"Maybe the moment
has something to do
with what's going on
in Kalamazoo.
everyone's leaving
the town is in shock
where are they going?
To Manitowoc."

-- Ken Nordine, in a 2001 Salon interview with Michael Monteleone.

Odd but true: the Nordines are our next door neighbors (I've met him twice, once at a neighborhood association function a few years ago, and once as he was walking to his garage) and their lovely old home looks like the house that often appears in my dreams as an avatar of my subconscious. As I walk by with our pup Sammy, I often wonder what treasures and mysteries its shutters conceal.

I was introduced to him by a mutual friend (who also once worked in the entertainment industry) at that function. A charming gentleman, we spoke for a few minutes about radio and the media, and at the end he imparted these words of wisdom regarding freedom: "no one ever really gives you freedom - you have to take it," his hand making a snatching gesture in the air.

How true, I thought. How very true.

Labels: music

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