A Talented Singer

01/30/2013                    Return to Scribbleworks Publications

It's funny sometimes when out of the ordinary something comes out and strikes you as so important that it was unfathomable to think you did'n't consider it before. I was talking to Patrick Meservier about his book, Joan Darcy and the 27th Observer, to see how the next book was coming along. (He is in the last eight chapters.)

In passing he mentions that a piece of music has grabbed hold of him to the point that he wanted me to connect with the particular artist and see if they would consent to allowing said song be advertised as a theme song to the series. Of course I mentioned that it was probably out of the question since most artists have their own agenda to follow in order to maintain their careers. But he was almost insistent.

The song that Patrick says has over taken his soul is Girl on Fire, by Alicia Keys. Of course I don't know how the whole series plays out since we only have the first book off the presses, so to speak, but he says that every component of the lyrics could have been taken from his notes about the character as she progresses through to the last paragraph in book five of the series. And not to detract from the artist's musical composition, the power with which she belts out this master piece can stir the soul of even the devil himself.

I understand that he listens to that song for hours at a time as an inspirational tool to fill out the story and give the characters great dialogue. I told him that I would inquire of the possibility that she might be so generous to allow this whim of Mr. Meservier's. But that's when a thought came to me from a marketing standpoint. All movies have a sound track, why couldn't books?

Music is a powerful segway to many things in life. If it wasn't, then movies wouldn't spend so much money creating specialized sound tracks for their motion pictures. And what about theater? Almost all professional theater is surrounded by music and singing. So I think Patrick might be right. Perhaps we should consider putting more effort into linking music to books. After all, we all want a piece of the pie. Lets make it strawberry rhubarb, one unique flavor, more than one component.

Longing for the moon

01/06/2013                    Return to Scribbleworks Publications

                          


I live in a very old house by a beautiful river. Aside from the beauty I see every day when I step off my porch  to go to work, the old house coughs up antique treasures from time to time. This weekend my wife and I are going through a room to remove the gross seventies era carpeting. In one corner there is a book shelf that was left behind by the previous owners, it is full of old magazines. The biggest surprise are that they date back to the 1930's. The oldest periodicals are women's magazines then up the line into 1940's Reader's Digest.

There are hundreds of periodicals. The articles are so interesting. I can't  wait to read them all. The lower half of the cabinet are all National Geographic's starting in the 60's. To my surprise I would call most of them pristine. The reason I'm bring this up is because I am holding, in my hand  right now, a copy of the December 1969 issue that fully outlines the first man on the moon mission from NASA.

Now I am of the generation that stayed up late to listen to the live program of the mission as it happened. We had a television but my parents had friends over to watch the only one television in the house and they didn't want the excited commentary us children were giving in their presence. My heart skips a beat remembering that incredible night. I think the radio commentators did a better job of describing the moon landing than the television personalities. They were just  as engrossed as the public was in what was going on. The radio commentators still had a job to do. The next day I watched the moon landing at school, and on the news the following night, so I got a good round picture of how everyone did their job in broadcasting.

As you can probably tell I am a bit of a science buff. Anything space comes into view and I'm lost to the world around me. So you can probably guess what my feelings were like when I picked up this issue of the moon landing. I might even admit in certain company that I might have had tears in my eyes at the memories stirring within my heart.

Anyway, I had never seen this copy of National Graphic in person in my life, just the cover displayed elsewhere. The image is iconic. As I opened this copy I was brought back to my youth and the urges to become an astronaut begin to over take me. When I flip through the pages I see a special page that is made of a special plastic and is stamped into an album. Both sides are recordings of sounds of the space age.

For those who don't know what an album is, it is a recording that used to be cut into a piece of flat vinyl where a special needle would run over the grooves and reproduce the sound recorded. I am torn about ripping the record and listing to the sounds or to leave it so the magazine can stay pristine. Should I fall into my desires to relive an incredible time in mans history or should I worry about how much the periodical is worth. (Although I might have to tear out the album page and carry it around for a while until I find someone who still has a record player.)

Man has walked on one other celestial body, other then Earth, only 14 times in our history. Many other incredible events happened in science in the twentieth century but none are so bold or daring. Maybe one day before I die, I may witness a similar event but it will be on Mars it think. Maybe today I will relive one special day in my youth, as long as I can find someone with a record player.