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The Beatles

I know, this is supposed to be a writer’s blog. I’m supposed to be posting stuff about what I’m working on, what’s ready for release, what’s already out there. Maybe some stuff on the process of writing, and of course on other writers’ books and indie publishing.

So what is this about a 1960’s pop band?

Well, I haven’t been writing much — I’m not in a creative place, mentally, and the stories I have going are sort of stuck with me not having a clear picture of where to go from here. But I have been reading a lot, and I’ve been listening to a lot of music. Well, a lot of Beatles music. I treated myself to a year of Sirius XM radio in the car, and I keep it tuned to the Beatles Channel (18), where I’ve been hearing lots of stuff I never heard before. Not so much the Beatles’ tunes, but the covers, the stuff that influenced them, and the solo stuff from John, George and Ringo (I have almost everything Paul recorded as a solo artist and with Wings).

But with the Beatles songs that I am very familiar with (and those that I have a passing familiarity with), I’m hearing stuff that I didn’t know about them. Alternate versions, information about when and how they were recorded, who played on them, what inspired them…that sort of stuff. And as I listen to the songs, I realize how “loose” some of them are. Even the later stuff. There’s vocal stuff that was “thrown in” and left there, doesn’t sound rehearsed and is maybe a little off time or off key, but it works. There are guitar parts and harmonies that weren’t perfect, bass lines that were a little sloppy at times, that weren’t cut and pasted like so many modern songs’ individual parts are.

Most stuff I have listened to has a certain level of perfection in the recording itself. Even the new wave/punk stuff. It’s like even the parts that sound “sloppy” sound rehearsed, like they’d do the exact same sloppy bit every time. I’ve been in the studio myself, recording on pro-level setups, and I remember doing a keyboard part that sounded perfect the first time I did it, and less so on subsequent takes. The sound engineer (Craig Williams of Dr. CAW studios) took that first one, copied it, then pasted it everywhere in the song that it was supposed to be, about two or three other spots. He’d then tweak it till it lined up perfectly and get rid of my original playing and just copy the good one in. He did that with vocals and guitar licks and other things as well.

There’s none of that in the Beatles’ recordings. There seems to always be a spontaneity to each song, a joyfulness that you don’t hear in a lot of studio music. There’s an interplay between John and Paul that comes through on a lot of songs, even later stuff when they were not the best of mates.

This morning I heard “Hello Goodbye” and “All You Need Is Love” on the radio, back to back, and I became aware of this imperfection, but it didn’t matter. The song was the song. They both stand up incredibly well today as songs. They didn’t have to be perfect because they were so strong on their own. They’d be good if they were just being strummed on an acoustic guitar and hummed. In fact, I have a couple CD’s by a guy named Lawrence Juber, who played in one of the incarnations of Paul’s Wings, and he does Beatles songs on acoustic guitar, no vocals, no other instruments, and they work!

I am constantly amazed at the depth and joy I am finding in their work.

On to more Beatles listening…

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What I’ve been reading…

I have been doing more reading than writing, though I did get a few thousand words written on my Addison Falls story.

One of the authors I’ve been reading is V.J. Chambers. She is a talented storyteller and a very good writer. I’ve read both of her “Innocence Unit” books, GRAIN OF TRUTH (book 1) and TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES (book 2). I also read a couple of horror stories by her, first BRIGHTER, about a small town which is very difficult to leave, then RATCATCHER, a modern day take on the Pied Piper mythology, featuring a rock star as the Piper. I also read her female serial killer novel called THE FEMININE TOUCH. All five were worthy reads.

Chambers’ Amazon page is HERE.

I also read Anni Taylor’s THE SIX. It was a thriller about a woman addicted to gambling who is offered a chance for treatment on a Greek island in an old monastery. Not only will she go through some unconventional therapy, she will also be paid as she wins challenges. It goes from something seemingly plausible to something a little more exotic. But it was still a lot of fun to read.

Last, I finally finished up Christopher Moore’s THE SERPENT OF VENICE, which is an irreverent retelling of some Shakespeare stories with a little Poe tossed into the mix. It started a little bit slowly, but once it kicked into gear, I could barely put it down.

Several good reads recently, mostly for my Kindle. (The Moore title was a remaindered hardcover.)

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Writer’s Block…

I don’t know if what I’m experiencing is writer’s block, exactly…but I’m having trouble with moving forward on the stories I have started. I’m just not sure where to go with them.

