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NYC first lady promotes peer counseling for the homeless

Published November 1, 2015 by James K.

A new $30 million initiative, Connections to Care, led by first lady Chirlane McCray and the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, opened its doors to nonprofits in early September. The program aims to address mental illness among lower income residents and the homeless by training non-professionals to help provide mental health services at nonprofit organizations citywide. Those services will include screening, motivational interviews and psycho-education.

Read more at The Midtown Gazette

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Blaze Foley: Don’t wanna be no star

Published March 14, 2015 by James K.

Published in the 2016 Jan-Feb print issue of American Songwriter.

Blaze Foley’s brown ponytail shimmered on top of a white scarf. A green and gold hair tie held it taut and “C” shaped. Sybil Rosen, who received the ponytail from Blaze in 1977, sat on her couch to my left. We were at “Waller,” a drafty, spacious home hidden by tall pines on the Chattahoochee River, just outside of Whitesburg, Georgia. During the ’70s and ’80s, long before it belonged to Rosen, Waller was a hot-spot for musicians, artists, and hippies. I set the scarf and ponytail on my lap. It felt fresh despite being cut off for 38 years.

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An ex-cop nearly assassinates a hotdog-selling-activist blogger

Published August 11, 2014 by James K.

When Ean Bordeaux isn’t selling hot dogs at the River Market in Little Rock, Arkansas, he’s writing about racketeering and police misconduct (cops doing racist shit) on his blog, which allegedly motivated Todd Payne, a former cop, to try to kill him. “There are members of the Little Rock Police Department actively and unceasingly engaging in such illegal activities as racketeering, complainant and witness intimidation,” Bordeaux posted. “MOST of these mercenary police officers reside OUTSIDE of Little Rock City Limits. This only adds insult to injury as they are not even citizens of our great city, but are unwisely and irresponsibly allowed to SHOOT and KILL its citizens.”

Read more at Vice

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Review: Tim Hardin 2

Published July 23, 2014 by James K.

Published in the 2014 May-April print issue of American Songwriter.

It’s fair to say Tim Hardin’s surge of creativity between ’66 and ’67 produced some of the decade’s best songwriting. While his debut album, Tim Hardin 1, feels rushed – most songs clock in at two minutes with splatters of orchestral strings over simple lyricism – Tim Hardin 2 paints a more complete picture.

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Pawleys Pier turns 60

Published May 29, 2014 by James K.

Published in “Beaches,” the Coastal Observer summer magazine.

It’s been 60 years since 7-year-old Connie Bull cut a red ribbon stretched across the entrance to the Pawleys Island Pier to open a new chapter in the island’s long history.

Unlike today, the pier was a dominant feature for visitors as soon as they crossed the North Causeway at Myrtle Avenue. Condos and houses block the view now, but on July 10, 1954, there was a bare, clay-and-sand parking lot the size of a football field adjoining the pier. About 750 people attended the opening in a light rain. As niece of co-owner Arthur Ehrich, young Connie was selected to cut the ribbon during the ceremony. State Rep. James Moore presented a certificate for $50 to the pier’s construction superintendent. Shrimp plates were served, and prizes awarded for the most fish caught from the pier that day along with the smallest and biggest. Pawleys Island had its landmark. Visitors paid 50 cents to walk to the end.

Read more at the Coastal Observer

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Prison guard Mark Williams has to choose between his job and his dreadlocks

Published February 4, 2014 by James K.

About two weeks ago, a sergeant approached Mark Williams, a correctional officer at the California Institution for Men, in Chino, and told him he had to choose between his dreadlocks and his job. For 14 years Mark has supervised inmates—checked their mail, given them soap, watched them eat breakfast and work out in the Yard, driven them to radiation-treatment centers, and covered their vocation release. All the while, he kept his dreadlocks in a bun, to keep them above his collar.

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation manual, “Female employees’ hair shall not extend below the bottom of the collar. If the hair is long, it shall be worn in a neat, non-flamboyant style.” But the bun rule only applies to female employees.

Read more at Vice

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Fred Neil: A long time coming

Published January 10, 2014 by James K.

Fred Neil’s cavernous baritone and wayward backing group were recorded directly to stereo for his ’66 self-titled solo album. Conservatively dressed, his curly head nodded over the microphone inside a Capitol studio webbed with shadows. “Everybody’s Talkin’” was finished in one take. Three years later Harry Nilsson covered it for the award-winning film Midnight Cowboy. The song burned the charts and Fred cashed it all in.

Read more at American Songwriter

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The Rutles, “Piggy In The Middle”

Published August 16, 2013 by James K.

I watched The Rutles’ film, All You Need is Cash, while eating a sausage biscuit for lunch. It seems I just stumbled upon them at random, although I recall hearing about them during a loose round of Trivial Pursuit. I watched these men poke fun at the musically revered Beatles. It was initially unsettling. The whole parody punctured my brain. Had I been a sucker my whole life, believing that The Beatles were lyrically “untouchable?” Have I taken them too seriously for too long? And I sat there, stoned by The Rutles, and ate a sausage biscuit.

Read more at American Songwriter

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If I was a pet, I would commit suicide

Published October 9, 2012 by James K.

I interviewed Scott McClanahan not long after he filed his divorce papers. His new apartment sounded empty, like there were no pictures on the walls. He told me that he hadn’t left his place in two weeks and he’d lost weight. “Maybe I should get divorced more often,” he joked. I looked down at the recorder thinking that marital complications aren’t the brightest of opening topics. He then told me he felt like a chunk of coal and compared himself to the country singer Billy Joe Shaver—“Gonna be a diamond some day.”

Read more at the Oxford American

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