Writers Inspiration

#30 day album challenge- Saturday night

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https://sandmanjazz.wordpress.com/2020/09/07/30-day-album-challenge-day-7/

I’m in agreement with Sandman, wtf is a Saturday night album??? So I went to google. Surprise Bobby Bare did a Saturday Night Album. I’ve always enjoyed Bobby’s music. Did you know most of his work was actually written by Shel Silverstein, an awesome poet.

“Great American Saturday Night, a concept album of impressively diverse and interestingly inspired songs written by the legendary Shel Silverstein. The album was completed in 1978, but consigned to a record company vault somewhere until this year. The good news is, the album finally will be available April 17th, 2020. The better news: It couldn’t sound fresher if it had been recorded last week.” ~ https://www.cowboysindians.com/2020/04/bobby-bare-gets-the-last-laugh-with-a-great-album/

“Great American Saturday Night”

It’s a great American Saturday night
Drink a little more till the world looks better to ya
Anybody here wanna fuck or fight?
It’s a great American Saturday night
Great American Saturday night

You work all week at a job you hate
Now the weekend’s here and you just can’t wait
‘Cause Mary tells you it’s gettin’ late
And you ain’t gettin’ younger, you know
So get your clothes out of the cleaner’s and blow-dry your hair
Spray deodorant everywhere
And paste on a smile like you really don’t care
Then get ready to go

On a great American Saturday night
Drink a little more till the world looks better to ya
Anybody here wanna fuck or fight?
It’s a great American Saturday night
Great American Saturday night

First you say, “Hi”
Then you say, “My!”
“Do you come here often?
Well, neither do I
And, hey, my place is right close-by
And I’d really like to be your friend
Then you wake up Sunday, it’s a coal-gray day
You almost got lucky but it slipped away
But Saturday’s only six days away
And you can start tryin’ again

On a great American Saturday night
Drink a little more till the world looks better to ya
Anybody here wanna fuck or fight?
It’s a great American Saturday night
Great American Saturday night

It’s a great American Saturday night, yeah
Drink a little more till the world looks better to ya
Anybody here wanna fuck or fight?
It’s a great American Saturday night
Great American Saturday night

written by Shel Silverstein

I always play Marie Laveau at my Halloween gatherings. It’s such an amusing song and easy for us girls to sing along

A couple years back, we went on a Halloween River Cruise. I dressed up as Marie and Vic was Handsome Jack. We had a lot of fun that evening.

A writing friend of mine when I mentioned who I was dressing up to be had never heard song nor did he know it was written by Shel Silverstein with the help of Baxter Taylor. Apparently a lot of people had no idea Shel was an amazing songwriter in addition to writing great children’s poetry.

The most famous of the voodoo queens that ever existed
Is Marie Laveau, down in Louisiana
There’s a lot of weird ungodly tales about Marie,
She’s supposed to have a lot of magic potions, spells and curses….

Down in Louisiana, where the black trees grow
Lives a voodoo lady named Marie Laveau
Got a black cat’s tooth and a Mojo bone
And anyone who wouldn’t leave her alone

She’d go another man done gone
She lives in a swamp in a hollow log
With a one-eyed snake and a three-legged dog
She’s got a bent, bony body and stringy hair

If she ever seen why’all messing round there
She’d go another man done gone
And then one night when the moon was black
Into the swamp come handsome Jack

A no good man like you all know
He was looking around for Marie Laveau
He said Marie Laveau, you handsome witch
Give me a little a little charm that’ll make me rich

Give me a million dollars and I tell you what I’ll do
This very night, I’m gonna marry you
Then It’ll be another man done gone
So Marie done some magic, and she shook a little sand

Made a million dollars and she put it in his hand
Then she giggled and she wiggled, and she said Hey, Hey
I’m getting ready for my wedding day
But old handsome Jack he said goodbye Marie

You’re too damned ugly for a rich man like me
Then Marie started mumbling her fangs started gnashing
Her body started trembling and her eyes started flashing
And she went another man done gone.

