Boston musical renaissance man Rick Berlin’s life and music reads like a novel by Kurt Vonnegut or John Irving: brimming with sublimely off-beat characters (including the protagonist himself), strange situations, bizarre circumstantial twists and turns, but above all, beating with life, a flawed, tender humanity, and a healthy sense of the absurd.

I had seen and heard Berlin’s brilliance many times up close, in different solo and band configurations when I decided, while covering the local music scene, first for the dearly departed Boston Phoenix, and then for the Boston Globe, that this remarkable singer-songwriter-writer-creator’s life needed to be told, talked about — and his music heard by as many people as possible.

I wrote what I thought was a definitive Globe profile piece on Rick back in 2006 … and then returned for a follow-up feature at my RPM: Life In Analog blog ten years after that. Little did I know then that, in 2023, Rick’s story would still be unfolding decades later; that he’d be continually adding new creative passages to his life and art many years from our first conversation.

Now, at 75, Berlin shows little signs of slowing down anytime soon. And this week’s glittery celebration of Berlin’s half-century in music featuring the major signpost bands of his life dating from the 1970s to the present day – Orchestra Berlin, Berlin Airlift, and the Nickel & Dime Band — just might be the biggest chapter yet. Although I’ve certainly learned not to call it a climax or a finale of any sort.

In anticipation of this well-deserved tribute and extravaganza, (details below), here are my original features on Berlin, both tied to a pair of superb albums he was releasing at each juncture, “Me & Van Gogh,” and “Old Stag,” as well as a disc review I did of Berlin’s similarly wonderful “Paper Airplane.” Think of them as I do now: merely an introduction to this singular artist.

WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER: A CELEBRATION OF THE MUSIC OF RICK BERLIN

With Orchestra Luna, Berlin Airlift, the Nickel & Dime Band, the Nervous Eaters, the Sheila Divine, and Hallelujah the Hills. At Brighton Music Hall. April 6 at 8 p.m. $20. crossroadspresents.com