abbottbill

Got a Devil’s Haircut in My Mind

Since I discovered rock music in my teens, I sought it out heavily through my thirties (and still do, but not as aggressively). In the summer of 1996, I heard the local station play something unlike anything I’d heard to that point, but I had no idea what it was called. It was “Pepper” byContinue reading “Got a Devil’s Haircut in My Mind”

Kerran

Today, I want to remember Kerran Brady. In 1992, when I found the poetry slam in Johnson City, TN, on that first night, the winner for the evening (and never again) was Kerran. He walked in and, despite the rule that you had to memorize, read his poems on paper. I guess they didn’t thinkContinue reading “Kerran”

Heroes, Felons, and Fiends

This weekend is seriously a set of high holy days for me and a few hundred (thousand?) fans. Starting tonight, at Third and Lindsey in Nashville, The Floating Men will be playing again for three nights. They last played more than a decade ago. The last time I saw them was in June of 2006Continue reading “Heroes, Felons, and Fiends”

John Lennon

I was a preacher’s kid, grew up in the church. The family music collection was heavily the Gaithers on vinyl. My parents, much later, would discuss how they listened to a little Simon & Garfunkel. Mom remembers the song “Downtown” being big. In the last few weeks, I transcribed all of my parents’ love letters,Continue reading “John Lennon”

Tracy Chapman

It’s so good to see Tracy Chapman get such acclaim for “Fast Car” again, even if it took a white guy to get her there (and all the hostile social media posts about how they let her on stage with him, when she’s just some affirmative action “minority” or whatever as opposed to the originalContinue reading “Tracy Chapman”

My Brother and Physical Therapy

So let me tell you a story about my childhood. More specifically, my brother’s childhood and how it impacted mine. David was born in 1976, the middle child, and he was born with cerebral palsy, and it was categorized as “severe.” He could move his arms and legs, but he couldn’t coordinate them. We wereContinue reading “My Brother and Physical Therapy”

My Sabbatical Trip

First of all, since I only had 5 days to pull it off, I adjusted my trip schedule to drop the first two places I lived, which were Nolensville and Lafayette, as I was too young to have significant memories of those houses, and definitely not the churches. Maybe. I have vague memories of aContinue reading “My Sabbatical Trip”

My First Sabbatical

Since September, I’ve been on sabbatical from work. I’m a creative writing and English professor, and one of the benefits of that is the option to take a sabbatical every few years, with university approval of my plan. Most professors write their academic books heavily during these, but I’m creative writing, so I’ve been writingContinue reading “My First Sabbatical”

My Poetry History

Back in mid-October, I tuned in to Neil Gaiman’s lectures from Bard College. I tune in to everything I can by Gaiman, so nobody who knows me should be surprised at all. And Gaiman was talking about writing, being a writer during this series. One of the things he said was to look back atContinue reading “My Poetry History”

History of Dayton Slam

I wrote the following about my part of the history of Dayton, Ohio’s Poetry Slam for a book about Mick Montgomery, the owner of our venue, Canal Street Tavern, back in 2018. The book never happened, so here’s my homeless essay: I was a poet and organizer from Johnson City, TN, who moved to DaytonContinue reading “History of Dayton Slam”