Music Monday: Lizzy Ross

This weekend I had the distinctive pleasure of a quick road trip to Durham, NC to see Lizzy Ross perform. Lizzy just released a new album, Traces, in June. Her sound is technically alternative rock... but it's hard to categorize what I heard on Friday night. Her music is a delicious hybrid of folk, jazz, rock, and blues, with clever lyrics and riffs impossible to resist dancing to.

The venue was a private little gathering spot out in the country, and as the sun went down, tiki torches blazed and strings of tiny Christmas lights twinkled under the stage rafters. As the evening deepened, the music became more and more intoxicating, with the band effortlessly spinning out tracks from the new album like "Wedding Cake" (a fast-paced song with a playful sound but a serious subject) and "Cross the Cuyahoga" (an ambitious track that alternates between a driving beat and a lyrical chill-out chorus). More and more people got up to dance as the show went on, and it was remarkable how easy it was to get lost in the music with complete strangers - the sound just took us all over, and we gave in happily.

I was reminded a bit of KT Tunstall with some of her songs, and Norah Jones on others, but it was about the time Lizzy busted out a cover of Chocolate Jesus by Tom Waits that I knew she had her own style and sound. It's obvious she's worked hard to become as good as she is, and even though the show was a small one, she and her band played their hearts out. They finished up with a great couple of songs - the bluesy, dance-hall crowd pleaser "Bones" got the audience up on its feet and out on the dance floor, and Lizzy treated us to a solo version of the title track from her new album, a bittersweet, poignant song about remembering love and having the hope to try and claim it one more time.

I really enjoyed the show and would definitely go see Lizzy again. I bought a copy of her new album, Traces, and I've already been listening to it this weekend. I'd highly recommend if you're in the Durham, NC area sometime in the next couple of months trying to make it to one of her shows. You'll have a great time. Here's a video of her performing her song "Bones" at the Festival for the Eno in July.


Bones from Lizzy Ross on Vimeo.

Happy Monday! Hope the new music makes it a little easier today.

Soundtrack of your Life Blogfest

I'm participating in Arlee Bird's Soundtrack of your Life blogfest today. If you get a chance, swing on over to his blog and check out the cool list of people who are taking part in this one.

So I've been thinking about this a lot over the last few nights. Wendy commented that her soundtrack would be super long - multiple CD's, hundreds of songs - and I most sincerely concur. Over the years I've had many "Quintessential B" playlists, and if I put them all together for this blogfest, you'd be reading a LONG time. So, I decided to narrow it down to the top ten songs which I hold nearest and dearest to my heart - at this particular moment in time. I hold no illusions that this list will never change.

Hell, it might change in the next fifteen minutes.

Narrowing it down to ten was hard, but fun. I listened to a lot of music and rejected so many songs... this was a great project, especially since it falls on a Music Monday! I've posted a few lyrics and an explanation for each song, and I hope you guys enjoy reading about it as much as I enjoyed making the list. Thanks, Lee, for hosting this cool blogfest.

Without further ado, and in no particular order...

The Quintessential B List

The Pixies - Where is my Mind?


"With your feet on the air and your head on the ground..."

Some songs stay with you through your whole life, and I guess if I had to name any one song that was my "theme song", this would be it. I've loved the Pixies since I heard them in high school, way back in 1991... Yep, I'm old. "Where is my Mind?" became a generational anthem when Fight Club used it for its ending credits, but it was one of my anthems long before the movie ever came out.

Night Moves - Bob Seger


"Ain't it funny how the night moves... when you just don't seem to have as much to lose... strange how the night moves... with autumn closin' in..."

My sister once referred to Bob Seger in general and this song in particular as "mother's milk", and I agree. I grew up with Bob Seger and every time I hear this song it comforts me, while reminding me how lonely it is out there for everyone, at one time or another.

Pearl Jam - Oceans


"Hold on to the thread; the currents will shift. Guide me towards you - know something's left, and we're all allowed to dream of the next time we touch..."

