hello
today’s music selection, alabama shakes, from their album “sound and color”. singer and guitarist brittany howard fronts this band, she has powerful, passionate voice that really winds me up, and she plays a pretty mean guitar too. alabama shakes have two studio albums, “sound and color” and “boys and girls” brittany also has a number of solo projects, and she also fronts another band, thunderbitch, which i also recommend
humble apologies from a ghoster
ok, so sorry i keep ghosting on all of you, allow me to explain: i am an extreme introvert (not shy really, or anti-social, just, i like my space) i enjoy being social, i do, but for reasons i can’t explain, doing so leave me completely exhausted, mentally and physically, and i have to runaway to mountains to hang with the critters and recharge my battery, or i just kind of isolate myself and ignore the world until i feel social again. now, when this happens and i just disappear, i’m not upset or depressed, actually, i’m in pretty good spirits, anxious, but good, so there is no need to worry about me, i’m fine, just need my space, that’s how i am wired i guess.
reason #2 – i did the whole starving artist thing in my younger days, with my poetry and my artwork and my music… and it was a blast. but i can’t live that lifestyle anymore, as much as i wish i could. i can easily lose myself into artist endeavor, stay up all night working on projects (this still happen to me) stop bathing, stop going to work, stop eating, stop paying bills… nothing but trouble. so i have to step back when i start getting ultra-focused and hyper-creative, make sure my mind stays in the real world. if i could make a living being an artist, that would be a different story, but not all of us get that lucky
and that is why i take such long breaks
coming up…
so i finally bought a new microphone and will start making recording of poems again (and i think i’ll start with my new favorite, polyester) not sure if i’m going to keep using soundcloud, i have a hard time trying to get their app to manifest properly on wordpress, i can’t post the recording with the poem without the soundcloud app consuming the entire page, not sure why that is.
still working on getting some poems published, my research into potential zines to publish in didn’t generate a lot publication that i like, but i’m ready to dig in and try again
and, i’ve been writting some short stories. nonfiction stories… about that time i owned that little coffee shop in that public library way out in the burbs (actually, it was a used bookstore inside a coffee shop inside a library… how fucking awesome is that!) these stories will be about how a jalopy poet like myself ending up in that situation, the fascinating and diverse people i met, the gifted and inspiring kids that worked for me, and how it all came crashing down in the great recession. i haven’t written stories in nearly 30 years, so i’m rusty, so these are practice stories. in my poetry i don’t pay much attention to proper grammar or punctuation or (eye-roll) capitalization, so i need to get my skills back (breaking out my old copies of elements of grammar, elements of style and elements of editing, got lots of homework to do)
so stay tuned in, kiddos, lots of fun stuff coming
(and honestly, if i ever meet the guy who invented capital letters, i’m kicking his ass)