A collection of photos and poems interacting with each other in ways both mysterious and obvious.
Shadow rattles through dreams
of a non-trivial world—
a lattice of wires and heat exchange,
ragtime pulsing beneath
the tireless rhythm
of rails and ties.
Through this windowed trespass
of industrial apprehension,
we pass ductwork like iron lungs,
humming with function,
resigned to necessity.
We ride inoculated, immune
by the promise of arrival,
fleeing once again
the rust-backed burden,
the redbrick breath
of imposition.
Bridgeport, Connecticut
On this Next to Silence, we’re diving headfirst into the many shades of “crazy.” Not the clinical kind, but the kind that colors everyday life—when emotions run hot, logic takes a back seat, and the heart writes its own script.
There’s the giddy madness of falling in love, and the slow unraveling when it doesn’t work out. There’s the chaos of desire, the ache of obsession, and the wild, spinning joy that comes from dancing too close to the edge. Sometimes “crazy” means laughter that doesn’t quite stop; other times, it’s the quiet confusion of feeling too much, too fast.
This playlist is a collection of voices caught in those moments—songs from the brink, the breakthrough, and the beautiful mess in between. Whether you’ve been driven crazy, called someone crazy, or felt a little crazy yourself, there’s a place for you here today.
Playlist for the week of June 16, 2025:
00:00:00 Prince – “Let’s Go Crazy”
00:08:03 Fine Young Cannibals – “She Drives Me Crazy”
00:11:37 Heart – “Crazy On You”
00:16:31 Patsy Cline; The Jordanaires – “Crazy”
00:19:14 Paul Anka – “Crazy Love”
00:21:39 Van Morrison – “Crazy Love”
00:24:14 Joni Mitchell – “The Crazy Cries of Love”
00:28:06 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – “Crazy About The La La La”
00:34:16 Jim Kweskin – “Crazy Words-Crazy Tune”
00:36:16 Peggy Lee; Toots Thielemans – “You’re Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?)”
00:38:32 Simi; Tiwa Savage – “Men Are Crazy”
00:41:38 Queen – “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”
00:44:12 The Clash – “Let’s Go Crazy”
00:48:46 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – “Crazy Little Thing”
00:51:22 ABBA – “Crazy World”
00:58:30 Johnny Clegg; Savuka – “Cruel Crazy Beautiful World”
01:02:52 Bob Marley & The Wailers – “Crazy Baldhead”
01:06:03 Paul Simon – “Crazy Love, Vol. II”
01:10:19 Marvin Gaye – “I’m Crazy ‘Bout My Baby”
01:13:00 The Rolling Stones – “Crazy Mama”
01:17:33 Billie Holiday – “Crazy He Calls Me”
01:20:36 Seal – “Crazy”
01:27:40 Tuba Skinny – “Crazy About You”
Today we enter the world of Bond—James Bond—told not through gadgets or gunfire, but through music. These theme songs are more than title tracks. They’re portals. Each one carries the fingerprint of its era, the tone of the man who played him, and a mood that outlives the movie.
So pour a martini, shaken not stirred, settle into the shadows, and let’s begin.
Playlist for the week of June 9, 2025:
00:00:00 John Barry – The James Bond Theme
00:05:41 Matt Monro – From Russia With Love
00:08:13 Shirley Bassey – Goldfinger
00:11:01 Tom Jones – Thunderball
00:13:52 Nancy Sinatra – You Only Live Twice
00:16:48 Louis Armstrong – We Have All the Time in the World
00:21:50 Shirley Bassey – Diamonds Are Forever
00:24:29 Paul McCartney & Wings – Live and Let Die
00:27:41 Lulu – The Man with the Golden Gun
00:30:16 Carly Simon – Nobody Does It Better
00:33:50 Sheena Easton – For Your Eyes Only
00:36:52 Rita Coolidge – All Time High
00:39:55 Gladys Knight – Licence to Kill
00:46:35 Tina Turner – GoldenEye
00:51:14 Sheryl Crow – Tomorrow Never Dies
00:56:03 Garbage – The World Is Not Enough
00:59:57 Jack White & Alicia Keys – Another Way to Die
01:04:18 Adele – Skyfall
01:12:24 Billie Eilish – No Time To Die
The Many Grooves of Bond: A History of James Bond Films
Since his cinematic debut in Dr. No (1962), James Bond has evolved from Cold War assassin to emotionally complex antihero, but what’s remained constant is the mythic pulse of the character—a rhythm that plays differently in each actor’s hands. Each Bond reflects the age he inhabits, but just as crucially, each actor brought a different groove to the role: a unique mix of timing, temperament, and backstory that shaped the music of the movies. Behind every tuxedo was a man with a surprising path to the part.
