Recent finds, books, CDs, etc...
Updated 10/20/07

CDs:
Peg Simone - The Deeper You Get
Evan Parker - Time Lapse
The Killers - Sam's Town

DVDs:
80% of Love (unreleased) - Choreography by Elke Rindfleisch, Music by Chris Woltman

Books:
Uncle Tungsten - Oliver Sacks

CDs:
The Music of Armenia - Volume Three - Duduk (Celestial Harmonies)
The Music of Armenia - Volume Four - Kanon / Traditional Zither Music (Celestial Harmonies)

Books:
Dub (Soundscapes & Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae) - Michael E. Veal

CDs:
Andrew Hill - Point of Departure
David Bowie - Station to Station
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Doc At The Radar Station

DVD
Maya Deren - Experimental Films (Mystic Fire)

Books:
Other Voices, Other Rooms - Truman Capote
Black Art A Cultural History - Richard Powell
Get In The Van - Henry Rollins (rereading this...I've had this book for some time...)

CDs:
Von Sudenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions
Burnt Sugar - Live From Lake Minnetonka Walker Arts Center
Ballroom Dance Is Dead (not released)

CDs:
Charles Ives - Symphony No. 2, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein conducting
Velvet Voices, Eastern SHores Choirs, Quartets, and Colonial Era Music - The Alan Lomax Collection
Icky Thump - The White Stripes

DVD
WattStax

CDs:
Christopher Jentsch - Miami Suite
Burnt Sugar - The Rites
Women In Love - The Sound Of Falling Bodies At Rest
Peter Murphy - Deep
Art Pepper Plus Eleven

Books
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy


CDs:
Charlie Patton - The Best of Charlie Patton (Yazoo)
Professor Longhair - Rock 'N' Roll Gumbo
Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring (NY Philharmonic Orchestra with Zubin Mehta)
Igor Stravinsky - Les Noces (Leonard Bernstein)

CDs:
Teiji Ito - Tenno (I really love this piece...)
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
DVDs:
Bjork - Vespertine Live at Royal Opera House

CDs:
Sharrif Simmons - The EchoEffect
Permagrin - 3 (New CD - unreleased)
Louis Romanos - Electric Lou
Enrico Curreri - In A Wallace Stevens Sense
Spiritual Unity - Marc Ribot, Roy Campbell, Chad Taylor, Henry Grimes
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
James Brown - 20 Greatest Hits
Wadada Leo Smith - Luminous Axis

Video / DVD
In The Mirror of Maya Deren (dir. Martina Kudlacek)
Leonard Bernstein - Chichester Psalms, Symphony No. 1, Symphony No. 2

Vinyl:
Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield
Low - David Bowie (Classic!!!)

CDs:
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Marie Antoinette - Original Soundtrack

Streaming CD
Theresa Anderson 5 Song EP (Basin Street Records) - Singer/Songwriter/Violinist in New Orleans...VERY cool! Check out her version of Madonna's "Borderline"!

CDs:
The Cure - The Top (The Rhino remastered edition; 2nd CD of demos that are really cool...)
John Zorn - Rituals
Got The Impeach Bush/Cheney Blues
Absolute Beginners (soundtrack) - Vinyl

Books
Black Dog of Fate - Peter Balakian

DVD
John Fahey - In Concert and Interviews 1969 and 1996

CDs:
William Parker Quartet with Leena Conquest - Raining On The Moon
Lok 03 (Aki Takase, Alex von Schlippenbach, DJ Illvibe)
Osvaldo Golijov - Ayre
Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives - Soul's Chapel
The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
Southern Journey Vol 12: Georgia Sea Islands

Video:
Coffee & Cigarettes - dir. Jim Jarmausch (I'm a big fan - Broken Flowers is also an excellent film in my opinion...)