So if you ever get down where the black trees grow
And meet a voodoo lady named Marie Laveau
If she ever asks you to make her your wife
Man, you better stay with her for the rest of your life

Or it’ll be another man done gone

Source: LyricFind Songwriters: Baxter Taylor / Shel Silverstei

#FOWC

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Today’s word is “online.”

FOWC with Fandango — Online

Write a post using online. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

I created a found poem for today’s one word challenge. In italics are book titles.

The Title’s Spoke© 

A Gambler’s Anatomy
on the Streets of Laredo
with Wolf Boys and
Black Lives Imagined
Wild in The Streets
with Blood and Sand
 where can we Shelter in Place.

Why did we question those Crazy Years
 or simply Assume Small Great Things
Making  What You Are to Me
 become a Nonconformist
Leaving The Faith
for a Bohemian Grove
No Place Is Home

We believed

If He Writes It, She Will Come
or Make A Mess of It
Strangers in Their Own
The Ghost in The Machine

Maybe Our Soul is
Painted  Black
Pure Adrenaline in Utter Ease
Under The Udala Trees
It Stands Alone
in Denial
We Lived Twice

Real time

Online

Denying we’re part of

The Hating Game

 

Not as good as Judy’s but I tried. https://judydykstrabrown.com/2020/09/07/naked-truth/

 

 

#30 Day Album Challenge

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https://sandmanjazz.wordpress.com/2020/09/06/30-day-album-challenge-day-6/

  1. Chuck Berry – Sweet little rock ‘n roller (1959) – 2×LP
  2. Chuck Berry – Golden Decade (1967) – 2×LP
  3. The Best of the Best of Chuck Berry (1987/1994) LP, Cassette, CD

What would an album challenge without Chuck Berry. His style and voice set a standard for music at that time. Performers began to dance, move, and encourage audience participation.

This was released the year I was born. My first exposure to Chuck Berry was in the womb. My parents loved to dance and this along with Maybelline were played a lot.

Now, my personal experience with Chuck Berry began with 45’s with my limited funds. When I replaced the very worn out records I purchased cassette tapes and then eventually my collection of his music expanded to cd’s.

If you look at the amount music he produced it’s incredible. How many artists can say they recorded 300 songs. Crazy huh, but between 1954 and today Chuck Berry recorded 300 songs, many of them in various versions or mixes. Chuck Berry influenced more than one generation of musicians. I still can’t get over the fact that  Johnny B. Goode has been recorded more than 400 times.

I remember seeing him perform this song on the Ed Sullivan show and Ed commented after that he was exhausted just watching him work the stage. He definitely did. The energy was incredible.

I never owned the long playing album double sets, but every single I could swing on 45 I bought. Babysitting paid .50 fifty cents per hour. Teenagers of the sixties took to the portable, less-expensive format; priced at 65 cents each. The average price for an album in 1970 was $3.00-$5.00.

At one of our school dances in 1972, we had a battle of the bands. One of the groups played My Ding-a-Ling. Now, keep in the mind the prim and prissy attitude, the band was interrupted by the Principal and asked to leave because they performed this song. They did a pretty good cover of the song. These days no one would bat an eye..

#Song Lyric Sunday

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This week we have something totally different, that being using a song that is from a Musical or an Opera, and I think everyone will have fun with this. 

https://jimadamsauthordotcom.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/entertainment-with-culture/

Thank you Jim.

My choice is The Music of the Night from the Phantom of the Opera.

I’ve loved the intricacies of this story from the very first time I saw it on television in the 60’s. At the time, I didn’t know it was based upon the novel The Phantom of the Opera (French: Le Fantôme de l’Opéra), by French author Gaston Leroux.  I’m amazed how many versions before and after of this incredible tale exist. I’ve enjoyed watching many of them. I can’t choose a particular one as my ultimate favorite but I will say Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical contributions are incredible. However, in Webber’s musical, his focus was making it more of a romance piece. Whereas Leroux’s novel was a mystery and a romance and bits of other genres that had broader appeal to more audiences.

