Michael Wolff's FIRE AND FURY: INSIDE THE TRUMP WHITE HOUSE (2018) is a hilarious, head-spinning trip for the first 100+ pages. It's a big laugh on practically every page. Unbelievable weirdness inside the Trump campaign and White House that will confirm all your worst fears. Hunter S. Thompson would have loved this part of the book.
After that, it settles down into being merely grim and endless. But I would happily have read more....
FIRE AND FURY follows one man's political journey through the looking glass and into the White House, which turns out to be a place weirder and more stressful than he ever expected. But enough about Steve Bannon.
For politics junkies or Trump-haters, there are some surprises in this book:
* The Trump team never expected to win. They weren't prepared to win. They had no plan if they won. They thought losing would be good enough. Trump's brand -- and daughter Ivanka's -- would gain further recognition, and all the "experts" on their team would get media political-expert jobs.
* At one point on Air Force One, Trump has his inner circle swear not to reveal to anyone why Donald Trump Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with the Russians in Trump Tower -- to obtain dirt on Hillary Clinton. Is this obstruction of justice right here? Or merely a conspiracy to cover-up? No wonder the Trump Administration didn't want this book released.
* Former FBI Director James Comey wasn't fired for investigating Trump's ties to Russia. He was fired for looking into the extended Trump family's financial dealings -- including those of Jared Kushner and HIS family. The excuses for Comey's firing were all made-up afterward.
* Trump screamed about leakers in his administration, claiming Comey and others leaked tons of information to the media. This book shows that EVERYONE in the White House leaked -- including Trump. Usually to get back at each other.
* After his bankruptcies, Trump couldn't get any more credit from American banks, so he turned to the Russians for loans for his real-estate dealings. And the Russians had some money-laundering issues they needed some help with. And buying real estate is one of the ways you can launder money....
* The infamous "dossier" on Trump is important because it indicates the Russians might have been trying to blackmail Trump over his sexual ... um ... preferences.
* Despite his proclamations of loyalty to the cause, Trump strategist Steve Bannon wasn't so much loyal to the president -- Trump was just the "package" Bannon "sold" to get into the White House. Though Bannon was later fired, the book closes with him proclaiming that the weirdness in national politics has just begun.
The Trump White House has repeatedly called this book a trashy fantasy filled with inaccuracies -- and I'll bet every time they do, they sell more copies of the book. The reporting seems pretty solid to me -- especially in the early chapters, before the outrage and comedy starts to grind into seriousness.
Wolff claims he perched on a couch in the West Wing for months and took lots of notes. He interviewed on tape more than 200 people, including Trump. He certainly wasn't obligated to write only "nice" things about what he saw and heard. His only obligation was to report what he was witness to, no matter how outrageous it was.
It's too bad that after the first half, the book descends into depicting in-fighting over who is to blame for what disaster and what staffer's head will roll next. Usually it's Trump's fault, because no one can control him. But reading about this gets old.
Basically, the book reads like what might happen if your average dysfunctional family moved into the White House and tried to run the country -- without any previous experience whatsoever. Disasters happen, then multiply, and there is constant in-fighting over who caused it, how to fix it, can it be fixed, who should get stuck with the blame, etc.
Perhaps most annoying is the clear picture that Trump's people had no goals and no plan once he won the election -- and no idea how to implement their ideas once somebody finally decided what they were. One staffer has to go to the Internet to learn how to draft legislation and get it rolling in Congress. That's why there were so many executive orders in the administration's early days. Incompetence is standard in the West Wing.
Vice President Mike Pence and First Lady Melania Trump barely appear in the book. They're probably grateful. Melania starts crying on Election Night when she realizes her private life is over. And it's noted that the First Couple had clearly been arguing before Trump's Inauguration Day speech. Pence's office is mentioned as the one place in the White House where people are nice and things actually seem to get done.
If Wolff had been able to keep up the intense, outrageous, Hunter Thompson-like comedy of the first 100 pages, I would have been happy to read even more of this. But later on the book becomes too much like the grim fiasco we're seeing play out every single day.
You can get the Kindle version of this book from Amazon for half the price of the hardcover. But this is not a commercial.
Showing posts with label e-books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label e-books. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Monday, February 15, 2016
Write on....
That book about Strange Music that I've wanted to write since age 22 might actually get done within my lifetime. I've made more progress on it in the last two weeks than I have in five years. I'm somewhere past 27,000 words written, now. Maybe a third to halfway finished.
If all goes as planned, I expect LISTEN TO THIS! will review progressive-rock albums I loved (or hated) back in the day, some very off-the-wall noise I've reviewed here (Cromagnon's CAVE ROCK, Borbetomagus, etc.), and that batch of prog I went through a few years back only to be disappointed when I discovered that a lot of it ... kind of sucked.
Even though I've got some big blank spots, I've heard a lot over the years and I haven't given up yet, so I ought to put all that listening-time and money-spent to good use.
My biggest problem was I couldn't seem to organize what I knew into a format that I could work with, that would allow me to write what I wanted, so the book would sound like me and not just like any other record-review book out there.
A couple weeks ago, I figured out a format that would work, and I've been working with it ever since. For me, a lot of these albums are tied up with memories, old friendships, and good and bad times, so you can trust a lot of that will get into the book.
So far, I have over 300 albums either reviewed, mentioned or at least listed -- everything from DARK SIDE OF THE MOON to ZERO TOLERANCE FOR SILENCE (don't know that one? Good luck....). Hopefully I'll be able to add more as I continue writing. Plus I've got stuff at home that I still haven't given a fair listening to yet....
I'll keep you posted as this project continues. Mentioning it here is part of my plan to force myself to keep working on it. I've seriously wanted to do this at least since I started reviewing off-the-wall music for newspapers, so....
If I slack off on the Strange Music book, I have other projects to keep me writing.
I've been working since September on a second GAS NAZI book. I'm about 25,000 words in. Things have changed a bit at my job in the past couple of years, and hilarious and outrageous new atrocities happen there every week, so as soon as I have enough to fill up another Kindle e-book, I'll let you know.
While I was on vacation from the blog, I was still writing. Last spring I wrote a LONG sort-of "family history" for an old friend back home in Idaho, and from that I hope to do a growing-up memoir called WHEN YOU WAKE UP that traces my growing up from age 11 on -- back to the days when I discovered music and books and that I could maybe write a little. Everything seemed much more magical then. And I can remember 45 years ago better than I can remember last week. So. I'm about 20,000 words into that one.
I hope these books aren't just an attempt to write I-I-I -- I like to think there's more to them. If there wasn't, I wouldn't write them. These e-books aren't making me rich (yet), but at least I feel like I'm accomplishing something, not wasting my life and my talent. If I'm full of shit, nobody's told me so yet. (Here's your chance, Crabby....)
