Static From My Attic

In this dim and chilly season, as snowbirds migrate south and leaves fall from the trees, I turn from my preoccupation with my own foibles

For this month’s column, I cede the floor to Michael Steinman, who published the following kind commentary about me on his excellent site, jazzlives.wordpress.com. I

As I write this month’s column, it’s challenging to find words to express the depth of my gratitude. I am deeply thankful to all those

I find myself sitting here with the words that invariably manifest themselves as I write my Static column for each issue: It’s been a month.

Have I told you lately that contention makes me tired? Just when I think it’s possible to pause and enjoy a moment of relative serenity,

Well, it’s been quite month. Of course, for me, every month is “quite a month”—but this one, if it were a physical rather than an

I was lucky to grow up in a community that was ethnically (if not racially) diverse. Certain nationalities predominated, and in the cul-de-sac where I

Not that I want to brood on untoward anniversaries, but this month marks two years since everything shut down, but good. I find with some

Since publishing my first issue of The Syncopated Times six years ago this month, the time has just flown. It doesn’t feel like a minute

Over the past two years all of us have had to recalibrate our definition of “normal.” It used to be typical that we would see

I’ve never considered myself one for taking risks. I was always that kid whose knees buckled at the notion of climbing to the highest diving

Let me confess here that I have long had a love of Classic Calypso. I’m referring specifically to the lively and witty Trinidadian music recorded

In every issue of The Syncopated Times, I mean to celebrate the life force; syncopation itself is the pulse of life. The beat of one’s

In my capacity as publisher of The Syncopated Times, one of the duties I must fulfill is that of cheerleader for the music. It’s necessary

It often happens that, when I need to cleanse my palate of the taste of drudgery that this gig engenders, I will browse our local

The reader will note that a rather morbid undercurrent has run through this column over the past two months. In May, I noted the death

By the time you hold this paper in your hand, I will have achieved the grim distinction of being exactly the same age New Yorker

I was reminded of my favorite childhood reading material this past month when I heard that Frank Jacobs, the extraordinary writer of light verse and

I’ve been putting off writing this column until the last minute—almost until I am physically unable to write it. (That would be an excellent method

I’m going to veer wildly off-format here in order to fulfill a promise I made in this column last month. Last year, a subscriber named

I was deeply honored this month to receive a message from the legendary jazz writer, editor, archivist, and producer Dan Morgenstern, who offered his kind

I begin to think I should rename this column “The Crisis of the Month.” A crisis is not necessarily a bad thing, but it demands

As I begin this column, it approaches six o’clock in the morning of my printer’s deadline. If I was able last month to glide to

This month’s paper, late though you may receive it, is something of a miracle. One week before this writing I was in a state of