If you’re not familiar with the tale, it’s about a love triangle between the Phantom (Eric), Christine, and Raoul.

“Look! You want to see? See! Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! Look at Erik’s face! Now you know the face of the voice! You were not content to hear me, eh? You wanted to know what I looked like? Oh, you women are so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? I’m a good-looking fellow, eh?…When a woman has seen me, as you have, she belongs to me.She loves me forever! I am a kind of Don Juan, you know!…Look at me! I am Don Juan Triumphant! -Erik in The Phantom of the Opera” ~ Gaston Leroux

“You will be the happiest of women. And we will sing, all by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself.” ~Gaston Leroux

Christine ran off with Raoul because she loved him, not Erik. A relationship based on pity will never survive. The story revolved on the pity she felt for Erik, but pity does not equal love. Plus, she was /terrified/ of Erik; he murdered innocent men, kidnapped her, stalked her, pretended to be her deceased father. I’m as much of an Erik lover as the next person, but Raoul was definitely the better choice for Christine.

Erik has been compared to other Gothic monsters like Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, Dracula and Dr. Jekyll. I can see the comparison because there’s hints of madness, jealousy, revenge and despair in Eric but then if truth be known those traits have also been mine too, from time to time. But I’m not called a monster, at least to my face.

“Know that it is a corpse who loves you and adores you and will never, never leave you!…Look, I am not laughing now, crying, crying for you, Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore can never leave me again!…Oh, mad Christine, who wanted to see me!” ~ Gaston Leroux

You must know that I am made of death, from head to foot, and it is a corpse who loves you and adores you and will never, never leave you!”~ Gaston Leroux


Questions Hetty asked and Sunday Reflections

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An undeserved recognition: Vincent Ehindero Award

I’m going to reiterate what I already said to Hetty her nomination was deserving. She’s an excellent blogger, I hope you take time to check her blog out.

These are the awesome questions she asked of her nominations and I decided to answer them as well.

  1. Were you a dork growing up? I wasn’t the coolest kid by a long shot. I’ve always walked to my drum. So probably people did consider me dorky. I know I never fit into a girl mode… I hated dresses, playing with dolls or pretend tea parties. I was always playing football with the neighborhood boys much to my mother’s dismay.
  2. Which literary villain most resonates with you? Cathy Ames from East of Eden by John Steinbeck. She wasn’t nice but neither were the people in her life. There are times I’ve fantasized killing people as well.
  3. What is your perspective on existence? This makes me think of my blog title most people merely exist. I feel we all sneak moments to just ease along with minimal effort but in reality we’re procrastinating. We’ve got to put energy into getting what we want, nothing will ever be handed to us. I’ve had numerous rejections, failures, and downright kicks in the face but not once have I simply rolled over. I’ve faced everything in life with the same mantra, is that all you got because this is what I got.
  4. What is your favorite video game? I’m not a huge gamer although I do enjoy solitaire or free cell or wordscapes or suduko but these don’t really engage me long my doctor seems to think it’s important for us seniors to keep our mind active. If he only knew me, he wouldn’t be as worried.
  5. Who is the worst boss you’ve ever had? The worst I’ve ever had unfortunately was my last one at Starbucks. He was an arrogant man in his late thirties that shouldn’t ever had been promoted to manager because the work that got him there wasn’t really his but actually him being in the right place and a large turnover of employees that knew the truth. Thankfully, the fates intervened and he got his ass fired because the truth always comes out in the wash. The fates apparently had a lot in store for him because his wife dumped him too at the same time. I wish I could say he’s changed… but he hasn’t. Overall, I’ve been very lucky when it comes to bosses he was the only one I truly disliked.
  6. Do you have a “tic” when you think of something embarrassing you’ve done? (eg, I shake my head really hard) Nah, I don’t shake my head but I do blush something wicked if I’m recalling it myself or if someone says remember when? I hate that I blush. My husband thinks it’s cute.

