"Travel"

I'm on a train headed to Brussels so I thought I'd share this lovely poem.

Travel
The railroad track is miles away,
And the day is loud with voices speaking,
Yet there isn't a train goes by all day
But I hear its whistle shrieking.

All night there isn't a train goes by,
Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,
But I see its cinders red on the sky,
And hear its engine steaming.

My heart is warm with friends I make,
And better friends I'll not be knowing;
Yet there isn't a train I'd rather take,
No matter where it's going.

-Edna St. Vincent Millay

I appreciate you...John Mayer

This is a new feature that came about as a way for me to show some appreciation to the people, artists, et all that really move me.

The original draft of this post was full of flowery prose that touched on Mr. Mayer's personal life, antics and other silliness, but I'm just going to keep things short and simple since this post is really about me enjoying and appreciating the product the artist puts out and respecting that vision, though in this case the focus is not a new song.

This is a video John shot while alone on vacation in Japan last week, that I found endearing and reminiscent of "Lost in Translation." It's really inspired me to take a trip alone (as soon as possible) just to clear my head. You can check out the other video's on his page, and you can see him perform tonight on Conan with the esteemed John Mayer Trio. If you've never seen or heard them, they're stellar (Steve Jordan is a musical genius of infinite proportion, and Pino Palladino's bass skills can soothe the soul.) In the meantime please enjoy and know that I also appreciate you fine readers for taking the time to read this and all my other posts!

"Having A Coke With You"

Having A Coke With You

is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt
partly because of the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary
it is hard to believe when I’m with you that there can be anything as still
as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it
in the warm New York 4 o’clock light we are drifting back and forth
between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles


and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them
I look at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world
except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it’s in the Frick
which thank heavens you haven’t gone to yet so we can go together the first time
and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn’t pick the rider as carefully
as the horse
it seems they were all cheated of some marvellous experience
which is not going to go wasted

-Frank O Hara

"Take me to New York, I'd love to see L.A..."

This song just doesn't get old.