One is what I refer to as my “Addison Falls” horror story. It features a teacher who moves to the strange town of Addison Falls, with its assortment of odd characters. It’s a town where lots of strange things have happened over the years, and it definitely has a history. And its residents seem to overlook the bad things that are happening in their midst. It’s like, stuff just doesn’t register for them. Even when their kids are disappearing. But it registers with the teacher, and it registers with the young reporter who has been a resident for four years now. So they investigate…

The second is a space opera. I started out just trying to write the opening scenes of a movie. A lone pilot, searching through space for salvageable debris, happens across a derelict spacecraft. It is of alien design, and the pilot boards it and discovers that it isn’t totally empty. It carries within a single passenger, one who is asleep in cryostasis. And some bad folks are looking for this passenger, and they aren’t of this galaxy. Yet they are very human…

Those are the two I’ve been working on. I also have my 90K word post-apocalyptic novel going, but I needed a break from it. Maybe I should try again on that one. And then there’s this college horror novel that I was working on, featuring a girl who has transferred mid-term to a university because of some bad stuff that happened to her/around her at her previous large university. And luckily for her, there is an opening in one of the dorms, because the co-ed was found murdered off-campus. But unluckily for her, her death is linked back to this dorm.

Anyway, I have ideas about how they’re all going to end, but getting past the point I’m at right now seems to be a real challenge. I don’t seem to have the creative juices to move forward on any of the stories.

Maybe writing about them here will help. We’ll see. Stay tuned…

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It was thirty-seven years ago today…(well, yesterday)…

December 8, 1980, the world lost John Lennon: peace activist, musician, father, songwriter, and founding Beatle member.

I came to my Beatles fandom via Paul McCartney as a junior high school kid and high school kid. As a keyboard player, Paul’s songs like “Hey Jude,” “Let It Be,” “Lady Madonna,” “My Love,” and even “Live and Let Die” and “Oh, Darling” were more tempting to play than John’s guitar laden tunes. Of course I learned “Imagine” but it was Paul who I gravitated towards, buying most of his records the minute they came out. He’s the one I’ve seen four times.

But as I listen on Sirius XM’s Beatles Channel, I hear the genius of that early stuff, the stuff that Lennon sang and wrote. And I hear the maturity in his lyrics, the sophistication even, that I only get occasionally from Paul. A Paul song with a John line just seems — right. (“Getting Better” is the classic example, with Lennon’s “It can’t get much worse” line thrown in over the optimism.) “I Am The Walrus,” “Glass Onion,” “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “The Ballad of John and Yoko” — they are all songs you can listen to multiple times and always find new stuff to wonder about.

Paul is still my favorite; the only music act I’d pay big bucks to see live, but I appreciate John more and more as I listen to the Beatles Channel and hear more of his songs along with some commentary from people like Chris Carter and Peter Asher. I learn a lot. And I am thoroughly entertained. I do not get tired of listening to their songs, songs they were inspired by, and songs that others did as a tribute to them or a cover of their songs.

Remembering John Winston Lennon: 10/9/40 to 12/8/80

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I’m still here!

Just a quick post to let people know (assuming anyone is checking) that I’m still here. Life has sort of gotten in the way of my writing projects. I hope to get back to writing soon.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading a bit. I finally finished Steven M. Moore’s two short story collections, PASODOBLES IN A QUANTUM STRINGSCAPE and FANTASTIC ENCORES. There were a lot of really good short stories, perfect for reading on my Kindle before falling asleep. I also have been reading a paranormal sampler from Amanda M. Lee called CASUAL HEX, which features four “first” books from four different series. They are all pretty fun with a lot of snarky humor and a little bit of romance to go with the action and the paranormal mysteries. CASUAL HEX and FANTASTIC ENCORES were both available for only $0.99. There’s a lot of reading for less than two dollars.

I’ve also finished up books by Jonathan Kellerman, Harlan Coben, and Linwood Barclay. All were good quick reads. Kellerman’s was in the Alex Delaware series, while Coben’s was a standalone (though set in the same town as the Myron Bolitar books). Barclay’s was a followup to his earlier NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, called NO SAFE HOUSE.