CDs:
Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint - The River In Reverse (I can't stop listening to this - please check it out especially if you're not familiar with Allen's music. Lee Dorsey is someone else to listen to as an artist who sang a bunch of Allen's songs. The DVD is also very moving - it was weird to see New Orleans during what looked like December 2005?)
Kidd Jordran, Hamid Drake, William Parker - Palm of Soul
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Porcupine Tree - Up The Downstair

Books:
Ceremony - Leslie Marmon Silko
Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

CDs:
Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Frank Zappa - Lumpy Gravy
John Zorn - Moonchild
Enrico Curreri - A Long Walk Home

Books:
The Great Deluge - Douglas Brinkley
Cut n Mix (Culture, Identity and Caribbean Music) by Dick Hebdige

CDs:
Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome The Seeger Sessions
Miles Davis - Tutu
Willie Nelson - Teatro
William Parker Quartet - Sound Unity
Chris Thomas King - Red Mud Sessions

Updated 04/20/06

Books:
Louise Brooks - Barry Paris
Let It Blurt, The Life and Times of Lester Bangs America's Greatest Rock Critic - Jim DeRogatis

CDs:
Nightmares on Wax - In a space, outta sound
M.I.A. - Arular
Buck Owens and his Buckaroos - Live at Carnegie Hall (vinyl)
David Byrne - Rei Momo
Echoes of the Forest - Music of the Central African Pygmies (ellipsis arts)

updated 03/18/06

CDs:
Hank Williams III - Straight To Hell
Patsy Cline - Showcase (with the Jordanaires!)
Also lately enjoying music by friends The Doc Marshalls, Lynn Wright (And The Wiremen), Enrico Curreri, my wife Lainie Diamond (who will soon have her CD on CD Baby!), and various folks on MySpace...too much music...too little time...

DVDs
Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil

CDs:
Coldcut - Sound Mirrors
Mein Herz Brennt - A Song Cycle Based On The Lyrics And Music Of Rammstein - Torsten Rasch (with Rene Pape - who rocks - and Katharina Thalbach)
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson - Handel Arias
Atmosphere - "Panic Attack" (from You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having)
Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
Young Guardians of the Flame - New Way Pockey Way - Heard the track "Indian Red" at the New Orleans: Rebuilding a Musical City conference at Columbia University and bought a copy of the CD right afterwards. Cherice Harrison-Nelson who produced this CD was on a panel with other New Orleans musicians including Allen Toussaint.

updated 01/15/06

The Garden of Brokenness - William Basinski
Neil Young - Dead Man
King Oliver - The Great 1923 Gennetts

Books:
Triksta: Life and Death and New Orleans Rap - Nik Cohn
The Moviegoer - Walker Percy

CDs:
Sinawi Music of Korea (Can't figure out what label this is on - World Music Library?)
Cecilia Bartoli - Opera Proibita
Nine Horses - Snow Borne Sorrow
Albert Ayler - Holy Ghost (Rare and unissued recordings from 1962-1970 - 9 CD boxed set)
Henry Butler - The Game Has Just Begun (Check out any of Henry's CDs if you're a fan of Professor Longhair, Dr. John, and/or other New Orleans piano giants...)

DVDs:
Ram Dass - Fierce Grace
Genghis Blues
Kung Fu - The Complete First Season

CDs:
Kate Bush - Aerial (Beautiful! The Dreaming and Hounds of Love are also wonderful records...)
Thelonious Monk Quartet - Misterioso (Puh-leeze! How can you go wrong with a Thelonious Monk recording?)
Johnny Cash - God (...and Lord help me I'm going to see "Walk The Line" next week...)
Naked City Live Vol. 1 The Knitting Factory 1989
Louis Armstrong - "When It's Sleepy Time Down South"
Bettye LaVette - I've Got My Own Hell To Raise
Los Cojolites - El Conejo
Silvestre Revueltas -The String Quartets - Cuarteto Latinamericano

Books:
The Golden Bough

CDs:
Dr. John - All By Hisself (This CD includes a seperate DVD where Dr. John talks about and demonstrates several New Orleans piano/rhythmic styles - very informative and cool)
Led Zepplin - In Through The Out Door

CDs:
Kronos Quartet - Night Prayers
Kronos Quartet - Nuevo
Mexico - Fiestas of Chiapas & Oaxaca
Cuban Counterpoint - History of Son Montuno
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (Okay, I'm late getting on the bandwagon - I like this CD a lot)

DVDs:
Gangs of New York

CDs:
Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind
Tom Waits - Real Gone

Books:
Coming Through Slaughter - Michael Ondaatje
The Brothers - Art, Aaron, Charles, and Cyril Neville and David Ritz

CDs:
Robert Johnson - King Of The Delta Blues Singers
Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Lord, they were good when I saw them in New Orleans some time ago...I should pick up some of their more recent stuff...)
Elvis Costello - The Delivery Man
The Byrds - Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
Osvaldo Golijov - K'in Sventa Ch'ul Me'Tik Kwadulupe (from the Kronos Quartet CD Nuevo - replayed this after reading an interview with Golijov in Opera News...I plan to dig in to more of his work. Excellent job arranging many pieces on the Kronos disc...)

