This is an advice list from the late great jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, who died 30 years ago. Transcript T.MONK’S ADVICE (1960) JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT A DRUMMER, DOESN’T MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE TO KEEP TIME. PAT YOUR FOOT & SING THE MELODY IN YOUR HEAD, WHEN YOU PLAY. STOP PLAYING ALL THOSE [...]
The song and its music video, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” by the rock band Nirvana spoke to a generation of young people with great profundity and power. Here, we see a notebook on which Kurt Cobain hand-wrote the following to-do list as he and the band prepared to film the said iconic video. In case [...]
“The Giver” by Lois Lowry Lois Lowry’s 1993 novel, about a dystopian society in which the government has outlawed love and grief, was one of the year’s bestselling young adult books and won the coveted Newbery Medal. But communities in several states took issue with the book’s focus on suicide and euthanasia. The government of [...]
Indeed, our world would be less beautiful, wonderful, charming, fabulous, dazzling, delightful… well, you get the picture. via
1. Listen to the birds. That’s where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren’t going anywhere. 2. Your guitar is not really a guitar. Your guitar is a [...]
The following lists the “essentials” Jack Kerouac included in his letter to Don Allen – editor, publisher, and translator of contemporary American literature. 1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy 2. Submissive to everything, open, listening 3. Try never get drunk outside yr own house 4. Be in love with [...]
The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery. The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. The greatest precept is continual awareness. The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything. The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways. The greatest magic is transmuting the passions. The greatest generosity is non-attachment. The [...]
“I had to wait 110 years to become famous. I wanted to enjoy it as long as possible.” Jeanne Louise Calment (1875-1997) The oldest documented living human, this French woman had all her wits about her when she reached the “super-centenarian” age of 110. With her jaunty smile, Calment charmed the world with her [...]
“Cookin’ With Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price” All you have to know about this cookbook you can tell from the cover: yes, that is a combination burner and turntable. Inside, you’ll find recipes for “Finger-Lickin’, Rib-Stickin’, Fall-Off-the-Bone-and-into-Your-Mouth Chicken,” and “Soul Rolls” and best of all, learn how to be a “kitchen [...]
“In Washington DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about four minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that [...]