John K King Used and Rare Books in Detroit, Michigan takes the cake. I love bookstores. Can’t get enough of them. Even if I spend all day in one, I can probably revisit that same shop the next day and still have a great time. To me, a bookstore is a worthy alternative to traveling, …
The Wake Up
Only Love For me there is only the road. Sometimes I think it's the only real home for me listening to good music and digging every new place I see and all the old places too with the sun in my eyes and above me the moon and the stars. It's a real sweet spot, …
a billion dollar question
The New York Times sat down with each of the 2020 Democratic candidates a few months back and asked them the question: "Does anybody deserve to have a billion dollars?" Deserve might be a strong word, but still, let's say that person is an extremely virtuous, all-around beautiful human being with a heart of gold …
staying grateful during a headcold
Yea I’m grateful to breathe at the least, and hey I've got my lady with me as she calls out rigatoni, time to eat it’s you and me, baby with our pup Sunny and a box of kleenex I’m grateful for you for our friends and our family and like I say thankful just to …
The Prado
Inspiration has many faces, and sometimes it can leave you spellbound to the point that you see no reason to do anything else, because you feel the overwhelming feeling that everything’s been done already. It’s why I’m wary of museums. Of course it’s a matter of perspective, depending on the individual and the choices they …
quick tips: start_
When we’re about to begin a project, sometimes it’s tempting to sweat the beginnings. That is, trying to manipulate conditions, waiting for the right kind of ‘weather’ before you take the first steps. This can be anything from those things out of your control, like the actual weather, or things that are in your control, …
America, I See You
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? …
Time Will Tell
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 …
Repetition and Awareness. The Universal Dance.
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, …
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The Kiss; Snapshots of Vienna
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 …
I do feel like playing. Last night I went out walking…
Jude Moonlight's Journal | Last night I went out walking and I heard the distant sound of drums playing late in the night. At first I couldn't quite find where they were coming from but I walked farther down the street and deeper into my neighborhood and I heard the sounds grow louder, so I …
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Oh moon
Oh moon Home to seven trembling faces Nameless, blank expressions Your face, the friendliest I’ve known Oh moon Home to my heart and soul Your soft glow Carries me ‘cross the night Though I tremble by thy naked hand Oh moon Stranger to the angels and to blues sparrows flying like arrows in silhouette across …
God is a Woman
I never saw the need to call myself a feminist, much less a proud feminist, since the basics of feminism always seemed like common sense. If you exercise common sense, what’s there to be proud of? Nothing. It’s a waste of energy. The crucial detail of common sense is that it’s common. Therefore, just follow …
Born or Made (con’t)
Out in LA, one of my acting teachers would often remind me, along with anyone in class venting any sort of self-frustration, that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Though it was an obvious point, it was easy to forget. Few of the greats, if any at all, were incredible by day one. As a …
Back Home Again
Broward County. I’ve known that name my whole life. Broward. Such a strange sound as I think about it and say it out loud, just a little under my breath. Broooowwwward. To me it’s always meant home. Even though, as I’ve said many times over the course of many writings throughout this young career of …
House of the Rising Sun
I first heard the song many years ago and like most people, I most often associated it with the Animals. Then I discovered they weren't the original writers and that Bob Dylan recorded the song before they did. But it wasn't long before I realized Dylan didn't write it either. He only recored it because …
Debut Album Available Now!
The self-titled debut album "Ren Michael" is now available for download on all digital platforms. The story begins with a girl. She looks, casts one glance in the mirror and is gone no sooner than she arrived, her voice but a whisper as it echoes down the street, leaving the hero alone in the cold …
Old Glory Reloaded
Every issue in politics, I once said, typically boils down to the fundamental, opposing forces of fear and faith. The faith I’m talking about isn’t religious faith, and that’s why I am skeptical to even use the word. To me, it has nothing to do with religion or even God, at least not the God …
St. Petersburg
In the wild cathedral evenings On the St. Petersburg canals Near the church at midnight they call 'Spilt Blood' I met a woman singing a song I knew too well She looked at me Her skin stark white a ghost alone, in the dark of the night She smiled at me Her eyes they gleamed …
Guns a’ blazing (Introduction)
If there’s anything that I try and avoid writing about, its writing. That being said, I’ll keep this beginning part short. For starters, I really don’t even think of myself as a writer at all. I’m no Hemingway or Kerouac or Walt Whitman. I don’t know how any of those guys fell into the …
Ren Michael 