Music
Rocks Back Pages: The World’s Largest Archive of Music Journalism
There was an instant camaraderie — that rare, unspoken recognition between two people who’ve lived on the same frequency of backstage chaos, late-night interviews, and too many deadline coffees. I admired the view from Britannia House, where Rocks Back Pages quietly operates above the hum of West London. “Yeah,” said founder Barney Hoskyns, […]
Art
The Secret Geometry of London: My Visit to the Museum of Freemasonry
I am a lone traveler and have been my entire life. When the opportunity arose to return to London after a hiatus of two decades (way too long), I jumped on it. The main reason for going was to attend the world premiere of The Hunger Games stage adaptation – I’m a […]
Art
Symbols, Secrets & the Builders of Light: Inside the World of the Freemasons
I’ve always been drawn to the hidden language behind the visible — the carved sign above a doorway, the ceremony that marks a passage from one state of being to another, the geometry that claims to hold the key to order in a chaotic world. My lifelong fascination with symbology […]
Dining
Jugemu – The Limitless Life of Sushi
In a Soho alleyway close to the massage parlors and other establishments of ill repute and hidden behind an inconspicuous door sits a small rustic Japanese sushi (and more) Michelin-starred restaurant. Jugemu is its name, sounding not unlike the game or film Jumangi, except here characters and forms appear in the […]
Music
Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, London
I just returned from nine glorious days in London, a city I have always meant to live in, but didn’t. For whatever reason, life took me elsewhere on the Continent and in Asia. So I revisited in October, the so-called worst month (I am a veteran of dreary, dank, rainy […]
Theatre
The Anatomy of “’night, Mother” — When Words Become the Stage
The making of a great play, or novel, or any art form that is based on words contains several elements: character development; what is said and what is not; expression and movement in three dimensions (in the case of live theatre); and the precision with which the words are delivered. […]
Theatre
A Marriage of Mystery and Memory: Jarrott Productions’ “Mirror Lake” Reflects the Dark Side of Ritual
It begins deceptively simply — a minimalist stage, shadows stretching across an almost bare room, the air charged with unease. The absence of clutter sets the tone: something tense, intimate, and faintly dangerous is about to unfold. Mirror Lake opens like a slow shiver, its stillness daring you to look […]
Lifestyle
The Writer’s Job
The writer’s job is to become human through the stories he / she / they tell. It is a task not meant to transcend one’s position or thought process; it is to act as a transmitter. I embody the divine through my humanness as I transmit stories, like a radio, […]
Dining
From the Keys of the Culinary World to Piano Man: Mark Roaquin’s Path from NYC Dining Rooms to Austin’s Steinway
New York: Where Service Became a Craft Ask Mark what shaped him most and he’ll take you back to New York City—where hospitality is a contact sport and excellence a daily discipline. He grew up in Glendale, Queens, a subway ride from the old-school dining rooms that taught him how […]