Tag Archives: muse

Muse 2013 – Boston

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Muse 2013 – Boston

Last night, I took some time away from tapping on the computer to see my favorite band Muse. This time around they’re touring North America in support of their latest album The 2nd Law, and, as always, they were EPIC. If you have never seen them live, go now.

I took some video; unfortunately the sound is terrible, but you can get a great feeling for the light show. A friend who works at the Boston (TD for the corporate purists) Garden hooked me up with the playlist before the show. I was very excited to see they’d be playing a good mix of the new stuff, not so new stuff (from the previous album Resistance), older stuff (as in Starlight from Black Holes and Revelations) and classics (“Time Is Running Out” and one of my all-time faves “Stockholm Syndrome” from waaaay back in the day). What I didn’t know was they’d nix one of the new songs (“Animals”) for one of my top 3 Muse songs, (“Map of the Problematique”), or that they’d do a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s version of the “Star Spangled Banner” or a great partial cover of “House of The Rising Sun” complete with the audience singing the lyrics. Need I say I was amped?

So now, more than 24 hours later I’m still high on Muse adrenaline. I’m no groupie but I would definitely travel to another city, or country to see this band. Believe me, there is no other band in the world I can say that about. Below you can get an idea as to why their’s is referred to as one of, and sometimes THE, best live rock show on the planet. Their laser shows gets sicker every year.

Muse Apr. 12 – Boston “Follow Me”

Muse Apr. 12 – Boston “Supermassive Blackhole”

Muse Apr. 12, Boston – Uprising

Muse 2013 – Boston

Current Playlist: March 2013

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Current Playlist: March 2013

It’s happened. I haven’t done a weekly post in over a month. But I have a good reason…

You see, I am currently in a wonderful fog. This fog manifests whenever a character and/or his/her circumstances has taken over and demands that I write what is satisfactory and what is true. I have experienced this fog before, but this time it is thicker because I am working on  two books simultaneously.

Some mornings I can barely see through this fog straight enough to drive my 9 year old to school.

I’m still learning how to operate successfully in this sometimes disturbing fog. When the characters get demanding, I streamline my life, focus on priorities and say “no” more often to things that can wait. So for now, I feel no pressure to keep up with weekly posts.

However, I must take a breather to tell you about some of the music I’ve been listening to. Since music is always a priority outside and within the fog, the tunes and artists take on a special meaning because they become a part of the creative process; the background as well as part of the fabric of ideas. Some of these tunes I listen to when I’m writing, some when I’m reading, doing research, and some when I’m turning over the plot and characters in my mind at a red light.
I’m currently writing two pieces: the follow-up to Blood To Blood and a yet-to-be-titled piece revolving around one of its characters, Justin McCarthy.

Current playlist: Santigold

Current playlist: Santigold

Current playlist: Adele

Current playlist: Adele

Current playlist: Silversun Pickups

Current playlist: Silversun Pickups

Artists in current rotation

Metric
Santigold
Muse
Alpha Blondy
System of a Down
Adele
Grizzly Bear
Silversun Pickups
Cherry Bomb
Kaskade
Van Hunt
Felix da Housecat
Bruno Mars
Deadmau5

Current Playlist: March 2013

Current Playlist

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My current playlist

To answer the question of what’s on my current playlist, I’m listing the most prominent artists on my daily rotation. This list changes as my mood changes and I think you might be surprised at what’s on it today.

These tunes are getting ridiculous play regardless of whether they’re connected to a scene, or character, or not. Many of these songs have a direct relationship to what I’m writing, some of them have no connection whatsoever–at least none that I can see right now. Sometimes, I’ll have music on rotation for no apparent reason until one day it either hits me as to why it’s on the list, or it just starts making sense. Sometimes the characters choose the song(s) and I have little to do with it.

For the record I’m currently writing two pieces: a short story and the follow-up to Blood To Blood.

Current playlist: Santigold

Current playlist: Santigold

Current playlist: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Current playlist: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Current playlist: Green Day

Current playlist: Green Day

Artists in current rotation

Santigold
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Green Day

Adele
Andy Gibb
Muse (of course)

Cee-lo Green
Kylie Minogue
Arcade Fire

Blondie
Alabama Shakes
Class Actress

My Muses: Top 3 Muse Songs

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Out of all the thousands of songs that inspire my writing, the ones that repeatedly rise to the top come from one band. As a result, several have consistently been the top 3 Muse songs that influenced my work.

Muse

Muse

Over ten years ago when I lived in Los Angeles, the local radio station WKROQ was one of the few that gave this band any love. Since hearing them, I’ve not only been a fan of Muse, I’ve also rabidly consumed every lyric their lead vocalist, and resident mad man/genius, pens.

I could rant about Matthew Bellamy’s brilliance, the band’s amazing live performances, etc. etc. but that’s another post. Right now I’d like to talk about their impact on my writing and share with you the the top 3 Muse songs that helped shape my book.

Top 3 Muse Songs
Invincible

– This song is the biggest musical thread in the fabric of Blood To Blood. It is a rally cry disguised as a love song. Absolutely brilliant. “Whatever they say, your soul’s unbreakable.”

Unintended

-This love song is one of their most haunting songs. It is the inspiration for a couple of romantic scenes in the book.

