"525,600 minutes, 

525,000 moments so dear.

525,600 minutes...

how do you measure, measure a year?

in daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee,

in inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife...

525,600 minutes...

how do you measure a year in the life? 

how about love?

how about love?

measure in love...seasons of love..."

-johnathan larson 

my thoughts go back to a darkened auditorium theater in chicago, the late 1990's...balancing on the back of my velvet chair in the last balcony row, cheapest seats in the house that we'd bought just minutes beforehand from a street hawker...kevin on my left and royd on my right...all three of us focused on the figures on the faraway stage who were vaguely moving, but speaking intensely in song...their voices twining together in overpowering harmonies...the sound vibrations traveling over the subtle activities of the orchestra pit and past the scrutinizing glances in the box seats...and directly to us, to me...i took in those vibrations with my inhale...and i let them sink down into my chest and then explode out every nerve...

i saw RENT twice...but i listened to and sang along with the soundtrack too many times to ever count...i remember thinking when i saw that show, 'i want to experience that. i want to experience la vie boheme. a life with eccentric friends  who are all artists in their own right. raw emotions. pain. flagrance. happenstance communities. gratitude...' i remember during that show feeling how deeply i wanted to live...

"to days of inspiration
playing hookey, making something out of nothing
the need to express -
to communicate,
to going against the grain,
going insane
going mad..."

"to loving tension, no pension
to more than one dimension,
to starving for attention,
hating convention, hating pretension
not to mention of course,
hating dear old mom and dad..."

"to riding your bike,
midday past the three piece suits
to fruits - to no absolutes -
to Absolut - to choice...
to any passing fad...
to being an us for once- instead of a them...
la vie boheme..."


"to hand-crafted beers made in local breweries
to yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese
to leather, to dildos, to curry vindaloo
to huevos rancheros and Maya Angelou..."

"compassion, to fashion, to passion when it's new
to Sontag,
to Sondheim,
to anything taboo..."

"Ginsberg, Dylan, Cunningham and Cage,
Lenny Bruce,
Langston Hughes,
to the stage!!
To Uta
to Buddha
Pablo Neruda, too..."
-johnathan larson