DVDs:
American Splendor

CDs:
Southern Journey Vol. 3 - 61 Highway Mississippi (Delta Country Blues, Spirituals, Work Songs & Dance Music - this is a great introduction to Alan Lomax's work and to the music of the Deep South)
Enrico Curreri - Planetary Alarm Conference
Halls Of The Machine - Atmospheres For Lovers And Sleepers

Vinyl:
Socrate - Erik Satie (The Paris Philharmonic - Esoteric Records - probably out of print...)

DVDs:
Curtis Mayfield - Live at Ronnie Scott's (Recorded by in 1988 - includes some interview footage with Paul Weller.)

CDs:
The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rosanne Cash - The Rules of Travel
Rene Fleming - Haunted Heart (w/Fred Hersch and Bill Frisell)

DVDs:
The Brother From Another Planet (dir. John Sayles)
Elvis - That's The Way It Is - Special Edition (Lots of great footage of Elvis rehearsing material for what became his Vegas show - I've had "That's Alright Mama" in my head for days...)

DVDs:
The Triplets of Belleville

CDs:
The Art Of Noise - Close (To The Edit)
New Order - International (...for the complete original version of "Blue Monday" - I'm not a fan of any of the latter remixes I've heard of this track. There's just no comparison - it's such an intense and strange piece of music.)
The Doc Marshalls - No Kind Of Life
The Early Recording of Leo Soileau - Early American Cajun Music (from the 1920s)
Cajun & Creole Music 1934/1937 (recorded by Alan and John Lomax...)
Kid Koala - Live from the short attention span tour
Theresa Andersson - Shine (Heard "Break Up" on WWOZ and had to have the CD...recorded in New Orleans)
Prefuse 73 - "Hideyaface" from Surrounded By Silence
Spaccanapoli - Lost Souls

DVD:
Bjork - The Inner Or Deep Part Of An Animal Or Plant Structure (The Making of Medulla)

CDs:
Stravinsky/Bach (ECM New Series) - Leonidas Kavakos violin, Peter Nagy piano (Suite Italienne grabbed me when I heard it on the radio recently...at the time I couldn't figure out who composed it...)
Stravinsky - Les Noces
Gaby Kerpel - Carnabailito (From Argentina - unusual grooves and melodies generated (I think) from sampled excerpts of heavily processed (live?) performances - reminds me of Tricky, The Latin Playboys, Tom Ze...)
Pat Metheny Group - The Way Up
David Sylvian - The Good Son vs The Only Daughter (Somewhat disorienting if you've listened to Sylvian's CD "Blemish" a billion times like me - these are remixes of several of the tracks from that CD. It's very creatively done - some of the remixes are absolutely beautiful).
Marianne Faithful - Before The Poison
...and a couple of CDs by composer/guitarist Chris Woltman that I know I'm gonna dig :)

DVDs:
Peter Gabriel - Play (The Videos)
Wings Of Desire (dir. Wim Wenders)
Paris, Texas (dir. Wim Wenders)

CDs:
Brian Eno - On Land (Wow - I'd actually never heard this. Very cool - nice essay by Eno in the CD packaging about the recording...)

Art:
Madonna And Child by Duccio di Buoninsegna, Italian
Tempra and gold on wood (on display now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Books:
Utopia Parkway, The Life And Work Of Joseph Cornell by Deobrah Solomon
Walker Evans (an incredible collection of his photos published by the Met Museum and Princeton Univ Press)
Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets by Stephen Crane

DVDs:
David Bowie - A Reality Tour
Bladerunner - The Director's Cut

CDs:
The Aviator - Original Soundtrack (various artists)
Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - Original Soundtrack (for Seu Jorge's renditions of great Bowie songs and Sven Liabaek's pieces...)
I'll Kill Your Soul (And Dare Your Spirit To Move) - Tampa Red (great kazoo soloing - thanks Lynn!)
A John Waters Christmas (Some truly bizarre and somewhat sick holiday songs - thanks Mom!)
Electric Masada - from John Zorn's Birthday Series on Tzadik

Radio:
WWOZ - New Orleans Jazz and Heritage station. Mind blowingly good.

Videos:
Eminem - Mosh Great track, great video...

