Sea Change

Yes, I have some new decor thanks to the folks at Jelly Pages. Since the novel I'm working on is nautical by nature, I thought it was time for a seafaring makeover. This format helps me focus on the task at hand, and I hope it puts you, my readers, into a "rudder and tackle" frame of mind- minus the sea sickness of course.

The title of the novel is Good Hope. It chronicles the adventures of Randall Grayson, a modern, middle-aged business man who joins the effort to recreate a historic voyage to the tip of Africa aboard the Elissa, the official Tall Ship of Texas.

The story of Good Hope began as a National Novel Writing Month project back in December 2007. Now, three re-writes later, it is the subject of a Six Month novel writing project that the members of the Humble Fiction Cafe' have selected as our 2009 project. We have specific goals to reach each month, and the intent is to have a finished product available for review on July 4th of this year.

This will pose as a double adventure for me. Good Hope was my first completed novel, but revising it into a manuscript for publication will be a unique experience and no easy task. Secondly, much like my main character, I'm very likely in over my head, but as I persevere I will be able to keep you up to date on the tragedies and triumphs along the way.

It will be an interesting six months, so strap yourselves into your bunks, and get ready to take on water, because this is indeed an adventure of fictional proportions.

Takamine Jam: Birth, Death, and Rebirth.

This story begins with a birth and is followed by three more.

BIRTH ONE. During her first labor and delivery in 1993, my wife Marie lost focus. Her well-practiced Lamaze breathing went right out the window, her epidural didn't take, and things got --well, unpleasant. Five years later, in the winter of 1998, she was pregnant with our second child, and Marie was determined not to lose focus again or "people were going to pay", and since I was likely to be standing closest to her, I was equally on board with the whole "focus" thing.

This time Marie wanted something to help set the mood, and she thought music might help. One day, she mentioned how much she enjoyed listening to my brother Stacy play guitar, and that it might help to have a tape of his music playing during the delivery. She gave me some simple criteria: the songs would have to be acoustic, and the tunes should be simple but with repeating, relaxing rhythms.
I presented this idea to my brother and I could tell right away that it sparked a creative fire in him. He worked diligently over the next several months- laying down multiple tracks, coming up with new compositions, and trying out several new riffs. All of the songs would be composed using a special guitar called a Takamine, and he would use it's distinctive voice to canvass Marie with musical relaxation- no needles required.

BIRTH TWO. In December 1998 he presented us with his creation on a simple cassette tape. Takamine Jam, he called it. He previewed a few selections from it and Marie and I were very surprised at the quality of the music and my brother's incredible guitar work.

BIRTH THREE. A month later, Marie and I presented our creation; Hope Susan Denton, born January 29, 1999.

The music from my brother's tape permeated the delivery room that day. Several nurses asked about it, and all of them said they'd never heard anything like it. As far as concept albums go, Stacy nailed it. The songs were all simple repeating tunes with some variations and specific tags thrown in. He included his own compositions along with some classic guitar standards like Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, and Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight.

And it worked! The distinct, rich, deep cords and base line blended perfectly with the rhythm of the fine, sparkling, clear notes of the melodies. Marie kept her focus and remained calm, even when it looked like we might be heading for an emergency C-section. Through it all, the mood in the delivery room was one of peace, and the music helped maintain a prevailing certainty that everything was going to be just fine.
After the delivery I played the tape over and over; at home, at work- but as my daughter grew and our world changed from analog to digital entertainment, the tape ended up in my car where my only remaining cassette player resided.

Over time, I moved on to other interest and pursuits, but the cassette stayed put- right there in my car in the center console.

There are a few deaths in this story too. Sadly, a few years after Stacy had finished working on Takamine Jam, a flood destroyed his recording studio. Everything was gone: sheet music, original recordings, and the beloved Takamine guitar. Stacy was sure that Takamine Jam was now lost to the ages, and he called me soon after the flood.
"Do you still have that tape?" he asked.
I searched around and finally found it, but the Texas heat had worked it's damage on the cassette. The recorded songs now sounded flat and contained pops and dropouts- not to mention the hideous tape "hiss" that seemed to be louder than I remembered.

For the most part, Stacy's fears were founded. Takamine Jam was a bright memory and nothing more.

A few more years have gone by now, and I have been dabbling with digital music recording and I've learned how to produce my own music. Recently, I acquired the skill to take old audio tapes and make new digital masters from them. This skill was cemented only a few weeks ago when Stacy and I reworked a copy of a song on tape that he had made with a friend who committed suicide several years ago. The digital copy wasn't perfect, but he was satisfied with the results. "What about Takamine Jam?" he asked. "I'd really like to hear that again. I wonder if we could use this technique to save it?"

We had just made a digital copy of a tape. That was it. What he was proposing would be like raising a shipwreck off the ocean floor and making it seaworthy again. But, I could hear the yearning in his voice. He had given up his music career after the flood, and I realized that Takamine Jam represented more to him that just a recording, it was his Silmarillion; something that a master craftsman can only make once in a lifetime.
I told him I'd see what I could do...

BIRTH FOUR. Making a digital copy from an audio cassette is one thing- repairing and remastering a damaged source tape is a totally unique undertaking and one that requires commitment to a single firm principal; first and foremost, you must LOVE the music you are trying to save.

I copied, spliced, remixed, and remastered. I quit and started over. I rejected takes and eliminated files. Finally, after a week of struggle and frustration, I had digitally remaster copies of all twelve Takamine Jam songs from that ancient cassette.

Some of the songs still have a margin of dropout and a skip here and there, but the overall product is the best I was able to achieve. However, a few weathered the storm better than I would have hoped and have regained their shine and shimmer.

I can't wait to present the finished product to Stacy. And I'll do just that in a few weeks, but more so than the entire project, I am amazed at the timing.

