This song was created during the heart of the COVID pandemic, at a time when so many people found themselves unexpectedly thrust into the role of caregiver.  I saw so many friends and acquaintances weighed down with the responsibility of…

A couple of years ago, I read a scholarly article written by an academic who had done extensive research on real-life artists and their muses.  Most of these relationships blew up in a spectacular way, usually after the muse relationship…

This song was forged in the heart of the Covid Pandemic when almost all social activities had to be redirected to the Zoom platform.  During this time, Rachel Efron conducted her songwriting salons on Zoom, and held a final on-line…

I am excited to be releasing my first single, “New Nirvana” - at long last.  I took a nine-month hiatus from my album project to serve as Interim President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. We did…

June 4, 2016

In Beijing I stayed in a cheap old courtyard residence (四合院) that advertised laundry service, which turned out to be a large wash basin with a clothes line on the roof. During the afternoon, a big windstorm…

RIP Sonny Barger.   

Sonny Barger, outlaw biker and founder of the Oakland Chapter of the Hell’s Angels, passed away yesterday.  He was a counter-culture icon, a convicted smuggler of drugs and explosives, a movie actor and an author.  He was…

I needed a ride to the Bemidji Regional Airport for my 7 a.m. flight, and no one in my family could take me. Bemidji is too small to have Uber and Lyft drivers, so I called the three cab companies…