I'll keep you posted on all this stuff, and definitely let you know when the books are done and available for sale. I'd still love to "retire" and write for a living....
COMING SOON: I've bagged another batch of books, including a Bowie biography and a memoir by Ray Davies of the Kinks. I'll report on these soonest....
If all goes as planned, I expect LISTEN TO THIS! will review progressive-rock albums I loved (or hated) back in the day, some very off-the-wall noise I've reviewed here (Cromagnon's CAVE ROCK, Borbetomagus, etc.), and that batch of prog I went through a few years back only to be disappointed when I discovered that a lot of it ... kind of sucked.
Even though I've got some big blank spots, I've heard a lot over the years and I haven't given up yet, so I ought to put all that listening-time and money-spent to good use.
My biggest problem was I couldn't seem to organize what I knew into a format that I could work with, that would allow me to write what I wanted, so the book would sound like me and not just like any other record-review book out there.
A couple weeks ago, I figured out a format that would work, and I've been working with it ever since. For me, a lot of these albums are tied up with memories, old friendships, and good and bad times, so you can trust a lot of that will get into the book.
So far, I have over 300 albums either reviewed, mentioned or at least listed -- everything from DARK SIDE OF THE MOON to ZERO TOLERANCE FOR SILENCE (don't know that one? Good luck....). Hopefully I'll be able to add more as I continue writing. Plus I've got stuff at home that I still haven't given a fair listening to yet....
I'll keep you posted as this project continues. Mentioning it here is part of my plan to force myself to keep working on it. I've seriously wanted to do this at least since I started reviewing off-the-wall music for newspapers, so....
If I slack off on the Strange Music book, I have other projects to keep me writing.
I've been working since September on a second GAS NAZI book. I'm about 25,000 words in. Things have changed a bit at my job in the past couple of years, and hilarious and outrageous new atrocities happen there every week, so as soon as I have enough to fill up another Kindle e-book, I'll let you know.
While I was on vacation from the blog, I was still writing. Last spring I wrote a LONG sort-of "family history" for an old friend back home in Idaho, and from that I hope to do a growing-up memoir called WHEN YOU WAKE UP that traces my growing up from age 11 on -- back to the days when I discovered music and books and that I could maybe write a little. Everything seemed much more magical then. And I can remember 45 years ago better than I can remember last week. So. I'm about 20,000 words into that one.
I hope these books aren't just an attempt to write I-I-I -- I like to think there's more to them. If there wasn't, I wouldn't write them. These e-books aren't making me rich (yet), but at least I feel like I'm accomplishing something, not wasting my life and my talent. If I'm full of shit, nobody's told me so yet. (Here's your chance, Crabby....)
I'll keep you posted on all this stuff, and definitely let you know when the books are done and available for sale. I'd still love to "retire" and write for a living....
COMING SOON: I've bagged another batch of books, including a Bowie biography and a memoir by Ray Davies of the Kinks. I'll report on these soonest....
Monday, February 16, 2015
Friday night playlist 4
...Along with the usual recent stuff, lately it's been Philly Soul hits of the early '70s!
I was already listening to and loving Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, but thanks to Sony/Legacy's cheap Philly Soul best-of, I'm hearing again for the first time in awhile O'Jays hits like "Love Train" and "Back Stabbers" -- both of which sound REALLY good in the digital format. The singing, the playing, it's all great.
About the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money" I'm less sure -- I tend to have trouble with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's more "messagey" songs -- but I quote from it almost every time someone brings a stack of winning Scratch tickets into the store....
I've already raved about Teddy Pendergrass's GREAT singing on The Blue Notes' "The Love I Lost" and "Bad Luck," two old favorites. One of the bonuses of this Philly Soul best-of is that you get the LONG versions of the hits ... but sometimes less is more, in this case.
Also gave me a chance to hear for probably the first time in 30 years MFSB's "TSOP" and The Three Degrees' "When Will I See You Again" -- which sounds like heaven, like a latter-day Diana Ross and the Supremes hit, just gorgeous.
I thought in a best-of like this, Sony might actually list who the members of MFSB WERE, might give the studio musicians some credit, for a change. But there are no credits here, so if you want to know who's PLAYING this stuff, you're out of luck. They sure sound great, though.
My only other complaint is -- why isn't the O'Jays' "992 Arguments" on here?
...My Ghod, what's next for the white kid from Idaho? Barry White??
Have also been playing at work ... I'm sort of embarrassed to admit ... TAPES of the best stuff from KPLU-FM's "All Blues" program, tapes of the stuff that's impossible to find, or that a guy on a tight budget like me can't afford.
So far, that includes Johnny Guitar Watson's silly "Gangster of Love," Dr. John's hilarious "Why Come it is?", Eric Bibb's moody "Follow the Drinking Gourd," guitarist Sonny Landreth's great "Zydeco Shuffle," Ry Cooder's silly "Crow Black Chicken," and guitarist Johnny A's gorgeous "Wichita Lineman" -- yes, the old Glen Campbell hit. This veers kind of close to muzak in places, but it's really an amazing piece of work. If you're a fan of the original, you should try to track this down. Or check out "All Blues," streaming on kplu.org between 6 p.m. and midnight Pacific Time, Saturdays and Sundays.
My newest e-book memoir, WHAT HE MEANT, a tribute to my old writer buddy Don Vincent, is now available for $2.99 at Amazon.com's Kindle Store.
The book's an attempt to make sense out of my best friend's sudden death a couple of years ago, and to figure out why he apparently gave up writing in his later years and went silent -- despite his many big plans for huge fantasy-novel writing projects.
The book recaps some of the experiences we went through together. We shared an apartment twice -- he let me sleep on his couch for free for six months once when I had nowhere else to go. Once we were in love with the same woman. We both went into shock at the death of his fiancee in a car wreck. I was later the best man at his wedding, and he was the best man at mine. And he encouraged me to join the Air Force and make a skill out of the one talent I had.
He was always a better, funnier, more vivid, more imaginative, more disciplined writer than I was. And I told him so. I wouldn't be writing this without him as a role model.
This may be another book that hardly anyone will be interested in, but I had to write it. I had to get it out of my system.
What will I write next? Well, I've been thinking about that old rock-group novel....
I was already listening to and loving Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, but thanks to Sony/Legacy's cheap Philly Soul best-of, I'm hearing again for the first time in awhile O'Jays hits like "Love Train" and "Back Stabbers" -- both of which sound REALLY good in the digital format. The singing, the playing, it's all great.
About the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money" I'm less sure -- I tend to have trouble with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's more "messagey" songs -- but I quote from it almost every time someone brings a stack of winning Scratch tickets into the store....