More CDs:
Jacques Berrocal - Paralleles
John Zorn - Duras/Duchamp
The Fabulous Songs of Jimmy Scott
Pleasure Club - The Fugitive Kind
Renee Fleming - Handel
Antony & The Johnsons - The Lake EP
Wilson Pickett - The Best Of...(Rhino)
Cocteau Twins - Stars and Topsoil
Virgin Prunes - ...If I Die, I Die
Bill Frisell - Unspeakable
Akira Rabelais - Spellewauerynsherde
Bjork - Medulla (This rocks - highly recommended!)
Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
Vintage Hawaiian Music, Steel Guitar Masters 1928-1934 (Rounder Records)
Vintage Hawaiian Music, The Great Singers 1928-1934 (Rounder Records)
Beastie Boys - To The Five Boroughs
Sister Gertrude Morgan - Let's Make A Record (Preservation Hall Recordings)

Books:
The Official Fahrenheit 9/11 Reader - Michael Moore
Twyla Tharp - Push Comes To Shove
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning - Chris Hedges

Journal entry re: The United for Peace and Justice March.

8/29/04

The initial estimate I saw online from the police department tallying the number of today's marchers was 120,000. March organizers put the number at 400,000. I can't give an exact figure but I can tell you a LOT of people were out there marching. Bodies covered 45 city blocks. At one point, people were still pushing off from the 7th avenue and 23rd street spot while marchers were concluding the march at Union Square. That means that the entire march route was filled with marchers.

At the beginning of the day, we (Lynn, Kim, Peter and I) were stuck waiting for more than an hour at 7th avenue and 14th street for the people to start moving. It was pretty hot. I had a Gatorade, large bottle of water, a trail mix bar, and a turkey club sandwich packed in my bag. Every so often a roar would go through the crowd and everyone would cheer, hit drums, wave their signs, etc. The NYPD had a big blimp hovering over the march - it actually had a big Fuji logo on it - but underneath "Fuji" read "NYPD." There were 5 or 6 helicopters circling around the city - the breeze they created when they were overhead was nice and welcomed. Everyone around us seemed to be in good spirits - things never felt tense even with so many people standing shoulder to shoulder for so long.

At one point two policemen passed through the crowd, and everyone started chanting at them: "Go on strike! Go on strike!" It was pretty funny - again some tension was released. I think the cops smiled a little - Lynn said they did.

I saw a woman holding a purple sign that read "Opera Singers Against Bush" that pictured your classic fat opera singer in Wagnerian garb with "It ain't over until the fat lady votes" written beneath the image. There were signatures on the sign. I introduced myself and told the woman and a friend with her that my wife is an opera singer and that she couldn't be here today. They let me sign Lainie's name on their sign - I wrote "Lainie Diamond - mezzo."

While waiting we enjoyed reading all of the crazy signs. A man dressed in a roman collar held a sign that read "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" Some other classic signs: "Since my vagina can't vote - I will!" "Practice Abstinence: No Bush and No Dick!" I had my own little Bush with a red line through it that someone just gave to me while I was walking to the march. It was a small sign that also functioned as a fan - which came in handy again because of the heat. Probably kept me from fainting.

Eventually we started moving between 12:30 and 1:00. It felt great. People were drumming, chanting, even dancing. On the rooftops, you could see people with cameras who were either police or apartment residents.

There were very few John Kerry buttons - although I saw some. The march seemed to be more about Bush and the RNC. There were a handful of very vocal, very defensive Nader supporters ("Not this year!" one friend said firmly) who basically got yelled at or booed wherever they went.

I met Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls on the march. She recognized Lynn and he introduced us to her. I have total respect for her - but I was kind of hoping I'd see David Bowie marching along (he has a place in NYC).

The great thing about the march was all the spontaneous performances you ran into - people drumming and/or dancing. I was never bored - there was always something to look at. And everyone was cool, calm and seemed to have a good sense a humor.

We got to Madison Square Garden and there was a lot of booing, chanting, and sign waving. A big sign outside of Madison Square Garden flashed "New York Thanks You" to which the marchers chanted "You're not welcome! You're not welcome!" I figure Cheney at some point had seen the march from a helicopter tour he took of NYC that day (this is before he had his staged press conference at Ellis Island set to that damn Lee Greenwood song - yes, they had it playing over a PA as he stepped off a boat onto the island). I wondered if any of the delegates saw the march or were they all hanging out oblivious downtown somewhere.