Map of The Problematique

– This song changed my writing. Seriously. In part, it was responsible for  introducing a level of darkness into the lives of my characters, particularly Justin McCarthy.

There are many more Muse songs that inspired the tone of Blood To Blood. An honorable mention goes to “Bliss” “Cave” and of course “Time Is Running Out.”

Muse 2012: Grub Street

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You all know I’m a big fan of Muse but this post’s about a writers conference I recently attended.The annual conference is put on by Grub Street, an independent writers’ center in Boston, and has quite a reputation.

Especially thought-provoking was a talk given by Richard Nash:

Whether it’s a multi-day conference or a local writers’ support group, these types of events are beneficial for writers, both aspiring and seasoned. There’s nothing like being in a room with 3000+ writers or a room with just 3 writers for making new connections and getting invaluable information on the business side of writing. Thanks, Grub Street!

My Muses: Dark Shadows – RIP Jonathan Frid

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Jonathan Frid: Dark Shadows

Jonathan Frid: Dark Shadows

I was raised on Dark Shadows. Literally.

My mom loved this show. She watched it religiously, and I sat right beside her watching it, too. I remember the excitement both of us displayed as the eerie music rose at the top of the show. I’d look at her, she’d look at me and then we’d turn to stare at the dark stories unfolding before our eyes.

Real mom-daughter bonding.

The anticipation was the highest during the opening:

It was truly an event.

The funny thing is I cannot tell you anything about the plot. Yeah, I know it was about a weird family, that witches were involved and that the main guy Barnabas Collins was an ancient vampire. But I can’t remember the plot lines or even one episode. I was too young to even understand it much less absorb the story lines.

Nonetheless, Dark Shadows became, and will forever remain, part of the foundation of my creative subconscious. I grew up loving gothic mansions, strange unusual families and of course anything related to vampires.

The show was even an inspiration for Blood To Blood.

So now that Jonathan Frid, the actor who portrayed Barnabas (at the time of this posting his website, www.jonathanfrid.com, was “unavailable”), has passed on, and Hollywood has decided to revisit the show with a major film starring Johnny Depp, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to delve into one of the deepest parts of my subconscious. Thanks to the magic of YouTube and the miracle of Netflix streaming on my laptop, I can explore scenes from the original Dark Shadows and even watch an episode or two.

Maybe, this exploratory activity will uncover something about my writing that I was unable to figure out. Like why it’s always easier for me to write after the sun goes down. Or it might shed light on my personality. Like why images of brooding gothic mansions near cliffs pounded by waves give me the warm fuzzies.

 

 

My Muses: Death Cab For Cutie “I Will Possess Your Heart”

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Death Cab, like Radiohead, is one of those bands that I play all the time to the point that I wonder if it’s healthy for my son.

To give you an example, one day we were driving along the countryside in Dekalb county (Georgia, Atlanta area). It was a bright and sunny day, and as always iTunes was piping through the stereo. Death Cab’s “I Will Possess Your Heart” was playing. And my 5 year-old was singing it verbatim.

I realized that this must have been the thousandth time he’d heard this tune, and for a moment I wondered if it was normal, after all it’s a pretty intense song.

But then again, what is normal? I recalled the dark and hyper-sexualized songs I’d grown up listening to and never caught the real meaning until I was in college (some even later, like Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Relax” I had absolutely no idea that was about reaching orgasm until the new millennium, but I’d never seen this banned version of the video either, eewww!). I figured he’d be fine as long as I continued to balance out the Death Cab with Backyardigans, The Wiggles, The Muppets and less dark, more family-friendly bands like Coldplay and U2.

This particular tune has a play count of over 300 in my iTunes. That was after my computer crashed and wiped out my play counts. It’s right up there with the most popular songs from my Blood To Blood playlist, but ironically it’s not on that playlist. Nonetheless, I crafted a good amount of Justin’s interior monologue while listening to it:

I imagined Justin saying these lyrics, or something like them, in his head whenever he spent any time with Angel:

How I wish you could see the potential,
the potential of you and me.
It’s like a book elegantly bound but,
in a language that you can’t read.
Just yet.

You gotta spend some time, Love.
You gotta spend some time with me.
And I know that you’ll find, love
I will possess your heart.
You gotta spend some time, Love.
You gotta spend some time with me.
And I know that you’ll find, love
I will possess your heart.

There are days when outside your window
I see my reflection as I slowly pass,
and I long for this mirrored perspective
when we’ll be lovers, lovers at last.

You gotta spend some time, Love.
You gotta spend some time with me.
And I know that you’ll find, love
I will possess your heart.
You gotta spend some time, Love.
You gotta spend some time with me.
And I know that you’ll find, love
I will possess your heart.
I will possess your heart.
I will possess your heart.

You reject my… advances… and desperate pleas…
I won’t let you… let me down… so easily.
So easily.

You gotta spend some time, Love.
You gotta spend some time with me.
And I know that you’ll find, love
I will possess your heart.
You gotta spend some time, Love.
You gotta spend some time with me.
And I know that you’ll find, love
I will possess your heart.
You gotta spend some time, Love.
You gotta spend some time with me.
And I know that you’ll find, love
I will possess your heart.
I will possess your heart.
I will possess your heart.

That’s *so* Justin. Wow. Now that I’m thinking of him again, I need to run and write some more of the Justin story I’ve been working on.