Sunday Reflections:

The weight hanging over my head about the rest of the story with the other procedures is finally gone. The polyps were benign so I can focus on eating right and getting things ready to sell before our move. I’m not going to let the next endoscopic procedure loom over me. I’m going to focus on the positive.

I submitted three poems for a magazine seeking submissions. I’m going to do more submissions because I do have a lot of poems ready and with Esther’s help on Monday’s I’m racking up a slew of limericks.

If you’re looking for a cool fall decoration check this blog out. The flower pot with the children’s shirt is really cute and something that could be done with your child’s help.

Easy Fall Porch Decorating

https://chascrazycreations.com/easy-fall-porch-decorating/

Sunday frustration continues with this block editor as well I don’t want the link shown twice but I can’t delete it either. Grrrr

Response to a writing prompt

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Imagine you have a superpower of your choice. However, no one knows about it! What does your superpower enable you to do? Do you confide in anyone? What happens?

If you want to join in the fun just ping the entry back to me.

I’m kinda glad no one is aware, at least not yet, that I write obituaries. Now you probably stopped right there and said, wtf? Or how’s that a superpower. I guess it depends on if you’re alive or dead after I’ve finished writing it. As a child, I was terrified of ghosts, but then I discovered people were much scarier, so I decided to write their demise. That way, they couldn’t hurt me anymore. Oddly enough, whenever I did, they would die the same way I had written, so I explored with causes of death.

Who knew eliminating people could be so much fun. I was handling more criminals than the courts were with my artistic flourish. But after writing over a million obituaries, it became mundane, almost dull. Bet you didn’t realize it was because of me there were actually fun things to read in the newspaper.

Until my boyfriend discovered my secret room with all the file cabinets. He had to go snoop, which left me with no choice. I couldn’t have him spoiling my fun. But how to kill him. He is my boyfriend, after all, it can’t be ordinary or too obvious, especially if he flaps his big mouth. I’m kinda hoping he disregards what he saw as to be too strange to be true.

Nope, he had to call his buddy up and tell him everything. I overheard them laughing

Just in case you’re wondering. My boyfriend’s the one who had a brain aneurysm and collapsed on the front steps of the police station. The coroner ruled it as an act of God And his not so humorless friend well he died trying to cross a train track when the red light was flashing. He had been cited a lot for speeding, so no one questioned his death. I know kinda mundane, but what can I say I had to think quick and make damn sure no one found out my secret.

After the funeral, I think I’ll relocate to a different town and hopefully discover engaging stimulation for my writing endeavors.

PS. If you’re reading, obviously we haven’t crossed paths.

30 day album challenge#5

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https://sandmanjazz.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/30-day-album-challenge-day-5/

I was initially going with Jimi Hendrix, the ultimate master of guitar but once I saw that Sandman had already gone there I decided that I would go with the Queen of Soul. No one puts a song out there like Aretha Franklin.

This album release in 1967 ushered the Queen of Soul into the mainstream. Along with now-classic hits like the title track, she delivered outstanding covers of songs that, on paper, shouldn’t be touched, like “Drown in My Own Tears” and Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come”- she gave them an edge that they didn’t have with their original artists. The strongest cover of all, of course, is her legendary take on Otis Redding’s “Respect,” which she truly made her own, turning it into perhaps the female empowerment anthem and wowing us with unparalleled vocals.

“Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter, actress, pianist, and civil rights activist.  Hit songs such as I Never Loved a Man and Respect propelled her past her musical peers. By the end of the 1960s, Aretha Franklin had come to be known as the Queen of Soul. Aretha was awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1987, she became the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012, ~wikipeida.