Unfortunately, while standing at 7th and 33rd street waiting to move, some idiot set a fire to a float about 30 feet ahead of us. It really took us by surprise - people had been having a good time dancing and singing and chanting. Many marchers booed the fire - Lynn grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a barricade where a police woman was telling people to exit. We saw policemen running toward the fire - and we headed over toward Macy's to reconnect with the march. I found out later the fire was set by one person - who was arrested. Stupid move. There were a lot of arrests but mostly for minor offenses.

Right now there are marchers in Times Square waiting for the Broadway shows to let out. They're chanting and holding up anti-Bush signs. Hope things don't get too ugly this week between the police and people protesting the RNC, Bush and his administration. I felt like we did something very worthwhile today. Now is the time to do this sort of stuff.

Hoping this week is peaceful and that getting around the city isn't too big of a headache.

Recent finds, books, CDs, etc...

Archived lists (note: I've pruned this list a bit as it was getting a little dense...)

Music:
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Dust To Gold
Goldfrapp - That track "Strict Machine" from their first CD.
Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets (newly remastered)
Public Image Limited - The Flowers Of Romance
Chicago Soul - Electric Blues, Funk & Soul - The New Sound of Chicago in the 1960's
The Big Gundown - John Zorn plays the music of Ennio Morricone (Ordered this from the Tzadik website after hearing that Robert Quine had died. Quine sounds great on Zorn's arrangements - the eight plus minute electric guitar, bass, and electric harmonica arrangement of Morricone's "Once Upon A Time In The West" makes my hair stand up every time I hear it.)
Coba (Music and lyrics by Sebastian Cruz with several wonderful guest Columbian and Brazilian vocalists.)
Mulholland Drive - Angelo Badalamenti w/David Lynch
Bjork - Later (DVD)
Peter Gabriel - Growing Up Live (DVD)
David Sylvian/Ryuichi Sakamoto - World Citizen (Samadhi Sound)
Van Morrison & The Chieftans - Irish Heartbeat
Enrico Curreri - Asleep At The Switch
Peter Gabriel - Passion (on vinyl), Up (CD)
Lisa Gerrard & Patrick Cassidy - Immortal Memory
Chants soufis du Caire, La Chadhiliyya - (Sufi Chants from Cairo)
Fairuz - Immortal Songs
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band And Guests (Classic bluegrass/country/rock three LP record - bought it on the street near Columbia University. I love New York.)
Dave Soldier and the Soldier String Quartet - She's Lightning When She Smiles (Mulatta Records)
The Kropotkins - Five Points Crawl (Mulatta Records)
Man De.ng - Eletrik Mulatta World Sessions Vol.1 (Mulatta Records)
Thai Elephant Orchestra (Mulatta Records)
Arthur Russell - The World of Arthur Russell
Cocteau Twins - Treasure (nice to have this again, remastered by Robin Guthrie)
The Sounds Of Martin Denny - Exotica (vinyl - thanks to Don's Music in Brooklyn Heights!)
The Pleasure Club - Here Comes The Trick/Live From The Pulpit
The Reverend Vince Anderson - The Blackout Sessions
Permagrin - Permagrin
Kid Koala - Some Of My Best Friends Are DJs
Diva - Soundtrack by Vladimir Cosma
John Zorn - Filmworks I
Flowers In The Wildwoood - Women In Early Country Music (1923-1939)
David Sylvian - Blemish
Various - Delta Masters - 16 strange bands put their twist on classic blues
The Blind Boys Of Alabama - Higher Ground
Bee and Flower - What's Mine Is Yours
Antony and Current 93 - Live EP recorded at St. Olave's Church
The Reverend Vince Anderson - I Need Jesus
Laughing Bag - Bushwick

Books:
Autobiography of Quincy Jones
Rural Roots of Bluegrass - Wayne Erbsen
Down In Houston (Bayou City Blues) - Roger Wood and James Fraher
Yesterday's Perfume (An Intimate Memoir of Paul Bowles) - Cherie Nutting with Paul Bowles
Peter Bogdanovich - Who The Devil Made It (Conversations With Legendary Film Directors)
Samba - Alma Guillermoprieto
American Splendor - Harvey Pekar
Anything by James Lee Burke
Morton Feldman - Give My Regards to Eighth Street
Alan Lomax - The Land Where The Blues Began
Joseph Campbell - The Power of Myth
The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols

The Joy Of Buying Music Directly From Musicians...

