I Found Spring in Maine!

I’m visiting my mother over spring break, and you would think there would at least be a SIGN of spring SOMEWHERE – anywhere! But here’s what I’ve been getting: [slideshow_deploy id=’865′] And then my mother told me about YELLOW FLOWERS BLOOMING in the gravel down the road. Well, weren’t they crocuses? Cause those don’t count. … Read more

Spoils from a Chittenden Raid

Woodland Sunflower, Helianthus strumosus

My good  friend Glenn Levinson came over the other day for something of an impromptu visit with our family (Uncle Glenn!), and I had just come back from a grass, flower, and other types of plants raid at Chittenden Park in Guilford.  Now, I hadn’t seen Glenn in some time, and I was so happy … Read more

Super 9 Shakes Up Salmagundi Club’s 2016 Photography Exhibition

John & Irene Liebler at the Salmagundi Club

My best friend and business partner, Irene Liebler, submitted some of her work to the Salmagundi Club’s 2016 Non-Members’ Photography & Graphics Exhibition in Manhattan and got three pieces into the show (congratulations, Irene!), so it was a great excuse for all of us to go down.

Garden Boys: Aaron (7) & Noah (5) Are a Raging Business Success

The moment I heard that my friends Aaron and Noah (ages seven and five) were running a flower business by selling arrangements in the park with flowers they grew in their own backyard, I was seized with a dire need to document the story. The cuteness factor was just too overwhelming to live life another … Read more

When Sal Khan Gets Really Excited About Triangles

In an effort to support Abigail in her quest to be able to take Calculus BC by the time she’s a senior (she’s taking Geometry and Algebra II this fall as a freshman under special dispensation from the guidance office… I love Tammy Lizotte!), I am taking Sal Khan’s course in geometry with her over … Read more

Throwing Myself In Front of the Lawnmower

Bulbous Bluegrass, Poa bulbosa

  If a person is going to be excited about spring and the plants that come to life at that time, then it would seem natural to be happy about the obvious things in the Northeast like forsythia and crocuses. And then the cherry blossoms. I think I missed them. I seem to be late … Read more

The Finest of Sportsmen

The best players check their ego at the door and get the job done. They are the finest of sportsmen. The job: Open Mic at Donahue’s. The mix-up: who was on lead guitar. The result: no guitar player. Many texts go out from Trot to Savino. “Where are you?” Trot plays guitar instead of bass. … Read more

What I Do to Prepare a New Song for Performance

Learning "Billie Jean"

Upon hearing about an upcoming gig for which I was having to learn and memorize 14 new songs that were outside of my usual type of repertoire, my friend Phil Orr asked me what I was doing to prepare for such a performance. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to document my process with one song: Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.”