A Look Back at 'The Legacy of Kip Winger'

Well I got off my game a little bit adjusting to a new job and some different working hours.  I finally made it back to finish off this look at 'The Legacy of Kip Winger.'

'Universe' - Scars On Broadway from Scars On Broadway

I think this song just sounds cool.  The jam is heavy, boarding on intense.  I like the vocals as he seems to hang on to the end of every word drawing them out into this sort of whine.  The song is about how we are killing the Earth.  But taken in the context of the story, it feels like Kip suffering and dieing.  "You never want to die like this."  I thought that was a good line for the story.   The whole sound of the song just seems kind of tumultuous.


'Reverend Wrinkle' - Black Stone Cherry from Folklore and Superstition

This is a newer band that rocks in the style of the classic hard rock.  The vocals are great and the wall of sound behind him blows me away.  I am still sort of confused about what they mean with the song.  But it always stuck out to me on the album as a great example of their hard rock chops.  I had trouble figuring out where this fit into my story.  I think the Reverend sounds almost like a last resort faith healer for Kip.  "He is only one who knows the way back home."  I think that is someone in the family saying he is our last chance to save Kip.



'Gimme Sympathy' - Metric from Fantasies

This was another song that was part of a free sampler.  I loved it from the first time I heard it.  There is just something about the whole sound that appeals to me.  It may be the several references to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.  If you pay attention to the words, I think for the story Kip and Caroline could be saying this. Obviously the fact that the vocalist is a female lends the thoughts to Caroline talking.  Which is probably the best fit to talk about getting sympathy after all of this is gone.  "You're gonna make mistakes, you're young."  There again either Caroline or Kip could be talking to their son.  This part would make more sense for Kip to be telling him that as like parting words especially with what Kip did.  So you could think there are parts for both of them.  I think this may also be where I thought that Kip would be a rock star thinking about being The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.


'Things My Father Said' - Black Stone Cherry from Folklore and Superstition

This is one of the songs that wrenches your heart.  Right from the first note of the piano, I just want to weep.  The vocalist really puts the soul into the words.  It may be nothing more than your typical rock ballad, but it always sticks with me.  I pictured Kip's son giving a eulogy at Kip's funeral.  The song fits well and makes it pretty clear what is happening in the story.  There may have even been a problem where Kip's song wasn't able"Somewhere there is a star shining so brightly that I can see your smile."  That is important as we roll into the next song.


'Shine A Light' - The Rolling Stones from Exile On Main St

This song was a beautiful end to The Rolling Stones epic album Exile on Main St and I thought it would be a good way to end mine.  I've always thought this song a little more special than their other slower songs.  There is this strange sincerity to the song.  I felt like this song was Kip singing down on his family from above.  "Make every song you sing, your favorite tune."  Maybe that would suggest Kip's son would go on to be a musician.  I wanted to end the album sounding a little happier after the last song being a weeper.  This song put a nice with finish to the story to try to make you feel a little happier about the future.


That ends the album.  I hope everyone enjoyed this look through the story I got out of the music and maybe discovering some new songs and artists along the way.  I would like to go back over all the songs and artists to summarize them and make some suggestions for further listening.

Spirit in the Night - Part 1

Note: My initial plan was to make this the next CD project, but a few things derailed that idea. One was that the CD I have this song on has a scratch or something on this song only. Two, I think I am going to steer away from Bruce on the CDs I'll make Snake soon after realizing I had a few other groups and songs that I'll try to pitch to him. The last being is that the story isn't going to stretch far enough for an entire CD project, and I don't want have to bend this tale to other songs and lyrics. 

With all that being said, this first part is long as you'll see. I pulled the names for characters out of the song. My inspiration being the way the "Spirits in the Night" can pull people together and what can happen when all these elements are together. The song itself seems to have something nefarious going on underneath or on the edges. ANYWAYS, with no further ado, here it is. 

SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT

PART 1

Link to song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIVbLsU9IR8

Lyric – “Stand up right now and let it shoot through you”

G-Man

G-Man stacked the logs in a pyramid and fantasized about how they would burn. First, they’d smoke a lot cause the damn logs were wet. Like the big idiot he was, G-Man had left the logs outside the night before as a late fall storm rumbled through Lincoln. Being a firebug didn’t exempt G-Man from being D-U-M-B, as Killer Joe would spell out for him several times a day.

“No matter anyhow,” G-Man said to no one as he finished with the logs.  “I’ll get this damn thing burnin’ before Joe and Wild Billy get back from da pokey. I’ll do it dammit. It’ll be cracklin’ and sizzlin’ and every one will see it glow.”

G-Man struck a match from between his fingers and lit the cigarette that had been dangling between his thick lips. He cast an imposing figure as the sun set on sleepy little Lincoln. He wore nothing but a pair of bibs over his huge frame. G-Man stood just a few ticks below seven feet and weighed over four hundred pounds. His pale skin glowed in the sunset beneath the denim bibs and his gray eyes were hidden below a yellow and green soybean cap. He and Killer Joe were hired hands on a half dozen farms around Lincoln. G-Man couldn’t think for himself, at least not since his daddy had punted him in the head as a baby, so Joe set up the work. If somebody pointed the job out to him, he could do all right. Most folks just wanted him to lift things anyhow.

“These logs will burn,” he repeated scratching at his stomach below the bibs. “Oh, they’ll glow.”

He loved watching them glow knowing that he’d released the hidden power within the logs. He was the master of that power. Excitement tingled up his legs and settled in his groin. This would be a small blaze. Not like some of the others he’d done. This was just for his friends. Wild Billy. He was getting out of the pokey. Killer Joe. Hazy Davy. He was a guy they drank with. Good fella, and Davy had a girl named Janey. Joe called her Crazy Janey because she thought she’d get Davy to give up the hooch and settle down.

G-Man liked Janey. He’d like to touch her. He’d like to rub on her. He lit a wad of paper and thrust it into the logs, and adjusted his growing erection before squeezing out some liter fluid onto the logs and the paper. The flames shot out, and the logs started to smoke. Soon they would glow. He thought of Janey’s paper white skin and the glow.

“I said that damn thing would burn.” He said, then masturbated before the smoking fire behind his and Joe’s shack north of Lincoln.

CRAZY JANEY

“You promised no fuckin’ drinking!” Janey screamed over her shoulder before slamming the door behind her. She reached behind her and slid the chain into the door to the apartment above Bowers Pharmacy in downtown Lincoln. Inside, her mother sat still wearing her pajamas underneath a pink bathrobe. She had curlers in her hair and a smoke resting between her fingers. Some smut show glowed on the television set.

“Oh, shit,” her mother sat up on the coach. “You two ain’t at it again. I can’t hear my program with all that racket.”

“Jesus Christ, mom,” Janey put her back against the door. She felt the knob turn and Davy’s weight press against the door. The chain kept it from opening all the way.

“Janey let me in.” Davy’s voice rose from the other side. “I didn’t know Billy was getting out before…”

“Will you two shut up, I can’t hear my program.” Her mother stood up flicking her smoke across the room toward Janey’s feet.

Janey rolled her eyes and stamped out the remaining orange glow at the end of the butt. She looked down at her uniform – an ugly orange and cream outfit that she hated. That was fine because she hated the waitress gig at Marty’s, but the job had opened the previous fall after that geeky kid stabbed her predecessor. She unbuttoned the top and slipped out of her white sneakers.

