I have chosen the wrong book for summer reading because it’s huge and weighs way too much to take to the beach.  It is called My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz.  I love this book even though it makes me want to move to Santa Fe, learn to paint, take pictures and live in a different century.  I guess this is what summer reading books are all about: taking a vacation from yourself and your life.
 
I highly recommend this book but you should probably work on your arm muscles before you attempt to carry it around.  (I know, I know, I could buy the e-book, but the bookstore I found it in was so cool and the book was so pretty…and now my arms are so much stronger!)
 
Aside from that I have a new web store. We don’t sell books by the pound, but we do have my new Solid State CD, a limited edition handmade companion book, signed songbooks and more.  I’ve even gotten up the nerve, thanks to Georgia and Alfred, to offer some of my original collage art pieces.  
 
I hope you all have a happy summer.  I’m spending my summer continuing work on a new album called Pretty Time Bomb due to be released next year.  
 
All the best from Sam 

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June 30, 2011 :: Summer Reading I have chosen the wrong book for summer reading because it’s huge and weighs way too much to take to the beach.  It is called My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz.  I love this book even though it makes me want to move to Santa Fe, learn to paint, take [...]

Piano Keys

January 17, 2011 :: Piano Keys A collage by Sam Phillips

As I was walking around in our local museum’s exhibit of photographers’ self-portraits, a flustered woman asked if I had a pen she could use. She said she had trouble remembering things and needed to write a name down. As she tried to remember what she wanted to write, she was frustrated with herself and told me she had had brain surgery.

“After the surgery, I couldn’t read, I couldn’t talk”

“I was a surgeon”

“I used to be a tri-athelete, now I’m overweight”

I told her I thought she was doing pretty well, considering all she had been through. I said I thought she should keep getting better, keep going. She looked up from her writing and smiled a little. She thanked me for the use of the pen and then said “I should keep you around the house all the time” as she walked away.

I haven’t had brain surgery, but I understand the real and imagined pain of what was and what is now.
It may be a good idea to show your self-portrait to someone else every now and then.

November 18, 2009 :: Self-Portrait As I was walking around in our local museum’s exhibit of photographers’ self-portraits, a flustered woman asked if I had a pen she could use. She said she had trouble remembering things and needed to write a name down. As she tried to remember what she wanted to write, she was frustrated with [...]

Listening for inspiration at an old Hollywood hotel. Walls have a lot to say because they are good listeners.old walls

October 29, 2009 :: Old Walls Listening for inspiration at an old Hollywood hotel. Walls have a lot to say because they are good listeners.