I have loved this song from the moment I heard it in 1992, and it is one of the most romantic songs I've ever heard. Helps me remember that love comes from everywhere, and never to give up hope on the people who love you - and the people you love.

Arcade Fire - Wake Up


"And children, don't grow up... our bodies get bigger, but our hearts get torn up. We're just a million little gods causin' rainstorms, turnin' every good thing to rust. I guess we'll just have to adjust..."

Sometimes you need an epic song to help you remember why your life is epic. Try it. Cue up this song. Close your eyes. Listen to the music. Think about your life. You'll see what I mean.

Kings of Leon - Arizona


"And I go... stand up to a giant, say that I'm a fighter... too drunk to remember. Too drunk to..."

The lyrics combined with the soulful Southern rock sound of this song make it one of my new favorite entries in my "quintessential B" list. Every artist needs a song or two they can get inebriated to, right? This is one of mine.

Cursive - From the Hips


"We're from our best when it's from our hips. It's from our hips, we don't give a shit... it just feels good, and that's no sin. It's the only way to feel alive, the closest thing to being born again..."

I love the philosophical thoughts behind the lyrics of this song, and what it says about relationships. When we start talking and thinking, we start screwing things up. Go with what you feel. Your heart knows best, friends.

Gossip - Lesson Learned


"I guess I'm lucky 'cause I learned a long time ago, I used to try to be somebody else but now I know. People like you make me know that I don't wanna be stuck in a scene that only puts me down and judges me."

INDIVIDUALITY IS CLUTCH, people. I am awesome. You are awesome. WE ARE AWESOME. Please don't buy into someone else's definition of who you should be. Ever.

Murder By Death - As Long As There Is Whiskey In The World


"I have loved, and I've lost all that they gave me. They all try to save me, but I'm seein' this thing through..."

Yes, my drink of choice is whiskey. And as long as there is whiskey in the world, things aren't quite as bad as they seem.

The Murmurs - Genius


"She's got something to say to the world. She wants to know if she could tie it up... She's kinda freaky. She's kinda weird. She's kinda freaky... but I dunno..."

Someone very special to me once told me this song made her think of me, and I was touched. Now whenever I hear it I think of that time, and it feels kind of like a theme song for me. I'm eternally grateful to that girl for introducing me to this tune.

Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains


"My brother, where do you intend to go tonight? I heard that you missed your connecting flight - to the Blue Ridge Mountains, over near Tennessee."

I grew up going to the Blue Ridge Mountains - both of my grandmothers, aunt, uncle and cousins all lived in Waynesville, NC - and I have a strong connection with the Blue Ridge Mountains. This song helps me remember their beauty, mystery, and serenity.

I hope y'all enjoyed my list, and I can't wait to take a look at yours! Have a great week, friends!

The Soundtrack of Your Life

On Monday, Arlee Bird is hosting a blogfest called The Soundtrack of Your Life. Here's what he says about it:

This coming Monday June 19th you will have the opportunity to join us in sharing the songs that have special meaning in your life. Tell us the songs that describe what you were going through at different stages of your life. Tell us about the music that tells something about you. Create your own soundtrack and post it on your site on Monday. If you like, tell us why you chose those songs.

I'll be participating in this blogfest, and I'm looking forward to sharing my songs with you. I've actually had many of these "soundtracks to my life" playlists over the years, and I want to go through the ones I have saved and pick out my favorites.

What about you? Will you be participating in this cool blogfest? I'd love to read about the songs you pick to describe yourself.

Have a great weekend, friends!

Fifteen Fantasy Island Favorites

When Arlee Bird asked me to participate in the Fifteen Fantasy Island Favorite blogfest, I agreed immediately, mostly because of how much fun the A to Z blog challenge was. (It didn't hurt that this is a wonderful Music Monday topic, as well.) I had no idea how hard making these decisions would be! I kind of agonized over these entries... I didn't know how much music I had that I was unwilling to part with! I was strict on myself and insisted that I only pick one album per artist, and I didn't pick any compilation or greatest hits albums...ok, maybe I'm a little OCD. I hope you guys enjoy my list. Please pardon my formatting... I'm really bad at this whole html editing thing, and I hope the album artwork comes across all right without giving you a massive headache. I linked to at least one of my favorite tracks on each album, so give some of these a listen if you get a chance!