“Take another valium,” Janey said leaving the door. The apartment had two rooms. One was the large living room with an attached kitchen, and the other was her bedroom. There was a bathroom off of the bedroom. The apartment was Janeys. Her mother had moved in a year earlier after leaving her father.

Outside, Davy started knocking and said something that was muffled as Janey shut the bathroom door and dropped on the stool. She wiped at her eyes, hearing the front door open. Her damn mother let him in to hear the stupid TV. On the counter, lipstick and bottles of nail polish were strewn. She pulled the tie from her black hair that had red and purple streaks. His boots thumped on the floor of her room.

“Come on, Janey,” Davy whispered through the door. “It’s just this once. Billy’s coming home.”

“There’s always one more time and one more person coming to town,” Julia couldn’t believe she was sniffling.  Her black skirt from the night before was wadded on the floor below the toilet.  Two blouses were draped from the hook on the back of the door.  One was a leopard print. The other was a blue and purple ditty that Davy said made her look like a peacock. Well, her feathers were up now. She rose from the stool with her fists clenched.

“You wanna drink,” Janey mumbled. “I’ll show you drinkin.” 

She washed her face before applying eyeliner. Her rule – when the eyeliner went on, no more tears.

WILD BILLY

He counted the telephone poles alongside Highway 15 like he had counted days behind bars with his teeth clenched and his knuckles itching. There were more poles than the 445 days he spent behind bars, but they passed much faster even after he warned Joe not to drive too fast. He never handled motion all that well, but it was worse after not being in a car for over a year.

But, now he couldn’t wait to get to Lincoln. Not because he missed that piss hole. No, he wanted to ride in tonight and ride out in the morning. He had quick business in Lincoln. The first was a few drinks. He hadn’t had true hooch since he went away. Just a couple hard ones to take the edge off.

After that, he had business with Bruce Page…

“Shit, it’ll be good to have you back,” Joe said. He had some shitty seed dealer cap on turned backward with a toothpick stuck behind his ear. Underneath was a smooth dome. Killer Joe, as he liked people calling him, was a skinhead with all the prerequisite hates and swastika tattoos to prove membership. Billy didn’t go for all that crap, but got along with Joe all the same. “G-Man will have a fire going. Davy will bring the booze. It’ll be tight.”

“You’re still runnin’ with that giant dumbfuck? I can’t believe he ain’t set himself on fire yet.”

“He’s dumb,” Joe said with one hand on the wheel while using the other to take the toothpick from behind his ear to between his lips. “But he knows fire. And he’s good to have around in a brawl.”

“Hmmph.” Billy didn’t give a shit about G-Man, or Joe for that matter. Joe was just his tool for getting him back to Lincoln and back to Bruce Page.

“Hey, Davy has a broad now,” Joe said. “She’s real fine. Real young too. I think we get her drinkin, she’ll be up for some fun.”

That did make Billy smile. It had been a long time since he had any of that too. Of course, he wasn’t going to share it with those bastards. Maybe he’d slit Davy’s throat and Joe’s too for that matter. He wouldn’t go after G-Man. That’s a fight he wouldn’t win, but he could probably keep the big man away by promising a piece of the action after.

“She’s tasty, huh?”

“Oh, real fine. I don’t think she’d fight at all. Fuck, Davy will probably be passed out early enough for us to work on her by midnight, and she’ll need someone cause I doubt Davy will be able to get it up.”

“Hmmph.” Billy went back to counting the telephone poles thinking about this girl and booze, but before long his mind was back on Bruce Page. That fucker. The girl and the booze didn’t matter, but he did have a date with the guy that put him away.

“Hey, Billy,” Joe said. It must not have been the first time, because Joe was looking hard over at him.

“What?”

“You know, we can have a good time tonight. Just like the old times. We can get fucked and screw around with the girl. We don’t need any other trouble, right?”

Billy smiled.

“Right.”

HAZY DAVY

Davy dropped down on the couch next to Janey’s mother, took out the flask for a swig and offered it to her. Janey was still in her room getting ready for the night. Peg grabbed the flask with one hand and rested the other on his thigh. He brushed it away.

Peg snorted and brought the flask to her mouth. Inside was vodka – no aftertaste, no smell. Janey wanted more than anything for him to stop drinking, and part of him wanted to do just that for her. They had met at Marty’s six months earlier, and he had been sure to stop there every day since either for breakfast before his shift at Lincoln Manufacturing or afterward for supper. The factory was the first job he had kept for more that a few months in his life.

She was the reason. He no longer drank all night, every night. He didn’t drink a beer when he rolled out of bed, and didn’t sneak his first sips until his shift was over in the afternoon. But he still needed the flask, and he emptied it every afternoon before dinner. After that it was a six-pack of beer, twelve if Janey had a late shift at the restaurant.

It was one of the late shifts that had got him into the trouble with Peg. He had drank too much at the bar, got into a brawl and then stumbled to Janey’s apartment instead of heading to his place on Horizon Avenue just off Thunder Lane. He didn’t have a license, and he hated walking down Thunder Lane alone at night. That street was old, and full of old spirits as his drunk of a father used to say. That had stuck with Davy, and maybe it was the booze, but he felt those spirits every time he was on the street.

That night, two months earlier, he was drunk and disappointed that he’d let Janey down by getting into such a state. But mostly he was scared. As stupid as it was for a 30-year old man, he was scared to walk home. Sometimes on dark nights, he thought he heard voices from that street calling him to visit. He didn’t want to, but the call was very strong.

So he stumbled to the apartment above the pharmacy, and she was there. Not Janey. She was working till close at the diner. Peg. Wearing not much more than a bathrobe, smelling of cigarettes and the cheap wine that comes out of boxes. He was weak, and she was lonely. The rest of the story is old and familiar.

“You still think about it,” Peg said. “Was it that good?” Peg smiled taking out another cigarette.

“Shut up woman, “ Davy shot back. “I don’t even remember it much. I hate lying to her. That’s all.”

“Just like you lie to her about this?” Peg picked up the flask again and took another drink to drive home the point.

“I’m trying.” Davy said, taking the flask and draining the last half of it in one gulp. It didn’t even burn anymore going down. He had started drinking hard alcohol with his dad when he was 14. The beer had started years earlier.

“You men are all the same, always trying, never doing,” Peg said. “Janey’s daddy was the same. His was the gambling though, not the drinking so much. Always going to the casinos that Frankie. Lost all our money. Every dime.”

“I’m not Janey’s daddy,” Davy said. “I’m stopping. I just can’t do it all at once.”

“Hmmph,” Peg picked the remote up to turn the TV’s volume up again. “Well I ain’t going to tell her, if that’s what you’re worried about. She’s my angel, and I’d never hurt her like that. She’s all I got.”

Peg clicked the volume button and the characters on the screen were screaming at one another. They sat there silently for a few minutes before Janey came out in her black skirt and the peacock blouse. She had too much makeup on and her hair was teased about to look like she hadn’t spent the last 20 minutes on it. That was her look though. She’s so young, Davy thought. Barely out of high school really.

“What you two been talking about,” She put her hands on her hips, and something in her eyes sparkled, and that sparkle screamed of trouble. Part of Davy wanted to skip the get together with the boys because of it. He felt in that instant the same way he felt about Thunder Lane. Something scared him in the look.

“Nothing, sweetie,” Peg said. “Don’t you look just beautiful?”

BRUCE PAGE

In the dream, the phone rang dozens of times before he picked it up. After about the fifteenth ring, it sounded more like an alarm clock’s high-pitched beep. His hand went to the receiver just as it had two days earlier as he tended the station, and his voice followed.

