Notes from the Boneyard

The sky was red for a long time. Then it was black. I couldn’t tell how long I’d been standing there looking up. Or if it was morning or night. I began to walk but I didn’t know which direction I was headed. I had no idea where, or who I was. I kept walking, […]

Had a nightmare that the world was ending. Woke up in a pool of > sweat. Grabbed phone and looked at social media. Felt inadequate. > Put phone down and stared at the ceiling for half an hour. Got out > of bed and washed. Saw myself in the mirror and wished I was > […]

While on the road, I often find myself in small towns that resemble home. I could be in Germany, but I’ve somehow wound up in their version of omagh. In fact, sometimes it’s even more like omagh than omagh is. These traps are all over the world. You could be anywhere. Then you walk into […]

He sits at the bar, staring blankly into nothingness, his fingers > making mince meat of the beer mat as he waits anxiously for another > drink. The barman makes no effort at small talk as he pours him > another. With the glass now full and his bloodshot eye twitching, he > raises the […]

HAIRY RECORDS / DIG VINYL (Liverpool) At the start of the 2000s, walking to Bold Street used to be a daily pilgrimage for me before band practice. Back then it was to go to Hairy Records, where you’d get into a lengthy conversation with the owner, and he’d recommend some band from the 60s you’d […]

WORDS: Howe Gelb.     <><><><><><><><> I was 19. Still impressionable. Living in Tucson. 1976. A good decade & age to allow the usefulness of psychedelics. It was also a time of great emptiness. It was more than possible to head out to the forest of giant saguaro ( which were only minutes away ) […]

The piano strikes a chord. It’s like someone just switched the light on. The still room has now come to life. Drinks spill and glasses smash. Nobody seems to mind. The piano guy is taking everyone along for the ride, whipping them into a frenzy. Yes. The piano guy knows what he is doing. Lunacy […]

Dear anyone, I’m writing this from my room in the Columbia Hotel, London. It was a gruelling journey getting here. Traffic jams. Human jams. Delayed flights. Lost luggage. Packed train journeys. You name it. The gods were surely crapping on me. But a shining light came as I was checking into the Columbia and I […]