Hi Cambridge-Area Folks,
I’m not just a novelist nerd, you know. I do write songs, too.
Come hear me rock on April 2. After that my next gig is in 2027,
when all rocking will be done in wheelchairs. Natali Freed and
Rick Drost will be performing that night, too.
Here’s the FB invite & the flier:
http://www.facebook.com/events/369655889722664/
David Krancher, songwriter
On April 2, Monday, 6:15 p.m.
All Asia Bar, Central square,
334 Mass Ave. Cambridge, MA
617-497-1544
Yoko Ono has collected the Oskar Kokoschka prize, one of Austria’s most important awards for contemporary art.
Speaking at a press conference, she said: “I think this is very special because Kokoschka is not only an icon of Austria but he is a world icon in the art field.”
“He’s always going to be known and his work is always going to be known because he was always true to himself. And I think truth is something that’s very important now,” she added.
—Oskar Kokoschka had a passionate, often stormy affair with Alma Mahler, shortly after the death of her four-year-old daughter Maria Mahler and her affair with Walter Gropius. After several years together, Alma rejected him, explaining that she was afraid of being too overcome with passion. He continued to love her his entire life, and one of his greatest works, The Bride of the Wind (The Tempest), is a tribute to her.
A mashup is, of course, the putting together (or mashing) of separate elements to create a whole unique piece of art. The term is usually used in music and was pioneered by Hip Hop which uses it extensively. Has it ever been done successfully with a novel? Will I try to achieve that?
I’ve got two projects: 1. a once-finished novel that is “trunked” or out of circulation, and 2. An early work-in-progress, WIP, with two new characters but no structure. Novel 1, I’ve found is a mess because when I indulgently tried to insert the character of my Ex into the narrative and when the 3rd person POV of the novel tried to read her mind . . . it failed. The best I could do at the time was take out all that material (12k words), but now I’ve got a story like a 3-legged table. My proposal would be to create a mashup by inserting a new character from the WIP in its place. I’ve never done anything this radical before. I’m not sure how inserting new material into an older narrative would work. It’s not a traditional mashup, if there is such a thing, but it would be a challenge. It’s a method to consider.
My short story, Late Night Waitress, has been accepted by Wilderness House Literary Review for September. Julia Carlson, the fiction editor, asked for a bio and said I ought to include the info about the music that relates to the story. This story evolved from a ejected chapter from my novel, Blues Pizza. I hope to publish the novel with the songs on CD so readers can listen and read. The story is built around a songwriter who’s in New York for a session gig and who also has written a song for the band in cutting the record. The actual song, Choosers, is a song I’ve written and recorded. I just put it up on YouTube.
Here:
The Mendocino Coast Writers Conference is held on the scenic northern California coast. I know, I learned to write and swim there (Fort Bragg, CA). Its faculty has included: Barbara Kingsolver, John Lescroart, Ronnie Gilbert, and Gary Snyder. It offers scholarships and contests and nature hikes. I wish I could be there to see Glass Beach, Noyo Harbor, and Pudding Creek. It’s held this year in late July. Check it out at http://mcwc.org.
Thanks to all the visitors today. I’m thinking you didn’t come yesterday because you didn’t know about the site yet. They don’t call me Sherlock Holmes. Thanks also to Charlotte for her comments. This is inspiring; I’ll have to add some new material now you’ve brought it to life for me.
My style of humor is comparable with Nick Hornby of High Fidelity, said agent Carolyn Jenks.
Here’s a Nick Hornby interview in the Guardian (UK):
Borderdance:
A poet clashes with his father to avoid fighting in the Viet Nam War. A reporter follows him to get the story as he smuggles draft dodgers and hashish over the Canadian border. Her need for the adventure in his story and his need to escape confuses the feelings which develop between them.
davidkrancher.com 