“Oly’s full service, Bruce speaking.”

“Two days fucker.” The voice at the other end said.

“What’s that?” Bruce asked, knowing full well who was on the other end of the line.

“Two days, and we’ll settle this once and for all.”

“Yeah, well. You just try. This time I’ll be ready. I’m warning you. No surprising me at work with your buddies. I’ll be ready.”

“Two days.” The other end of line went dead, but the dull dial tone was replaced by the sound of an alarm clock. This, of course, was just a dream. He woke.

Above him, the paint was peeling on the ceiling of his trailer. He had sweated through his wife-beater and his drawers were wet. He rolled to the side of the bed and reached for the wood cane propped against the wall. He used the cane to stand and support his right leg. That was all thanks to Wild Billy Hawthorne. Wild Billy had cut a nine-inch ridge with a bowie knife from Bruce’s hip down his thigh the last time the two had met. The wound left Bruce’s right leg nearly useless, making him a 25-year-old, 120-pound cripple.

Growing up, Bruce had been the target of bullies. He was short, skinny and had a nasally voice that other boys love to mimic. It only got worse when he turned 14, and everyone in the class seemed to pick up on the fact that Bruce Page was a homosexual, just like the one’s on TV. Hell, Bruce thought some of his classmates knew he was gay before he even knew he was gay.

Well, that just made the beatings come more often and more vicious from the homophobic population of Lincoln High School. Even the girls got involved a couple times. The worst came from Wild Billy Hawthorne, a boy a few years older than Bruce who had lived but a few houses down for all of Bruce’s young life.

When he graduated, Bruce took the job at Oly’s Station on the west side of Lincoln in hopes of saving enough money to get out Lincoln as soon as possible. The popular notion around town was that he gave blowjobs to truckers in the bathroom for extra cash. The truth was that he wasn’t smart enough for college, and his parents sure weren’t going to help out their queer son when they had the perfect cheerleader daughter to dote on. He’d yet to get on his knees for one trucker, although he wondered if there was an actual market for such talents.

So, he rented a trailer on Grease Lake from the owner of Oly’s and started to put away cash. Of course, that was until Wild Billy and his boys showed up drunk one night last year at the station. After that particular incident, his extra dough was lost on medical and lawyer bills. The only relief being that Wild Billy had gone away.

But, he was coming back, as the phone call two days earlier had confirmed.

Bruce walked out of the trailer and around to the back to take a piss in the lake. The sun was setting on the outskirts of Lincoln, and he knew that meant his time was running low. Sometime tonight Wild Billy was going to come. He shook his cock twice before turning away from the dirty water and limping back up to his lime green trailer. On the backside, someone had spray painted the word “QUEER” in uneven black letters. That was as imaginative as the artists got in Lincoln.

Bruce didn’t care, especially tonight. He went around to the front. His rusted out Lumina was parked in front. He supposed he could drive away. He had enough money to get out of the state and probably stay a night or two at a cheap hotel, but then what.

No, Bruce Page was tired of being bullied, tired of being beat. He opened the door to the trailer and walked inside passing the kitchen counter on his way back to the bed. He needed a little more rest, and he knew it’d be late before they would arrive. They’d drink awhile to get their courage up and then come looking for him. They’d probably try the station first. The manager was working tonight. Bruce sat back down on the bed, propped the cane against the wall, and dropped his head down on his pillow. Soon he was snoring lightly and in his dream the phone was ringing again.

On the kitchen counter next to the sink, an old revolver rested. Next to it were six bronze bullets, a flashlight and a pack of smokes.

A Look Back at 'The Legacy of Kip Winger' - Part 7

Kip and Caroline are raising their son up right.  Things have changed between them and Kip is working hard to make amends for his life through teaching his son the lessons he learned the hard way.  This are about to change.

'Testify' - Aranda from Aranda

This is a pretty funky song.  You hear some good singing chops from the fellas of Aranda.  The hook is very catchy and feels like an old blues song played on an acoustic guitar.  Here Kip is fighting to find religion.  This is something that has probably been lacking in his life.  The song makes me think of him fighting some demons within himself and looking for help beyond his family to keep him on the right path.  The way the singer wails testify always made me think of church and someone yelling at the preacher to testify to the lord!


'Soft Shock' - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs from It's Blitz!

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs play this mellow, brooding sound so well.  The fuzz of the guitar hides in the background sounding chaotic, but never interrupting the singer.  Her voice sounds so sweet as she sits in front of the issues behind her.  This one is kind of open to thoughts on the story.  I think Caroline is worried.  She doesn't know about what, but she can feel something is going to happen.  Things have been going well for them.  Maybe it is the past creeping into her mind, she doesn't want Kip to leave her behind again.


'No Hassle Night' - The Dead Weather from Horehound

This song is an assault on the senses.  The distortion kicks you in the teeth without being over powering to the song.  This sound of The Dead Weather is like nothing else I had heard before.  Their ability to hold back at times is what makes it seem extra menacing.  This song really becomes sort of the beginning of the end.  I don't know what it ever points to specifically in the story other than the tone of the music.  It is dark and evil sounding.  I believe it is symbolizing something bad that is happening internally that is made clear in the next song.


'Cancer' - My Chemical Romance from The Black Parade

 The song is pure sadness.  While being part of a concept album, it is pretty easy to figure out what is happening here.  There is something about the piano that makes it have the ability to make you weep with just a few key chords.  The arrangement is beautiful in the way it conveys the message even if there were no lyrics at all.  Life has a way of catching up with you.  Sometimes it doesn't matter how much you've reformed, in the end some things can never be shaken.  Kip is dying. 


'Cry' - Kelly Clarkson from All I Ever Wanted

Kelly's vocal range is on its best display here.  She can belt it out with the best of them.  This is how she can differentiate herself from others out there.  Here Caroline is dealing with the news.  There is a line in the song about this being as hard as it gets.  Even with all the old troubles and heart aches she's had, nothing can compare to this.  "This is as hard as it gets.  This is what it feels like to really cry."  You could say out of all this story, Caroline is hurt more than Kip in every instance.  She's been through so much with him already and now her pain has just begun.


This section is the turning point and turn downer of the second CD.  The next section is the last and will finish up our story.

From the vault: Thunder Lane, Lincoln, U.S.A.

Note: This is one of those ideas I had one night that I never really picked up on. I kind of like it, but never really developed my thoughts on what was going on. I am still working on first part of next CD project so I thought I'd post a few of these type things in the interim. 

Thunder Lane, Lincoln, U.S.A.

“It’s a town full of losers, I’m pulling out of here to win.”

Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen

Part 1 – Karl checks out

            Rain. Karl couldn’t believe it. Of all days, no of all the friggin’ days, today it had to rain. He slammed the lid on the burn barrel, clutching his thick journal to his chest and jogged back into the red brick ranch on Thunder Lane, only three blocks west of historical Main Street in Lincoln, U.S.A. That’s what folks always say here – Lincoln, U.S.A. – saying each friggin’ letter, every friggin’ time. Well, he wasn’t going to hear it ever again. Today, rain or no, he was checking right friggin’ out of Lincoln, U.S.A.

            He thudded against the back door and then fought to open it. When it rained, the damn frame swelled, and the cheap exterior door became a bugger to use. He shouldered it once, felt it give a bit, then jerked it out, nearly knocking off his thick-framed bifocals that were spotted by raindrops and fogged over.  Inside, his lenses turned ghost white, and he whipped them off, dropping them on the bench where he often sat to remove his muddy boots after fiddling in his garden.