I've already raved about Teddy Pendergrass's GREAT singing on The Blue Notes' "The Love I Lost" and "Bad Luck," two old favorites. One of the bonuses of this Philly Soul best-of is that you get the LONG versions of the hits ... but sometimes less is more, in this case.
Also gave me a chance to hear for probably the first time in 30 years MFSB's "TSOP" and The Three Degrees' "When Will I See You Again" -- which sounds like heaven, like a latter-day Diana Ross and the Supremes hit, just gorgeous.
I thought in a best-of like this, Sony might actually list who the members of MFSB WERE, might give the studio musicians some credit, for a change. But there are no credits here, so if you want to know who's PLAYING this stuff, you're out of luck. They sure sound great, though.
My only other complaint is -- why isn't the O'Jays' "992 Arguments" on here?
...My Ghod, what's next for the white kid from Idaho? Barry White??
Have also been playing at work ... I'm sort of embarrassed to admit ... TAPES of the best stuff from KPLU-FM's "All Blues" program, tapes of the stuff that's impossible to find, or that a guy on a tight budget like me can't afford.
So far, that includes Johnny Guitar Watson's silly "Gangster of Love," Dr. John's hilarious "Why Come it is?", Eric Bibb's moody "Follow the Drinking Gourd," guitarist Sonny Landreth's great "Zydeco Shuffle," Ry Cooder's silly "Crow Black Chicken," and guitarist Johnny A's gorgeous "Wichita Lineman" -- yes, the old Glen Campbell hit. This veers kind of close to muzak in places, but it's really an amazing piece of work. If you're a fan of the original, you should try to track this down. Or check out "All Blues," streaming on kplu.org between 6 p.m. and midnight Pacific Time, Saturdays and Sundays.
My newest e-book memoir, WHAT HE MEANT, a tribute to my old writer buddy Don Vincent, is now available for $2.99 at Amazon.com's Kindle Store.
The book's an attempt to make sense out of my best friend's sudden death a couple of years ago, and to figure out why he apparently gave up writing in his later years and went silent -- despite his many big plans for huge fantasy-novel writing projects.
The book recaps some of the experiences we went through together. We shared an apartment twice -- he let me sleep on his couch for free for six months once when I had nowhere else to go. Once we were in love with the same woman. We both went into shock at the death of his fiancee in a car wreck. I was later the best man at his wedding, and he was the best man at mine. And he encouraged me to join the Air Force and make a skill out of the one talent I had.
He was always a better, funnier, more vivid, more imaginative, more disciplined writer than I was. And I told him so. I wouldn't be writing this without him as a role model.
This may be another book that hardly anyone will be interested in, but I had to write it. I had to get it out of my system.
What will I write next? Well, I've been thinking about that old rock-group novel....
Sunday, January 4, 2015
These are the jokes....
I'm halfway through writing another e-book, this one about my old buddy Don Vincent -- about what a role model he was for me when I was just starting to write, about what close friends we were, about some of the things we went through together, about how he took me in and let me live in his apartment FOR FREE when I had nowhere else to go.... It's another book nobody will buy, but this stuff is forcing its way out, so....
One problem: I went on at some length in the book about what a joker Don could be, about how even though he could be a very serious guy, he took NOTHING seriously, everything was an excuse for playtime.
And naturally, as a result, I've been able to remember exactly ONE JOKE Don ever told. So much for this book making people feel like they'd actually met Don....
I don't think too many people out there can help me with this problem, but ... I'll be working on it....
And you can read more about Don under posts here entitled "Don's Greatest Hits" and "An obituary"....
A couple weeks back I read Joe Klein's WOODY GUTHRIE: A LIFE (1980/1999) --a very smoothly written and very involving biography of the legendary Okie from the Dust Bowl who wrote "This Land is Your Land" and "Roll On, Columbia," among many others -- one of the inspirations for Bob Dylan and countless other folksingers and singer-songwriters.
Much of the book is as stark and gritty and down-to-earth as the black-and-white photo of Woody on the book's front cover. And the book definitely doesn't romanticize him. Clearly Woody was A Piece Of Work. (Can't creative people realize they might have more success and last longer if they DON'T DRINK?)
The book's worth a look if you're into musicians' life stories. There's a heckuva supporting cast, including Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, Burl Ives, Will Geer, Alan Lomax, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan of course, and more.
But it's not a happy story. And don't be put off by Woody's nearly-pornographic letters to his second wife, which are quoted at length....
One problem: I went on at some length in the book about what a joker Don could be, about how even though he could be a very serious guy, he took NOTHING seriously, everything was an excuse for playtime.
And naturally, as a result, I've been able to remember exactly ONE JOKE Don ever told. So much for this book making people feel like they'd actually met Don....
I don't think too many people out there can help me with this problem, but ... I'll be working on it....
And you can read more about Don under posts here entitled "Don's Greatest Hits" and "An obituary"....
A couple weeks back I read Joe Klein's WOODY GUTHRIE: A LIFE (1980/1999) --a very smoothly written and very involving biography of the legendary Okie from the Dust Bowl who wrote "This Land is Your Land" and "Roll On, Columbia," among many others -- one of the inspirations for Bob Dylan and countless other folksingers and singer-songwriters.
Much of the book is as stark and gritty and down-to-earth as the black-and-white photo of Woody on the book's front cover. And the book definitely doesn't romanticize him. Clearly Woody was A Piece Of Work. (Can't creative people realize they might have more success and last longer if they DON'T DRINK?)
The book's worth a look if you're into musicians' life stories. There's a heckuva supporting cast, including Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, Burl Ives, Will Geer, Alan Lomax, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan of course, and more.
But it's not a happy story. And don't be put off by Woody's nearly-pornographic letters to his second wife, which are quoted at length....
Friday, August 8, 2014
Notes from the bookstore, etc.
Thank Ghod for the folks at Half-Price Books in Tacoma. I took five huge boxes of music and books to them on Tuesday, figuring I might get $50 from them, maybe $75 if they were generous.
They gave me $160 -- enough for me to pay my roommate the rent money he expected, grab a couple cheap books to bring home (two travel books by Paul Theroux), and crawl through the rest of this week until payday arrives again.
I told the Half Price folks they were wonderful -- they probably wondered what kind of meds I was on.
It's possible I might miss some of what I took in -- but most of it was music I couldn't get into, vinyl I had duplicated on CD, books I couldn't get into, or that I'd read once and liked but probably would never have time to re-read -- life's too short now and I've got my own stuff to do.
I might miss some of the music -- Gong, Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Strawbs, Dixie Dregs, Return to Forever, etc. But hey -- if it don't work for you, there's no point forcing it, right? So.
I'm already thinking there's more stuff in the house I might be able to sell.
And my painting/cleanup job starts on Monday. If I survive, it should be good for an extra $60 a week for four hours of work.
I might not starve yet.
