I moved to Chicago in October of 2005. I’d just done a three and a half month road trip around the US. And now I was living alone in a suburb of Chicago. It was a situation brought about by chance and random friend connections, a self-imposed exile of sorts. I hadn’t lived in anything […]

I have had the singular experience of dancing to these two bands. Of course, here in Chicago, blues bands are a dime a dozen, but there seems to be a particular lack of practitioners of the older delta/country/piedmont styles of blues. Sometimes I have to travel far and wide to find the sound I crave. […]

There is no contentedness in days as cold as these. I’m forever writing about the winter and how it cuts me. Once I’m in, and fully immersed, I can handle it, but it’s these slow painful days that creep down towards freezing that make my skin prickle and scream with every centimeter.
These songs are sad […]

“Move from your center,” I order you as you travel across the floor. “Lead with your core!” There’s so much yoga/pilates/fitness talk these days that I often presume you know what I mean.
To find the muscle groups that I’m talking about, try a little experiment.

Lie down face-up on the floor, with your knees up, the […]