As my life settles down (and as I settle down), I hope to get motivated to do some writing. Soon, I hope. Till then, Happy Holidays (in case I don’t get back here before the end of the year…)

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Spiderman: Homecoming

I went to see the new Marvel movie with my sons, who are huge superhero movie fans. I figured it would be entertaining, and it was, but there were some very good performances in it as well. I especially liked Michael Keaton’s Vulture, who has this interesting good/bad thing going on. Tom Holland as young (15 year old) Peter Parker was quite good as well. I totally believed him as a high school sophomore, though toward the end he looked a little more like the 21-year-old man that he actually is. The rest of the supporting cast was likable and hit the right notes. I guess that’s a testament to good direction.

No one is going to claim this is more than escapist entertainment, but it was more fun than I thought it would be. I wouldn’t necessarily go see it again, but I wouldn’t switch channels if I someday come across it on a television showing.

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Short Story: THE BAD COP

I wrote this story for a contest back in September of 1996, and found it in my archives a few days ago. I did a very minimal amount of rewriting but didn’t change too much. I’d write it differently today, probably, but I don’t think it’s terrible for flash fiction from my earliest days of attempting to write. If you’d like to read it, click the link at the bottom of the post:

THE BAD COP

“If you open your mouth again, I’ll have to shut it for you.” The man in the police uniform spoke in a low voice, intending to intimidate Joe, and the rest of us were too cowed by the badge to interfere. We all watched silently as Joe backed down.

It wasn’t every day that a cop showed up at a party and started hitting on our female friends. No one knew what to make of it. So we had ignored him, for the most part. After all, cops are the good guys. We’d just partied on, like he wasn’t there, or like his presence was a normal thing.

But that was before he’d started hitting on Joe’s girlfriend…

If you’d like to read the rest of this story, please click here: THE BAD COP

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Two new post-apocalyptic tales

A couple of new post-apocalyptic stories came out recently:

The first is by Aden Cabro, and is called HARRIER HUNT (ISLAND SURVIVAL BOOK 2). It’s more of a novella, a short quick read that is fast-paced with solid writing and good characters. I’m looking forward to Book 3. Here’s the link: HARRIER HUNT

The second is by M.P. McDonald, and it is called ISOLATION: SYMPATICO SYNDROME BOOK 2. I’m not done with it, but so far it’s started strong. I cared about the characters in book 1, and this one is continuing their story believably and with just the right balance of technical stuff with human stuff. Here’s the link: ISOLATION

Both are currently $0.99. That may change, so grab them soon!

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Steven M. Moore’s REMBRANDT’S ANGEL is out!

Just a quick hit to let anyone reading this know that Rembrandt’s Angel by Steven M. Moore is out and available from Penmore Press.

I had the pleasure of reading this before it was published and can attest that it’s an excellent read. Great characters and a tense situation with a broad plot that runs the principals all over Europe and the British Isles.

It’s available in trade paperback and as a Kindle e-book…

Here’s the link to the Kindle e-book: Rembrandt’s Angel

Happy reading!

*****

La La Land commentary

So about two weeks ago we finally saw La La Land — though not at the theater; we
watched it in our family room on BluRay. Bought the CD at the same time.

I really enjoyed the movie. I enjoy the CD even more. I’ve been listening to it a lot, even with a
free trial of Sirius in the car and a new all-Beatles channel (18 on the Sirius channel guide). I
love the eclectic mix of styles and the emotion that is behind all the pieces. Emma Stone and
Ryan Gosling aren’t Broadway-quality vocalists, but they’re both passable (Stone is better than
Gosling, I think) and can stay on key. And they too convey the emotions of their acting
performance in their vocal performances.

If you don’t know, the movie is about two young dreamers, an actress (Stone) and a jazz musician (Gosling) chasing those dreams and finding each other, supporting each other, and falling in love. It was the ending that really made what would have been a good film into a great one, in my opinion.

Don’t read on if you don’t want some things about the movie spoiled for you.

Okay, that’s enough space. So, the ending…

As a viewer, you go through the entire film watching the relationship of Emma Stone’s Mia and
Ryan Gosling’s Seb (short for Sebastian)build up from their awkward first meetings to their
budding romance to, finally, Seb’s missteps (betrayal seems like too strong a word) as they both
chase their dreams. They have their inevitable breakup, and then Seb gets a call from a woman
looking to audition Mia for a starring role in a big motion picture which will be filmed in Paris.
He has to go find Mia, and convince her to go for it. She does, and does well, and then the film
cuts to five years in the future.

We see Mia basically being the star, going to the coffee shop where she used to work. From
there, she goes home, where waits the baby and her husband. She looks pretty happy. She has it all, a family and her dream career.

