Author Archives: Milton

When I was about 12 my older brothers formed a punk band.  They were both in high school.  My brother Tom had been playing the guitar and flirting with various kinds of music for a while.  When he discovered punk … Continue reading →

The waters that feel my powerless strength And meet my homeless oar Laboring over their ashen length Never to find a shore. But the gleam still skims At times on the somnolent lake, And a light there is that swims … Continue reading →

I remember watching a homeless guy pull a knife on a cop in the Washington Square Park fountain.  The guy had been sitting in the fountain drinking from a liquor bottle wrapped in a paper bag and John “Dr. Juice” … Continue reading →

I recently read an interview with the late great John Fahey, in which he named Harry Smith’s 1952 Anthology of Folk Music as the single most important source of musical education for him and a whole generation of folk music … Continue reading →

I wake up in the morning make a pot of coffee and it’s time to work on songs.  I’m staring down several numbers that are missing big pieces.  Whoah boyeeeee.  Putting off getting to work on them can be an … Continue reading →

No group, be it Beatles, Dylan or Stones have ever improved on “Whole Lot of Shaking” for my money. Or maybe I’m like our parents: that’s my period and I dig it and I’ll never leave it.  –John Lennon I … Continue reading →

I was delighted by all of the passionate responses to my last blog about albums.  I thank you all.  Somebody responded to the last blog by asking about my jazz record preferences.  Below you’ll find a list of the jazz … Continue reading →

Perfect Albums I was planning to continue with my memoirs of Greenwich Village in the 1980’s.  I aim to write about some of the recurring characters from back then.  I probably will write about them at some point, but today … Continue reading →

Record Hunt in the Village, 1985. I remember the sheer excitement getting off the subway at Astor Place and walking towards Washington Square Park for the first time.  As soon as we got to Broadway I saw the big yellow … Continue reading →

When I was in 7th grade, there was in a kid named Josh in both my history class and my English class.  I didn’t know him well but I knew who he was.  I had taken after school Yiddish classes, … Continue reading →