“You’re a no good heart breaker
You’re a liar and you’re a cheat
And I don’t know why
I let you do these things to me
My friends keep telling me
That you ain’t no good
But oh, they don’t know
That I’d leave you if I could

I guess I’m uptight
And I’m stuck like glue
Cause I ain’t never
I ain’t never, I ain’t never, no, no (loved a man)
(The way that I, I love you)

Some time ago I thought
You had run out of fools
But I was so wrong
You got one that you’ll never lose
The way you treat me is a shame
How could ya hurt me so bad
Baby, you know that I’m the best thing
That you ever had
Kiss me once again

Don’t ya never, never say that we we’re through
Cause I ain’t never
Never, Never, no, no (loved a man)
(The way that I, I love you)I can’t sleep at night
And I can’t even fight
I guess I’ll never be free
Since you got, your hooks, in me

Whoa, oh, oh
Yeah! Yeah!
I ain’t never loved a man
I ain’t never loved a man, baby
Ain’t never had a man hurt me so badNo
Well this is what I’m gonna do about it

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Ronnie ShannonI Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Springtime Music Inc

This was the song that attracted me to Aretha’s amazing voice.

But this is my ultimate favorite on the album.

[Verse 1]
Take me to heart, and I’ll always love you
And nobody can make me do wrong
Take me for granted, leaving love unsure
Makes willpower weak and temptation strong

[Pre-Chorus]
A woman’s only human
You should understand
She’s not just a plaything
She’s flesh and blood just like her man

[Chorus 2]
If you want a do right, home days woman
(Do right, do right, do right, do right woman)
You’ve got to be a do right, home nights man
(Do right, do right, do right, do right man, man)

[Bridge]
Yeah, yeah, they say that it’s a man’s world
But you can’t prove that by me
And as long as we’re together, baby
Show some respect for me

[Chorus 2]
If you want a do right, home days woman
(Do right, do right, do right, do right woman)
You’ve got to be a do right, home nights man
(Do right, do right, do right, do right man, man)

[Pre-Chorus]
A woman’s only human
You should understand
She’s not just a plaything
She’s flesh and blood just like her man

[Chorus 2]
If you want a do right, home days woman
(Do right, do right, do right, do right woman)
You’ve got to be a do right, home nights man
(Why don’t you? Why don’t you? Why don’t you? Why don’t you?)
You got to be a do right, home nights man

https://genius.com/Aretha-franklin-do-right-woman-do-right-man-lyrics

Songwriter: Dan Penn & Chips Moman

Interestingly, these artists also did covers of Do Right Woman


Do Right Woman, Do Right Man by Willie Nelson

Do Right Woman, Do Right Man by Martina McBride

Do Right Woman, Do Right Man by Joan Baez

Do Right Woman Do Right Man by Rebecca Lynn Howard

Do Right Woman, Do Right Man by Etta James

Do Right Woman, Do Right Man by Dan Penn

Do Right Woman, Do Right Man by Dionne Warwick

Do Right Woman, Do Right Man by Phoebe Snow

Do Right Woman Do Right Man by The Commitments

Do Right Woman by The Flying Burrito Brothers

Do Right Woman, Do Right Man by Cher

Do right woman, do right man by Niamh Kavanagh

Do Right Woman by Marc Broussard

Etta James did it justice, I wasn’t as impressed with the other covers.

I really enjoy Willie but this wasn’t one of his best covers.

But when it’s Aretha…. that bar is really high 🙂

Letter- c Finally!

/ lyncrain / 2 Comments

I can have a brief reprieve. The doctor responded to my inquiry about the results in the portal at 7:29 pm. (The message is time stamped.)

The polyps are all benign. There are signs of stomach irritation but no tumors. Woohoo. So now we can relax a bit. I’m going to continue eating the cancer fighting diet with the one exception of coffee. I’m not giving up coffee. I enjoy it way too much to concede on that point.

