signs of the times

the clocks drift hours apart all the time.

people wake after sleeping for a day or more, and feel the same as if they'd slept only a couple of hours.

the phones never stop ringing, and they're all wrong numbers.

the traffic is always gridlocked, and there's an accident every few hours at every intersection.

no matter where you go, you can always hear sirens.

the air here is far heavier than our sense of rightness can support.

Mark Sayles isn't around much, any more

"Well, I'm very proud of him."
- Sayles' father, after his son's disastrous first concert

"Even after that album of his took off, he didn't start living like he was this big-shot. I mean it, he was such a good boy."
- Sayles' stepmother

"Man, I wanted the money. But when I got it, I felt I just had to put all of it back into making something new, something even bigger and more ridiculously insane. And, uh, some drugs."
- Mark Sayles

"Now, I regret not being there for him. Maybe there was something I could have done to prevent his life from, er, coming to all that. But I was young then, and just as foolish as he became."
- Sayles' mother

"If you give a piece of any kind of art a ridiculous title, the general public will give you license to do just about anything. It's great."
- Mark Sayles