Downloading music without paying the artists who created the music in the first place - not the mention the people who published the music or the people who produced the CD - still upsets me. I think what bothers me the most is a real disconnect between the majority of music listeners and the artists that create music. Let me take a moment to tell you about the joy of buying independently produced music online directly from the artist. I'm talking about going to an artist's site and buying one of their CDs online - usually using a service like PayPal to make the purchase with a credit or debit card. I try to buy CDs only from artist websites or from independently owned CD stores - this is part of a New Year's resolution I made for 2003. There is something incredibly cool about receiving a CD in the mail from an artist that you know they packaged themselves - perhaps they even signed the damn thing and enclosed a note saying "Thank you!" And guess what? They sincerely mean it! Great sites like Young God Records and Tzadik (to name just two - there are several) offer you a chance to buy a CD knowing that the artist benefits from your purchase. Artists like Antony and the Johnsons, the Reverend Vince Anderson, David Sylvian, and Bee and Flower all sell their music online using technology that ultimately amounts to a personal exchange between a creative and a lover of music. My own CDs Saints & Devils and 200 Birds can be purchased at my site using a credit or debit card. I have to say, getting a CD in the mail directly from an artist or an independently run label is a lot more exciting than coming out of Virgin records with your ears ringing from Brittney (sp?) being blasted over their P.A. or downloading illegally posted songs (Maybe chugging lots of Coca Cola or Jolt so that you can stay awake while the music is sent down your DSL or cable connection adds an excitement factor? I don't know...) My point is that thanks to the Internet, we now all have a chance now to support music and the musicians who create it. Strike a blow against corporations who fill up every media outlet with variation after variation of crap on a stick. Give the finger to computer geeks who fill up their hard drives with illegally posted music while insisting that they aren't hurting the livelyhood of musicians - because artists should all go get "real" jobs or something. Buy a CD directly from an artist. He or she will thank you. It will mean something.

Some thoughts on The Reverend Monsignor Anthony J. Dalla Villa (b. April 2, 1938 -d. February 10, 2002)
Like many people in New York City I was shocked to hear Monsignor Dalla Villa had passed away. Earlier that week my wife - who was very close to Father Anthony - had been trying to set up a meeting with the three of us for another discussion about spirituality. I was rather casual about her efforts to schedule another get together with the man, after all - we met with Father Anthony semi-regularly, why make too much of an imposition on the man's schedule. Why worry? He'll always be here, right? But suddenly he wasn't. I felt a void as soon as we received the news. And now, I'd like to explain why I feel his absence so strongly.

I'm not Catholic. My wife has been a practicing Catholic ever since she was a child. While I am not a member of an organized religion, I am a spiritual person. In college I majored in music composition, but I also spent a great deal of time studying Christian theology through a variety of courses presented by the school's religion department. I still value just as I did back in school the opportunity to expand my own theological ideas through discussion and study of belief systems that sometimes seem to be in opposition but more often than not reveal many underlying similarities. Unfortunately, it has been my experience that so-called devout members of a church - be it Catholic or whatever - are reluctant to seriously discuss or debate the tenets of their faith. Father Anthony had no problem discussing difficult questions surrounding his faith or expressing reservations and frustrations he had with the Catholic Church. The topics touched upon in conversation with Father Anthony might include the rosary (a real source of mystery to my sensibilities), prayer, the Dalai Lama, religious intolerance, Hamlet, and Oliver and Hardy. Like any good teacher, Father Anthony presented a wealth of ideas and their sources that you could, later that day or later in your life, pursue and study on your own. Father Anthony offered my wife and I a way of mediating our sometimes very different views of religion, ritual, and the role of spirituality in our life and marriage. He offered his knowledge and spirit without fear of reprisals; I felt you could go anywhere with him in conversation and he would be right there with you.

I have no tolerance for priests or any community or world leader who offer nothing except platitudes or propaganda in the form of homilies or state of the union addresses. I do not believe we are on this planet to blindly follow those we have bestowed some religious or political prestige. However, mentors are important. One needs heroes/heroines - and they can come from different times, different countries, and different religions. For my wife, Father Anthony was a mentor. For me, he was a progressive voice within the Catholic Church at a time when God knows they need it. I will miss him, and my wife will miss him even more. Back to Beckeresque