I’ve come to one of my favorite little neighborhood spots this morning to work–Bazaar Cafe on California–and was plugging away pretty well until someone turned on Tom Waits. One of the pleasures of this place is the excellent musical selection. But pleasure and work don’t mix. How am I to concentrate with Waits belting out Jersey Girl, in that gorgeous old crumbly voice of his? I wrote about the song in one of my first published stories, “Down the Shore Everything’s All Right” (Glimmer Train circa 2000), which was also the first story in my first book…

“When Tom Waits sings Jersey Girl, you get the feeling that nothing’s all right anywhere, and nowhere is less all right than where you are right now.”

Well, Tom, I still feel the same way about you. And I love you. I really do. Won’t you be my boyfriend?

The exercise: Write about a song that always stops you in your tracks.