            Without his glasses, the room before him was a haze of colors, shadows and obscene shapes. It didn’t matter. He could navigate his house in the pitch dark. He wouldn’t want to now, not ever again, but he could if he had to. He held out his journal, studying the red leather cover. As a historian, he had hundreds of journals, notebooks, and, even he, the last man to enter the World Wide Web, had a zip drive or ten full of documents. He had one wall in his study dedicated to the Civil War alone. But, none of the books or notes or journals mattered, only this one mattered, and he had to destroy it. He couldn’t burn it, at least not outside. He could burn it in the house, he supposed, but part of him, the part that had grown in strength and conviction the last three years, knew the house, the street, or “they” would stop it.  He could hide it among the other journals, but it could be found. The thought of somebody finding it would eat away at his conscience for the rest of his life. If anyone else read the contents ... well, he wasn’t exactly sure what would happen. The not knowing was the worst of it. All he knew was that “they” would congregate in one of the old basements and stay down there for days, and when they came out, well, the person would be changed, maybe he or she would even be gone, vanished, extinct. Karl was sure of it.

            “God damn rain,” he muttered. Outside, lightning flashed to drive home the point. He could have burned it outside. He felt water streaking off his hairless dome into the tufts of gray hair on the side of his wrinkled skull. One dripped down his brow, between his eyes and off his nose. Not for the first time, he wondered why the hell he had moved to Lincoln to retire. Why couldn’t he have gone to Florida? That’s where Margaret had wanted to go before the cancer ate away her life.

            He ran his hand across the top of the journal, remembering the day he found it for sale at The Book Nook on Main Street. That was the first time he thought about digging up a history on Thunder Lane. All the folks in Lincoln, U.S.A., said it was the oldest street in the country. The two houses at each end  – where it met with Main Street and met a dead end at Horizon Avenue – were thought to be original homes of Lincoln from when the city was first settled in the 1800s. He even heard whispers the homes were older than that, or at least the original foundations where laid well before that. As a historian, he didn’t put much stock in that, but there was surely plenty of actual history from Thunder Lane that he could chronicle during his retirement.

            “Stupid old man,” he said standing soaked to the bone in his kitchen. He shivered, all of a sudden, feeling like he wasn’t alone in his own home. “I could rip it page-by-page into pieces!” He sobbed at the simplicity as the journal fell from his hands and smacked on the linoleum below. His armed jerked out in surprise, knocking his set of knives onto the floor. They scattered in every direction. The biggest cleaver landed next to the journal.

He knelt, feeling both of his arthritic knees pop and opened the cover. Inside, the pages were a thick, yellow stock. It was going to be hell on his fingers to tear up hundreds of pages, but the pain would be worth it. He took the first page, filled with his neat, precise cursive, and nearly started to tear, but something wasn’t right. It was too quiet.

            Bending his neck, he watched the cuckoo clock on the wall above the kitchen counter. He recalled nights in his bed on the other side of the house where he could hear it tick. The clock made not a sound.

            “The batteries out, that’s all,” he said. Across the kitchen, the fridge was quiet. Not a single hum. He dismissed it, but his heart pounded in his eardrums. Even the rain outside made not a sound on the windows or roof. It was like he had entered a sound vacuum in his own kitchen. “Just focus on what you need to do, then get in the car and go.”

            He grasped at the page, but his hands were trembling so much that it only folded and bent. He couldn’t force a single rip. Then a sound came. The tap of wood soles on the linoleum floor. He lifted his eyes enough to see his reflection on the perfectly shined black shoes.

            “Tsk, tsk, Karl.” The voice said. A hand came down and lifted the journal off the floor. “Leaving without even saying goodbye. That’s just not how things are done here in Lincoln, U.S.A.”

            He tried to move, to jump for the journal, but before he could he felt the cleaver at his throat. A sweaty, meaty hand held it. There were others in the room. He sensed their eyes on him. He knew who they all were, anyway. His neighbors. Probably all of them in all the fantastic variety that Thunder Lane offered.  

            “I wouldn’t tell. Not a word of it to another soul. I wouldn’t. That’s why I was going to destroy the journal. I wouldn’t tell!”

            The black shoes turned so that he faced the heels. The shoes stepped away in even strides.

            “Goodbye, Karl,” the voice said, and Karl heard no more thereafter. 

A Look Back at 'The Legacy of Kip Winger' - Part 6

We left Kip and Caroline sort of finding each other again.  They have rekindled their love and move forward with their relationship from here.
'In The Castle' - Wolfmother from Cosmic Egg

The second part of this song sounds closer to what most Wolfmother tunes sound like.  They are usually fast paced, rocking songs.  They are definitely more of a throwback, but I have never quite been able to figure out who to compare them to.  This is a pivotal song in the story with maybe some time lapse from the previous.  I took the lyrics to mean than Kip and Caroline are getting married.  There is a part in there about walking off into the castle and another about sitting at the table drinking their wine which made me think of a reception party.


'Incomplete' - Sara Schiralli from Bang Bang

This song was a part of a sampler collection.  It has always stuck out to me.  The tune is so beautiful and the singing fits in there perfectly.  I haven't ever really checked out other stuff from her, which I suppose is an injustice on my part since I like this song so much.  This song probably more than any other is my total interpretation of the song for the story.  I could never find the lyrics and with the accent, it was hard for me to understand what she was singing about all the time.  So I took the line, "This picture is incomplete," and fit into where we were in the story.  Things have turned around for our two love birds, now married.  Caroline wants to complete their family.


'Kooks' - David Bowie from Hunky Dory

This songs feels like David Bowie stole a song from Neil Young.  It has that rock/country southern flare that Young specialized in.  I believe I read somewhere that Bowie wrote this song after listening to one of Young's new albums of the day.  I've always like it as an example of those quirky songs that Bowie had the ability to spin and make sound so accessible.  Here Kip is singing to his new baby as he and Caroline have completed their family.  Their is certainly a different feeling of love and happiness around them now.


'It's Okay, Try Again' - The Shins from Yo Gabba Gabba! Music Is Awesome

This song is so beautiful in its simplicity.  I really haven't listened to much from The Shins but this song makes me want to.  I love the banjo interlaced in the song, you don't hear that much.  Yo Gabba Gabba! is a kid's show that features some pretty good music for their 'Super Music Friends Show' in each episode.  Here again as their child grows up, Kip is doing his best to teach him a lesson, perhaps one Kip learned the hard way.  Life will even you out as long as you make it OK and don't go the wrong way.  


'Lovely, Love My Family' - The Roots from Yo Gabba Gabba! Music Is Awesome

The Roots make some pretty cool music and most people might know them now as the band on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.  This song is so smooth it feels like melted butter.  Where else are you gonna hear a sousaphone solo?  This is Kip and Caroline's child singing now as he grows older.  I really don't think anything had outlined the sex or name of their child.  I don't know if I ever do think of a name, but it is definitely a boy.  He is doing the right thing.  He loves his family and they are making a good home for him.


 While this section may not seem all that exciting, I guess it sort of paints a couple pictures for me.  First, that Kip is trying to finally straighten out his life.  After all he has done wrong and done to hurt Caroline, they find a way to work it out.  Now they are raising a family and we see several instances of Kip trying to set his son on a good path.  This is perhaps some nurturing Kip never got or maybe didn't pay attention to.  This section may make more sense once we get through this CD.  Without saying too much, this becomes the setup for things to come.

