Impspired Title

FROM A CURIOUS EAR

by TED JACKINS

Ted Jackins prays to the altar of all music from Ween to Miles Davis to Sun Ra to Mudhoney to Wet Leg and countless other subterranean and astral voices. Their vast knowledge of music is awe-inspiring, and the way they sink into the flesh and pulse and scent of each artist is as revelatory as it is spiritual. They have spelunked into these caves of light and dark and have brought us the silver inside the guitar and the brass inside the throat and the diamonds inside the piano; but with the reverence of a mystic and the showmanship of a snake handler. Their words hit us right in the core, as they speak directly to Elliot Smith in a ghostly dialogue: “Tears caught in the back / of your throat…you whispered / All of life’s / Dark secrets directly / Into my ear.” -Scott Ferry, author of each imaginary arrow