Ward Guthrie: Life's Intervals
I have been playing piano for 66 years. I have only owned two pianos in my life. One of them, a 5’ 4” Henry F. Miller baby grand, is not quite within shouting distance but close, just up the road from where I live in Montana. The other, a Yamaha 7’ grand is, from where I’m sitting here typing, so close I can touch it. To some a piano is a piece of furniture. For me it’s my lifeline and informs a long love affair. It requires attention. My relationship to both instruments is intricate. Being drawn to play an instrument is one thing. To form a relationship opening a dialogue filled with challenges and expectations is quite another. You are partners in an endeavor of discovery that can last a lifetime. The instrument reveals who you are and offers a constructive path paving your musical journey. Yet that journey leaves the instrument subject to the gravity of age and aging. You have a responsibility to its health. This is where another relationship becomes vital to that pursuit, that of the piano technician. The person I entrust the health of my piano to is Ward Guthrie. Read more ...
Cora Neumann: Immeasurable Impact
Life moves at an exponential speed for all of us these days. I was prepared to post this essay on Cora Neumann’s Montana Senate run when I happened to see on MSNBC that Montana Governor Steve Bullock was considering running for the United States Senate. On Monday, March 9, 2020, he made his Senate run official. Cora’s campaign sent a note to say she was withdrawing from the race and would be supporting Governor Bullock’s campaign. She bowed out with grace and offered to stay involved in his run against Republican Steve Daines. I find her to be a remarkable person, running for the Senate or not. I want to share with you who she is and why I’m proud to know her. read more ...
The Fierce Terrain: A Friendship and Alliance
I will leave it to others to memorialize, to exalt into the heavens someone who wouldn’t have wanted it. Paul Barrere was my band mate, my friend, someone I leaned on and occasionally pushed away. We spent a good measure of our lives engaged in the art of making and playing music with a band that could have only been conjured in a dream. But it was all too real. Little Feat was the one thing that could collectively bring us all together for the purpose of creating something with purpose, our place of refuge and exploration, of comfort, of dismay, and of ultimately what Paul might have called Home Ground. read more ...
We live in an age where increasingly we feel helpless to deal with the onslaught of minutiae barreling at us from all sides. The histrionics surrounding any given issue only adds to the malaise. This is precisely what the powers that be want: an overwhelmed, unresponsive, and distracted populace. For those who choose to stand up, the battles are endless, a war of attrition, yielding, in some cases, ephemeral results . . . two steps up, one step back, requiring sustained and focused resistance. I sought out a person who lives in a community that hasn’t fallen prey to the smoke and mirrors. Who has lived a life of fighting back for worthy causes, working close to the ground, surrounded by people of like-minded vision. The community is Livingston, MT. Dan Sullivan lives and works there. read more ...
Camaraderie, Perseverance, Lives of Consequence: Dave Gray and Kerri Morgan
People with strength of purpose have always fascinated me. Battling the odds and obstacles through perseverance. Finding refuge--as well as strength in purpose--an essential plateau to regroup and reorganize one’s thoughts when the voices of doubt threaten to overturn any sense of progress, is an art in itself. It takes a person of enormous heart and focus, whose basic concepts of how to live and thrive have been turned upside down and tested, at times beyond endurance, to regain momentum within to pursue the twin aspirations of hope and optimism. read more ...
When I was fifteen I nearly lost my life. Remarkably, I also found my life. I was unhappy for many reasons, but chief among them was moving from Ventura, California to Santa Maria, approximately 100 miles north on the 101 Freeway. I had grown up in Ventura. All my friends were there. I was entering high school—in 1964 high school commenced at grade 10. My music teacher, Ruth Neuman, had recently passed away from a heart attack, another devastating blow. I was angry, confused, and cut adrift. read more ...
I was told Johnny Lee’s recording studio housed Richard Manuel’s piano. Paul Barrere had suggested we make use of Johnny’s place to record our next project. Not that I needed any persuading -- Johnny’s studio is legendary. It is a converted garage separated from his home in the back on a quiet street in Studio City. read more ...
Vancouver Island Music Fest 7-11-10
We were all in anticipation of seeing Richie. It had been almost a year. We traveled up to Vancouver Island to play a concert, taking the next day off to visit with Richie and his wife Shauna at their home. Throughout that long year I had many conversations with Richie on the phone. There was not one time I didn’t hang up without crying. read more ...
The news was devastating. Richie Hayward’s health was in severe jeopardy. He would need time off for tests. The process could take a year or more, no one was sure. Originally he was slated to continue touring until the end of the year. But that was not to be. read more ...
“It’s a good feeling thing. You know, peace and harmony and humor.”
Joe Rocco and I are sitting in the back of a forty eight foot trailer, which holds all of Little Feat’s gear for touring. I’m asking him about the shrine he has set up and what its purpose is. read more ...