Oh yeah, don't forget to check out the Pay it Forward Giveaway while you're here! There's a link in the sidebar as well. My first ever blog contest is going great so far! I can't wait to see what you guys come up with to spread the goodwill around.

All right, without further ado, here are my Fifteen Fantasy Island Favorites, in no particular order!


Funeral by the Arcade Fire
I mentioned the song "Wake Up" in an entry a couple of weeks ago. That song is on this album, along with Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), and Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels). It's a musical masterpiece with moving, epic tracks I would want to be able to listen to no matter where I was.

Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them? by Murder by Death
This concept album tells the story of the Devil coming to a small town in New Mexico. One of MBD's most famous tracks, "Until Morale Improves, the Beatings Will Continue" is on this album. It's classic Murder By Death all the way, and if I have to pick just one of their albums to take with me, this is it.

Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend
This is a fun, summer-type album. With great tracks like "A-Punk", I would party on the beach of my desert island 'til the sun came up.

Surfer Rosa by the Pixies
This is my favorite Pixies album, with the cool "Gigantic", crazy-genius "Vamos", and generational anthem "Where is my Mind?" (By the way, I loved that song BEFORE Fight Club. Sigh.)

Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) by Cloud Cult
The song "Journey of the Featherless" is one of my favorite tracks on this album; it sums up the optimism and love of the whole track listing. You should really give it a listen. If you get a chance, "No One Said it Would Be Easy" is amazing, too...


Give Up by the Postal Service
I became a Postal Service fan after hearing the song "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" off this album. The band is sort of emo-punk-techno... hard to explain, but I love it.

The Long Run by the Eagles
A huge influence on my current WIP MS, I can't leave this album out. It has some really great classic Eagles songs, like "Heartache Tonight", "Those Shoes" and "In The City". This was a really hard choice because I love the Southern Rock style of the Eagles so much (even though they're from California, ha!), but I had to go with this album out of all the rest, if for no other reason than "Heartache Tonight"... it's practically the theme song for my novel.


Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen
Remember 1984? Members Only jackets? Parachute pants? Slap bracelets? Bruce Springsteen singing about being Born in the U.S.A.? About Dancing in the Dark? Remember Ronald Reagan trying to make this the theme song for his campaign? Yeah, I was only nine, but even *I* remember him getting shut down by The Boss.

Seven and the Ragged Tiger by Duran Duran
Again, I had to go with a childhood favorite. My dad was Bruce Springsteen, but my mom was Duran Duran. She was in love with Simon LeBon, the lead singer. She and my sister followed them around the Southeast one summer! This album always makes me think of being a kid... so it makes me smile. My favorites on this one are "New Moon on Monday" and "Union of the Snake".

Ten by Pearl Jam
...but I had to grow up sometime. This album was my constant companion in my junior year of high school. GRUNGE ROCK HO!! Songs like "Jeremy", "Evenflow", and "Alive" made this album one of the most popular records of the 90's, but my favorite track off this album was "Oceans".



The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails
The song "Closer" is what made this industrial rock album a legend, but there are a lot of other amazing tracks like "March of the Pigs", "Eraser" and "Hurt". I've seen Nine Inch Nails five times in concert, and the tracks from this album are always the ones that satisfy the most.

Violent Femmes by the Violent Femmes
An indie rock classic, with songs like "Blister in the Sun", "Gone Daddy Gone", and "Add it Up". Grab your skateboard and your angsty attitude... we've made a half-pipe out of pineapple trees.

