music

Music has saved me time and time again. I love it all, from opera to baroque, country to rock, blues and jazz, rap and hip-hop, new wave and electronica. I just can’t get enough music in my life.

I was taught how to play the piano starting from the second grade by a nun with halitosis. But I couldn’t buckle down and practice the way she wanted me to: it was much easier and more natural to play by ear. That meant I was always in demand at family gatherings, able to play the popular songs of the day such as Somewhere My Love or Exodus. Remembering how I’d play Yellow Bird for my beloved Uncle Joe brings tears to my eyes.

In college I bought a guitar on Plum Street in Detroit and began to learn folk music. I played piano and guitar in bars in Chicago to make extra money in my 20s. I have written some songs that I wistfully believe someday somebody in Nashville will buy. I’m learning to play bluegrass fiddle now. It’s the hardest instrument I’ve ever tackled.