Something ...

Hi readers. It's been a while, I know. I'm sorry (no I'm not, I've been writing).

I'm just putting something up so my blog looks like it still exists. I think next week I'll put my new query up, and ask you all what you think.

For now, here's a song:



Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday, Richard Wagner

Today is Richard (pronounced Rick-ard) Wagner's (pronounced Vaag-ner) 200th Birthday. Wagner, sort of the classic rogue-as-brilliant-artist, was an anti-semite, a misogynist, and an all around bad guy, but he was also a musical and artistic genius, and I think a perfect example of how sometimes it is a worthwhile endeavor to separate works of art from their creator.

Wagner is best known for his operas. Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung, which being also partly based on the Old Norse Poetic Edda, shares some similarities to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings), Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal, Lohengrin, and others. He was an absolute master of what is known as Gesamtkunstwerk (one of those funky compound German words, which means "total work of art"), so said because he composed the music, the lyrics, the set, the blocking, the lighting, and essentially every creative or dramatic element that went into his productions.

My father was the stage manager of the Seattle Opera in the 80s. I had the immense pleasure to play both a Nibelung (an underground slave-dwarf type creature) and young Siegfried in a production of The Ring Cycle (it's four operas) when I was a boy. I could go on about the beauty of Wagner's stories for a while (themes included Buddhist concepts of reincarnation, in Parsifal, Arthurian legend, in Tristan und Isolde, and human ambition pitted against divine power, in The Ring).

Wagner is known for creating some of history's most memorable works of music. I'll leave you with two of them:

The Bridal Chorus, from Lohengrin, often butchered at weddings in modern times and sometimes referred to as Here Comes the Bride:



And The Ride of the Valkyries, probably the most famous movement in the history of opera:

We Are All the Same

I know everyone loves that Thrift Shop song, and I'm not gonna hate, because that beat makes for quite the jam, but I'm here to school y'all to the fact that Macklemore also spits conscious rhymes:



And I would also like to officially announce that I am an ally of all human beings. Happy Friday, have a great weekend, friends!

P.S. I recently had my third blogiversary, AND my 700th post, but I was too busy to announce them. Oh well.

Author Guest Post for Jessica Bell

I'm over at Jessica's The Alliterative Allomorph blog this morning, for her Author Guest Post series, ranting about music and analyzing lyrics again.

I'd really appreciate it if you all would check the post out, because it was a tough one to write - perhaps somewhat controversial, but hopefully eyeopening for all. I've left comments open here, but you should leave one over there if you have something to say.

Simply for the Love

Inspired by my dear friend Bryan's series, here's some music for your Friday. Enjoy!

YA Confidential First Post

It's my first post at YA Confidential today, and I've written a tribute to one of my favorite artists. Please stop by, read, and comment. Thank you!

Nothing

I'm not going to post today, because I want to write about a book I read recently, that I loved, but a Tuesday won't give it the attention it deserves, so I'm saving it until tomorrow.

Instead, you can have this:

Behind the Scenes Storytellers - Part I: Sly and Robbie

This week I'm going to be focusing on storytellers that ply their craft behind the scenes. Many of these people may be people you've never heard of, but I'll bet you're familiar with some of their work.

I don't know if many people would count music producers as storytellers, but I do, and this is my blog.

Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare are probably the most prolific recording artists in the history of music, and most people have never heard of them. They've produced more songs than The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, and even Rick Rubin. It's estimated that they have performed on, or helped produce, over 200,000 songs.

They started out as the rhythm section of drummer Lowell Dunbar (nicknamed Sly after Sly Stone) and bass guitarist Robert Shakespeare, but have since evolved into a production team making all kinds of music from Dancehall and Reggae, to Rock, Pop, and R&B. They are known for a distinctive drum and bass, reggae swing sound, and make some of the best beats and basslines I've ever heard.

From Wikipedia:

Far from restricting themselves to the Jamaican scene, (in which they have played for virtually every prominent Jamaican musical artist from Beenie Man to Sean Paul to Peter Tosh, Black Uhuru, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Ini Kamoze and others), they have been one of pop music's most sought after rhythm sections, playing for and producing superstars such as Ben Harper, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones, Grace Jones, Joan Armatrading, Gilberto Gil, Joe Cocker, Matisyahu, Serge Gainsbourg, Simply Red, Michael Franti, Sting, Khaled, Mey Vidal, Naniwaman, Tricky, Doug E. Fresh, Carlos Santana, Sinéad O'Connor, and many more.

I don't think I've ever come across a song that Sly and Robbie had a part in making that I didn't like. They don't get a lot of recognition for their work, even though they work hard, but they've played a big part in making a lot of great songs for a lot of great artists.

Here are a few songs you probably didn't know they made:

Matisyahu - Jerusalem (Out Of The Darkness Comes Light)

Mick Jagger - She's the Boss

Michael Franti and Spearhead - Say Hey (I Love You)

Madonna - Supernatural (Remix)

Herbie Hancock - Rockit (12 inch maxi-mix)

No Doubt - Underneath It All ft. Lady Saw

Chaka Demus & Pliers - Murder She Wrote

No Doubt - Hey Baby ft. Bounty Killer

Please come back tomorrow for another unknown taleweaver.

Things That Make me Say Hellz Yeah: Part Something

I'm going to be critiquing a friend's novel today. Well, okay, continuing to critique, since obviously I can't do the whole thing in a day. I'll also be writing, so I'm just going to leave you with this video.

I love this song. I don't quite know why. Yes, I discovered it through a beer commercial. No, I don't care.



