Resurrecting this page with some casual updates:
This writing comes as a byproduct of (/distraction from) ischial bursitis, typing supine-on-ice from “The Lord [Lloyd Webber]’s Couch*,” mentally digesting a feast of recent theater…
(…Broadway-related ruminations I shall save for later – once I’ve attended the Tale of Sweeney Todd, for one…)
My apologies for this extended “absence” – I didn’t plan on it.
I appreciate that I have this audience: this humble platform I built now five springtimes ago as a digital space to create is a “place” for which I remain grateful (despite the state-of-mind its domain title suggests) – and I recognize that I’ve neglected it.
(…Upon further investigation, I see nearly eight months have passed since I last “fed” even Instagram with a post – “missing” my most recent birthday [39 – festivities including laps of butterfly in a Seattle swimming pool late last September!], a change in calendar year, multiple seasons, flights, milestones, and curveballs – time lived largely off-screen, alongside an evolving collection of lyrics and illustrations [and physical therapy tools!]…)
A[nother] personal truth revealed by my pandemic experience: admitted previously, I [continue to] struggle with [computer] screens. (Yes, I’ve seen doctors; yes, I’ve read books, taken tests, explored a number of remedies – and yes, stress is a pesky series regular in the cast list of my contributing factors…)
Statistics show I’m slower-than-most to process visual information alongside moving icons, changing colors, and modern “conveniences” (oh my!). While I don’t have a clear diagnosis from a licensed professional (beyond “anxiety”), I do continue to study and adapt as best I can, learning to embrace more of a, shall we say, “ballad-pace” when taking in screen-displayed text.
It’s become an unquestionable handicap, leading me to lean on printer and paper for proofreading the “need-to-see” – abandoning (unpaid) blog and social media posts – perfectionism a powerful nemesis, ink far from free…
Returning briefly to the timing of my last post, toasting the close of 2020, some behind-the-curtain context:
A then-soft faucet leak was but two days underway above our bathtub drain – drops of scalding water eating gradually through the glaze, our then-new Super awaiting the precise piece needed for repairs (on back order, of course), our apartment filling slowly with steam in the meantime.
Little did we know then: that leak would underscore our lives for 28 days straight, destroying the [since-repaired] tub, warping multiple doors – and triggering a practice in my hands I didn’t anticipate…
Focusing on some happy highlights:
2021 began with a first – and, I’ll admit, so far, an only: a song that came out practically all in one piece, lyric and tones together, as I sat at the piano (conveniently), composing over a sleepless night, haunted by the call of that drip-dropping water, hands on the keys, eyes fixated on “snowflakes” of ceiling paint falling in the foyer – another consequence of our “singing” faucet…
This experience became the back-bookend of Horse Might Sing – a lullaby sung by “B,” a Sacramento-bound character conjured by my brain, initially, in 2019. (Working track title: “Tokyo Sunrise,” for those in the know already…) Paired with the album’s title (/Opening) track, penned with my Partner’s help late-February 2020, I had my framework – and continue, slowly but surely, to connect the [dozen] tracks in-between…
Beyond the synesthestic system I employ as my “compass” to conquer the Circle of Fifths, I’ve expanded my practice to include hand-drawn illustrations to outline, and ever-refine, my process:
Some sentences I struggle still to believe:
In 2022, I began and completed a 198-page illustrated manuscript (!?!).
A choose-your-own-adventure style story of cultivating a judgment-free creative practice (using my own as an example), I blended – intentionally – work of artists whose lines inspired [some of] mine.
If you would like to click through a digital *DRAFT* of the full book (99 pages), please contact me for the password.
Through and beyond the Book, I’ve developed a robust hand-drawn illustration practice…
I call it all Key of JMS – and yes, it cracks me up to note that name has served faithfully as this site’s Bio Header the whole time…
More to come…soon(ish).
(I promise to share my thoughts on Aaron Sorkin’s Camelot, Ben Platt’s Leo Frank, Josh Groban’s Sweeney, the latest from Tom Stoppard and Mischief Productions – plus my recent return to “Hell” [Hadestown – this time’s railroad line led by lady Hermes Lillias White!]. In time…)
Thank you for being “here.”
xo
Post title inspired by Stark Sands riding his sweet A4 over Cyndi Lauper’s KINKY [BOOTS] score – which, I’m convinced, contains healing powers. (Bonus Pro Tip: to sing a challenging tone on an “o,” thinking of it as an “uh” helps – thanks, Chelsea Wilson!)
*”The Lord’s Couch” – Ha! – an in-home phrase, allow me to explain:
My Partner’s “moving stipend” [for SOR Broadway] came cackle-inducingly short of covering an actual Chicago-to-Manhattan move – but it did buy us a great couch that we’ve enjoyed – and named in honor of the man (and woman) behind our invitation to the adventures of a life in New York City…
