Stories & Strategies
I'm pleased to announce that a project that I conceived with composer Tim Brady over a year ago has come to fruition. Please be sure to check out Personal Pandemic – A Socially Distanced Opera which is set to premiere freely on YouTube and the official RISE website on June 28th 2021, 12 PM EST:... Continue Reading →
Maybe 6 or 7 years ago I was asked to come jam by a lanky fellow named Rory. I didn't know what to expect. Would we play Stones tunes? Jazz standards? Funk? Blues? To my surprise Rory – a drummer - just wanted to play. Free jazz. A beloved idiom but not one that you... Continue Reading →
About 3 years ago I wrote a satirical short story called Donald Trump Has Taken a Little Girl Hostage. Admittedly, it was a very dark story, and yet also – I thought – quite hopeful. I sent it to a couple adventurous literary websites but it was rejected. And I could almost feel the shivering... Continue Reading →
Mother!, the film by Darren Aronofsky starring Javier Bardem and Jennifer Lawrence, is a visceral, bloody and utterly gutting condemnation of art as partriarchy and patriarchy as art. Unspooling as a haunting and complex allegory, the film depicts with rare insight and subtlety how female generosity is exploited, desecrated and destroyed again and again by... Continue Reading →
It was, strangely enough, Greta Gerwig's delightful Little Women, that cinematic ne plus ultra of wholesome domesticity, that tempted me to watch Midsommar, a 'horror' film whose breathless reviewers were united in calling 'disturbing' and 'bizarre'. More accurately it was Florence Pugh that drew me to Midsommar. Her performance as Amy in Little Women was... Continue Reading →
I first heard the name Miranda July about 20 years ago, dropped casually yet reverentially from the lips of Sarah Sharkey-Pearce, one of the smartest, coolest young artists I knew. And so, although it would be a few years before I came across any actual artworks by her, Miranda July's name stayed with me. Brimming... Continue Reading →
For a few years now I have occasionally posted my photos to Instagram but it wasn't until I happened to trip across and follow the kickass account of Erin Hawkins, who endlessly marries cool photos with cool short fictional mini-stories that I realized much more fun could be had. So with thanks to her for... Continue Reading →
Although COVID-19 has delayed the release of the print edition of my new children's book, Born, I am happy to report that my publisher, Groundwood Books, has gone ahead with the release of the ebook edition. Thanks to everyone at Groundwood for your support and hard work in bringing this book to life! It has... Continue Reading →
Life as a husband and dad, creative professional, entrepreneur, author and member of other people's bands has meant that getting my own band back together has taken me longer than I ever thought it would. But at long last the train has left the station I am one happy conductor. Our first gig is Saturday... Continue Reading →
John Sobol 