Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Evolution of a Song

As I work on my newest novel, The Wager, I've been constructing a playlist on YouTube as mood music to write by.

Based on suggestions from various people, from NPR's 50 Favorite Songs on 2012 (so far) and from the recommendations YouTube makes in response to these jumping off points, to evoke different scenes from the book. Mostly I've tried to stay away from songs people know well.


"He Called Me Baby" started out as a Patsy Cline song, released just a month before she was killed in a plane crash in 1963. Then, in 1970. Candi Staton remade it with a blues arrangement. Still a wonderful song, but in a totally different way. In 2009, One Eskimo released a song called "Kandi" about a guy dealing with his girlfriend's infidelity. An homage to the Candi Staton version, it actually incorporates Candi's version into the arrangement. I love the idea of this song being repurposed and taking on new life and new artistic meaning along the way. And I think Patsy would like knowing that it ended up as a cheatin' song.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

My Little Town Tuesday: Signs and the Questions They Raise




What kind of motorcycle gang is so concerned with litter control that they'll commit to keeping a two-mile stretch of road clear of debris for two years? (And do a very good job of it, by the way.)



Lifelike what? Boobs? Dolls? Taxidermy?

(Turned out it was hair replacement.)


And, finally, what the hell was I thinking, eating at a place that produces grease by the dumpster-load?

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Retirement Readiness


For the past several years, whenever I've taken a week of vacation, it's left me feeling grouchy about having to go back to work.

"Lots of women don't work," my inner whiner grumbles, "why do I have to?"

 The simple answer is "because you like living indoors," of course, but I came away from last week off with a different take.

I need the structure.

Without an 8 a.m. deadline looming in front of me, I didn't get out of bed at 5.

 Since I wasn't up at 5, I didn't go to the gym. (It's open later, of course, but 5:30 is when all my buddies are there.)

Some days, I struggled to remember to brush my teeth before noon.

 The truth is, I just don't know what to do with that much spare time.

 It didn't help that My Little Town spent most of last week auditioning for the role of Hell in a new production of Paradise Lost and it was just too freaking hot to do anything outdoors, but even without that complication I was a hot mess.

 I did manage to add 10,000 words to my manuscript over the 9-day period, but to tell you the truth, I can do that, or better, when I'm working.

Someday, perhaps as soon as 3-and-a-half years from now, possibly as much as 8 or 10, I will retire.

When that happens, I'm probably going to turn into Jabba the Hut.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Overheard at a Nursing Home

My mother-in-law had a stroke a few years back, forcing her to move to an assisted living situation. It's been sad watching this vibrant woman confined to a wheelchair, but some pretty funny stuff happens there.

This story is courtesy of my lovely sister-in-law....

Two elderly people, a man and a woman, were sitting outside the dining room in their wheelchairs, waiting for the doors to open for dinner. The old woman was entertaining herself by singing show tunes.

"There's NO business like SHOW business like NO business I know."

Well, actually, show tune.

"There's NO business like SHOW business like NO business I know."

More specifically, one line from a show tune.

"There's NO business like SHOW business like NO business I know."

After a few rounds of this, the old guy next to her says, plaintively, "Don't you know anything else?"

"No," says the old lady. "That's the only one I know."

And she sings it again.

"There's NO business like SHOW business like NO business I know."

"Aw, c'mon," says the old guy, "don't you know any Hendrix?"

It occurs to me the future is not that far away.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails