Mitt Romney in 1965, and today. 

I try to steer clear of politics on this blog. With all the political discussion raging online, I’m afraid all I have to contribute is heat, and not much light.

But the recent revelation that Mitt Romney was a bully in prep school –… Read full post »

My father's last book is about to be published:

FINAL BOOK OF CHURCHILL TRILOGY COMING THIS FALL

By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer – 4 days ago NEW YORK (AP) —

The third and final volume of the late William Manchester's beloved series on Winston Churchill is coming out this fall,… Read full post »

I love a good thriller. This recent genre of novels is descended from older breeds of diversionary literature, such as the mysteries, detective stories and horror. Unlike these styles, which have tended to calcify into predictable forms, thrillers are still in an early state of evolution.  Its w/… Read full post »

(Note – I wrote this several weeks ago and didn’t get around to finishing it until now. I’m leaving it in the present tense.)

According to clocks and calendars, time marches along at steady, metronomic tempo. That’s not how it feels to us. Time stretches and shrinks, dependin… Read full post »

Cloud from 1st nuclear explosion, "Mike." 

I was scouting sites in San Francisco for a new novel. I called my old friend Dan. He’s been doing audio for films for decades, starting with Apocalypse Now. I figured he’d seen some strange locations.

I asked him, “What… Read full post »

 As promised in my last post, here are graves from the Pet Cemetery. It is no longer the peaceful spot it once was now that it cowers under the construction of the new feeder to the Golden Gate Bridge. But if you're in the area you should catch it before it's… Read full post »

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 “I Left a 'Piece of My Heart' in San Francisco”

No, it’s not some gruesome song mash-up, the ghost of dear Janis Joplin scrreaming over a poor crooning Tony Bennett, scaring him so badly that he’s losing that genial smile.

 It’s a simple stat… Read full post »

The ophthalmologist who diagnosed me with a retinal stroke called it “the canary in the mine” -early warning of worse things that might come, like a brain stoke. Last Wednesday I had an MRI to investigate what danger might be lurking down the tunnels of my arteries.

&n… Read full post »

Japanese war tubas 

 Three short Preludes and an Impromptu for Tubas, Piano, Violin, Pianist, Recording Engineer, Golden Girl, Razor Blade, Sex Toys, Editor of Sex Film (off stage), Orgasm Loop (faked; off stage), Fender Rhodes and Celeste.

 PRELUDE I - SoCal Tuba Traged… Read full post »

 Why have I been absent from OS since last summer?  I’ve been busy working, of course, but the real reason I’ve been gone is that I fell down a well. Not with a dramatic splash, but slowly, like a motion capture film of a leaf on a fall day. So slowly… Read full post »

My old freind Peter Stern had been telling me for years about his cousin Tom, a musician who's played with Frank Wakefield, Dan Hicks, Taj Mahal, David Nelson of NRPS and THE guitar hero of my youth - Mike Bloomfield. 

Last week I finally got to meet Tom, for dinner… Read full post »

Linda posted about our recent lunch.

 Lunch a second year in a row confirmed what I already knew–that Linda exudes a warm spirit that embraces others with real huggggs. She’s funny, quirky, overflowing with stories that are as colorful and eclectic as the fun clothes she wears.… Read full post »

Well, Mrs. Muse and I did it again, just like a year ago:

 http://open.salon.com/blog/luminousmuse/2011/02/16/valentines_day_at_the_in-n-out 

We had our V-Day date here. 

"In-n-Out" refers to this of course, even if it is V-Day. What, you had something else i… Read full post »

In researching his alternate history of JFK’s assassination, 11/22/63, Stephen King did his homework – reading “a stack of books and articles on the subject almost as tall as I am.”  In researching his non-fiction work on the same subject, Death of a President, my/… Read full post »

I was reading Stephen King’s latest – 11/2/63, an alternate history of JFK’s assassination - when I ran into my father. I was using the Kindle app on my iPad, so I can’t say which page it was on, only that it was location 1071, 8% through the book.… Read full post »

Until he died this week, I never paid much attention to Steve Jobs. I was vaguely aware of the dramatic ups and down in his career, and that he was some intense guy with a vision. I was too busy working on and playing with the products he created to notice… Read full post »

 Disclosure: I just finished that indispensable writer’s guide, Killer Headlines That Will Grab Readers' Eyeballs (and Squeeze Until The Juice Rolls Down Their Faces) by Ellis Dee Trypp. So while “A Brief History” is mine the credit all goes to the redoubtable Mr.… Read full post »

“Teach your children well. Their father’s hell did slowly go by. And feed them on their dreams….” –Graham Nash

Frank Sinatra is haunting Mrs. Muse and me. Not our house. We don’t wake to the sound of a ghostly rat pack stumbling around in the attic,… Read full post »

My father and I on the Snake River in 1980 

Seven years ago early in the morning of June 1^st, my father’s nurse woke me to say,  “Your father has passed.” I sat vigil, alone, at the foot of his bed, periodically glancing at his face, then… Read full post »

By Jennifer Egan:

 Invisible Circus (1995)

 Look at Me (2001)

 The Keep (2006)

 A Visit From the Goon Squad (2010) Pulitzer Prize

 My tastes in music range from high to low. It doesn’t faze me when my iPod shuffles from Beethoven’s Missa Solemni… Read full post »

I am planning to self-publish my books and have been testing the waters. These three articles describe self-published authors who have made serious money selling their e-Books:

 http://paidcontent.org/article/419-meet-the-a-list-authors-of-self-publishing/

 http://www.usat… Read full post »

I came to Open Salon a little over a year ago hoping to find readers. I found more.  Good writers to enjoy, some of whose styles have influenced me. And I’ve made some friends, something I really treasure at my age. 

 OS is also helping to serve as a… Read full post »

FOREST

(Photo by Dawit Rezenè.)

TREES

Last fall was a tough time for me. The memoir I had worked on for years was rejected by all the agents I sent it too. The new website I had devoted much of  a year and… Read full post »

Toyota Solara 

We bounced up the mountain on the dirt road, the undercarriage of our car clunking from time to time on one of the bigger bumps.  I was following the directions Alec had given me the first time we came to visit, thirty years ago – “Just/… Read full post »

THE TWILIGHT ZONE – A LOST EPISODE, “Time Machine.”

 The unmistakable voice of Rod Serling, “In a small town somewhere in America a man finds a used item. He can’t help himself, he has to buy it, because it’s what’s he’s always wante… Read full post »