New Orleans experienced its first snowfall in seventy-six years. That night a cold wind blew through the streets and alleys of the French Quarter, yet Bourbon Street was alive with celebrants braving the elements to observe the coming of the New Year. At The Fairmont Hotel on Canal Street the dance floor was crowded with […]
On a Monday afternoon in late October Ethan Wells and Ronnie Redmond sat in the front seat of Ronnie’s brand new 1962 Ford Galaxie. Ronnie pressed the button activating the reverb effect on the radio. It created a concert hall sound effect within the car. “Wow.” said Ethan. “Cool, isn’t it.” The car was parked […]
The party continued well into the evening. There were more than thirty guests in attendance. Held at the Bel Air home of Hans and Johanna Austerman they were celebrating their daughter Barbara’s graduation from UCLA. Out on the spacious patio Ethan played the drums in the jazz quartet, which was the evening’s entertainment. His brother […]
Over the next two years Ethan continued his drumming, practicing at home every afternoon and working hard at developing energetic drum solos. He enrolled every semester in Miss Marlowe’s band and orchestra classes where he consistently earned A grades. Miss Marlowe was especially fond of him for both his excellent drumming and his commitment to […]
Ethan practiced on his drums every day. In the basement room of his home he would play records and accompany the music. His parents had asked around about drumming teachers but there were none to be found. They encouraged him to just stick with it and to keep doing what felt right to him. At […]
Norma Kendall Robertson employed her characteristic patience with eleven year old Ethan Wells as he attempted to play a simple melody on her Steinway piano. After six private lessons she knew he didn’t have the aptitude of his older brother Mark, who at sixteen was a prodigy and budding concert pianist. At the end of […]
A long time ago I had opportunities to produce and direct a number of motion pictures. They weren’t big or famous movies, but the work showed promise. It was like being a baseball pitcher in the minor leagues. The rewards were small but at least one was in the game. The art of cinema is […]
Twenty-five hundred years ago, Pericles of Athens declared, “All good things on this Earth flow into the City”. There’s truth in that statement but countless not-so-good things are also found in cities. It follows that many people are called out of cities to find the natural places of the earth. They seek the solace of […]
An old two-lane road in Alaska ran along the shores of the Cook Inlet and was called the Kenai Highway. From the city of Anchorage it coursed south about two hundred miles to its end at the fishing port of Homer. On a sunny day in early September Mick Bowman left camp just outside of […]
“In somnis innocentes sumus” Ambrose Bierce Curtis Bowman stood in the lobby of a travelers hotel in New York City. He didn’t know the town nor a soul in it. Everyone was strange to him. Everybody seemed indifferent, some even threatening. He wanted out of the hotel and out of New York, but when he […]