When Prince died I was writing an IT proposal to get a Federal contract. If you’d have told me that either of those things (Prince dying at 57, me leaving commercial art for filthy lucre) when “Purple Rain” came out – I would have punched you. Making accommodations to self-sufficiency were still years off, and I had years of struggle and failure ahead of me, I lived in a bubble of artistic delusion. I’m writing today to say, I wasn’t all wrong. (more…)
Category: Out of the Past
Fragments of true stories fermented in my memory, distilled for your enjoyment
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The Creative Ember – Death, Prince and Me
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Out of the Past: My Evening with Ed
My evening with Ed is a true story, the mists of time have obscured some details, but the core is seared into memory. There are certain touchstones from my youth, usually involving the curtain being pulled back on the darker corners of human nature, that served as the cautionary tales I used to shape who I wanted to be. And my evening with Ed was one of the most powerful. (more…) -
Out of the Past: Mouse-mageddon
If you’ve know me for any length of time, you’ve heard this story, but I’ve never committed it to writing And such things need to be remembered.In my younger and more vulnerable years, I followed somebody else’s dream to the nightmare city of Indianapolis. We were there to open three gyms, and make our fortune. We succeeded in opening three gyms. (more…)
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Out of the Past: Movies 1980 (The Year of Disappointment)
Memory’s funny, it’s about as trustworthy as Lucy Van Pelt with a football, but mine’s pretty good. But where I can remember events with great detail, it’s all unstuck in time – ask me if it was five or fifteen years ago, I’m at a loss. (Same with names, I remember your wife, dog and kids but your name is veiled in mystery.) (more…) -
Out of the Past: Movies 1984
“Wash day tomorrow? Nothing clean, right?”
This line, spoken to a naked Arnold Schwarzenegger by a punk kid about to lose his heart (literally), became more of a catch phrase with my gym friends than the more popular “I’ll be back”. Back in the day, movies and television would penetrate more deeply into more segments of the society, and it was fun. It was a good bet that after a weekend, somebody you knew had seen whatever the “big” movie was, and you could riff on it. Today’s full-on 24/7 all-inputs media saturation isn’t “bad” – but it’s paradoxically isolating – I can’t remember the last great movie convo I had (I’m reduced to listening to podcasts where other’s get to have the fun!) (more…) -
Out of the Past: Nicknames
What’s in a Name?I posted to Facebook recently that it had struck me it had been decades since I’ve had an active nickname. This is noteworthy because till I was around 30 it was fifty-fifty chance that if I saw you on a daily basis you didn’t know my given name. (more…)
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Out of the Past: Typing Class
Memory is so weirdI was jawboning with two of my clients today, and the senior asked the junior if she ever had to learn typing. This question was clearly hilarious to her, like she’d been asked if she’d learned how to churn butter as a child. (more…)
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Omens, Best Intentions and Flat Tires
It’s 11:00 p.m., just got settled in from my day, it’s late for me, but I’m too cranked to let this moment pass.So, I’m driving into work today. It’s 7:00 am on a freezing Monday morning, just running the drill. Same road, same destination.same-o same-o. I catch a fully lit fire engine in my peripheral vision, it’s coming off the ramp and slowing behind the yellow-orange “drivers assistance” vehicle that seems to be assisting no one. A momentary curiosity. (more…)