A Look Back at The Legacy of Kip Winger: Part 5

We will kick off the second album of The Legacy of Kip Winger compilation.  The first album ended with Kip losing Caroline and falling into drugs with the help of Ace.  It finished with a harrowing image of Kip racing through a hospital trying to be rescued from a drug overdose.

'Speechless' - Lady Gaga from The Fame Monster

I love this song.  This is my favorite Lady Gaga song.  It shows that she can really sing behind all the electronic rhythms and enhancements that usually grace her songs.  Her message is straight forward and powerful.  It kicks off the second album with Caroline wallowing in the pain that Kip has caused her.  I picture her sitting at his hospital bed sobbing as he lies there in a coma, the heart monitors bleeping in the background.  She is conflicted by the love that still resides in her and all the pain that lingers from Kip's inability to show his love or clean up his act.


'Gravity' - Aranda from Aranda

Aranda are special in their unspecialness.  They are good and make good songs, but they are very unassuming.  I could not pinpoint one special or interesting thing about them other than their songs sound good in that typical pop/rock sense that music treads in these days.  For the story, this would be Kip's hospital rage after maybe receiving a lecture from Caroline after waking from the coma.  "You had it all worked out when you pushed me away."  That would be Kip saying why are you here lecturing and sobbing over me now when you said we were done and wished you could 'Undo It'.


'Hold Up' - The Raconteurs from Consolers of the Lonely

Our second installment from the power group has them a little more upbeat than earlier.  This is closer to something Jack White would have done as the White Stripes.  It borders on frantic at times and features some nifty guitar work in the bridges between verses.  Here, it is the title that advances the story.  Kip is recanting on his rant by asking Caroline don't go so fast.  The mention of a prison cell in the lyrics could hint as to where Kip ended up after recovering in the hospital.




'New Fang' - Them Crooked Vultures from Them Crooked Vultures

This song is a bit grittier than the first entry from Them Crooked Vultures.  The rhythm feels more Queens of the Stoneage.  Here the line, "Think you got me confused for a better man," stuck out to me.  That is Kip feeling insecure about himself in being able to treat Caroline right.  They are having a more serious conversation about what 'they' are.

'You've Got a Friend in Me' - The Zutons from Tired of Hanging Around

This song has always stuck out to me on The Zuton's album.  This is kind of a dark and moody love song.  A reluctant lover of someone else.  Even though if you pay attention to the lyrics, it sounds more like he is stalking the woman.  I take the line, "I want a new love. I'm sick of this past life.  But I'm scared of new love."  That is Kip at his most honest he has ever been with Caroline.  This is sort of their getting back together song.  I would picture more that Caroline is saying you've got a friend in me.

Spilling of the Heavens: Third and final part

Placed around the peak of Kekur were six stone slabs twice the height of Cassar. Between the stones was a flat marble platform where one would have expected a jagged, pointed top. The same craftsman who had built the stairway likely had arranged the stones and laid the marble at the peak of Kekur. To his knowledge, only Tarek Grandar and he had been to the peak and seen this wonder. Standing at the center was another small wonder, one that Cassar had not expected despite his wealth of knowledge and understanding of history. The small wonder was a tiny being, only slightly taller than most dwarves, but frail and wispy.

The being lived out of frame, as Cassar’s father would say. For instance, Cassar knew the stairway to the peak, the stones, the marble top, were all relics leftover from at least a hundred lifetimes past, perhaps a thousand. For the being dwelling between the stones, shirtless and with his bony, hairy arms crossed behind his back, that time was like a blink in a day.

He was known as The Dreamer, and any other truths about the being, Cassar’s father had once said, could only be found at the edge of dreams and center of nightmares. Cassar was living a nightmare of late, and perhaps only now truly understood what his father meant.

Tarek Grandar did not hesitate upon seeing The Dreamer. Why should he, Cassar thought? Tarek likely knew he’d be there the entire time. Cassar followed close enough to hear. Smyth was at it his elbow.

“I dream of agony rolling on the lips of the sea like thunder on the wind,” The Dreamer spoke, his voice hollow, as if it started somewhere in a deep cavern of the mountain. “Paw and claw and hand.”

The Dreamer crooked his head, which was covered with frazzled gray hair, so that the clear white pupils of his eyes could peer up into Tarek’s face.  Of course, he was not really studying Tarek, for Cassar knew that The Dreamer was blind. His sight was another casualty in the forging of the sword Lunar. Yet, the being’s mind still saw things, what exactly, no one was sure.

“Your dreams are poison sweetened by sugar, but poison, still the same,” Tarek spat.

“He who never dreams lives a nightmare,” The Dreamer shrugged his shoulders and held his arms out with his palms up.

“I never dream because I never rest,” Tarek screamed. “I stand at the doorway to the heavens and can not open it, can never enter. You’ve made sure of that.”

“Nor shall you rest, at least not here, not now,” The Dreamer rebuked. “Now is the time to square the debt and move on.”

Tarek’s shoulders slumped, and Cassar heard the king weeping. The Dreamer’s placid expression never changed as he moved past the king to address those behind.

“The world was broke, so the heavens mended it,” The Dreamer said. “It gave forth a man born of the elements of life. They scarred a favorite son in the sky to provide a weapon to throw down the dark. In return, the heavens asked that you stay on bended knee.”

Cassar spun to see the terror enter Smyth’s eyes.

“That bond is broke.” The mountain below their feet moaned at the statement. Behind The Dreamer, Tarek drew the sword of Marek, named Kekur for the great peak whose shadow the kingdom dwelt. Tarek lifted the sword and drove it into the marble platform. The mountain moaned louder, before it cracked.

The crack started small from where the sword pierced. Across the air came the sound of shattering stone and rock. Farther below, trees fell and, where the mountain met valley, the earth split. The rift spread south taking with it the bulk of the kingdom of Besa, which fell in the ever-widening sore. They could not see all this from the peak, but felt it in their minds. Cassar was sure that The Dreamer planted the vision.

“Oathbreakers be damned!” The Dreamer and Tarek roared as the king drew his other sword, Lunar. A high-pitched siren accompanied the sword as it left its sheath. A blinding white light burst forth.

When his vision returned, Cassar met Smyth’s witless gaze. The only emotion left in his cousin’s face was terror. Smyth and his allies began to squeal like frightened pigs then turned and started to run down the stairway at a breakneck pace.  Many, he thought, would do just that. It would take only one misstep and they’d tumble thousands of feet in seconds. Tears stung at Cassar’s eyes. Smyth had been a prodigy, a brilliant speaker, and despite his poor choice to betray Tarek Grandar and Marek, a beautiful being. If Smyth survived the descent, he be no more than a dimwit savage stumbling around in the shadows, his only thoughts being the memory of his former gifts and his one poor choice.

“I hope he meets a quick end,” Cassar whispered before turning back to The Dreamer, Tarek Grandar, and the sword. Both beings eyed him, curiously.

“Do you still bend your knee, mighty Cassar,” Tarek asked? The Dreamer watched.

“You’ve divided our world,” Cassar said. A frown crossed Tarek’s face at the words.

“Not only our world,” Tarek said, and, for the first time, a look of worry crossed The Dreamer’s face. Tarek cut into the sky above his head with Lunar, a single, sharp beam of light went up. A clean, clear wound tore the fabric of the deep blue sky.  

“What have you done,” The Dreamer asked?

“I’ve fulfilled your dream,” Tarek said. “If I am denied the heavens, denied the light, yet entrusted to guard them both, then I shall not have them forget that debt.” 