Swamp Ophelia by the Indigo Girls
There are a lot of Indigo Girls albums out there, but I think this one is one of their most well-rounded works. This is a folk-country triumph, with songs like "Least Complicated" and "Fugitive" setting the tone for the rest of the album - a unique flavor of bittersweet triumph.

Elephant by the White Stripes
Jack White... how many ways can you rock us? How many, huh? This album has such great songs on it, like "The Hardest Button to Button" and "Seven Nation Army". I think it's one of their strongest pieces of work.

Synchronicity by the Police
Another remainder from my childhood. I love the Police - their strange mixture of musical movements has enchanted me for three decades. My favorite tracks off this one are "King of Pain" and "Synchronicity II".



Now it's time to scratch some records! We're having a coconut party by the fire tonight... wanna join?

PRESSURE... and Gratitude!

Happy Monday, everybody!

Oh, I hear you... Ugghhh... What's so happy about Monday, B.??? Believe me, I'm having a hard time convincing myself there's occasion to be enthusiastic. But there is. First off, it's Yvonne's and Ellie's birthdays today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ladies! Head over there and wish them a happy birthday today if you can.

Secondly, I will be announcing my FIRST EVER blog contest very soon! I am very close to hitting 100 followers and I want to do something to celebrate. (I'm also within rock-throwing distance of finishing the first draft of my WIP novel, so that'll be part of the party too!) Make sure to check back here this week for an important contest announcement. I'm very pleased about my idea for a prize and I think y'all will be too.

Also, I don't know about your neck of the woods, but South Carolina is having one of its gorgeous pre-summer weeks... perfect temperature, bright blue skies, green everywhere, a soothing breeze... you can't ask for much better weather than this. It'll be hotter than the law should allow in a few weeks, so I'm doing my best to appreciate what I have right now.

I guess that's my motto at the moment... appreciate what I have now, because you don't know how long it will last. I took a couple of days off from blogging last week to get my head straight after losing a close friend, and after spending some time doing a lot of serious thinking, what I keep coming back to is a feeling of gratitude. Gratitude for the people I know, the friends I have, my ability to lose myself in my writing. Yesterday, Mother's Day, was an exercise in gratitude for my family. There are so many things to be grateful for and I am trying to recognize each of these things and rejoice in them. One of those things is YOU, my friend. I love my blogging community and am so glad I'm a part of it. You guys keep me going! Thanks for all that you do.

My music-related feature for Music Monday this week is this video from Billy Joel. It's an old song but a great one. (I can't believe this song is almost thirty years old!) I was thinking about it last night because of all the ridiculous CRAP I gotta get done this week. "Real-life" stuff at the Clark Kent job, mostly, but there are other things that have to get done too. But I'm refusing to buckle under the PRESSURE... I'm trying to use it to my advantage.

Enjoy.



That's it for Monday. Hope you have a fantastic week, friend!

Wake Up

I realized while I was getting ready for the Clark Kent job this morning that I forgot all about music Monday!!

Geesh! What kinda blogger am I? An off-the-cuff, disorganized, but still lovable one... well, mostly anyway. So to make up for it, I want to talk a little about one of my favorite songs by the Arcade Fire. It's called "Wake Up" and it's off their 2004 debut album Funeral. I first heard this song a few years ago, and I fell in love with it immediately - it's everything I want in a song: epic lyrics, a shifting, moving melody, and an overall uplifting sound. If you get a chance today, you should really give it a listen (click on the link above!). It's worth it. And it's only about five minutes of your life. You've spent more time in drive-thru lines. ;)

I love this piece of lyrics:

And children don't grow up
our bodies get bigger, but our
hearts get torn up
We're just a million little gods causin' rainstorms,
turnin' every good thing to rust
I guess we'll just have to adjust...

I really identify with this. Do you ever feel like you're still a kid inside your grownup body? I know I do. Stumbling around, wondering if what I'm doing is the right thing, wishing for some kind of direction... more often than not doing more damage than good. It's at times like this that I remind myself to breathe. And breathe. And breathe some more. I think terms like "adult" and "grownup" don't necessarily apply to artists. We are awake, fully awake, so much more so than most people - we don't really care so much about which celebrity is dating who, or what the stock market trade value of a certain company is, or whether or not the clothes in our closets are "in", or which reality show is currently kicking butt and taking names.