93 crazy people grabbed copies of my record-store-memoir e-book GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC! while it was available free last week. Ghod bless you all. I didn't get rich doing this, but I hope y'all might take a chance on the NEXT one....
Work continues on my newspaper novel, THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Am still writing a couple of new scenes each day. Am now to the point where I am streamlining the plot and reading through my "framework" for novelization purposes. Anybody Out There who survived reading my newspaper memoir THE CONFESSOR will probably recognize some of the situations -- but this version is funnier. And a lot of it's brand new.
I'll keep you posted -- I'd like to have the new book done by Aug. 21 so I can say I wrote four e-books in a year, but that might be rushing it. Should at least have something fun to read by the fall.
More soon....
They gave me $160 -- enough for me to pay my roommate the rent money he expected, grab a couple cheap books to bring home (two travel books by Paul Theroux), and crawl through the rest of this week until payday arrives again.
I told the Half Price folks they were wonderful -- they probably wondered what kind of meds I was on.
It's possible I might miss some of what I took in -- but most of it was music I couldn't get into, vinyl I had duplicated on CD, books I couldn't get into, or that I'd read once and liked but probably would never have time to re-read -- life's too short now and I've got my own stuff to do.
I might miss some of the music -- Gong, Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Strawbs, Dixie Dregs, Return to Forever, etc. But hey -- if it don't work for you, there's no point forcing it, right? So.
I'm already thinking there's more stuff in the house I might be able to sell.
And my painting/cleanup job starts on Monday. If I survive, it should be good for an extra $60 a week for four hours of work.
I might not starve yet.
93 crazy people grabbed copies of my record-store-memoir e-book GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC! while it was available free last week. Ghod bless you all. I didn't get rich doing this, but I hope y'all might take a chance on the NEXT one....
Work continues on my newspaper novel, THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Am still writing a couple of new scenes each day. Am now to the point where I am streamlining the plot and reading through my "framework" for novelization purposes. Anybody Out There who survived reading my newspaper memoir THE CONFESSOR will probably recognize some of the situations -- but this version is funnier. And a lot of it's brand new.
I'll keep you posted -- I'd like to have the new book done by Aug. 21 so I can say I wrote four e-books in a year, but that might be rushing it. Should at least have something fun to read by the fall.
More soon....
Sunday, August 3, 2014
"Sales" update 2
Good Lord -- So far, 73 crazy people have picked up FREE copies of my record-store memoir/e-book GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC! from Amazon.com's Kindle Store. If you haven't already read this shocking expose that blows the lid off of what REALLY happened at record stores across the country back in the early 1980's ... well, you've got a couple more days to grab it for free. Just visit Amazon's Kindle Store and punch in the title. And while you're there, you can download the first 20 pages of any of my e-books for FREE to try them out.
Of course, I don't get rich when you do this. But maybe you should just send your troublesome spare cash to me at this blog. Ghod knows I could use it. Maybe I'll put out a tip jar....
Oh, and my newspaper memoir THE CONFESSOR will be available free the week of Aug. 21....
Meanwhile, work continues on my small-town newspaper novel, THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. I'm still writing a couple of new scenes each day -- as happened with the record-store book, the more I remember, the more I CAN remember. For those of you who survived reading THE CONFESSOR, this novel will be "the good parts version," with more NEW lighter and funnier stories. I'm surprised by how much material I still have. Still hoping to have something completed by the fall.
Meanwhile, due to the cutbacks at work, I'm looking toward working through my planned vacation to try and pile up a little extra cash and stay ahead of the bills. I'm also looking at taking a part-time job helping a guy re-paint his house. He says he'll pay cash! My problem is I have too much overhead from old bills, and being cut back 10 hours each month is fairly serious money ... which is starting to have its impact felt by yours truly. I'm thinking I may not have another day off for awhile....
If you're wondering, there's a reason why I'm writing here more often. The girlfriend and I haven't broken up, but we're seeing a LOT less of each other, due to a clash I had with her 31-year-old son a month or so ago. We'd Had Words a few times before, but this last clash was IT. I'm tired of being messed with by drunks, and I'm tired of his attitude. So I'm staying away. Life's too short -- who needs the headaches?
By the way, this blog passed 40,000 page-views awhile back. Thank you all.
Hoping you and yours are well....
More eventually....
Of course, I don't get rich when you do this. But maybe you should just send your troublesome spare cash to me at this blog. Ghod knows I could use it. Maybe I'll put out a tip jar....
Oh, and my newspaper memoir THE CONFESSOR will be available free the week of Aug. 21....
Meanwhile, work continues on my small-town newspaper novel, THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. I'm still writing a couple of new scenes each day -- as happened with the record-store book, the more I remember, the more I CAN remember. For those of you who survived reading THE CONFESSOR, this novel will be "the good parts version," with more NEW lighter and funnier stories. I'm surprised by how much material I still have. Still hoping to have something completed by the fall.
Meanwhile, due to the cutbacks at work, I'm looking toward working through my planned vacation to try and pile up a little extra cash and stay ahead of the bills. I'm also looking at taking a part-time job helping a guy re-paint his house. He says he'll pay cash! My problem is I have too much overhead from old bills, and being cut back 10 hours each month is fairly serious money ... which is starting to have its impact felt by yours truly. I'm thinking I may not have another day off for awhile....
If you're wondering, there's a reason why I'm writing here more often. The girlfriend and I haven't broken up, but we're seeing a LOT less of each other, due to a clash I had with her 31-year-old son a month or so ago. We'd Had Words a few times before, but this last clash was IT. I'm tired of being messed with by drunks, and I'm tired of his attitude. So I'm staying away. Life's too short -- who needs the headaches?
By the way, this blog passed 40,000 page-views awhile back. Thank you all.
Hoping you and yours are well....
More eventually....
Friday, August 1, 2014
Oh, by the way....
...My record-store-memoir e-book GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC! is supposed to be available FREE through the first five days of August at Amazon.com. Whenever Aug. 1 "starts" -- I just checked at Amazon and they hadn't reduced the price yet. But assuming they DO, all you gotta do is go to Amazon's Kindle Store and punch in the title, and it should pop right up for you. And of course you can download the first 20 pages for free anytime, as you can with any of my e-books.
So, if you haven't yet read this massive international best-seller that blows the lid off of early-'80s record-store culture ... well, now's your chance. For free.
You can thank me later.
Aretha and Al Green best-of CD's have arrived and are playing to rave reviews with customers. And they seem to relax ME pretty good, too.
I knew Aretha was great, but I didn't know she was GREAT. Some of this great stuff I've never heard before. Some of it I haven't heard in 40 years -- "Spanish Harlem" sounds WAY better now. And how come nobody ever told me about "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You" or "Dr. Feelgood"?
