I go about my business, mostly here in New York, traveling from mid-town to downtown and back up again, often to Brooklyn, less often to Hoboken or Queens. There is a family that lives across the street, and a sweatshop too, there’s a police station next door and further down the block a halfway house, a Chinese/Mexican take out and an off Broadway theater center.

Sometimes it seems as if things, like writing a group of songs or getting groceries, are dealt with more or less on a day to day basis, as... more