We're more concerned with the bright pinprick of light that's the evening star, set like a startling jewel in the velvety cobalt of the twilight-filled sky. We observe people while in public places, marveling at their secret lives on display for us to see, even though they don't realize it - listening to their conversations on airplanes, watching them play with their kids in the park. We are awake to the real world, a universe of color and sound and drama. It's our job, our calling as artists to capture that world to the best of our abilities.

Last night I was dragging from a ten hour day at work so I went to my local coffee shop for a delicious caffeinated beverage. On the way back to my house, I saw a little carnival set up in a parking lot, a study of flashing lights against the deep blue evening sky. Instead of passing on and heading back to the house, I pulled over and took a couple of pictures - and bought myself a bag of fresh cotton candy!

On the way out of the tiny cluster of lights and bells and barkers, I saw a Greenville County deputy parked beside the lot, leaning on his car and observing the few cars and people who'd gathered. I smiled and introduced myself, told him I was writing a book and that one of my main characters was a police officer, and then had a great little Q & A session with him about police work. I found out he's an English minor who's also working on a novel, and we had a really cool conversation about writing. We also traded info and he agreed to read my first draft after it was done and offer pointers on what will make Jack a more realistic police officer! YEAH!

See? I was AWAKE to the possibility of magic in my life, and the universe delivered! I could've passed on by, left the carnival and its enchanting little pool of twinkling lights and whirling rides behind, but I listened to that voice inside me, the one that said, hey man, maybe we should take a closer look at that, whaddaya think? and was rewarded for my efforts.

This can and WILL happen to you. You just have to keep your eyes open. You just have to be awake.

With my
lightning bolts a-glowin'
I can see where I am
go, goin'!

You better look out below!

Indeed.

Jesus Loves Indiana.

Yes, yes, He does. And the way you can tell? Because He gave Indiana the musical powerhouse that is Murder By Death.

I've mentioned Murder By Death a few times in my blog, most notably in my entry on live music. Today, for Music Monday, I'll be reviewing their brand-spankin-new album, Good Morning, Magpie. This album was released last Tuesday, April 6th, and it's the fifth album from Murder By Death, a band that's a strangely wonderful hybrid of rock and country, with epic accents from strings and a decent amount of folk thrown in for good measure.

Murder By Death has been making music for a decade, and over the five albums they've produced in those ten years, their artistic growth is impossible to deny. I love each album for its own particular voice and story - from the Devil visiting a small town in the New Mexico desert in Who Will Survive, and What Will be Left of Them? to the twelve different interludes about Hell on In Bocca Al Lupo, and everything in between. Murder By Death is known for their dark style and subject matter - the band has recorded songs about jailbreaks, murders, the death penalty, ghost pirate ships, whorehouses, and all sorts of under-the-radar goings on which happen on a regular basis in the dark universes they create with their lyrical and musical style.

Good Morning, Magpie does have its dark moments - the thunderous "White Noise" is ominous and foreboding in its deep study of anger and lost retribution, and "Piece by Piece" is a wonderful take on their fascination with convicts and the choices they make in their lives (see "Sometimes the Line Walks You" and "The Big Sleep" from In Bocca Al Lupo for examples).

But there's a new undercurrent of positivity and hope in this album that outshines the darkness. It's delivered in the traditional Murder By Death style we've grown accustomed to over the years - strong, catchy lyrics; heavy bass and cello expertly mixed; experimental drumlines and inspired rhythms underlying their inventive (yet reassuringly familiar) sound. "Foxglove", a ballad about a ghost lady who falls in love with a traveler in a forest, is a beautiful love song, while "You Don't Miss Twice (When You're Shaving With A Knife)" is quirky and funny, with a great drum set that includes a trash can lid and a propane gas tank as percussion instruments.

