When I was a child,the summers were possibly the worst time because instead of being able to go outside and do nothing,my mother would force my sister and I to stay inside and do math homework.

That backfired since I got so angry that I purposely failed math-and piano for that matter after 8 years of lessons,I still cant play anything but the beginning of stairway to heaven. Those were the early days of rebellion.

Enough reminiscing from my twilight years...

I took ANOTHER camping trip this past weekend with some lovely friends,one being the talented writer, Lesley Arfin.

Here's a pic of her and our friend Dan.

If you've done your summer reading,you will already know her autobiographical book,Dear Diary. The first time I picked it up,I couldn't put it down until it was finished.

I felt a kinship to say the least (especially finding god in a strawberry).

Not only is her book inspiring, but it opens up the universe for all people to go express themselves and tell their story.

It will be available on paperback very soon. Let's hope they make a film version too!

Equally enticing is her new post as Editor at Large at Missbehave Magazine. 

And if you live here in NYC, jumpstart Fashion Week tonight by dancing to the sounds of the 90's at BOWERY ELECTRIC. Lesley & Gregg K spin records every Thursday-located at Bowery and 2nd Street. 11-4am

And..don't forget to check her blog for bits of Lesley's facetious wisdomisms...http://cafeconlesley.blogspot.com/

That's when I first discovered Tony Schwartz,a pioneer documentarian and the one of the first people who transformed sound recordings into an artistic means of expression.

Throughout the 90's,I used to always carry my cassette recorder while driving across America and steal the sounds of the open sky,$12 pr night motels,plates & spoons clanking in lonesome diners,native folks chatting and everything else the highway brought.

I had no idea that 53 years prior to that,Tony had began his documentary life,recording every walk of life on the street around him in New York with a wecor wire recorder.

This accumulated into 19 albums of street sound and folk music for Folkways and Columbia Records.

I haven't listened to his entire body of work- which is archived in the Library of Congress,but so far one of my favourites is The World in My Mailbox.

Agoraphobia made it that he couldn't leave New York,so he would trade his tapes of city street sounds for other people's tapes of their environment.

Also,for 31 years he had a radio show dedicated to people and sounds on WNYC.

You can listen to a show about him here.

Tony passed away this past June.

This week on my favourite NPR podcast,Hearing Voices,I listened to sound bites from the annual Otha Turner Birthday Party they have down in Nashville,Tennessee.

Before passing away in 2003 at the age of 94,Otha was possibly the oldest living man playing the fife.

Photo found here.

He led The Rising Star Fife and Drums Corps which included his daughter,grandchildren and nephew.

They would hang out and teach others how to make their own fifes from rivercane and play them. 

My ears love the sound of the echo-y snare overlapped by the sweet whistles.

Here is incredible footage from Martin Scorsese's documentary about the Blues.