As for the Reverend Al, I hadn't heard most of the hits off of his best-of in 40 years. "Let's Stay Together" still sounds great, and the rest sound real fine. I remember pretty-much hating "Tired of Being Alone" back in '71. I remember hating a lot of R&B/Soul when I was growing up -- it kept getting in the way of the good stuff that I wanted to hear more of. You know, like Three Dog Night and the Carpenters and the Partridge Family.
Yeezus, I was an idiot. Just a stupid white kid from Idaho. So it's taken me 40 years to be able to HEAR this stuff.
The thing that gets me about the Reverend Al is that even the FILLER sounds pretty good -- "Love Ritual" and "Belle" and some other non-hits sound just fine. Not sure what he's up to with the Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" though.
And Al's "Take Me to the River" sure is different from the Talking Heads'. Neither version ever quite EXPLODES, though both sound like they're GOING to....
Anyway, have gotten more reactions to these than anything else I've played in the store in a long time. Had several women dancing, one who got QUITE into "I've Never Loved a Man" ... and other folks bouncing musical suggestions off of me like The Brothers Johnson and Wah-Wah Watson and Herbie Hancock. I'll have to see what else I can dig up. Brothers Johnson could really move sometimes. Bet THEY'VE got a best-of out there somewhere....
Need to get some James Brown into this joint, too....
(PS -- Just checked again at Amazon, they DID get that freebie deal goin'....)
So, if you haven't yet read this massive international best-seller that blows the lid off of early-'80s record-store culture ... well, now's your chance. For free.
You can thank me later.
Aretha and Al Green best-of CD's have arrived and are playing to rave reviews with customers. And they seem to relax ME pretty good, too.
I knew Aretha was great, but I didn't know she was GREAT. Some of this great stuff I've never heard before. Some of it I haven't heard in 40 years -- "Spanish Harlem" sounds WAY better now. And how come nobody ever told me about "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You" or "Dr. Feelgood"?
As for the Reverend Al, I hadn't heard most of the hits off of his best-of in 40 years. "Let's Stay Together" still sounds great, and the rest sound real fine. I remember pretty-much hating "Tired of Being Alone" back in '71. I remember hating a lot of R&B/Soul when I was growing up -- it kept getting in the way of the good stuff that I wanted to hear more of. You know, like Three Dog Night and the Carpenters and the Partridge Family.
Yeezus, I was an idiot. Just a stupid white kid from Idaho. So it's taken me 40 years to be able to HEAR this stuff.
The thing that gets me about the Reverend Al is that even the FILLER sounds pretty good -- "Love Ritual" and "Belle" and some other non-hits sound just fine. Not sure what he's up to with the Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" though.
And Al's "Take Me to the River" sure is different from the Talking Heads'. Neither version ever quite EXPLODES, though both sound like they're GOING to....
Anyway, have gotten more reactions to these than anything else I've played in the store in a long time. Had several women dancing, one who got QUITE into "I've Never Loved a Man" ... and other folks bouncing musical suggestions off of me like The Brothers Johnson and Wah-Wah Watson and Herbie Hancock. I'll have to see what else I can dig up. Brothers Johnson could really move sometimes. Bet THEY'VE got a best-of out there somewhere....
Need to get some James Brown into this joint, too....
(PS -- Just checked again at Amazon, they DID get that freebie deal goin'....)
Monday, July 28, 2014
New book update
Work on my new newspaper e-book/novel THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE is going good -- I've been writing from 2,000 to 4,000 words worth of new stuff each day for the past week or so. This is all brand-new material that wasn't in my newspaper memoir. I've still got a lot of stuff left that didn't get into the newspaper memoir, some of it includes some pretty funny stories. If anything, the new book will be even MORE personal than the newspaper memoir was. Though "fictionalized."
The way it's going, I might have something new done by the fall. I've already written the ending, which is MUCH more upbeat than the end of the newspaper memoir was. I'm using the small-town part of the memoir as a sort of framework to build the new novel on -- though altered a bit so it's more of a straightforward narrative.
So far, it looks like my biggest problem is going to be not repeating myself....
I'll keep you posted. I'm still not getting rich doing this e-book-writing stuff, but as long as the writing's going well, I don't care much. And this stuff obviously wants to come out.
So, onward. I don't want my headstone to read "He kept a clean store."
Am still listening to local radio station KPLU's "All Blues" on the weekends and bouncing around the radio dial and tossing CD's in the rest of the time.
Still listening to Madness's ULTIMATE COLLECTION -- "Shut Up" is pretty great, so is "Madness is All in the Mind," "House of Fun" (still can't quite catch all the lyrics), and "Yesterday's Men" is a nice nostalgic ballad.
Have some Aretha and Al Green best-of's on the way -- thank Ghod for Amazon.com's cheapo CD's.
Rosanne Cash was on SOUND OPINIONS Sunday night. She has a beautiful voice. Her new album sounds pretty haunting.
I hear we're in for another blast of HOT summer weather here.
That's all for me, here. How are y'all?
The way it's going, I might have something new done by the fall. I've already written the ending, which is MUCH more upbeat than the end of the newspaper memoir was. I'm using the small-town part of the memoir as a sort of framework to build the new novel on -- though altered a bit so it's more of a straightforward narrative.
So far, it looks like my biggest problem is going to be not repeating myself....
I'll keep you posted. I'm still not getting rich doing this e-book-writing stuff, but as long as the writing's going well, I don't care much. And this stuff obviously wants to come out.
So, onward. I don't want my headstone to read "He kept a clean store."
Am still listening to local radio station KPLU's "All Blues" on the weekends and bouncing around the radio dial and tossing CD's in the rest of the time.
Still listening to Madness's ULTIMATE COLLECTION -- "Shut Up" is pretty great, so is "Madness is All in the Mind," "House of Fun" (still can't quite catch all the lyrics), and "Yesterday's Men" is a nice nostalgic ballad.
Have some Aretha and Al Green best-of's on the way -- thank Ghod for Amazon.com's cheapo CD's.
Rosanne Cash was on SOUND OPINIONS Sunday night. She has a beautiful voice. Her new album sounds pretty haunting.
I hear we're in for another blast of HOT summer weather here.
That's all for me, here. How are y'all?
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Broke/Hot
Hey there. Writing this at work, so can't stay long.
Am as broke now as I've been in months -- the 10 hours per month I've been cut back at work is really starting to bite.
So, over past couple days have been piling up music and books to take to Half-Price Books in Tacoma for some cash. I haven't been there in five years, so I'm overdue -- if they're still in business. I'm thinking maybe they'll give me $50 or maybe $75 for the two HUGE boxes of stuff, and I'll be a little ahead of the bills. Sorry to whine. Right now I can't even afford the $4 to get over the toll bridge....