From the wound flowed a stream of water that fell into the crack created in the mountain by Kekur. It gushed down forming a great river, a river known from hence forth as Belnor. Cassar could hear voices in the water, screaming out names and prayers. Those voices echoed in his head the rest of his days.

The Dreamer studied the forming river as Tarek laid Lunar on the marble platform. He then pulled Kekur from the mountain, and placed it next to the other sword. A burden seemed lifted off his shoulders, and a smile crossed his face, and not a lunatic’s smile, but a genuine smile full of cheer and good will.

“My days dwelling here are past,” Tarek said, as much to Cassar as The Dreamer. “I shall visit the witch and her door and move on to another world.”

The Dreamer’s eyes dropped to the two swords near his feet with a troubled look furrowing his brow.

Tarek approached Cassar, and put his hand on the gargola’s shoulder.

“Your heart betrayed me,” Tarek said. “I am sorry for this. It is as much my fault as yours.”

“I’ve followed you everywhere,” Cassar pleaded.

“But you did not bend your knee when I asked,” Tarek said. “You broke the bond just as your other brethren. You failed your king. I am sorry friend.”

“What’s to become of me and mine?” Cassar stepped back. “Are we doomed to the fate of the traitors then? Shall I stalk around stupidly for eternity?"

“No, that is for the Shadows of Marek,” Tarek said. “They will live in the forest of the foothills, and their incessant wails will be a reminder to all. You and yours have a different fate.  You are the Keepers of Marek. You shall live quietly outside of the palace and wait and watch for the return.”

“You’ll return then?”

“No, another man will rise and carry those swords. You shall wait for him and serve him no matter the task. That is your curse."

With that, Tarek left, passing those that had escorted him to the peak. He walked out of their life, visiting the witch in her cave and the mysterious door that only a select few dared to open. Tarek opened that door and never returned.

Cassar dropped to his knees and wept for a very long time. The other members of his party joined him.  Night approached when they finally rose. When they did, The Dreamer was gone. So were the swords. They descended the mountain, arriving home late the next day.

Cassar and the other Keepers of Marek lived quietly, solemnly outside of Metahischoo for an age until a boy was born of a woman and the wind.

But, that is a dream for another day.

A Look Back at The Legacy of Kip Winger: Part 4

To recap, Kip and Caroline have parted ways after several escalating fights.  We will follow Kip for the most part as this section with complete the first album in The Legacy of Kip Winger.

'Ozone' - Ace Frehley from Kiss: Ace Frehley

I am one of the believers in the fact that Ace is God.  He is by far an underrated guitarist, member of KISS and true rock n' roll lifestyle guy.  I took the chance on this album knowing that if he put any effort into it at all, it would be good.  This song stuck out to me as sort of him writing his autobiography in a song.  For the story, Ace is a guy that Kip meets drowning his sorrows over Caroline running away from him.  I think it is obvious what kind of guy Ace is.


'Count Five or Six' - Cornelius from Fantasma

I first heard this song performed on a TV show.  Being live, the band played faster and the mix sounded louder.  In those areas, this studio recording falls a little short.  Still the song is hypnotic and gets stuck in your head.  The tempo changes rapidly and keeps you guessing.  The lyrics may be simplistic, but the music is far from it.  I knew it would be tough to fit in a song with almost no lyrics into a story.  Focus more on the music and it frantic tempo changes and hypnotic nature.  Kip and Ace are partying and it is getting heavy.


'3005' - Scars on Broadway from Scars on Broadway

 I really like these guys.  This is the other two guys that were part of System of a Down.  Their music is deep and rich with meaning.  For the most part they tend to be much more focused than SOAD ever was in the way they put songs together.  For progressing the story, focus on the lyric, "I'll be there shooting up your world, watching all the resurrection junkies losing ground."  While the drug aspect is not what the original song is about, it can certainly be thought that way if you focus on a few lines.  Kip is descending quickly with the help of Ace.


'Life on Mars?' - David Bowie from Hunky Dory
 
This is perhaps my absolute favorite song by David Bowie.  The lyrics are symbolic in their own right.  Bowie paints this picture of the world spinning in the same direction while the same bad things happening over and over again.  He feels the world is doom and looking for hope.  You can tell Bowie is moving to his Sci-Fi space kick that will eventually create Ziggy Stardust.  This is really a dual meaning song for the story.  Caroline probably stumbled back across some pictures of the good times with Kip.  At the same time Kip is tripping out seeming some of the odd images from the song and thinking about life on mars as an out of body experience for him.  So while Caroline is wondering what could have been and facing her feelings head on, Kip has escaped into drugs and is on the edge.


'Sister Morphine' - The Rolling Stones from Sticky Fingers

This is one of those songs that is a true hidden gem of realism from the Stones.  This probably comes from a close call or real incident.  The star of the song is Keith's guitar.  It is haunting and so nasty.  The song still gives me chills at times when I listen to it.  It was truly a blessing that this song and part of the story ended the first album.  It almost becomes a mini cliff hanger for the story.  The song should be taken almost literally with the story.  Kip went too far, he is being revived by EMTs in the ambulance.  You would see the shot of the fluorescent lights flying by as Kip opens his eyes while being whisked down the hallway on a gurney.............

Spilling of the Heavens: Part 2

Note: I realized that part 2 wasn't all that long. I actually like these two little sections better than I remember.

Dawn greeted them with purple and orange streaks in the skye to the east and with the peak looming ever closer. They climbed the crumbling stone stairway built by some unknown craftsman in an age before such things were recorded. In his former life, Cassar had snuck up here often among the clouds, and where even the air feared to linger, in search of clues on the mystery stairway. He feared no clues remained from that long ago time.  Even if they did, he no longer cared to find them. He promised himself that this would be his last trip to the peak of Kekur. His days of adventure were over after this.

Cassar was wrong on both accounts, his return to Kekur would come, and so would one more adventure, but not for a very long time.

Of the hundred that had left Metahischoo, the palace of Marek, as escort to the king, only ten remained. The traitors had followed up the path, picking off wounded and slower moving members of the party. Some of the traitors had left the stairway, choosing to brave the rugged, sharp-inclined terrain of the mountain. Those pitiful few labored behind using axes and swords to dig into the solid rock. That way was treacherous, and many fell, their screams echoing for minutes before reaching the heavens, or if the poor soul was truly unfortunate, his wails plummeted all the way down to the underworld.

Ahead, Tarek plodded up the stairway, taking in loud, raspy breaths. It had been much the same the first time the two friends had scaled the stairs together. No matter the strength of the man, the altitude, the thin air and the cold beat down like the hooves of a thousand horses. Cassar handled it better with more experience, but Tarek appeared near exhaustion. Yet the king pressed on, sometimes mumbling and other times belting out rhymes suited for taverns and brothels.

Cassar thought back to the first journey; it was not even that long ago really. Tarek had been quiet, even scared. They had approached at night, a terrible idea, but the prophecy demanded such a risk. In the crisp, cold air, it had been Cassar’s voice that rumbled an ancient gargolian hymn. One that his ancestors had sang while chained and enslaved by the dwarves ages earlier in the darkest depths of the old mines. An old hymn that was full of sorrow with lyrics expressing hope.  That night, Tarek had clutched Cassar’s hand with tears clear in his eyes.

“Thank you, Cassar,” Tarek said. “Thank you.”

In a world cast in a deep shadow, that had been a moment of beauty and peace, a moment Cassar had lost until then as Tarek belted out lewd lyrics ahead of him.

In that instant, Cassar truly hated Tarek Grandar.

