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The television show “Bones” went off the air years ago. It was a mystery, sometimes comedy sometimes horror show where they solved crimes. The main characters were Temperance Brennan and Seely Booth. There were the side characters like Angela, Hodgins and Sweets. The character that was always there and was always reliable was Camille Saroyan played by Tamara Taylor. I know it was a role and a…
go to the book conferences and see these authors with a table full of books. I see writers crank a new book every few months. I take years between titles. I listened to “Fiction Writing” with Vanessa Gilbo podcast and she had advice on finding time. “The Sell More Books Show” had advise on finding time. “Helping Writers Become Authors” had advice. It comes down to find time in those small pockets…
Springtime was a time for book festivals. Time to load up for those summer reads. I’ve seen several conferences and festivals and conventions being planned for the rest of the year. October is another big month for book festivals and author days. I will have a table at some of these events. I will have my book promotion materials and books. It will be a long day, what should I bring to munch on?…
There were bands in the 1990s that felt like they were everywhere. The 1990s is defined by Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Garth Brooks. Urge Overkill had a song in the movie, “Pulp Fiction.” Their UO stickers were in music clubs and streetlight posts. Radio played them a lot. Why not? They were friends of Liz Phair and hung out with her when she got signed to a record label. The band…
The The released two of my all time favorite songs in the early 1990s when I was in college. They released this one-off single called “Jealous of Youth.” It starts eerie with a lone drum pounding and echoing in a void. This deep breathy voice come on and says, “It's funny how, as we grow old We cling to the past as we cling to the air And feel nostalgia for things that were maybe never there” “The…
People wanted to be there. Readers didn’t just go to the event because it just happened to be there and they were in the area. Brook Hollow was way out there. To get to the winery, I drove a couple big highways and then two lane roads. I didn’t see a WaWa for over a hour and a half! The authors at this event came from all parts of New Jersey. I saw readers wear shirts with pictures of books or…
When you heard a band is called “Southern Culture on the Skids” what did you think they would be like? I first heard of them from a radio show that broadcast from Princeton called “Rockabilly Roadhouse.” The show played country, rock, wrestling intro music. It was a fun commute home when the show was on. Southern Culture were one of the bands the radio show played. Southern Culture formed in 1983.…
There is a fast vitality to early punk music. It was loud and so fast it was almost un-melodic. As the fans of the genre age, their tastes change and those albums get put away. Those performers move to other genres. In most cases….. Social Distortion started as a band in 1978. Their first big song was “Mommy’s Little Monster.” The song is fast guitars with rock star riffs, great drumming and Mike…
Ned’s Atomic Dustin- what kind of name is that? It sounds like the name of a one-hit wonder. They were a British band that got American airplay around 1991 and 1992. Their album “God Fodder” a play on words, had three great songs. “Kill Your Television” was one of the first releases. It’s loud and thrashy. It’s a minute of a three minute song before we get a vocal. “Grey Cell Green” starts with…
It was such a strange sound from a band. They didn’t have a guitarist. Mark Sandman played bass, saxophonist Dana Colley and drummer Jerome Dupree and later Billy Conway. That’s it. It wasn’t jazz or rock, but a funky mix. The band was called Morphine. That isn’t a name that Top 40 radio would like, but it’s memorable. They got airplay on alternative radio because of bass intros, how not Top 40!…