Fiction: "Emily's World" By Erik Bader
Sandy sidewalks splashed with sun. Mild traffic drifting down the hot asphalt of Ocean Avenue. A noisy pickup truck rattles by, jammed full of migrant workers and happy tongue-hanging dogs. The sun is a white disc somewhere directly above, signifying noon. A barefoot jogger wearing only shorts. Two kids jumping back and forth through a sprinkler. Sand already infiltrating her flip-flops. It’s so hot out today.
Noon already? It’s so hard to tell, time here is more of an ambience than an actual moving force. In lieu of clocks there are the ebb and flow of tides, the wind beneath kites, the remaining liquid in a bottle of rum.
Q&A: Jon Houlon, Co-Organizer Of The 10th Annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash
If you've ever picked up a guitar at all, and certainly if you have ventured to write a song, over the last 50 years or so, there is a decent chance that you yourself have played one of Bob Dylan's songs. To cover Dylan at one point or another, in public or in private, is almost inevitable for pretty much anyone making rock or roots music. But for the last 10 years, Jon Houlon (of the band John Train) and Kenn Kweder have elevated this simple and oft-repeated act to the status of communal event with their annual Bob Dylan Birthday Bash at Rembrandt's in Fairmount. Tomorrow, the great man turns 75, and of course, Jon and Kenn and many, many of their friends will be there to perform and celebrate. We asked Jon a few questions about the how's and why's of their million dollar bash.