* * *

While neither the king’s escort nor the traitors raised a white flag, the fighting, at some point, stopped and the two groups mixed. Cassar noticed this only when he looked back to see his cousin, Smyth, limping directly behind him. An arrow stuck crudely through Smyth’s leg, and he had a large purple bruise over his eye. Growing up together, Smyth had been considered a prodigy of language. He was fluent in every current tongue used in the seven kingdoms, and two dozen, at least, ancient languages.

After the war, Smyth had been one of the first to abandon the troubled king. Along with knowing languages, Smyth knew how to use words better than anyone than Cassar knew. His speeches in the square gained attention and won over followers. When the king’s guard came for his arrest, the rebellion started first with fists and shouting then with blades and dying.

“I’ve no fight left, cousin,” said Smyth, who carried no club. “The mountain is beating all of us.”

“If not for you, we’d not be challenging the mountain or each other,” Cassar fired back. Smyth’s betrayal still cut at Cassar’s heart.

“Not each other perhaps,” Smyth spoke again, this time gasping for air, “but, do you truly believe that you’d not be here climbing this mountain with him, rebellion or not?” Smyth pointed toward the king.

Cassar did not answer knowing the truth in Smyth’s question. The trip to the peak of Kekur had nothing to do with the rebellion or the traitors. The king seemed not to care about them. His concern for the kingdom and the crown had dissipated in the months preceding. Tarek’s actions were wild and dark. He brooded and cursed. He once said the swords at his hip were like an itch on the middle of his back, constantly nagging, but impossible to satiate. There was something waiting at the peak again, something that would change the course of the world forever.

“What’s going to happen?” Smyth gasped out the question.

“I dread to know.” Cassar answered.            

A Look Back at The Legacy of Kip Winger: Part 3

Note:  I need to correct some story points from Part 2.  'Songs Like This' was not the breakup of Kip and his woman.  It was more of a fight that causes them to think things differently.  Thus 'New Pony' becomes Kip's woman taking her own leisure since she sees Kip doing the same thing.   'Scumbag Blues' is still remorse but not about a breakup, but other issues in their relationship.  This came to me as I looked over what happens in this section of the story.

'Lotion' - The Greenskeepers from Polo Club

This song is somewhat of a guilty pleasure.  The groove is hypnotic and the lyrics are eerie pulling from a classic scary movie character.  You know the song is about messed up stuff, yet the rhythm makes you nod your head in time. I always struggled with how this song would fit into the story for me given its lyrical content.  Pulling back from literal interpretation, the song is more about Kip's obsession of his woman and his potential toxic effects on their relationship.

'Don't Let Me Stop You' - Kelly Clarkson from All I Ever Wanted

Kelly really belts out this song.  You can feel every bit of effort she gives and hear the fed up attitude in her voice.  This was the first full album of hers that I had bought and wasn't disappointed with the edge she brings to her music.  This is Kip's woman finally taking a stand in their relationship.  She is seeing his disrespect and knows she could do better.

'You Don't Understand Me' - The Raconteurs from Consolers of the Lonely

I wish The Raconteurs could of stayed together.  They were making some great music and I love the harmonies they put together, especially on this song.  The piano alone could break your heart, but mix in those backing vocals in the verses and the song oozes sadness.  The song fits perfectly in the story here.  This is Kip's retort in their argument.  There is a mixed message in the lyrics for Kip.  There are words thrown out similar to the previous song about go ahead and go, I can do better.  But the tone of the song suggests there is true sadness within Kip that he doesn't want to lose her.

'Undo It' - Carrie Underwood from Play On

This is our second and final entry from Carrie in his album.  On my first listen to Play On, this song stuck out for her vocal performance.  I believe since I had put it on the album, it was released as a single and thus would have violated my unwritten rule about songs.  So instead I take pride in my ability to pick out the good songs on an album without being force feed them on the radio. If you remember back a post ago and from my note above, I labeled 'Songs Like This' as Kip and his woman's breakup song.  That is what a few years removed from the story can do.  Red was correct in his observation that it didn't need to be a breakup and it wasn't supposed to be in my original thoughts.  I had forgotten what came later in the story and two angry Carrie Underwood songs didn't make remembering any easier.  This is truly the breakup.  Kip's woman wishes she had never gone where she did with Kip and wants out now.  

'Caroline' - Wolfmother from Cosmic Egg 

I had to look back and see if I had included Wolfmother's first album in my previous compilation 'Get A Haircut And Get a Real Job'.  I had not.  This song is different from anything else I had heard from Wolfmother as they usually rock out in that sex, drugs and Rock 'n Roll style of yesteryear.  This song is slow, brooding and gut wrenching at times.  You could say this song officially names my female lead as Caroline.  In the story, this is Kip's heartache post Caroline telling him to get lost.  He begs her to come back with him and run away to whatever place with make her happy.  The line that always sticks out with me, "Caroline, why you wanna live this way?", tells me Kip does love her but he just doesn't know how to love.  This has been built up to us through all his actions thus far.

Stay tuned for the next section that will finish up the first album of this double album compilation set.

My reading list for 2012

I thought I'd share books that I've read this year, and whether or not they are worth checking out. I think I read a couple more, but I find my memory is not what it used to be. I generally read fast, but sometimes my job pulls me away from it for weeks at a time. 

A Clash of Kings (Book 2 of A Game of Thrones) - George R.R. Martin 

A Storm of Swords (Book 3 of A Game of Thrones)  - George R.R. Martin

As indicated these are both part of the Game of Throne series – which has been made popular by the HBO series. As an aside, the HBO series (at least the first season) is very well done, although I think I'd have trouble following everything if I hadn't read the books. 

With that being said, I had read the first book awhile back, and actually hadn't been that inclined to keep going. But, at some point, it caught my attention again, and I consumed these two 1,000 page books in a couple weeks time. 

Obviously, the length will deter many from picking it up, but once you get into the story, it goes fast. I've never read a fantasy story that develops so many characters and really delves into the politics of the feudal system so well. There's plenty of action to keep the narrative flowing and the chapters aren't very long. Plus, Tyrion Lannister is one of the best characters you'll run into in this genre. 

Martin does an excellent job of developing every character, and peels back depth in even the most repulsive of personalities. The only thing that catches me is that I find the book titles to be drab. 

My recommendation: If you like this genre, you'll love this series. 

The Shining - Stephen King

I felt compelled to read this since I had read so many other books by King, and this was supposed to  be one of his best. I don't rank it all that high, but it's fine and a classic due in part Stanley Kubrick's film version. I watched the film after reading the book, and they are almost two different stories with similar structure. Nothing wrong with either, they are just different. 

On an aside, I bought this used and I think it was part of the first release. I found a ton of typos. That's unusual for a published work. 

My recommendation: I think it's required reading for people that like King. 

Are You Afraid of the Dark - Sydney Sheldon

This is the third Sheldon book I've read, and it confirmed what I suspected after reading the first two. This guy has a very basic plot formula that he plugs his characters into and then runs them through, no matter the setting and the specifics. If you've never read a Sheldon book, he writes the basic suspense, spy-type thriller. After a couple reads, you come to expect a twist at the end, so you spend most of the book just looking for the likely twist. 

The afterwords are actually my favorite part. He feeds in conspiracy theories with his plots, so you get details from the "real world" on things reflected in the book. For example, this book had to do with weather control. His afterword cites public documents where the U.S. government and Russian governments have applied for patents concerning weather control. He also cites examples of it being used. I just find those interesting. 

