Well, quite a few things, especially since ye olde blog has been on hiatus for a while. So, it’s coming back – that’s new. Given the current Status Orange in the U. S. of A, and that the blog title is “old hippie in a new world,” I should have plenty of material to work with in the coming months. And there’s a new website in the works. There’s been an addition to the fam, so there’ll be some thoughts on that from time to time. Oh yeah, there’s a new “project” that looks like it’ll be out later this year. Let’s start there…
It’s an odd thing, but something I’ve been working toward for quite some time. There have been two constants in my life for as long as I can remember – music and literature. I’ve never really been able to separate the two. Y’all know I write, record, and perform original music with Flatland Tourists and most of you know I’ve got a couple books out as well (one under a pen name). I’ve always wanted to somehow combine the two. After a lot of writing time and several query letters, it looks like it’s gonna happen.
The project will be called Tattoo Stories. It’ll include two “media,” an audio CD and a book. The book will include short stories influenced or inspired directly from music (other artists, and yes, of course it’ll include the story that won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Award–that story came from a line in a Shovels and Rope song!), “narrative” poems of mine, song lyrics from new original songs of mine, and short essays offering sort of an annotated bibliography discussing the connections. The audio CD will include those “narrative poems” as spoken word pieces with musical accompaniment. Think: Minton Sparks. It will also include “songs” in the more traditional format. Literature (most by other writers with a couple of “companion” pieces where I offer both a song and a short story on the same subject or theme) has inspired or influenced all the songs in one way or another.
I’ll get you started by including the lyrics to one of those “companion” pieces. Here’s the lyrics to the song version of Tattoo Stories. It’s told from the short story’s main character’s point of view.
Tattoo Stories
I got the first one back in '69, I was on R & R with a buddy of mine. We thought they might protect us from the storm. But Hamburger Hill, well it was a hard sell and the jungle was thick where my buddy fell. I got his tags and these roses on my left arm. This one here's for my first wife. I loved her so much that I married her twice. Lord it broke my heart, when she had to leave. But she was a saint for what I put her through, For the things I did, well I'd have left me too. Every wrong to her I done, is in this sleeve Tattoo stories, like words that rhyme Sometimes the meaning hides between the lines Just a moment from your life that won't ever let you go. Tattoo stories, a place in time, That only you can go. Tattoo stories, painted pictures of your soul. I had a son, meant the world top me. He said "New York City is the place to be." He went to work one sunny September day. Then the whole world came crashing down And I'm still here but he's not around. This one's for all the things, I never got to say. Now the lines are fading but to me it's clear why I spent all those hours in the tattoo chair. I got something to show for all the things I've been through. So when you look at me you better stop and think 'cause all our lives hang just on the brink, there's really not much difference between me and you.
Tattoo stories, like words that rhyme Sometimes the meaning hides between the lines Just a moment from your life that won't ever let you go. Tattoo stories, a place in time, That only you can go. Tattoo stories, painted pictures of your soul. Tattoo stories, painted pictures of my soul.
Old Hippie in a New World 