Most of the stuff that's going is books I've never successfully gotten into or will probably never read -- and lots of music I've repeatedly tried to get into with no luck: Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin solo, some Weather Report, some Return to Forever, Gong, early Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, some Spirit, Brand X, some King Crimson vinyl that I also have on CD, other odds and ends and some beat-up old stuff.
If this slows down my plans for a Strange Music Guide, ah well -- I'm not making very quick progress on it anyway, and I need the bucks.
Course there's always a chance something at Half Price will catch my eye, and if so I'll report on it here. I've never had much self-discipline....
It's HOT here -- supposed to be 90 or over this weekend into next week. That's hot for western Washington. My apologies to you out there who are suffering 100-degree-plus temperatures. As humid as it gets here, we might as well be over 100. Best part of coming to work these days is the air conditioning -- which is miraculously still working....
I owe another steak dinner to 2000 Man, who gave a four-star review to my GAS NAZI! e-book at Amazon.com's Kindle Store. It is so nice to know some people actually GET what I'm trying to do, or at least enjoy reading my fumblings....
Hope to get back to blogging more often here soon. All the best....
Am as broke now as I've been in months -- the 10 hours per month I've been cut back at work is really starting to bite.
So, over past couple days have been piling up music and books to take to Half-Price Books in Tacoma for some cash. I haven't been there in five years, so I'm overdue -- if they're still in business. I'm thinking maybe they'll give me $50 or maybe $75 for the two HUGE boxes of stuff, and I'll be a little ahead of the bills. Sorry to whine. Right now I can't even afford the $4 to get over the toll bridge....
Most of the stuff that's going is books I've never successfully gotten into or will probably never read -- and lots of music I've repeatedly tried to get into with no luck: Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin solo, some Weather Report, some Return to Forever, Gong, early Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, some Spirit, Brand X, some King Crimson vinyl that I also have on CD, other odds and ends and some beat-up old stuff.
If this slows down my plans for a Strange Music Guide, ah well -- I'm not making very quick progress on it anyway, and I need the bucks.
Course there's always a chance something at Half Price will catch my eye, and if so I'll report on it here. I've never had much self-discipline....
It's HOT here -- supposed to be 90 or over this weekend into next week. That's hot for western Washington. My apologies to you out there who are suffering 100-degree-plus temperatures. As humid as it gets here, we might as well be over 100. Best part of coming to work these days is the air conditioning -- which is miraculously still working....
I owe another steak dinner to 2000 Man, who gave a four-star review to my GAS NAZI! e-book at Amazon.com's Kindle Store. It is so nice to know some people actually GET what I'm trying to do, or at least enjoy reading my fumblings....
Hope to get back to blogging more often here soon. All the best....
Sunday, June 29, 2014
"Sales" update
Holy crap! Something like 60 people -- could that be right? -- have picked up FREE copies of my latest e-book, THE GAS NAZI!, since the free promotion started on Wednesday. I think the freebies continue through Sunday, June 29th, at Amazon.com's Kindle Store, so go to it you crazies!
AND the book got a freaking FIVE-STAR REVIEW from a guy in California I don't know and have never met! How freaking awesome is that? Told ya I wasn't kidding around about this writing stuff....
Thank you for your kind attention, and I'm gonna go have a big head for awhile....
Still not getting rich doing this, but right now I don't care.
More soon....
AND the book got a freaking FIVE-STAR REVIEW from a guy in California I don't know and have never met! How freaking awesome is that? Told ya I wasn't kidding around about this writing stuff....
Thank you for your kind attention, and I'm gonna go have a big head for awhile....
Still not getting rich doing this, but right now I don't care.
More soon....
Monday, June 23, 2014
#754: The Return of Music At Work
After weeks/months of relying on The Radio at work -- nothing but news-radio, phone-in talk shows and occasional drop-ins at music stations -- I'm now back to playing music CD's at work with a vengeance as summer really gets rolling.
The music helps keep me moving and less-stressed, and it sure changes people's moods when they walk into the store and hear something they recognize and like -- or something good they haven't heard before.
It also leads to some unexpected reactions. The music that's received by far the best response is John Coltrane's GIANT STEPS and Thelonious Monk's UNDERGROUND, two of my favorite jazz-blowing albums ever. Haven't heard any negative reviews about either of these. Makes me wonder where all these jazz fans were back in the '60s, when both Coltrane and Monk could have used the money....
Of course it's a whole different world now, and stuff that sounded a little different back then almost sounds "normal" now.
Have also been playing Miles Davis and Bill Laswell's PANTHALASSA -- remixes of Davis's later electric-jazz-rock period. No responses to these -- but I'm starting to like "Rated X" and "Billy Preston" and the ON THE CORNER stuff, have always liked IN A SILENT WAY, and I LOVE the Duke Ellington requiem "He Loved Him Madly" -- it's VERY different with its deep bass tones and huge, cavernous sound, and Miles's thin, mourning trumpet. I'd still like to know what cave they recorded it in.
One of the big jazz fans who comes in on weekends ID'd Monk right off, and asked what else I'd been playing. When I told him, and added that I had to have some kind of TUNE to hold onto, he said I'd better not grab Miles's BITCHES BREW, because there's not a single identifiable tune on it. So, guess I won't be going there in the future. JACK JOHNSON, maybe?
Also getting raves from unsuspecting members of the public:
* Deep Purple's "Highway Star" and "Space Truckin'," though I'm starting to really enjoy "Black Night," "Speed King" and "Demon's Eye" -- especially the funny musical and lyrical steals from Little Richard and Blues Magoos. The Purps were pretty great -- too bad it took me 40 years to figure that out....
* Fleetwood Mac's "Hypnotized" and "I Believe My Time Ain't Long." Of the latter, with its jagged, bluesy guitar, one customer said "That's some REAL music playing, right there...." "Hypnotized" triggered one woman telling me about seeing the Mac at the Tacoma Dome, and how great they were. Well, I was SUPPOSED to go to that show.... So I told her about me missing out on a chance to see Mac at the start of their TUSK tour -- man, I was an idiot back then. Also been playing the Mac's "Oh Well," "Green Manalishi," and "Why?"
* Icehouse's "Great Southern Land" -- One customer recognized the tune but didn't know who it was, hadn't heard it in YEARS. Always nice when I can surprise someone like that.
* Parliament's "P-Funk" -- One guy in his late teens responded "Oh, the classics?"
* One guy who's in the store almost every night has enjoyed everything I've played from Badfinger to Coltrane to Marvin Gaye to the Go-Go's: "You're all OVER the place, man!" "Just easily bored," I said.
* Jethro Tull's "Nothing is Easy" -- Sort of my theme song at work.
* Another guy liked the jazz, said I've been playing something jazzy every time he's been in: "I've gotta say, it's a really nice personal touch you never get in corporate-owned stores." I said that was too bad -- Real People work at corporate-owned stores, too.
