Tell Out My Soul - Hymn Tune Woodlands
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Fish Cakes
So I took the last piece of cake out of the refrigerator, grabbed the nearest fork and shovelled a big chunk into my mouth, only then realizing it was the one I had casually rinsed off from serving the cat food. Tasted kinda fishy for a couple bites and then it was fine....
Guess Who - "Key" from the "Canned Wheat" album
Never paid much attention to the Guess Who, other than the standard hits. Recently, I've been introduced to their enormous number of albums of original music. Here's one of the first tracks I'd never heard. It changes its identity, starting with a semi-standard yet oddly different melod, then segues into a wholly inventive drum solo for several minute before finally slipping into a grand piano piece that sends shivers down my spine. The track is 11:15 (you can buy it on Amazon for 99 cents), but here it is in two parts on You Tube. Part 1 (the melody): Part 2 (the drum solo and grand piano piece):
4 Novel Writing Tips
Novels Aren’t Stories A novel can be extremely free form. Some are simply narratives about a fictional experience. Others are a collection of several stories that may or may not be intertwined. Jerzy N. Kosinski (the author of “Being There”) wrote another novel called “Steps.” It contains a series of story fragments. Sometimes you get the middle of a short story, but no middle or end. Sometimes, just the end, and sometimes just the middle. Each fragment is wholly involving, and leaves you wanting to know the rest of the tale, but they are not to be found. In fact, there is not (that I could find) any connection among the stories, nor any reason they are in that particular order. And yet, they are so passionately told that it was one of the best reads I ever enjoyed. The point is, don’t feel confined to tell a single story, straight through, beginning to end. Rather than think of writing a novel, think about writing a book. Consider that a book can be exclusively po...
"Lies" by the Knickerbockers - an inspriation for "That Thing You Do" ?
When I first heard "That Thing You Do" - it seemed so generically 60s/70s in tempo, mood and chording that I was sure it must have been loosely based on some other song actually from that era. While it sounds a bit like The Beatles in style, it doesn't really correspond to any of their songs directly, and in fact a lot of groups shared that sound at the time. Recently, an obscure song from that era - "Lies" by the Knickerbockers - was brought to my attention and immediately I felt it might be an inspiration for That Thing You Do that I'd suspected, especially in the bridge and chorus. I've included videos of both songs below so you can judge for yourself:
