Name : Gary Lawrence MurphyAge : 50
Location : NE shores of Lake Huron
Vocation : Handle what comes up
Philosophy : As it comes up
Sum up what your blog is about.
A notebook for fragments of sermons I will never give, on the topic of clinging to our humanity midst a life out of balance.
Why are you doing your blog?
Because, other than my cats, I have no other willing audience. I started because I believed in self-publishing; I kept going because there were things I had to say, and when I start talking like this in real life, people find another seat on the bus.
What's the funniest entry on your site?
The funniest was a post a long time ago where I offered to host an interview with JustinTrudeau; a magazine journalist was only given summary space by her editor, so I offered to host the whole thing on my main website, and then blogged just a brief item to say I'd posted the interview over at the other URL.
The blog posting was deluged by comments, hundreds of them, mostly by women, all of them personal messages to Justin Trudeau!
"Remember me?" and "Call me!" and "You're soooo cute!"
None were including telephone numbers, though.
What is your writing style?
A revisionist stream of consciousness. When a topic takes me, I just write it in, top to bottom, conversationally as it happens spilling out in a boorish style where the only pause is to ask rhetorical or leading questions. Did I mention that I tend to get my own seat on the bus?
I often go back over and grind down awkward phrases, sometimes mashing words or phrases to clear up an intent, sometimes to cool down libelous wordings after my blood pressure returns to normal.
What do people commonly say about your site?
"You have a blog?" or the equivalent "I've read everything you ever wrote" or, most often, "Love your site!" followed by a long list of casino and
pharmaceutical URLs.
What would you be doing if you weren't doing your blog?
Torturing family, friends and neighbours with these same random pontifications. Most often I do that anyway; its a safe thing to do considering none of them read my blog.
Why should someone visit your site?
The side-bar blog-roll is a pretty good collection of jazz, science and technology writers! Other than that, I don't really know what possesses my readership. Misery loves company, maybe?
There is some guy called msnbot who keeps coming back day after day -- I really have to wonder about someone like that.
What did you learn from your first love?
How to lie about where I was last night.
Are there any blogs you enjoy reading?
Whenever I am certain humanity is going to hell in a handcart, I tune in on mark woods, ralf zeigermann or jay manifold because they are my proof of intelligent life out there. When I get to feeling that we are the Invincible Ape, I like to share the gloat in Data Is Nature and The Music Thing. If I dare think I really understand, I'll check out Jack Sarfatti.
If you could invite anyone to a dinner party who would it be and why?
Hard to choose, even sticking with those who are living. I might want to discuss tone science with Marshall Allen or listen to Ran Blake reminisce about Lenox, but I'd probably just be all school-kid fumbles and dumb questions like that time I interviewed John Cage in the kitchen, so I don't know, probably too risky.
How about Tony Blair. Not to talk politics or anything, just because he probably needs a friendly quiet getaway these days and while we maybe wouldn't agree on anything, I think we'd get along ... afterwards we could get hammered and jam on old Kinks tunes before we pour him into a cab to take him home.
Tell us about a good deed you have done recently.
I had a slsk chat request from a Korean tenor sax player asking to help find him a solid but affordable school for his next student visa visit, so I relayed the request on to some mailing lists frequented by some pretty hefty players, summarized the result and sent him back a reply.
Turned out he couldn't afford their recommendations, and decided to return to the berkeley jazz school.
Tell us a random funny story that comes to mind.
You mean besides the one about this guy Joe Blogs who pings me about doing an interview about my blog?
What advice would you have given yourself 5 years ago?
Take the money and run. Wait, no, I did tell myself that. I just didn't listen.
Any interesting travel stories?
Many, but one in particular involved a man I didn't know walking up to me in the Zagreb train station cafe, pulling a wad of money out of his pocket and peeling the bills back to reveal a paper with an address in Dusseldorf, and asking me, in broken English, "You know this man?" I, barely 19, said "No" and he folded his bills and walked off -- when I got back to our table and told my crazy american travelling companion, she said, "Damn. You should have said YES!"
Do you have any strong opinions you would like to debate with me?
heh ... choose your dementia: nuclear waste disposal, digital rights restrictions, global warming, intellectual property, public education, malthusian 'economics', A440 intonation, branded box
malls, the war on x, academic accreditation, internet censorship, the mainstream media ...
What's the most incredible thing that ever happened to you?
Incredible things happen all the time, but for the most incredible it has to be having been present for the birthing of 5 out of 6 children ... although being present for their conception was a bit of alright too.
Now it's your turn! Ask me one question, anything you like.
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world wide web, why'd you walk into mine?
Joe Blogs : I was parched.
Your Site Address : blog.teledyn.com