Just as Stacy presented Takamine Jam to us on December, 25, 1998, I will now be able to present to him the new, digitally remastered version as a Christmas gift on December 25, 2008.

A ten year journey has now come full circle. And apart from the music, I now have a lifelong memory of one of the greatest Christmas gifts I have ever had the privilege to receive, or give.

Last night as I drove my daughter Hope to a Christmas program, I put the new CD of Takamine Jam in the stereo to make sure it was playing properly and to test the acoustics in my car.
"What is that music?" Hope asked. "That sounds awesome!"
I had to wipe at my eyes. "Let me tell you a story about this music," I said.
"This story begins with a birth..."

To hear two of the cuts from Takamine Jam, follow the link at the top right of the Blog to "Gary's Magix Music Page." You'll find the selections there along with lots of other great music!

BOOK REVIEW: Into that Good Night by Ron Rozelle

The world changes around us, but our memories are like dynamic imprints- preserved on a mysterious gossamer fabric in the mind. But if that fabric is disturbed by trauma or disease, memory can dissolve into wisps of smoke that filter through the searching grasp of our thoughts, and leave nothing but a residue of disconnected feelings and emotions.

In his memoir, Into That Good Night, Ron Rozelle illustrates that which is so difficult to explain, the tapestry of memory, and how it's gradual unraveling from the affects of Alzheimer's disease impacts the relationships of a father and son. However, the book is not so much about memory lost as much as it is about memory found.

Rozelle's own recollections of his journey through time are as touching and heartbreaking as the scenes depicting the gradual loss of his father's keen mind. Of particular note is Rozelle's account of racial issues in the early 1960's. This facet of the narrative strikes it's first bitter cord in a seemingly causal, but emotionally frustrating instance in the author's early years and interlaces throughout the story. The slow acceptance of integration in the small, East Texas town of Oakwood, where his father was Superintendant of Schools, appears to be a separate theme. But it honestly depicts how a potentially damaging culture shock was cushioned by one stoic, tolerant, principled man and only through memory is this made clear. Lester Rozelle's almost invisible methodic approach to the situation left not even a ripple in a process that could easily have left a wide gulf of ignorance and confusion, and had he been anything less than the man he was, then his son's memory of the events would have been tragically different.

Even as the author describes the slow progression into dementia, the static parts of his father's life- his fastidious manners, his genial, good-natured acceptance of even the most tragic circumstances, remain intact. At the end of the book you are aware, that even a quiet, humble life well lived is worthy of recollection and honor.

This is a powerful, well written memoir and after reading it, I am left with a bittersweet impression: the people and situations described within the pages are now part of my memory, and considering the subject matter, it is a sobering thought.

Highly recommended for anyone who is dealing with the loss of one or both parents, or the slow theft of cognizance by Alzheimer’s disease.

National Novel Editing Month!

Yes kids, it's that time again!

National Novel Writing month has long since passed us, and if you can remember way back to November 2007, you may even recall that you wrote a novel (or at least attempted one) in that cool, gray month! If so, then get it out, dust it off, and get your inner editor out of the trunk in the basement. It's time to turn loose that nitpicking, insufferable prat!

National Novel Editing Month (or NaNoEdMo for short) begins tomorrow, March 1st!

Much like the goal for novel writing, the goal of this exercise is to log at least 50 hours of editing during the month of March. I did it last year, and while it was the single hardest writing task I have ever undertaken, it produced enough of a coherent story from my 2006 NaNoWriMo novel to give it life here in 2008. I just entered it into the Fort Bend Writer's Guild Spring Novel contest!

My only fear is that they will love the first two chapters that I submitted...and ask for the rest.

The "rest" is not ready, so I am using "EdMo" to get it prepared, in the event that a fabulously wealthy, literary agent from Fort Bend county should show up on my doorstep and demand that I allow him to present my heartbreaking work of genius to Harper Collins.

Care to join me?

No, not in delusions- in editing.

Head over to http://www.nanoedmo.net/xoops2/ and sign up, or if you're just curious, check out the pages and see the bizarre cast of characters that shows up for this annual event of self-abuse and loathing.

Best regards for a safe and sane March! (isn't that the name of the mad hare in Alice in Wonderland?)

Gary

Split Review

I checked in with my mom yesterday, who is still reading Split, (which is available now at LULU.com for those of you who can't wait for it to appear on Amazon or Barnes and Noble).

She hasn't read everything, maybe a story or two each week, but here are her impressions so far:

Her favorite stories in the anthology- (Aside from the obvious high praise regarding her grandson's Knowledge story): Fade to Grey, and Prisoner of Time.

As a mother, she could really relate to Prisoner, and when I first asked her about her favorites she said she liked the one by "Teresa Laws," and then told me the title. Teresa is one of our contributing authors, and I'm sure she will be glad to know that she now has "name recognition" among our early (that is, first) readers.

Regarding Fade to Grey, from contributing author Kelli Meyer: My mother said she was so shocked and surprised by the events of the story that she would stop reading and start over from the beginning, "then I'd cry a little bit, and keep going." She said the story was "horribly believable," and that she could really picture something like that happening, and is sure that it has, but, given the circumstances, we would never hear about it, because "families are so good at keeping such nasty secrets". If you'd like to know more about the story, then why don't you order a copy of the book? :)

I told her to keep reading and asked if she would like to submit a review to LuLu when she is done. She said she'd love to, and I'll get all the information from her next week.

Overall she says she loves the book, because the stories are just short enough to enjoy when she has a break, but the themes and ideas are thought provoking enough to stay with her for several days, and this is coming from a woman who struggles with memory loss.

I can't think of a better compliment.

Well, so far, I think that should count for one satisfied customer :)

Let's hope there are many more.

Gary