Rick LaClaire
Article Category: Local Scribes, Rick LaClaire
AND YET MORE RANDOM NOTES By Rick LaClaire “Capitalism is the exploitation of man by men. Communism is just the opposite.” — Nikita Khrushchev Yes, another year has passed. They sure go fast, don’t they? It seems like only yesterday I was shaking out my leisure suit, looking for party leftovers. Nowadays I’m more likely to find a suppository wrapper. This phenomenon was best summed up by Bob Dylan. When asked how he felt when he turned the ripe old age of forty, he... [Read more...]
Rick LaClaire
Article Category: Rick LaClaire
The Memory Season By Rick LaClaire “It’s Xmas time again/Has it really been a year?” — Joe Jackson, “Tango Atlantico” My wife’s family has an enduring tradition for Thanksgiving dinner. After all are seated and grace is said, each person at the table must say what they are thankful for. Of course everybody says “family” first and then something like “the Buffalo Bills” (if they’re winning) or “the Sabres” (if they’re... [Read more...]
David Sherman
Article Category: David Sherman
A Very Small Gift List By David Sherman It was my intention to write something of a more non-political nature for the December issue, granting a sort of Holiday ceasefire, if you will. But, as I would be the only one ceasing fire, that idea, however originally well-intentioned, seems a bit pointless, and more than a little naive. While I still respect the sanctity of all the upcoming Holy Days, I would ask that you still take some time out to remember, and try to understand, that there are people... [Read more...]
M. Alberto Rivera
Article Category: M. Alberto Rivera
Great Things From a Roach Motel By M. Alberto Rivera Years ago while listening to a cocksure young artist discuss success and her inevitable collision course with it, I interrupted her well-intentioned rant with some questions she could make neither head nor tail of. “How do you measure success?” I asked. “Monetarily? By fame or name recognition? By those standards alone, Paris Hilton is a success. What about an influential artist or individual who inspired others to create? Would... [Read more...]
M. Alberto Rivera
Article Category: M. Alberto Rivera
She Calls Me By M. Alberto Rivera Twenty minutes after we’d talked, she calls me back to let me know about an event she thought I might be interested in. And that was fine. I’d only found out about the event that afternoon, but appreciated the heads-up. But then she started telling me about her day — what went right and what didn’t, and some of her new interests as well. This was okay, too. We’d spoken earlier when I called to ask a question. I’d sent an email... [Read more...]
Rick LaClaire
Article Category: Rick LaClaire
Wasted Day • Rick LaClaire “And the hangovers hurt more than they used to…” — Hank Williams, Jr. I have a musician friend with a theory about life expectancy. He claims that each of us is born with a preprogrammed number of breaths and heartbeats; that each of us, regardless of how we treat our bodies, is doomed to wear out anyway at a certain specified point. G. Gordon Liddy once said that the maximum mileage of the human machine is 125 years. If you didn’t smoke, drink,... [Read more...]
Dan Reiter
Article Category: Dan Reiter, Local Scribes
Moonrise Serenade (in Gmaj7) • By Dan Reiter • Don’t be fooled, friend, Life undoes itself in every age, The world cracks and cracks, Sprouts up again through fissures, Nothing, everything is new. Don’t be fooled, Don’t doubt yourself, These days are better than before, These end of summer days, Swept with wind, Cusped with gold, These days of indigo And storm swells, Cocoa Beach days, Days of light, Days of sadness. As one empire dies, And dusts up the skies, The newborn rose Pushes... [Read more...]
Political Colic • By David Sherman • Twenty-seven years, two wives, and three kids ago (it’s how I tell time), my first wife, Joie, and I owned two horses: Rigel, a big, bay quarter Morgan mix gelding, and Stardust, a beautiful strawberry roan Appaloosa mare. The divorce left my ex with custody of both, because in Florida the wife almost always gets the kids. Sadly, in this case, the cost of maintaining both horses was more than she could handle, but rather than selling either horse,... [Read more...]
O, Pioneers! Part IV: Sodbusters • By Rick LaClaire • It is August as I write this… August in one of the driest Florida summers I can recall. You’ve often heard me warn of dry Florida summers — heat, fire, misery… But that’s on the mainland. Beachside’s a different story. Dry summers mean that every day is a beach day. The surf warms and stays that way (unless we get an upwelling — we’ll talk about that some other time). So what if your lawn... [Read more...]
M. Alberto Rivera
Article Category: M. Alberto Rivera
While We’re Gone By M. Alberto Rivera (Note left on kitchen counter next to three $50 bills) Lurlene, I can’t begin to thank you enough for watching the place while we go visit my mother. Right now the schedule has us returning in 11 days, but if Roy can stage an accident where nothing important gets broken or he might can get some work, we might stay an extra week or two. I don’t expect you’ll have any trouble at all with the pets, the house or anything at all, but I left... [Read more...]