It's pop, I know, but it's Scandinavian pop, which makes it a lot more fun. And weird. Mette Lindberg and Lars Iversen are Danes. Which means they're not quite as cool as Dutch or Swedes, but still much cooler than Americans.

Music to Make Write to.

I'm sure you guys know this guy, Chris Philips, right? If not, you've got to go follow his blog. Okay, yes, full disclosure, I'm being featured there today, in his series Music to Make Write to, but he's hilarious anyway, so you should read his blog every day.

Top Ten Countdown - Music Blogfest!

When I first saw that Alex was holding this blog fest I told him that I couldn't take part. I didn't want to weird out any of my readers with my strange taste in music. But, he talked me into it, so here is my entry into the Top Ten Songs Music Blogfest. These aren't necessarily my favorite ten songs of all time, but they are the first ten that came into my head.

Please make sure to visit Alex's blog, to see the list of all other entrants, so that you can visit them as well.

These are in no particular order:

The Pharcyde - Runnin

Phish - If I Could

The Squeeze - Goodbye Girl

Bob Marley and the Wailers - One Drop

Tribe of Issachar - Junglist

Smith and Wesson - Sound Bwoy Burriel Remix

Lupe Fiasco - The Instrumental

Sublime - Scarlet Begonias

No Doubt - Runnin

Krinjah - Angel

I tried to put some descriptions in with the songs, but the videos got in the way. So I'll just give them each a little bit of a breakdown here:

The Pharcyde - Runnin: To me this is a hip-hop song about growing up and becoming a man. I love The Pharcyde because they rhymed about stuff like this, instead of how many guns they had, or how many drugs they sold, or how many bitches they pimped. Remember that other song by them? "She Keeps Passin me By?" These are both young adult songs.

Phish - If I Could: I don't even know exactly what this song is about, but the music is so beautiful. When that female vocal drops I just float away . . .

The Squeeze - Goodbye Girl: This one takes me back to my youth. I think I was like eleven or twelve when I got my first stereo. I owned two cassette tapes, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Legend, and The Squeeze, The Singles, 45s and Under.

Bob Marley and The Wailers - One Drop: This song isn't from that album, Legend, but it's still my favorite Bob Marley song. A lot of people think of Bob Marley and they think of Marijuana, and sure, he did sing about that a lot, certainly smoked a lot of it too, but Bob Marley also did a lot in the world to spread peace and to end racism.

Tribe of Issachar - Junglist: This is Jungle Music. Most people are going to find it disturbing or at least annoying to listen to. I get that. I'm okay with it. But, when I was in my early twenties this was all I listened to. I do love the chorus of this song. To me it's about being yourself, and standing up for others who do the same.

Smith and Wesson - Sound Bwoy Burriel: This one's kind of funny. This hip-hip duo got sued by the gun manufacturer and had to change their name to the Cocoa Brovaz, whatever that means. This track dropped before all of that happened. This song is a great mix of hip-hop and dancehall.

Lupe Fiasco - The Instumental: This one is interesting. I discovered Lupe Fiasco on the Madden Football Video Game of all places. I've loved him ever since. This song is a poem. It's incredibly deep and is a beautiful essay on society and materialism.

Sublime - Scarlet Begonias: This is obviously a crazy remix of the Grateful Dead original. I love it. It's nuts, but it's a lot of fun. RIP Brad.

No Doubt - Runnin: I've always loved No Doubt, and not just because Gwen Stefani is one of the most beautiful women to have ever lived. To me this song is about relationships, and about how love is hard work, and sometimes you have to go through thick and thin together before you truly get to know each other. This is our song.

Krinjah - Angel: This is more deep rollin, hard stepping, jump up Jungle Music. This is a different kind of love song. Most people won't get it.

Wheel in the Sky

It's a strange feeling for someone as long winded as I am but I have no idea what to write about this morning. I could just not post but currently I am in so in love with blogging and the interaction with my friends that is really not an option. Kind of like calling out of work and admitting you're hungover.

Anyway I did watch Glee. Now that we have U-Verse and a DVR we have been recording it and watching the next day because that much excitement at 10PM is just a little too much for Madison, my 8 year old, even in the summer. It was the season finale and it was pretty good but still didn't live up to my expectations. They did miss out on one grand opportunity. The kids did a Journey medley for their performance at regionals and while it was decent they didn't even do the best song. Everyone knows that Wheel in the Sky is the most epic Journey Ballad and I can't believe they didn't cover it. Oh well.

In other notes and updates I'm in a good mood this morning because I ran into an old crush on Facebook. I moved to Minnesota just before 6th grade and of course entered a new school. There was a girl there named Charlie who I fell madly in love with within the first few days. I was a nerd who played dungeons and dragons and wrote stories so of course she ignored me. I was devastated for the next few months.

Long story short her family photos on Facebook are filled with rugrats, and the whole family, including mom, are wearing bright orange hunting vests, camo, and holding rifles. She is still a pretty lady and I'm sure they have a happy family but it's kind of nice to know things never would have worked out as my childhood hopes and dreams had fantasized imagined.

So, now that I have thoroughly dated and embarrassed myself what else is there to say? Critique group is going very well. I'm actually discovering that I'm pretty good at giving feedback on others' writing and my partners have already told me that my questions and comments are making a difference for them. The idea that I'm helping others make their writing better, even if only a tiny bit, is pretty cool.

Otherwise the most important thing this week is of course that you all make sure you come back tomorrow for Hilary's guest post. I have not read NIGHTSHADE CITY yet, of course, but from her query I can say that Hilary clearly has a charming and entertaining story on her hands. Learn a bit about how she landed her agent when she posts her query here tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting!