IWSG: Music to Write By

 No fooling, the Insecure Writer's Group is sharing blog posts today. Learn more about them on their website or Facebook page. 

Our hosts this month are Melissa Maygrove, Catherina Constantine, Kate Larkinsdale, and Rebecca Douglass.

 Here's our question for April: If you have a playlist (or could put one together) that either gets you in the groove to write or fits with one of your books, what is it? What type of music or what songs?

I'm probably among the minority of writers, but I'm not a playlist kind of person. There are songs that remind me of certain characters or situations, but I don't have enough free time to match up songs to an entire novel. I do listen to music when I write. Often I'll just search for whatever song I'm in the mood for on YouTube, but if I feel lyrics will be too distracting, I'll listen to classical or harp music instead.

If you make playlists, how do you do it? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.  

Continuing Education

 In a few weeks, my son will both turn fourteen and graduate from middle school. We met (virtually) with the assistant head of his high school last week to discuss his classes for next year. I have to admit I would have liked going to this school, since they offer a lot of advanced classes. However, the class that I was most interested in (even though I don't think my son would be) was a music appreciation course offered as part of the Fine Arts section. Even though the last thing I need is another project, I was inspired to sign for a Coursera course on Classical Music. Now all I need to do is find the time for it.

I believe learning should be a lifelong goal. Reading has always been my preferred way to learn, but sometimes it's also important to engage other senses or practice a skill. 

Are there any new skills you'd like to learn or old ones that you want to improve? Feel free to share in the comments.

Winning Whamageddon

 Last Christmas, I thought I might win, but on the way home, a tune did me in.... I'm talking about Whamageddon, the online game where people try to go from December 1st to midnight on December 24th without hearing George Michael's version of "Last Christmas." I like the song, but I also enjoy playing along with Whamageddon. Most years, I'm able to win, but last year I heard the song on the radio as I was driving home. Here are a few strategies I use to avoid hearing the song:

1. At home, I listen to my normal Pandora stations instead of holiday ones until a couple of days before Christmas. When I do listen to Christmas music, I select traditional carols instead of popular songs.

2. On December 8th, in memory of John Lennon, I listen to Beatles songs and his solo work. I also start my annual Beatles marathon, where I listen to all of their albums in chronological order.  This usually takes several days if I only listen to a couple of albums in the evenings.

3. I avoid going to stores as much as possible (a little easier this year since my husband does most of our shopping).

4. Instead of listening to the radio when I drive, I'll probably listen to one of my lecture series on Audible. 

5. To celebrate the winter solstice, I'll listen to Sting's If On a Winter's Night album on the 21st.

6. Assuming I do make it to Christmas without hearing "Last Christmas," I'll listen to it on YouTube.

 

How do you feel about holiday music? Do you have any favorite carols or popular songs? Here's hoping you're not sent to Whamhalla early!

Remakes Blogfest--Beatles and Bangles

Today, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Heather M. Gardner are hosting the Remakes Blogfest, a chance to discuss the remakes of songs, movies, and TV shows that are equal or better than the original versions. For the full list of participating blogs, please visit Alex's blog using the above link.

I debated about participating in this blog fest for a while before signing up. I'm pretty conservative in my music tastes. I stopped following popular music when I became a devout Beatles fan in 1995, and I tend to imprint on the first version of a song that I hear. However, the Beatles covered quite a few songs on their early albums, so I can discuss a couple of them.

First up is "Twist and Shout." It was originally performed by a group called the Top Notes and was produced by Phil Spector. That version flopped, so I'll post the more familiar Isley Brothers version instead:



It's a pleasant version, perhaps a soulful one (see the comments below the video on YouTube). The Beatles' version, however, is much more intense and rocking. When they recorded it for the Please Please Me album, they saved it for the final song of a twelve-hour recording session, since they knew how hard it would be on John's voice, especially since he was suffering from a cold at the time. John was only able to manage one take, but it was an immortal one. The version I posted below is from the first Ed Sullivan Show appearance. (I didn't see the album version on YouTube.) The sound isn't great, but you can still enjoy John, Paul, and George harmonizing.