My recommendation: Eh. It's a good transition book between longer, more demanding reads. 

The Posionwood Bible - Barbara Kingslover

This is Kingslover's most acclaimed work, but I had a hard time getting into it. The first few chapters just drag. I have read a couple of her other books, and they usually pull you in quick. This is a more cognitive work involving a family of Baptist missionaries that go to the Congo during the 1960s (I think was the 60s, might have been 50s). The middle of this book gets solid as things fall apart for the family. Cause guess what, a bunch of starving Africans need food before they get preached too. I also felt the book went on about 100 pages too long. It would probably be good to read in a group to discuss symbolism, but I think it still could have stopped sooner or been cut down. 

My recommendation: Give other works by Kingslover like the "The Bean Trees" a try before jumping into this. You'll likely keep going after falling for the charm she brings to her work. 

Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton 

I wasn't sure I'd get past the movie when I borrowed this from my brother. I was surprised how wrong I was. Much like The Shining, the two are very different tales. The book attacks the situation more scientifically without bogging the reader down in too much data. It read quick, which also surprised me since I tried to read Crichton book once before and got tired of all the legal jargon. 

My recommendation: If you find it cheap, give it a go. 

Americana - Hampton Sides

This is a collection of articles that Sides wrote for various magazines that stretch over about a 15-year period from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. It makes me feel old to see how dated some of the early 1990s stuff is. The topics vary from Tuperware saleswomen to Steve Nash with overarching hope to provide a mosaic of the country. The post 9-11 article was the most brutally touching as he walked the steps of several people that were in the towers when the planes hit. 

My recommendation: If stumble across it, give it a chance. The nice thing is that you can read an article one day and not pick up again for 3 weeks and not have to worry about remembering plot. 

Spilling of the Heavens: Part 1, Section 2

The flames faded as the traitors fell back a few steps. Cassar formed a fresh line before the king. Even Kekur would not keep the traitors away long.

“Mighty Cassar!” The king’s voiced boomed. “To me, Mighty Cassar!”

The king had taken to calling him mighty since returning from the war with the dark king of Rion. The hairs on the back of Cassar’s neck rose each time it was said. He was not mighty. He was the son of a librarian, and if the fighting ever stops, he’d be a librarian himself. He belonged better among a stack books than forming a line. Yet, he obeyed.

The king was the only man that Cassar had ever met whose height nearly matched a gargolas. Tarek Grandar was but a head shorter than Cassar. The difference between the two was in the head, neck and limbs. Cassar’s head was huge with flat features. His neck was as round as a man’s waist and his limbs bulged out grotesquely. It didn’t stop there. Cassar’s forearms were twice the size of his biceps, and his legs below his knees were larger than they were above.

Tarek Grander, in contrast, had sharp features – a pointed nose and chin. He had a slender waist, but a thick chest. His arms and legs were strong, but clearly inferior to a gargola. Yet, no gargola with sense mistook Tarek Grandar for a lesser being.  Tarek Grandar was a god among men, dwarves and gargolas. It was more than just the powerful swords he carried. Tarek Grandar was myth given breath.

“Mighty Cassar, we must reach the peak by dawn,” Tarek’s voice cracked, the very thin grasp of sanity evident. In his better days, Tarek’s voice had stirred things in the heart of Cassar that he did not think possible. Power mixed with limitless kindness had won over Cassar and all that bowed before him in Marek. Those days were gone.

“Why my king, why?” Cassar wiped sweat and blood away from his forehead. “I’ve led you this far with no question, but we are under attack and undermanned. What business waits there? I deserve that much, if not as your subject than as your old friend!”

Tarek smiled. Behind his shoulder, Old Moon’s face frowned. Cassar thought at that moment the man may just pull the moon down and slay it when they reached the peak. What then, he thought, what would you do if he does just that?

“Old friend,” Tarek puzzled over the words. “Yes, old friend. You warrant that much.”

“Well, what is it then,” Cassar pleaded?  Behind them the traitors had retreated, but he knew that the battle would wage up the narrow staircase leading to the peak.

“I have business with the heavens. I seek payment for services rendered.” 

My Take on Bond's Best

Sure holidays like Thanksgiving provide great family time, lots of food and the biggest shopping time of the year, but for me I am always looking forward to TV marathons that the plethora of cable channels put on to fill programming time.  As is the case with most holidays, I was able to find several different channels running James Bond marathons.  After sharing the joy of hours upon hours of James Bond with my wife and kids, I decided to make a list of my Top 5 James Bond movies.

#5  Live And Let Die

Obviously the movie with the best Bond theme has to make my list.  As with most Bond films, it drips with popular culture and is dated with themes of the day.  This Bond uses the blaxplotation style that was prevalent in the 70's sending Bond through Harlem and into New Orleans chasing a voodoo man and a heroin dealer named Mr. Big.  I always found it interesting to know Jane Seymour was a Bond girl.  This was Roger Moore's first outing as Bond proving he had the chops to take over the franchise from Sean Connery.  In the end, redneck lawman, Sheriff Pepper steals the show leading to the recurrence of the character in later movies.


#4  From Russia With Love

This one may be more of a sentimental choice.  The juxtaposition of trained assassin Grant with Bond makes the film very interesting.  Grant spends the first half of the movie protecting Bond from danger just to ensure he makes it to the train so he can kill him.  There is a subtle distractedness to the Bond story here.  We know from the beginning what the plot is a trap, who the bad guys are and where they are going.  Those are usually secrets revealed throughout the Bond films.  It makes the movie more about the journey as symbolized by the long train ride on the Orient Express and Bond's meandering around Instanbul.  There is something special about that for a Bond flick. 


#3   Casino Royale

Daniel Craig's first effort as Bond takes us back to the emergence of 007.  The story is gritty, Bond is far from a perfect Double O agent and the action sequences seem fresh.  Plot is unfolded masterfully with several twists along the way.  A good love interest gave the movie an additional layer that leads us to the path of 007 becoming a cold killer and carefree lover.


#2   Goldeneye

Pierce Brosnan's first Bond film was a return to the Sean Connery form for 007 after Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton had taken the character in different directions.  The plot features a good story and a nice twist.  The gadgets and goofiness were scaled back for a more sauve Bond with amazing action sequences.  Also, this movie brought Judi Dench as the new M creating a new dimension and depth to the character previously reserved to just scold Bond and tell him to get on his way.  Dench's M is demanding and becomes almost as central of a character in the movies as Bond himself.


#1  Goldfinger

This one finally perfected the mold of a Bond movie that many tried to recreate over and over again.  Auric Goldfinger is a fantastic villian.  Oddjob is the perfect henchman.  Pussy Galore is the great Bond girl name.  There are a few unique dynamics in this entry that continue to set it apart.   Bond has many run ins with Goldfinger as he tries to get the villian off his game, yet Goldfinger never seems to feel all that threatened by him.  The ultimate sequence in the movie is when Goldfinger has Bond captured and tied to a table with the laser slowly approaching the helpless 007.  In retort to Bond's efforts, Goldfinger coolly responds, "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."  This trap more than any other should have been killed if not for his ability to manipulate other investors in Goldfinger's scheme to keep him alive.  Also, there is the way Bond ends up foiling the plan altogether, not by his skill as a Double O agent, but his charisma with Pussy Galore.  The entire movie is well done with a superb villian and Connery's Bond as cool as a cucumber.

Honorable Mentions:

A View to a Kill - Christopher Walken as a Bond villian. 

Thunderball - Domino is the best Bond girl ever.

Dr. No - The one that started it all.