I have the next scope in 3 months to double check the bile duct where they removed the cancerous growth but for now… I’m going to do a happy dance. Small victories are just as important as the big ones.

“There is nothing in this life that can destroy you but yourself. Bad things happen to everyone, but when they do, you can’t just fall apart and die. You have to fight back. If you don’t, you’re the one who loses in the end. But if you do keep going and fight back, you win.”― Alexandra Monir

#FOWC- Excuse

/ lyncrain / 1 Comment

Today’s word is “excuse.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

FOWC with Fandango — Excuse

Excuse is defined as an attempt to lessen the blame attaching to (a fault or offense); seek to defend or justify. Or a reason or explanation put forward to defend or justify a fault or offense.

I’m not going to offer either one. I’m not the easiest person to live with. I’m inherently stubborn and opinionated. For neither will I make an excuse. I’m who I am no more … no less. But I do have feelings.

In a conversation this afternoon, about a situation we have going on and I said jokingly to another friend that I would be the disrupter on our mutual friend’s team because he’s a manager after our email exchanges. Of what doesn’t really matter. I just know we don’t talk the same language outside of our love of writing. Anyway, the response back was, you would never be on his team. I agreed initially because the two men do seem to talk a language I don’t.

But as I mulled the conversation later, yeah, yeah,… we’re all guilty of mulling things afterward. His laize-faire comment hurt. No, I don’t function in the business arena but I have skills that neither of them are even aware nor has it been necessary to demonstrate my hidden talents anymore than I’ve asked either of them to demonstrate theirs. Here I go making a fucking excuse when I didn’t intend too.

Our connection is foremost writing and occasionally drinking together. We’re friends. And some times unintentional things are said that are upsetting. What he said did hurt. I’m also aware it wasn’t said to be hurtful either.

Truth be known….I truly wouldn’t have wanted to be on their team either in the business world. There’s way too much testosterone and we would have butt heads all the time.

My inner voice is right, if I had been crazy enough to seek working for him… I wouldn’t have been there long. I’m a damn independent thinker, and my days of worker bee mentality is gone.

But looking at the bigger picture, I’m also the person holding our group together. That’s the reality. I keep the dots connected. I’m very aware of their roles in the background and equally aware of my role in the foreground. My contributions aren’t light. Unfortunately, this covid crap has definitely impacted the group dynamics. I totally get how challenging it is to be online one in one more zoom meeting. I don’t do as many as them but I certainly spend a lot of time online with the different groups. It’s a matter of making a choice. It’s apparent to me the choice was made.

Today I’m reminded again of one of my favorite quotes “familiarity breeds contempt.” Did you know the English writer Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to use this expression back in 1300’s. It appeared in the Tale of Melibee.

It wasn’t my intent to turn this post into a rant either. I’m kicking the negativity to the curb.

#Day 4 – 30 Day Album Challenge

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https://sandmanjazz.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/30-day-album-challenge-day-4/

Well, you already know I loved the Rolling Stones. I aslo loved Black Sabbath, David Bowie, CCR, Three Dog Night, and Alice Cooper. Man no one played guitar like Bowie. I’m going with Cooper because of the song School’s Out.

Remember those glory days when Alice Cooper were still a group, before their lead singer absconded with the name for a solo career? The band released ‘School’s Out’ in 1972, featuring a title song so classic that it easily qualifies its parent album as one of the 10 top albums of 1972. Like every kid at the time I wanted school out forever.

School’s Out“Alice Cooper, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith ~ wikipeida.

It was the first song on the album School’s out. School’s Out is the fifth studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released in 1972. That was a fun song to sing along with my friends.

This was my third album of the band, I already had Love it to Death and Killer. I played the heck out these too. I eventually replaced them to cassettes. I never did buy the cds. I do listen to Alice Cooper on YouTube still.

I used to wear a lot of dark makeup like Cooper back in the 70’s. Goth before Goth was cool. For me, I just loved how haunting it made my blue eyes.