Writer • Musician
Organic You stand outside the glass wall, separated from a fog You know what to do You only must choose The voice speaks to you All you’ve got to do is listen When it speaks to you Just listen And follow the path set out for you According to your own wishes. Break the glass …
I got to the hostel around 8. It was built into the top two floors of an otherwise mostly vacated building just a few blocks south of Andrassy Avenue, the main drag running through town. When I say town, I mean Pest, which flanks the east side of the River Danube. Together with Buda, on …
Lots of people talk about Robert Johnson's guitar playing, but for me the more striking aspect of his songs are the lyrics, which feel every bit as hauntingly close to me as the voice on those old recordings. Along with St. James Infirmary, this song will be with me for a long time. “The blue …
G'Morning folks and Happy Sunday! I was fiddling with the new phone camera and getting it set up and running a little test video to see how it flowed, and that noise you hear in the background is our dog Sunny dancing to the music and the singing and the strumming with Andrea, who is …
My only grievance with heaven is the low premium it places on living. Put down your phone, the tube won’t deliver you the truth. Step away from your computer and your handheld tv’s Telling you what to think what to worship, and who to be Heaven awaits, it’s golden gates Outside your door The choral …
Lyrics by Ren Michael Copyright © 2017 Well the Devil poured whiskey down upon my grave He spoke as he smiled, rise young child, it’s a brand new-day As I rose from way down under, he laughed and waved goodbye Old souls like you and I young blood, you know we never die Well a …
I am in love with this moment I am in love with you and America, I see you So let down you guard America I see you No matter the statues left standing, I see you Or whoever stands for the anthem I see you still How did you ever get boxed into this prism? …
My first order of business was to find the hostel I’d booked the night before. Knowing that maps/GPS wouldn’t work since I didn’t buy a data plan--and I wouldn’t have wi-fi unless I camped out at a cafe for a few minutes--I took a screenshot of the pinned location on the map the night before …
I've been sketching out this song lately, slowly becoming one of my favorites. I was never into cover songs much before, but this one just might have opened a new door. "I'm Your Man" Reflections by Ren Michael And so I’m back home, a week past since Toronto/NYC And I’m thinking of Leonard Cohen I’ve …
We’d heard news that the city was flooded with refugees seeking asylum from war-torn Syria. Everyone I spoke to was persuading me not to go to Budapest. But I had roots there, and I’d never been as to close to it as I was then. It was only a 7-hour train ride from Prague, so …
LOS ANGELES — I’d go to the cafe and work on lyrics, even try to pen the novel a few times. I never finished it, but I heard the boys—Jude, Cal, Sam and (mostly) Quinby—are making some good headway on it now, that they’re using Jude as the narrator; and that they’re writing the whole thing under …
My first thought on Allen Ginsburg's short poem 'Wild Orphan' is how striking the last verse is...That is all for now. "And the father grieves in the flophouse complexities of memory a thousand miles away, unknowing of the unexpected youthful stranger bumming toward his door" Allen Ginsburg NY, 1952
Hidden from the city An outpost, abandoned dry Graffiti on the walls I stand up, I try, to frame the sky at dusk The river running through, The bridge of cobblestone, The lonesome strung-out croon The whole world's waiting From the gaping canyons, high to the European sundowns As the mighty knights they cry: Welcome …
"Are you gifted with the enchantment and girded with wonder? Do you have the mad sound? Be a Zen fool." I can't keep looking for the gods to speak my name. The field's already open, and I've got everything I need. Just got to keep my eyes open, and my heart open too. Trust. Trust …
Dear Cal, Man this jazz kick is great. Some album that I’m listening to with Miles Davis and Coltrane. I know they played together a few times before ol’ John blew up and went out on his own, before A Love Supreme and Blue Train. The French, the Parisians in particular have been known to …
Continue reading "Light in the Dark. Impressions and Illuminations in la Ville Lumière"
Precious friend Tempestuous power, Eyes of the sun Turn seconds into hours My hand in yours, Held together in dreams My lips to your skin, Benevolent Queen, In the darkness I see you Woman of the Night, Child of the Sun On these streets of cobblestone Rain-soaked we run Allow me your grace, For my …
Continue reading "(Precious Friend) You’ll Let Your Love Grow"
I thought I'd grown numb to gun violence, until it finally happened close to me. In my county. Maybe it’s just another indicator of the distance we feel from one another, from east to west. Maybe it’s natural in a land as vast and diverse as our own, an impediment we must continually seek to …
A Letter Written by Sam Lyons to J.L. Quinby, Esq. | Quinby! You sly devil, you… You recently asked me what I thought was the most defining aspect of my philosophy. The cornerstone of my ethos, so to speak. Well, I think I have my answer. One of the strongest components of my own self-awareness, …
Continue reading "Repetition and Awareness. The Universal Dance."
The story begins with a girl. She looks, casts one glance in the mirror and is gone no sooner than she arrives, her voice but a whisper echoing down the street, leaving the hero alone in the cold night wearing an old pair of boots, a Spanish knife in his pocket, a beat-up guitar strapped …
On the Move, and at Peace By Cal Corso | Reading a book on Albert Einstein and I’m thinking about Vienna, listening to Liszt's transcription for the piano of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Right now I’m in the second movement of the symphony. And yea that sounds about right now, don’t it? I am sort of …
Ren Michael 