CronkBlog

In 1991, I drank one of Paul Simon’s beers. I’m exaggerating, but let me tell you how I found myself in the “Rhythm of the Saints” Tour Green Room, chatting it up with Chris Botti, Michael Brecker, and Steve Gadd — Yeah, I know. I was 21. I was playing trumpet with my college teacher, […]Read More

My Aunt Jean should probably be your hero, too. She’s 92. Last year, she flew overseas to visit my sister. In this case, “overseas” meant South Africa — just a ho hum little trip, right? Uhhh … no. This was a 9 hour flight to Amsterdam, a 4 hour layover, and then 12 hours to […]Read More

I was at my daughter’s orchestra concert a few years ago, sitting next to my son, Oliver. We were subjected to the full range of orchestral sounds, from beginnings efforts only a mother could love, to the top orchestra kicking out Stravinsky in ways that most college orchestras can’t touch with a conductor’s baton duct […]Read More

I have to tell you a secret: I am addicted to low priced high fidelity. Guess how many speakers I have? 14. OK, that’s a big fat lie. I have 42, and probably 6 more I’ve forgotten because they displeased me. It’s OK. I’ve since cut them out of the will. One fine day last […]Read More

There was a sewing factory down the road apiece that went out of business. I knew the guy, went down there to see what might be available, and ended up buying every sewing machine he had. One of them was the Famous Ferdinand 900B Bull, a massive block of steel that spent its days impersonating […]Read More

I spent a few days in Berkeley with Glenn in 2017, where he lived for most of his life. It was apparent that he was a musician from the start – the first thing we did was listen in awe to the Vertical Voices recording of Maria Schneider’s compositions, on an incredible stereo that had its […]Read More

Hi Everyone, We had a strange, difficult, and surprisingly profitable year. Here is a short account of starting in a bad place, going dark, going darker, coming out of it, going back into dark, coming out of it again, getting lucky, and closing out with confidence. I invested in a brand new website in Nov […]Read More