"King of the Gutters, Prince of the Dogs" is a wonderful song about being at the bottom but still looking up, and "Yes", a song about moving on after the death of a loved one and remembering the good times with them instead of focusing on your grief, is one of those songs I know I'll be returning to over and over in the years to come. "As Long as There Is Whiskey In the World" is going to be a great drinking sing-along song in concert - I can't wait to see it live. The horn section of "On the Dark Streets Below" is a new sound for Murder By Death, and it really brings that song to life.

The CD I received was packaged in eco-friendly card stock and came with a poster signed by the band (the virtues of pre-ordering). There's also a stunning vinyl press available of this album in midnight blue wax. It comes with an embossed gatefold cover, bound 12 page uncoated color booklet, a 24"x 24" poster, a sticker and a big black feather. These guys really pay attention to their packaging, and it's absolutely beautiful.

Overall, I think Good Morning, Magpie is a triumph. Murder By Death has worked long and hard to get here, and it shows. The album is a wonderful showcase of their talent, dedication, and view of the world around us - a view which is sometimes striking in its raw assessment of how the world works, but never disappointing. They've once again given this horror writer a new group of songs to work into my inspirational playlist - one that continues to feed my creativity and stoke the fires of my imagination.

Thanks to Sarah, Matt, Dagan, and Adam for working as hard as they do, all day, every day, for the past decade. It shows, and you're loved for it.

You can buy your own copy of "Good Morning, Magpie" on CD or vinyl by clicking here, or you can get a digital copy of the album here.

Music Therapy

By now you've probably noticed a theme for Mondays on my blog. Over the month of March I've used the first day of the week as a day to showcase something about music and how it relates to me and my writing. At the beginning of the month I talked about Shooter Jennings and Hierophant's collaboration with Stephen King. The next week I told you guys about my trip to Indiana to see Murder By Death. And last week we had a great discussion about writing playlists. This has been a lot of fun and I plan to keep doing this or something similar in the weeks to come. I think music is an integral part of the writing process for many authors, including myself, and I'm fascinated by the countless ways the two forms of art entwine together.

On that note, let's get on to this week's musical entry...

Did you know there's such a thing as music therapy? The American Music Therapy Association says on their website, "The idea of music as a healing influence which could affect health and behavior is as least as old as the writings of Aristotle and Plato. The 20th century discipline began after World War I and World War II when community musicians of all types, both amateur and professional, went to Veterans hospitals around the country to play for the thousands of veterans suffering both physical and emotional trauma from the wars. The patients' notable physical and emotional responses to music led the doctors and nurses to request the hiring of musicians by the hospitals."

I love this idea, and would like to write a story about it sometime. The concept fires up the furnaces of my imagination - a musician, using his or her art to heal the sick. Now I know there are thousands of qualified music therapists out there who've worked hard to get where they are using their dedication and talent. But my brain naturally turns to a tale of the weird when I think about this subject. What if it was a supernatural sort of ability, something which doctors couldn't detect - except when viewing the rapid healing of their gravely injured patients? What if this person, this "music therapist", had been different all through growing up and finally found what they were meant to do in a VA hospital during the second world war? A period piece with supernatural undertones. So much fun to think about!

This is one of the many ways I get ideas for stories... learning about something new and interesting, then imagining a character thrown into a situation which showcases that skill (or place, or time, or whatever). I'm pleased to have a new goal of learning more about music and how it could inspire or influence me to write pieces I might not usually consider. I hope you'll be as interested to read these "Music Monday" entries as I am to write them.

What are some ways music has inspired you as a writer? We've talked about playlists, live music, and so on... Do you find music and writing as cooperatively influential as I do?

