Musical Musings with Paul Bourgeois Max plugged his mic into his Yamaha JX 15 guitar amp. He shifted between harp and vocals with a cheap Behringer distortion pedal. It wasn’t great but it was all he could afford, and if he pulled back on the bass… more »

Musical Musings with Paul Bourgeois He sweated under the spotlights. The guitar shifted into the extro and he closed his eyes and screamed out all his rage into what he thought was an empty pub. His knees shook from the energy and he cupped the… more »

Musical Musings with Paul Bourgeois He couldn’t sleep. The rain pounded on the windows, a low irregular drumbeat. He began to hear his own breathing and the click-chink of the radiator. There was no pattern, but his mind couldn’t let them… more »

Musical Musings with Paul Bourgeois It sounds weird, doesn’t it? But it is easier to tell the truth about stuff if you are making it up. Otherwise you have to contend with permission forms and people saying “I don’t want my story… more »

Musical Musings with Paul Bourgeois India gained independence in 1947, a triumph of passive resistance, the same year Pete Seeger published “We Shall Overcome.” And in 1989, when I was in the Banwasi Seva Ashram, “We Shall… more »

Musical Musings with Paul Bourgeois (In the previous episode the main character had searched for Joe Townsend, the mysterious trumpet player in Kathmandu, but in the end it is Joe who finds him.) I looked at the old man, Joe Townsend, standing between… more »

Musical Musings with Paul Bourgeois (In the previous episode the main character had passed out drunk in a jazz club in Nepal and then had been sent home by the mysterious trumpet player.) I woke with my head pounding, the vague memory of the trumpet… more »