Sean Connery, a former milkman and bodybuilder from Edinburgh, seemed an unlikely choice. When producers Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman first saw him, Connery walked away from their meeting with a panther-like swagger that clinched the deal. Though Ian Fleming initially doubted him—calling Connery “an overgrown stuntman”—he changed his tune after seeing Dr. No. Connery’s Bond was muscular jazz: sleek, swinging, and dangerous, with a sardonic glint in the eye. He invented the template—every Bond since has either echoed or rebelled against his beat.
George Lazenby was a model with no acting experience when he bluffed his way into the role. He bought a Rolex, tailored a suit like Connery’s, and faked a film résumé. The producers were so impressed with his audacity that they gave him the part. In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Lazenby offered a Bond who could fall in love and cry—a soft, minor key moment in the symphony of the franchise. Though his tenure was brief, the emotional resonance of his Bond would echo decades later in Daniel Craig’s arc.
Roger Moore, already famous as TV’s The Saint, was long considered for Bond but was initially too busy—or too suave. When Connery finally stepped down for good, Moore took over with effortless charm. His Bond was the lounge act version: smooth, light, and ironic. The groove shifted into disco mode—flared pants, outlandish plots, and eyebrow-arching double entendres. Moore’s Bond knew it was all a bit much, and that was the point.
Timothy Dalton was a serious Shakespearean actor who had turned the role down in the ’70s, feeling he was too young. When he finally stepped in during the late ’80s, he brought gravitas and emotional complexity. His Bond didn’t quip—he brooded. The Cold War was ending, and Dalton’s groove was stripped-down and stormy, more noir than fantasy. He offered a foretaste of the darker realism that would define Bond’s 21st-century incarnation.
Pierce Brosnan had been poised to take over in 1987, but his contract with the TV show Remington Steele kept him out—just barely. When the role came around again in the ’90s, he seized it with a balance of Connery’s toughness and Moore’s polish. His Bond was built for the globalized, digital era: slick, corporate, and always ready with a one-liner. The action ramped up, the gadgets went high-tech, and Brosnan’s groove was pure techno-thriller—adrenaline on a soundtrack.
Daniel Craig was met with skepticism: too blond, too rough, too un-Bond. But Casino Royale (2006) rebooted the franchise with brutal elegance. Craig, a classically trained actor with indie credentials, brought a bruised physicality and emotional depth. His casting marked a shift toward a more psychologically complex Bond—less fantasy, more fracture. Over five films, Craig’s arc traced Bond’s inner life as much as his missions. His groove was stripped and rhythmic, like a heartbeat under pressure—wounded, human, and mythic.
Now, with Craig’s departure, Bond stands again at a crossroads, waiting for his next incarnation. What makes this franchise endure is not the martinis or the Aston Martins, but the ability to let the rhythm shift with time. Each Bond grooves to the beat of his moment in history—and in doing so, he teaches us something about the fantasies we cherish and the silences we try to fill.
Clouds move
like thoughts—
shapeless, then clear,
then gone.
The wood beneath me
leans and softens.
A crab—small, rust-red—
clicks past
without meaning.
They say
the notion of emptiness
was understood here once.
No sermon.
No symbol.
Just the tide
covering what it could.
Not loss.
Not absence.
But space
for the self
to rise—
shadow and light
together.
The sea
keeps no stories.
It lifts,
it leaves.
I sit,
and let it.
Peaks Island, Maine
Dear Friends,
This week Next To Silence enters the electric labyrinth of fusion jazz—music that rewired the language of jazz with power, groove, and spirit.
Fusion was born the moment Miles Davis plugged in. In 1969, *Bitches Brew* blurred jazz and rock into something primal and strange. But its deeper legacy lives on in the musicians who played on it—and then carried its wild DNA into their own bands.
This week’s show, “Fusion: Sons of Bitches Brew*” features these legends. Each track is a chapter in the unfolding story of electric jazz.