Writing Playlists

I draw a huge amount of inspiration from the music I listen to in every stage of my writing process. I have thousands of songs loaded on my iPod, and I love to put the thing on shuffle and just let Jeff take to the wind. My mind will often drop into the zone of brainstorming without me even planning it, setting a scene to a particular song. The creative juices start flowing, and for the four-to-six minutes the song's playing, I'm locked deep in my imagination, the music playing as a soundtrack to the movie in my mind.

I also listen to music as I'm actually working on the novel. I don't do this all the time; sometimes listening to music as I write screws with my ADD, distracting me, and I end up looking for the "right song" to listen to as I compose a particular scene, wasting several valuable minutes in the process. But other times it's exactly what I need to transport me to my fictional town of Bulton, SC. I've composed a playlist over the last seven months as I've been writing the novel. The playlist has evolved, growing and changing as the novel does, but the core music remains the same.

I've populated my playlist with some good old rock n' roll, of course - the Eagles are a large part of the lineup. I've mentioned before how the song "Heartache Tonight" was a huge influence in a pivotal scene in the novel... and I swear, if this damn thing ever gets made into a movie, I'm pitching the song to the director... it's that concrete in my head. Other grit-yer-teeth rockers include Creedence Clearwater Revival and the newcomers Deer Tick. (I'd love to call all these bands Southern rock, and I know a good many people think of them as such. I just can't in good conscience do that, though, because CCR and the Eagles are from out West and Deer Tick is from RI.)

I've also got a good bit of Murder By Death on the playlist. Their epic rock-meets-country-meets-orchestra sound, coupled with beautiful dark lyrics and an underlying current of desperation, fit my little Southern ghost story very well. I chose some tracks from the Fleet Foxes, because their mellow, folk-y sound makes me think of the South in general and Appalachia in particular, most likely because of their song, "Blue Ridge Mountains".

Then there are a few single tracks from different artists and movie soundtracks, which feed my brain beautiful images and keep it running at high speed. I've had a lot of fun building this playlist, and I love to see the influence it's had over the tale I'm spinning. I'm continually finding songs and adding them to the mix, so by the end of this I'll have hours and hours of music that I can choose a really solid soundtrack out of, to burn to a CD for myself... sort of a behind-the-scenes extra, if you'll allow me that indulgence. You'd better, 'cause it'll just be for me anyway.

I love hearing what other writers were listening to as they composed their particular masterpieces, especially if they showcase lyrics from a song as a foreword, or mention it in their notes. One of my favorite horror authors, Joe Hill, recently published (on his blog) highlights from the playlist he listened to as he wrote his new novel Horns. You can check out that blog entry here - it's a really interesting read.

How about the rest of you guys? What have you been listening to lately, as you compose your masterpieces? Do you need a playlist to work, or would you rather have silence as company? I'm interested in how our creative processes differ.

Live Music

I went to see Murder By Death this weekend in Bloomington, IN. It was a fantastic show. The band is from Indiana, so there were a lot of die-hard fans in the crowd - but we got the prize for driving the farthest to see them. We hung with the band for just a bit, shared a bottle of Gentleman Jack with them during their set (they signed the bottle for me and it's on a shelf in my room now), and had a great time. The drummer, Dagan, hurt his hand last week, so they had a stripped-down acoustic session with their old organ/piano player Vincent (he's no longer with the band) added in to beef up the sound. They played a lot of old songs and some things I'd never heard before in concert. There were also three songs from the new album in the set list. Incredible!

I love live shows. There's something elemental and raw about being in the crowd, hearing music so loud it rattles your joints and presses against your eardrums. I get taken over by the music, and have to move and dance and express the passion I feel coursing through me as I listen to a band churn out their sound. This was fostered at a young age - my first live concert was Chicago, when I was five. I had the best seat in the house, because we saw them at a Carowinds show and I sat on my dad's shoulders for the whole set list.