If I know myself, it's just a matter of time 'til I get bored with CDs and go back to cassettes -- I'm already thinking I should bring my '80s-era tapes back in and REALLY shake people up.
Having a good time with this again. More to come....
Oh By The Way Department -- My three e-books will be available FREE through Amazon/Kindle over the next couple months. My newest book, the convenience-store memoir THE GAS NAZI!, will be available free from June 25th through the 29th. My newspaper-career memoir, THE CONFESSOR, will be free the week of my birthday, from Aug. 17th through 21st. The book that's closest to my heart, the record-store memoir GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC!, will be available free from Aug. 1st through 5th.
Kindle wouldn't let me put all these out there for free all at the same time. Feel free to grab any of these you haven't gotten to yet while the getting's good -- but let me know what you think of them, OK?
The next time I have a new e-book I'm finished with and happy with, I will of course keep you posted. I'm not getting rich doing this, but I'm pretty happy with the way the writing's turned out -- and I just want to get the stuff Out There. So let me hear from you....
The music helps keep me moving and less-stressed, and it sure changes people's moods when they walk into the store and hear something they recognize and like -- or something good they haven't heard before.
It also leads to some unexpected reactions. The music that's received by far the best response is John Coltrane's GIANT STEPS and Thelonious Monk's UNDERGROUND, two of my favorite jazz-blowing albums ever. Haven't heard any negative reviews about either of these. Makes me wonder where all these jazz fans were back in the '60s, when both Coltrane and Monk could have used the money....
Of course it's a whole different world now, and stuff that sounded a little different back then almost sounds "normal" now.
Have also been playing Miles Davis and Bill Laswell's PANTHALASSA -- remixes of Davis's later electric-jazz-rock period. No responses to these -- but I'm starting to like "Rated X" and "Billy Preston" and the ON THE CORNER stuff, have always liked IN A SILENT WAY, and I LOVE the Duke Ellington requiem "He Loved Him Madly" -- it's VERY different with its deep bass tones and huge, cavernous sound, and Miles's thin, mourning trumpet. I'd still like to know what cave they recorded it in.
One of the big jazz fans who comes in on weekends ID'd Monk right off, and asked what else I'd been playing. When I told him, and added that I had to have some kind of TUNE to hold onto, he said I'd better not grab Miles's BITCHES BREW, because there's not a single identifiable tune on it. So, guess I won't be going there in the future. JACK JOHNSON, maybe?
Also getting raves from unsuspecting members of the public:
* Deep Purple's "Highway Star" and "Space Truckin'," though I'm starting to really enjoy "Black Night," "Speed King" and "Demon's Eye" -- especially the funny musical and lyrical steals from Little Richard and Blues Magoos. The Purps were pretty great -- too bad it took me 40 years to figure that out....
* Fleetwood Mac's "Hypnotized" and "I Believe My Time Ain't Long." Of the latter, with its jagged, bluesy guitar, one customer said "That's some REAL music playing, right there...." "Hypnotized" triggered one woman telling me about seeing the Mac at the Tacoma Dome, and how great they were. Well, I was SUPPOSED to go to that show.... So I told her about me missing out on a chance to see Mac at the start of their TUSK tour -- man, I was an idiot back then. Also been playing the Mac's "Oh Well," "Green Manalishi," and "Why?"
* Icehouse's "Great Southern Land" -- One customer recognized the tune but didn't know who it was, hadn't heard it in YEARS. Always nice when I can surprise someone like that.
* Parliament's "P-Funk" -- One guy in his late teens responded "Oh, the classics?"
* One guy who's in the store almost every night has enjoyed everything I've played from Badfinger to Coltrane to Marvin Gaye to the Go-Go's: "You're all OVER the place, man!" "Just easily bored," I said.
* Jethro Tull's "Nothing is Easy" -- Sort of my theme song at work.
* Another guy liked the jazz, said I've been playing something jazzy every time he's been in: "I've gotta say, it's a really nice personal touch you never get in corporate-owned stores." I said that was too bad -- Real People work at corporate-owned stores, too.
If I know myself, it's just a matter of time 'til I get bored with CDs and go back to cassettes -- I'm already thinking I should bring my '80s-era tapes back in and REALLY shake people up.
Having a good time with this again. More to come....
Oh By The Way Department -- My three e-books will be available FREE through Amazon/Kindle over the next couple months. My newest book, the convenience-store memoir THE GAS NAZI!, will be available free from June 25th through the 29th. My newspaper-career memoir, THE CONFESSOR, will be free the week of my birthday, from Aug. 17th through 21st. The book that's closest to my heart, the record-store memoir GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC!, will be available free from Aug. 1st through 5th.
Kindle wouldn't let me put all these out there for free all at the same time. Feel free to grab any of these you haven't gotten to yet while the getting's good -- but let me know what you think of them, OK?
The next time I have a new e-book I'm finished with and happy with, I will of course keep you posted. I'm not getting rich doing this, but I'm pretty happy with the way the writing's turned out -- and I just want to get the stuff Out There. So let me hear from you....
Monday, February 17, 2014
#737: More writing projects....
"Well I know it sounds funny, but I'm not in it for the money, no...."
Hey there. This is probably going to sound boring and self-serving of me, but I'm still writing my ass off Out Here every chance I get. I would LOVE to be writing fiction, short stories, novels -- but non-fiction and memoirs are the only things that seem to Want to Come Out, so....
* Am currently halfway through proofreading a memoir about growing-up in Idaho with my wild-ass older step-brother -- the book is called BROTHERS. I hit some of the main points of this story in a post here a couple years back called "My Brother From Another Mother" -- look it up if you feel brave. One of my Faithful Readers Out There has been waiting to read The Rest Of This Story for more than 30 years....
You can trust that this tale will feature all the Drama and Angst you probably remember from back when you were a teenager -- no matter how hard you've tried to block it all out. Or was that just me?
Once I've made sure the basic story's all in English, I feel like all I gotta do is call up my step-brother back in Michigan -- who I haven't talked to since 1975 -- and see if he still remembers who the hell I am. Then I'll see if he wants to talk. And if he doesn't ... that won't surprise me too much either.
The eight months covered by this memoir will include the first time I ever got REALLY close to girls(!), the first time I ever smoked pot, the first time I ever committed petty theft ... should be fun. I'll keep you posted as I get closer to getting it finished.
* Am about halfway through LISTEN TO THIS!: TAD'S GUIDE TO STRANGE MUSIC. Have gotten a lot of reviews written -- more than 100 artists included, more than 500 albums mentioned.