Playlist for the week of June 2, 2025:
00:00:00 Weather Report – Black Market (Live)
00:11:34 Herbie Hancock – You’ll Know When You Get There
00:21:47 Mahavishnu Orchestra – Meeting of the Spirits
00:28:36 Return to Forever – Medieval Overture
00:33:51 Weather Report – Birdland
0:44:03 Herbie Hancock – Ostinato (Suite for Angela)
00:57:10 Billy Cobham – Spectrum
01:02:58 Return to Forever – Captain Señor Mouse
01:11:15 Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds of Fire
01:22:17 Keith Jarrett – Improvisation #4 (Live at the Cellar Door)
A Reminder:
Next To Silence streams live at:
1700AM and on the web at PeaksIslandRadio.com
On:
Mondays Fridays @7:00PM
Tuesdays @Noon
You can find the archives of past shows at PeaksIslandRadio.com. Click on SCHEDULE – scroll down to NEXT TO SILENCE
Thanks for listening,
Dave
This week Next To Silence drifts through the cinematic world of Paul Thomas Anderson—not through his scripts or his directing, but through the songs he chooses to haunt them. From the aching retro-pop of Boogie Nights to the vulnerable crescendos of Magnolia, the stoned California sprawl of Inherent Vice, and the bittersweet sunshine of Licorice Pizza, Anderson has a rare ear for popular music that deepens character, suggests the unsaid, and lingers like smoke after the scene ends. These aren’t just soundtrack choices—they’re emotional engines, ironic mirrors, and secret narrators.
Playlist for the week of May 19, 2025:
00:00:00 The Emotions – “Best of My Love”
00:05:19 KC & The Sunshine Band – “Boogie Shoes”
00:07:28 Melanie – “Brand New Key”
00:09:51 Rick Springfield – “Jessie’s Girl”
00:13:03 Three Dog Night – “Mama Told Me (Not To Come)”
00:16:18 The Beach Boys – “God Only Knows”
00:21:14 Aimee Mann – “One”
00:24:06 Aimee Mann – “Momentum”
00:27:33 Aimee Mann – “Driving Sideways”
00:31:19 Aimee Mann – “Wise Up”
00:36:37 Jonny Greenwood & Ella Fitzgerald – “Get Thee Behind Me Satan”
00:40:21 Jonny Greenwood & Jo Stafford – “No Other Love”
00:43:40 Jonny Greenwood & Helen Forrest – “Changing Partners”
00:47:26 CAN – “Vitamin C”
00:50:57 The Marketts – “Here Comes The Ho-Dads”
00:53:10 Minnie Riperton – “Les Fleurs”
00:56:26 Kyu Sakamoto – “上を向いて歩こう”
00:59:33 Chuck Jackson – “Any Day Now”
01:02:56 David Bowie – “Life On Mars?”
01:06:42 Chris Norman & Suzi Quatro – “Stumblin’ In”
01:10:38 Gordon Lightfoot – “If You Could Read My Mind”
01:16:42 Shelly Duvall – “He Needs Me”
Watch the incredible tracking shot that begins Boogie Nights to The Emotions “Best of My Love” –
She came through the lobby
in heels that sounded like secrets,
dragging a suitcase that probably held regrets
neatly folded
next to a book of spells.
The clerk said she had
that look—
like she’d once been painted
on the side of a bomber plane,
or whispered about
in backseats and divorce papers.
They gave her Room 237,
because of course they did.
Where else would a woman like that stay
but down the hallway
that never quite ends?
She ordered champagne at midnight,
left no tip,
and signed the bill
“Love, Karma.”
Some say she rewrote dreams.
Others, that she stole them.
Mostly, she just waited—
watching time melt down the window
like candle wax.
Men dropped around her
like poker chips at a rigged table,
grinning through the gamble,
and left with their names
misspelled in the mirror.
When the flowers stopped
and the world got bored
of her perfume and promise,
she slipped into the velvet-lined box
beneath the lobby gift shop,
a mannequin saint
with sale tags on her sins
and a crucifix worn
like costume jewelry.
Now tourists lean in,
take photos,
whisper,
"Wasn’t she someone?"
And somewhere—
behind the front desk,
or in the static of the lobby jazz—
the universe clears its throat,
adjusts its tie,
and laughs,
quietly,
into its infinite hand.
Scarborough, Maine
Boho Dreams of Space and Time 