Welcome new readers. Old hands - I'm expanding. Answers to reader questions.
A rolling stone gathers no moss.
Yesterday, while looking though the new subscriptions to Howlin’, I noticed that for the first time I do not know most of you. I’m humbled by the number of people, many strangers, who have subscribed to this page. Nothing makes any writer, musician, artist or creator of any kind happier than an audience. Thank you.
I’ve had several people recently reach out to me with questions and I’ll get to those in just a bit. But first an announcement. I’ve decided to expand my Substack to three pages instead of one. In addition to Howlin’ at the Moon in ii-V-I (what you are reading now), I’m adding two more pages. The first is called Circle of Fifths, and will be devoted to music - both commentary and performance. The second is Forrest Gump Ride Across America 2024, where I’ll post articles about the preparation for my bicycle ride across the country and a daily diary once the trip begins.
You may find all of these pages on my Substack profile: https://substack.com/profile/11625602-martin-hackworth
I decided to separate this content because it’s really for different audiences. You might be interested in music or bicycles, but not political and/or social commentary (or vice versa). By separating these disparate topics you’ll have the ability to subscribe to just the ones that interest you the most - without having your arm bent up behind your back on account of the others. You are completely welcome to subscribe to all three. I just don’t want my political or social commentary to interfere with anyone’s ability to read about things that are generally much more fun.
I didn’t import any email lists from Howlin’ to the other two pages specifically to make subscribing to any of the other pages absolutely your choice. Circle of Fifths and Forrest Gump are free, so all you have to do is provide your email if you want to be notified of new content. I’ll continue to let Howlin’ pay the bills. Thanks again everyone who is a paid subscriber to Howlin’.
As always I’ll post links on Facebook and Twitter for each new article in any of the three feeds.
Though there’s a byline at the end of each Howlin’ article, it doesn’t really reveal all that much. It’s a byline, after all, not an autobiography. For those of you who do not know me, I’m a retired physicist. I lectured for 25 years in physics and astronomy. I did some research, but not a ton. I’m somewhat adept at electronics and fabrication so I designed and built lots of stuff for various labs - mostly for student instruction but sometimes for research. My thesis project was a laser the size of a small car built by me from the ground up. One of the happiest moments of my life was when we turned the damned thing on and it actually worked.
I’ve also been professionally involved in climbing, skiing, music, audio engineering and motorcycling. I always figured that if you’re going to have to go to work, you might as well have some fun at it.
I’m married to the girl of my dreams and we have two small children. My wife, Megan, is a Pharmacist and actually possess the most advanced degree in the family (something that I am more than occasionally reminded of). I’m Mr. Mom. The first thing that I do every morning is pinch myself to make sure that it’s all real. Yeah, I know, it ain’t Ozzie and Harriet - but I’ll take it.
A reader asked if the photo that appears with each article has any particular bearing on that article. The answer is “yes.” But sometimes the relationship is easier to discern than at other times. If the photo at the head of an article happens to be a landscape that is seemingly unrelated to the content of the article, it’s probably the place that I happened to be when the thoughts that inspired that particular piece first popped into my noggin. I spend a lot of time riding motorcycles and bicycles in the mountains and that turns out to be fertile ground for thinking.
Another reader asked about the music that occasionally accompanies a piece. Megan and I didn’t write any of it, but it’s almost always the two of us performing it. Being in a band with your spouse is one of the coolest things that I can imagine - when your spouse plays as well as mine does. If Megan ever learns to ride motorcycles there won’t be anything that I can do better than her.
That’s about it. If I know you, thanks again for subscribing. If I don’t know you, thanks for coming onboard and I hope that you’ll get some value out of it.
-M