Category Archives: Personal

Music and my aunt Anne.

We said farewell to Anne yesterday, four generations gathered together, to mourn and celebrate our mother, aunt, sister, wife, friend. I wrote about Anne and my family, and music.

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Kidney of Bloom, pray for us.

Bloomsday 2023 at Ulysses pub. The pub opened its doors on June 16, 2003. I have no idea how I heard about it back then (I just looked it up: Aedin told me.) – but I did. The pub opened … Continue reading

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New Substack: Bloomsday past and present

For my Substack, I wrote about the Bloomsday celebration I’ve been going to (more or less) for 20 years, and my history with the book, and Dad, and lovable finance bro, and meeting people where the sole bond is knowing … Continue reading

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Happy Pride, wherever you may be

This past Saturday I attended the very first Pride parade held in a little seaside town in my home state. There’s a big parade in the capital, and the state is so small people in general attend that one. But … Continue reading

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Substack: Writing roundup

A freebie for all subscribers: Roundup of my writing over the last couple of months, plus some thoughts on Viva Las Vegas, After Hours, Ebertfest, my time in Chicago … everything I’ve been doing. Thanks for reading!

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“Boredom is very important in life. It helps you feel when something is wrong.” — John Strasberg

It’s John Strasberg’s birthday today. I told this story before on here years ago, when I used to write like this on here, on occasion. Figured I’d re-post it. He is very very important to me. Back in the late … Continue reading

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Snapshots

It’s been a while. March and April were a whirlwind. February too. — I worked on this. It was a challenging one, and a little different for me. I loved the challenge. — Michael messaged me (you know. Michael. This … Continue reading

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May 7: Viva Las Vegas at the Paris Theater!

^^ This promo, gigantic on the Paris Theatre website, is now my favorite thing on the planet. My name up there, my outlet, and the MASSIVE faces of Elvis and Ann-Margret. Life is a curious thing. You never know where … Continue reading

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“I wanted to deliver a work that could be read universally as the-thing-in-itself but that would also sustain those extensions of meaning that our disastrously complicated local predicament made both urgent and desirable.” — Seamus Heaney

It’s his birthday today. Jean and I went to visit Siobhan in Ireland. Siobhan was in school, so while she was in classes Jean and I rented a car and drove across the country to Galway, and other Western points. … Continue reading

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Ten Years.

Me on New Years Eve, Memphis, December 31, 2012. Sitting outside of my hotel with a plastic cup of champagne. Alone. It’s been 10 years since Roger Ebert died. He emailed me to ask me to write for him on … Continue reading

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