All I Want for Christmas
1966: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania On Christmas morning I sit with my brother and sister on the top step of a long staircase leading down to the living room. Cloaked in fuzzy red pajamas, we squash our little rinkies together on a narrow swath of Williamsburg blue shag carpeting, agonizing over whether or not Santa has shown […]
Mister President (from Waltz of the Asparagus People)
Excuse me, I’m sorry. Excuse me. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I maneuver across a crowded subway platform and step onto a slow-moving escalator. Perched in the middle, I avoid the sticky rubber handrails, and travel—head down, antennae up—until I emerge from the stuffy underground and step into the national-park spaciousness of Grand Central Station. I gaze at the terminal’s star-spattered ceiling, shuffle around a clump of camera-toting tourists, and scoot outside into the June morning.
Olives, Almonds, and Sauvignon Blanc: The Musician’s Guide to Losing (and Finding) Those Last Five Pounds
Considering I’ve spent most of my adult life playing the piano in a cocktail lounge, it’s amazing I’m not (yet) an obese alcoholic with salt stains on my fingers and a pickled liver. I have stared down more bowls of smoked almonds and wasabi nuts than most people do in a lifetime. If I had […]
Home for the Holidays
Robin Goldsby looks at “home” from an expatriate perspective. Written initially for the FAWCO Region 5 Conference in Cologne, Germany, Goldsby has performed this piece at concerts in Hamburg, Vienna, Berlin, and Rome.
The Fast Lane: Passing the German Driver’s Test
Here I am, a blond American woman in a short skirt racing down a busy stretch of the German Autobahn at 150 kilometers an hour. I’m too busy driving to calculate the conversion, but I must be approaching 100 miles per hour. I negotiate a curve, my knuckles grip the steering wheel. I pick up speed and feel the G-force—or whatever it’s called—push me back into my seat.
“Überholen,” says the elderly man sitting in the passenger seat. “Pass the car in front of you.”
“No, thank you,” I say. “I’m going fast enough.”
Music of Goodbye
Let’s celebrate! Nineteen years ago the Goldsby family moved to Germany. Here’s a look back to 1994 and the day we left New York City.
Sing! Finding the Backbeat and Holding On Tight
Robin Meloy Goldsby has a few things to say about singers, and, this time around, they’re all good.
Runway: Tempest Storm, High Heels, and the Adventures of an Aging Model
Robin Meloy Goldsby takes a (cat)walk down memory lane. Like most odd situations in my life, this one starts with a pair of shoes. Cruising around on Facebook one morning when I’m supposed to be writing, I’m distracted by a fabulous pair of pumps, way too high-heeled and (I assume) way too expensive. Pale powder […]
You Were Special: A Tribute to Mister Rogers
Robin Meloy Goldsby remembers a family friend. On February 27th, 2003, America lost one of its national heroes. For more than three decades Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, had taught parents and children about joy and sadness, life and death, being different and fitting in. “You are special,” he told us, without a tad […]
Varmint on the Roof
As if a career in music isn’t perilous enough, Piano Girl Robin Goldsby and her bassist husband take on a few critters roaming the German countryside.
Thwack. Or is it thwump? Skittle, scratch, scrape, thwop. It’s a quarter to three and there’s no one in the place except you and me—thonk—and Dumbo?