My parents were live music enthusiasts, and during the decade of decadence that was the 80's they took my sister and I to over fifty live shows. I saw bands like Huey Lewis, Starship, The Eagles, and Genesis. We also went to solo acts such as Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, and Bob Seger. My mom was a pop music fanatic, and she took my sister and I to see Duran Duran and The Power Station and Madonna. Dad was more of a blues and rock lover, so he took us to see Eric Clapton, ZZ Top, and Styx. It was a great upbringing... I learned a lot about live music and fell in love with the energy and passion in concerts. Of course, in the early 90's concert tickets skyrocketed to ridiculous prices and we had to stop going for the most part, but it was fun while it lasted. I've been to a few big concerts in the last decade - Nine Inch Nails, the Indigo Girls, the Eels - but nothing like the summers in the 80's when my parents went nuts and bought tickets to everything coming to Atlanta.

Now I prefer small clubs or bars to large venues, not just because of the cost but also because I feel a much stronger connection to the band and the crowd when the show is smaller. Saturday night at the Bishop in Bloomington, it felt as if we were all part of the same organism, living and breathing and screaming along with the music. There was a current of power running through the crowd, fueled by the songs we loved and the band that thundered through their set on the stage above us. The bass from the speakers along the sides of the stage thrummed in my joints while the melodies of Sarah's cello strings reverberated in my chest. I felt charged, energized, more than just myself - I was part of the animal Crowd, and the animal was satisfied with Saturday night's offering. There's nothing else like that feeling in the world - you just don't get that kind of up-close and personal experience in a large venue like an arena.

Now, two days later, I feel recharged. I went to the river of energy fueled by live music and was fulfilled. I'm ready to jump into my story and pump out pages (as soon as I get home from the Clark Kent job tonight, of course). Murder By Death is coming to Atlanta in April, and I already have plans to go see them then too. I just can't resist that kind of rush.

Collaborations

Today I'm listening to the album Black Ribbons, by Shooter Jennings and Hierophant. I found this album through a news article on MSN about musicians and writers collaborating on projects.

Shooter Jennings, the son of Waylon Jennings, plays a mix of rock and country that can't exactly be called rockabilly but still seriously rocks socks. Black Ribbons is an ambitious concept album and plays with a lot of different types of music and sounds. The thing that drew me to this album was the fact that Stephen King collaborated with the band on the project.

The album is set during an apocalyptic time for the human race in general and America specifically. The government is taking over airwaves and has eviscerated the concept of free speech. The country's last talk radio personality, Will O' The Wisp, is inviting his listeners to participate in one last night of free thinking and great music. Will is voiced by Stephen King himself, and he has several tracks on the album which he speaks on.

Shooter's concept for the radio DJ was less of a "Wolfman Jack" kind of personality and more of a thinking man's talk radio guy - "It was more the brain attached to the voice that was so important," he says in his interview with MSN. Stephen King fit the bill perfectly, especially since he was already a fan of Shooter's band. When Shooter contacted King about it, the writer was enthusiastic about the idea, but wasn't quite sure where Shooter wanted to go with it. Shooter sent him a couple of pages of notes, but wanted King to put his own flair on the album as well. Shooter says he was "open to him [King] writing the whole (narration) and I definitely didn't want to push my words on this guy, but I think he was looking for a little direction so I wrote a mock-up of what I believed it should be. He took that and doctored it and made it a hundred times better".

I love Stephen King and while I'm not familiar with Shooter Jennings's work (or I wasn't until today, anyway), I'm always open to giving new music a try. I've been listening to it at the Clark Kent job today and while I haven't been able to give it my whole attention for the entire time it's been playing, I like what I've heard so far. I plan to give it another listen when I can devote my full brain to what Shooter and Stephen King are saying.

Projects like this excite me. I'd love to do one with a band. I've been kicking around an idea inspired by the Murder By Death album Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them? for a while, but I want to finish the projects on my plate before I delve into anything else. It's an intriguing idea, though. I also love how much effort Shooter's put into making the album a full-sensory experience for his fans; he's put a lot of thought into how his website can be used with the apocalyptic concept. It's fun, if you get a chance it's worth a gander.

If you'd like to read the MSN article that turned me on to this album, go here.