But it's disappointing me. So far, it doesn't seem DIFFERENT ENOUGH from some other music guides out there. So I'm re-thinking my approach. By the time I'm done, it might read more like a bunch of blog posts or nostalgia pieces rather than a book of record reviews -- and that's fine with me. Might as well explain HOW I stumbled over Yes and Genesis and Renaissance back-asswardly from everybody else, WHY I have problems with Peter Gabriel's voice, etc. Plus I have some listening gaps I'd like to fill in before the book's done. So that's in the works....
* Also have that Rock Group Novel cooking, but other than some minor additions I made while I bashed it all into the World's Smallest Laptop, I don't think I've added more than 500 NEW words to it in the last month or so. I'm still not sure where it's headed. So that might be a dead end. I'll still be looking at it....
* Also, while unable to sleep a couple nights ago, I finally decided that it's time to pull together a GAS NAZI! book. That will take the most outrageous stuff from my GAS NAZI! blog and add a TON more outrageous Real Life stories that have never been published anywhere before. I sat down on Sunday and bashed-up off the top of my head a couple pages' worth of notes and incidents that should be included in the book, so I don't think I'm gonna have too much trouble pulling that one together.... Besides, I've been on the job for 10 years -- what better way to mark it?
All of these will probably end up as Kindle e-books available through Amazon.com's Kindle Store -- so if you've got a Kindle, or a Kindle app for your iPad or whatever (I'm REALLY low-tech), I hope you'll watch for them and help your local struggling hack writer build up a few extra $$$ toward his retirement.
While you're waiting, my record-store memoir GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC! is still available at Amazon.com, along with its playlist/companion RECORD STORE DAZE -- which should have been part of GGM, except that I was an idiot. Both those are available for $2.99. I think GGM is worth much more -- and so do those two folks who have reviewed GGM so far at Amazon. And one of those reviews I didn't even PAY for! Hahahahahaha.... Hmmm, tough crowd....
But the BIG news is -- you can get a copy of my newspaper-career memoir, THE CONFESSOR, for FREE through Feb. 21, just by punching-in the title at Amazon's Kindle Store -- just like, my Ghod, 45 people already have as of 7 p.m. Monday. Or you can punch in my Real Name -- which is Tracy Deaton -- and you can call up all the stuff that's out there with my name on it. I don't make any money on the freebies, but I just wanna get the book out there and see what people think....
This is really shameless, and I apologize for that. But there's a reason I'm not blogging so much anymore, and this is it.
Besides, to be a little too honest, ever since my best friend Don Vincent died unexpectedly a couple of years ago, I've felt like The Clock Is Running, and I need to Get Some Work Done. I plan to be around for a long time -- I feel better than I have in years -- but you know what Motivation can be like....
Too bad I couldn't have done this stuff in my 20's or 30's....
Hey there. This is probably going to sound boring and self-serving of me, but I'm still writing my ass off Out Here every chance I get. I would LOVE to be writing fiction, short stories, novels -- but non-fiction and memoirs are the only things that seem to Want to Come Out, so....
* Am currently halfway through proofreading a memoir about growing-up in Idaho with my wild-ass older step-brother -- the book is called BROTHERS. I hit some of the main points of this story in a post here a couple years back called "My Brother From Another Mother" -- look it up if you feel brave. One of my Faithful Readers Out There has been waiting to read The Rest Of This Story for more than 30 years....
You can trust that this tale will feature all the Drama and Angst you probably remember from back when you were a teenager -- no matter how hard you've tried to block it all out. Or was that just me?
Once I've made sure the basic story's all in English, I feel like all I gotta do is call up my step-brother back in Michigan -- who I haven't talked to since 1975 -- and see if he still remembers who the hell I am. Then I'll see if he wants to talk. And if he doesn't ... that won't surprise me too much either.
The eight months covered by this memoir will include the first time I ever got REALLY close to girls(!), the first time I ever smoked pot, the first time I ever committed petty theft ... should be fun. I'll keep you posted as I get closer to getting it finished.
* Am about halfway through LISTEN TO THIS!: TAD'S GUIDE TO STRANGE MUSIC. Have gotten a lot of reviews written -- more than 100 artists included, more than 500 albums mentioned.
But it's disappointing me. So far, it doesn't seem DIFFERENT ENOUGH from some other music guides out there. So I'm re-thinking my approach. By the time I'm done, it might read more like a bunch of blog posts or nostalgia pieces rather than a book of record reviews -- and that's fine with me. Might as well explain HOW I stumbled over Yes and Genesis and Renaissance back-asswardly from everybody else, WHY I have problems with Peter Gabriel's voice, etc. Plus I have some listening gaps I'd like to fill in before the book's done. So that's in the works....
* Also have that Rock Group Novel cooking, but other than some minor additions I made while I bashed it all into the World's Smallest Laptop, I don't think I've added more than 500 NEW words to it in the last month or so. I'm still not sure where it's headed. So that might be a dead end. I'll still be looking at it....
* Also, while unable to sleep a couple nights ago, I finally decided that it's time to pull together a GAS NAZI! book. That will take the most outrageous stuff from my GAS NAZI! blog and add a TON more outrageous Real Life stories that have never been published anywhere before. I sat down on Sunday and bashed-up off the top of my head a couple pages' worth of notes and incidents that should be included in the book, so I don't think I'm gonna have too much trouble pulling that one together.... Besides, I've been on the job for 10 years -- what better way to mark it?
All of these will probably end up as Kindle e-books available through Amazon.com's Kindle Store -- so if you've got a Kindle, or a Kindle app for your iPad or whatever (I'm REALLY low-tech), I hope you'll watch for them and help your local struggling hack writer build up a few extra $$$ toward his retirement.
While you're waiting, my record-store memoir GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC! is still available at Amazon.com, along with its playlist/companion RECORD STORE DAZE -- which should have been part of GGM, except that I was an idiot. Both those are available for $2.99. I think GGM is worth much more -- and so do those two folks who have reviewed GGM so far at Amazon. And one of those reviews I didn't even PAY for! Hahahahahaha.... Hmmm, tough crowd....
But the BIG news is -- you can get a copy of my newspaper-career memoir, THE CONFESSOR, for FREE through Feb. 21, just by punching-in the title at Amazon's Kindle Store -- just like, my Ghod, 45 people already have as of 7 p.m. Monday. Or you can punch in my Real Name -- which is Tracy Deaton -- and you can call up all the stuff that's out there with my name on it. I don't make any money on the freebies, but I just wanna get the book out there and see what people think....
This is really shameless, and I apologize for that. But there's a reason I'm not blogging so much anymore, and this is it.
Besides, to be a little too honest, ever since my best friend Don Vincent died unexpectedly a couple of years ago, I've felt like The Clock Is Running, and I need to Get Some Work Done. I plan to be around for a long time -- I feel better than I have in years -- but you know what Motivation can be like....
Too bad I couldn't have done this stuff in my 20's or 30's....
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