Bill Collings 1948-2017 Warm, crystalline tone, projection we’re talkin’ Bill Collings guitars “I could never reach perfection” and God could improve upon stars His dedication to function and form dictated their elegant construction Paul Simon could soothe, Keith Richards could storm and Hendrix would’ve fucked ’em They all have stories of how they found ’em … Read More
Martin Landau 1928-2017 Johnny Depp was Ed Wood in all his neurosis But yet it was understood the film was Lugosi’s Martin Landau got a break with the part Past failures palled and got a stake in the heart He won an Oscar, should have had more Like for the Doctor who killed his paramour … Read More
George Romero 1940-2017 An unthinking, unfeeling cast of caucasians In rural America pursue a black man It wasn’t his intention but it’s a temptation To see race in Romero’s zombie land Duane Jones (Ben) boards up the house As the living dead ramp up the drama He’d just been seven when the movie came out … Read More
On “Zombie Island” he began to blossom Developed a style that led him to Gotham His very first feature starred Boris Karloff But undead creatures soon were far off His Batman series was low-rent iconic A comic book clearly yet gently ironic A perfect response to world under siege “Holy Post Modern!” comes to … Read More
Mary Tyler Moore 1936-2017 “Who can turn the world on with a smile?” A double entendre in that We’re happy for sure with this girl without guile But we really got off when she tossed that hat 70’s TV, working women were shrill lonely wanna be wives But happy and single and using the pill? … Read More
Child Bride Burns to Death Zahra loved the idea of learning And so she juggled, starred in a play Imagine for a second a young child burning Then try to have a normal day Are fresh-picked berries any less sweet? Does the breeze still soothe leaves at dawn? Does the stream not delight my daughter’s … Read More
Sydney Schanberg 1934-2016 I He chronicled the master of Cambodia’s campaign Captured with camera the politics of pain Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge bloody reign of terror Schanberg saw the truth, for moments brought us there A small town kid, ‘34, oh what life will yield From working in his father’s store to the … Read More
Not At All (audio) Two lives, incomplete Then Fate sets the scene: Provides then an empty seat Crowded coffee shop in Queens He was sitting reading “As You Like It” “Excuse me, would you mind If I shared this table? I’ll be quiet.” He knew his line “Not at all” She kept her promise for perhaps … Read More