art FarmerJim Hall Year 1964 Personnel Art Farmer (flugelhorn), Jim Hall (guitar), Steve Swallow (bass), and rhythm section Era / Style Chamber Jazz / Folk-Jazz / Cool Jazz Favorite Tracks Fine Crystal First Listen Reaction Immediate connection. The combination of Swedish folk melodies and jazz improvisation felt fresh and… Read more
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“He who lives in the present lives forever.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein Read more
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Throwback Thursdays” at ClimbingSky feature posts I wrote over a 15 year period for various blogs. This was first posted on September 30, 2013. Non-Fiction writers are disciplined. Poets not nearly so. And so the long hiatuses here. I pass time pushing lines of verse around on metaphorical pages. In short, I have been waiting for inspiration. A… Read more
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