But the husband isn’t Seb. It’s someone else!

So she and the husband are going out and leaving the baby with a nanny, and they get off the
expressway and end up wandering into a jazz club.

The logo at the door, the name of the club, is SEB’S. It’s the logo that Mia designed over five
years ago. They enter and find a table to watch the talented combo play some old-school jazz.
After the song concludes, the owner of the club comes on and it’s no surprise that it’s her old
love, Seb. He sees her and they lock eyes right before he sits down at the piano. And he plays
the opening notes of the song that’s run through the entire soundtrack: Mia and Sebastian’s
Theme. It’s a pretty song, with some intricate piano runs and a haunting melody, and it takes Mia back.

And we see in her mind that she’s back in the club where she first encountered Seb. She
wandered in after an unfulfilling party, and she hears him play this song. Right after the song
finishes, the manager fires Seb for not playing the Christmas music he’s been hired to play. She
goes to compliment him and…

Back then, he rudely bumps into her as he storms past and out of the club.

This time, he passionately embraces her and kisses her, in her dream, and their life together, a life that did not come to pass, plays out in her mind. They go through their life, hit their milestones, and there are two distinct changes: One, Seb turns down John Legend’s character for a job in his powerhouse band, and two, Seb is there, front row, at a packed house for Mia’s one woman play that she’s produced and starred in. (The first time, the house wasn’t packed — there were only a couple of people in it.)

She nails the audition, and the baby is still there, but now Seb is the husband and father, and
they’re leaving for a night out, and they end up in the jazz club, but it isn’t “Seb’s” any more.
They’re audience members watching the band. And then it fades and we’re back to Seb playing
the final notes of the theme, and Mia is still sitting next to her husband (played by Tom Everett
Scott — hey, she ended up with Skitch, the drummer for the Wonders and an aspiring jazz player
in the movie THAT THING YOU DO).

They get up to leave, and there’s a sadness about it, but then she looks back and her eyes meet
with Seb’s eyes, and they smile, a knowing smile, and it’s over.

So what happened?

I read some comments that suggested that in Mia’s daydream, Seb was the one who made all the sacrifices. He doesn’t join up with the powerhouse band that has a big hit and is doing huge
venues and pays well. He doesn’t end up with his jazz club. He just follows Mia on her career
path.

I read another comment that suggested that during the movie, Mia was always the one supporting Seb. She watched him perform multiple times during the film, and he never saw her, even at the play that he missed because of a photo session for the band.

But why is Seb in this band that clearly isn’t the kind of music that he loves? There was a phone
call early in the movie where Mia is talking to her mother about Seb and describing his job
prospects, and Seb hears it and I think he gets the idea that Mia wants him to do something like
this band, to be very successful.

It seems they’re both doing stuff for the other one. Miscommunication? Maybe. But throughout
the movie, they’re both chasing dreams. Seb’s dream of owning his own jazz club where he does things his way seems to be a longshot without the band that he’s part of. Mia’s acting career seems to be a longshot if she doesn’t do her dream project of the play. It’s Seb’s one “selfish” act of not attending the play because of a photo shoot that he’s forced into that pushes them apart, and maybe makes them realize just how important their own dreams are to themselves.

In the end, the smile says that they recognize what they’ve done for each other…helped each other to achieve their dreams, but at the expense of the dream of having each other. And maybe they could have had each other also, but that would have come at the expense of either Seb’s or Mia’s dream.

Are they happy with this? I think the smile they share at the end shows that they’ve at least
accepted it. In an interview about the ending, Emma Stone said, “”I don’t know that they
necessarily couldn’t have ended up together. I think these two characters help inspire each
other’s dreams and the way that that unfolds means that they can’t end up together but that their love isn’t any less important. I was talking to somebody the other night and he said that ‘What I really love about this story is that in the end, even though she’s happily married and has a baby, that this movie celebrates those loves that came before and that they’re just as important as the love you have now.’ It’s about how important each person is in your journey in wherever you’re going.”

So they know that without each other, they would never have achieved their goals, and they’re
better for having known each other and having loved each other.

It’s a deep ending that provoked a lot of thought in me.

I’d love to hear comments about the movie in the comments to this post (assuming anyone reads this).

/end spoiler

As I said at the beginning, I really think this was a great film that will stand the test of time and
will be enjoyable to watch years down the road…and will probably inspire a few people to follow
their own dreams.

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