The Beatles didn't release the Isley Brothers' "Shout" until Anthology 1, but thankfully they performed it on TV a couple of times. While the original version is great (and probably the one I heard first), the Beatles' cover is also fun. I think the energy both groups put into their versions is comparable.





I could go on with Beatles covers, but I'd like to finish off with "A Hazy Shade of Winter" by both Simon & Garfunkel and the Bangles. As a teen in the 80s, I most likely heard the Bangles' cover before the original. I love the energy the Bangles put into it; plus they also remind me of the heroines of my Season Avatars series. I can see Gwen, Jenna, Ysabel, and Kay performing this song (though they would be dressed more modestly) to welcome winter in Summon the Seasons.





Which versions of these songs do you prefer? Feel free to let me know in the comments.

Happy Summer Solstice!

The summer solstice was technically last night in the Northern Hemisphere, but I figure it's not too late to celebrate with some music, both really old:



and a little newer:



Also, happy birthday to Jenna, the Summer Avatar and heroine of Chaos Season!

American English and Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Saturday night, my husband and I actually managed to have a date night. (Yes, this is a rare enough event to merit a blog post.) While my son went to a birthday party and then to a friend's house, we saw a Beatles tribute band, American English, perform at a local community college.

If you're not familiar with tribute bands, they pay homage to a particular artist or group by emulating everything from the outfits to the instruments to (of course) the music itself. The members of American English even copy the speech patterns and mannerisms of the individual Beatles. Of course, there's simply no replacement for the original John, Paul, George, and Ringo, but groups like American English give us a chance to enjoy live Beatles music.

This particular concert was billed as both a birthday tribute to George Harrison and a live version of Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I was therefore not expecting the first part of the show to feature B-sides and lesser known works from the early part of the Beatles' career, but I enjoyed it. American English played songs such as "Run for Your Life," "Matchbox," "Another Girl," "Till There Was You," and many more. It's surprising how many songs they performed in an hour or so, but most of the early songs were short. When they finished this part of the show, they quickly changed from the early "moptop" costumes to Abbey Road ones. "George" came out first to play a mix of solo and Beatles George songs--the most popular ones. (There were a lot of other great Harrisongs that didn't get played, but they would have had to devote the entire concert to George to do justice to his catalog.) The rest of the band crept onstage to join him for "Here Comes the Sun." They closed out the first half of the show with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and served cupcakes during the intermission.

The second half of the show was devoted to the Sargent Pepper era, and the band dressed accordingly in the florescent uniforms from the album cover. Thanks to a "fifth member" with a synthesizer, they were able to recreate the many special sound effects from the album. Apparently it took the group six months to put this part of the show together. They didn't play the album straight through, but stopped to talk a bit between songs. Part of this could have been to give "Paul" a chance to drink water. Apparently he was still recovering from the flu, and he had great difficulty singing at this point. Nevertheless, he persisted. I particularly liked the way they added snippets of "Tomorrow Never Knows" to "Within You Without You," which was more rock-like (less sitar-dependent) than the Beatles' version. After finishing "A Day in the Life," the group came back to perform an encore of "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever."

No matter if you're a casual or serious Beatles fan, if you have the chance to see a tribute group, particularly American English, I suggest you take it. A splendid time is guaranteed for all. 

Fan Memories of the Crickets

Those of you who've been following me for a long time know I'm a big Beatles fan. Beatles fans often have other Beatles fans as friends, and they tend to enjoy other classic rock bands. One of my Beatles friends is Kristi Phillips Zanker, and she enjoys many other classic bands and television shows. Her memories about meeting the rock band The Crickets (Buddy Holly's group) are included in the recently published work The Crickets: Six Decades of Rock'n'Roll Memories. The Crickets influenced many other music groups, so if you'd like to learn more about The Crickets, you can purchase this book through Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Congrats to Kristi on her first publications. As the Beatles would say, "Gear!"