Music

No More

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I finished a new book last summer and, in an inexplicable fit of delusion, I decided to try to have it published traditionally and submitted it to several independent publishers.

Yeah, guess how that’s gone so far…

Anyway, in the interim since finishing that presently wayward and unwelcomed novel, I have been unable to home in on a new story to which I would be willing to commit a year or so of intellectual effort/struggle.

I don’t know how it goes for you, but for yours truly, writing does not come easy and it is one long angst-ridden struggle. Hence my saying, which occasionally serves here as a tag line but at present is on the bench:

Writing is sorrow; having had written is sublime.

Lately, to nourish the parched creative side of my brain, I have taken to music – no, I still cannot play any instrument beyond my ability to torture three unfortunate chords or so on an acoustic guitar.

By music, I mean the garageband app on my iPad.

I decided to would try to reimagine my novels, their themes, or perhaps even scenes within them, as songs. The first novel I choose to contemplate rhythmically was Rainy Season.

Love hurts, as they* say, and Rainy Season makes every effort to live up to the truth of this wellworn saying.

So I wrote a sad, desperate song to express how the sad, desperate novel strikes me.

To help further express this sad, depressing Expressionistic Rainy Season vision of mine, I decided to include a visual element to it.

So I turned to French director Jean Epstein’s haunting 1928 silent film “La chute de la maison Usher,” which itself is a filmic expression of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic masterpiece “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and which, conveniently for me, recently entered the public domain – the film, I mean, because surely all of Poe’s work has been in the public domain for many, many o’ moons.

For you nerds who like to know, to edit and adapt the film to the song, I used DaVinci Resolve, also for the iPad (the free version of course).

So, are there more music/videos to come?

Maybe, at least until I come up with an idea for a new novel (redundancy intended).

Apologies in advance…

*non-gender specific

Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Spirit of the Dance

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Lately, ever since the earthquake succeeding, apocalyptic-inducing solar eclipse in fact, it has been nothing but blustery low-pressure days of rain and wind and dark gloomy clouds in my secluded hilly hood down in Southern Pennsyltucky.

Well, we all know how those old saws go – In like a lion and out like a lamb, and April showers bring May mosquitos, or something to that effect, so it is all to be expected, climate change notwithstanding.

But today is beautiful and warm and full of promise and Vitamin D.

Just imagine, after traveling 93,000,000 miles (149,668,992 km for those of you not of the Imperial mindset) or so, those sun’s rays are still so warm and toasty and lovely to the touch.

Time to go out and touch a few of ’em all while shaking our money makers to Mr. Johnny Nash’s greatest hit…

It’s gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day…

As a tribute to celebrate our worship of the sun, free books.

Get ’em while they’re hot!

#sunscreenwedontneednostinkingsunscreen
#unlessyourepastywhitelikeyourstruly

Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

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I don’t know if you’ve heard or not, but there is some mysterious illness affecting dogs that is spreading fast throughout the U.S….

A mysterious and potentially fatal respiratory illness in dogs has been reported in several states across the country, as veterinarians continue to search for what may be causing the condition that has killed some dogs.

The illness starts out as a cough that can last for several weeks, but it may not respond to typical treatment, such as antibiotics, which can leave the dog struggling to breathe and with severe pneumonia.

A potentially fatal mystery illness in dogs is spreading in the US. It starts with a cough, Yahoo News, November 17, 2023

Now, anyone who knows me knows how much my boys mean to me…

So in honor of my boys, and all of (hu)mans’ best friends all over the globe, and in hope that they all stay healthy and happy…

Let’s dance!

Okay, this perhaps isn’t the most dance-friendly song – I could have gone with Elvis’ “Hound Dog” (courtesy of Big Mama Thorton) or Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out” …

But “Old Blue” was a favorite of my children’s, and mine, when they were growing up. There are many versions of it, The Byrds’, Joan Baez’, and Willie Nelson’s just to name a few, but Disney’s version is my favorite since it has so many happy memories attached to it.

#prayforthedoggies

Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

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Life is all it is – joyful, sad, comprehensive, confusing, peaceful, violent, and on and on and on…

Of course, regardless of what reality tries to tell one, it can only be what one – you, me, each unique individual making up the all of we – says it is.

And no matter how hard we/I try to understand it, to challenge it, to master it, chances are we/I never will; and chances are along the way we/I will alienate those who see reality 180 degrees differently than you/me.

So, understanding our understanding and execution of life will always be incomplete and often inaccurate, and way off kilter to many, accepting that some will love us for what we do and, sadly, some with hate us for the same, will hopefully make it all a bit less painful.

So, we might as smile the best we can and dance.

#embraceyourreality

You know, sometimes it’s okay to meet your hero…

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George Winston in pencil with graphic design
George Winston as rendered by an admiring fan

Rest forever, hero, in the peace and comfort you and your music has provided to so many…

The following article was originally published in November 2014.

Most of what little refinement I have can be attributed to my lovely and loving wife.

I would say all of it could be attributed to her, but I do have a pretty good three-object juggling technique that I’ve worked hard on over the years to perfect.

Metaphorically speaking, the wife can juggle just about anything thrown her way; non-metaphorically speaking, however, she’s not a juggler by any stretch of the imagination.

But other than my juggling skills, just about anything else refined about me — especially anything artistic or intellectual — more than likely has its foundation somewhere within in my wife’s lovely and loving intellectual and artistic brain.

Read more

Sunday Songs to Spark the Spirit and Summon the Moves of the Dance

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You probably know that Steve Earle is a world-renowned folk/country/crossover singer-songwriter…

And maybe you know that he is also an actor, having appeared on The Wire, Treme, and other productions, his characters mostly mirroring his life as a musician, as in Treme, or as a recovering heroin addict, as in The Wire.

But did you know he is also an author?

And a damn fine one at that?

Yeah…

Dude’s def got it going on, I must say. Obviously, I’m a big fan.

His book I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive is named after a Hank William’s song. I listened to the audiobook version, of which Earle performed. It’s great. The main character is a down-and-out, disgraced doctor, and an addict, who angelically performs illegal medical services for the locals of his unruly hood, particularly for the at-risk sex workers. It is a sad, touching, funny, magical, hallucinatory/ghostly tale (Hank Williams plays a critical role… or at least his ghost/Doc’s hallucination of him does) of which I highly recommend.

Anyway, have a listen of this little ditty of Earle’s from when he was a much younger human, and tap a toe or two while you’re at it…