S.K. Waller's Blog, page 16

Website Launch

It was a major project and the work will be on-going, but that's exactly what I had in mind when I decided to go for it.

For the past few years I've kept a blog dedicated to the rock bands of the 1960s through early '70s in my native area: the Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties of the central coast of California. For many of you this is not news, but I've never blatantly promoted that blog here...
Recently, I sat down and really took stock of that blog. It was going nowhere and I wasn't keeping it up, although it's really important to me. I finally decided the problem was that I'd bored myself. I'd forgotten my real reason for creating it in the first place, that is, to call attention not only to the great bands that came out of the Tri-counties, but to educate the general garage band-loving public about the important role these bands played.

In the late 1950s the Pismo Beach area of San Luis Obispo county burst open with what would in a few years be called Surf Music: the twangy guitars, the da-dun...da (walk-don't...run) snare drum, and the excitement these guys created swept the nation. Other bands, now well-known to everyone (the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, et al) received the fame for covering certain songs, but our guys were the first. Groups like the Impacts (Wipeout!), the Revels (Church Key), and the Sentinals (whose organ player, Michael Olson, would go on to become Lee Michaels), were playing Surf Music first.

Then came the Beatles in 1964, blowing everyone out of the water and off the charts. Very quickly, dancing on the sand with Brylcreamed, bouffant hair fell from favor, replaced by dance clubs and shaggy bangs. New garage bands appeared and, as Steve Myers of the Duquanes noted,

"Every neighborhood in Santa Barbara had its resident band, much like I imagine everywhere else did, too. No kidding. Get in your car and travel all parts of the city and you could hear teen bands practicing in their garage on any given Saturday morning."

But the Tri-counties didn't adhere to the British Sound. Instead, they took what they liked and cast off the rest. While southern California topped the charts with Folk-Rock (the Byrds, the Mamas & the Papas...) and Progressive Rock (the Mothers of Invention, the Doors...) and northern California grabbed national attention with Acid Rock (the Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and Big Brother & the Holding Company...) the Gold Coast, overlooked and passed over, was busy mixing up their own brew that included all of that, but whose base was Surf. Welcome to 1960s proto punk, California style.

Anyway, my reason for this post wasn't to teach you a lesson in popular music history, it was only to tell you that the initial Gold Coast California Dreamin' blog just wasn't large enough, either in size or in vision, so I built a website. A BIG website, where each and every band that I've researched over the past six years has their own page and where our musicians can go to catch up with each other and know that they have not been forgotten.

If you're at all interested, pay a visit!

Spotlight on Beyond The Bridge

I'm rather proud and happy this morning. I awoke to find that the Special Edition of Beyond The Bridge is the Featured Indie Book at Indie Author News . Check it out!

That's the way to start the day!

Fool For a Day

There he goes, that merry Fool. Dressed in his extravagant best, striking out on a new beginning and new adventures, running not away, but toward. Shunning attachments, he has packed only what he needs in a small sack, he carries a white rose of purity, the sun is shining on him, and he's finally on his great quest, singing a little tune, tra-la!

His faithful companion tries to warn him that he's about to step off the edge of the world, but why should he care? What precipice? Because he has no knowledge of the supposed danger, the universe will hold him up and he'll continue unscathed, like a bumble bee who doesn't know it's not built to fly.

In modern card decks he is the Joker, the wild card, capable of fulfilling anything that is required of him. In the tarot deck his number is 0. He exists, yet he doesn't exist. Like a full, pregnant womb from which life is about to emerge, the Fool represents that promise and peril, that innocence.

This is how I look at April Fool's Day. Not a day of practical jokes and pranks, but a day during which I may walk off the edge of some cliff in my mind—always one of my own making—to find I am magically upheld and supported. It's a day when common sense must take a back seat and I must strike out and let my feet take me where they will.

Where would you go, what would do, if you had no understanding of failure, if you knew you could succeed at anything you set your heart on?

Don't look down!

Cut

Friends left their mark
Upon my table,
Strangers left theirs
Upon my skin;
Covered with indelible cuts,
Gashes and stains,
My heart has been likewise mutilated;
Blade to wood
And needle to skin.
But here,
Pen to paper,
But here,
I leave my own.

(From the POV of my main character in Beyond The Bridge, Gordon Hammond.)

Mag 213

Copyright © 2014 SK Waller

Giving it One More Shot

I've decided to accept the challenge. Not that any particular person has issued such a thing, I think I'd like to give this daily word quota another stab. I need structure in my life, a little self-discipline, and after reading an excellent blog entry Kelly Sedinger tweeted this morning, I decided to give it another shot...
Mind you, I'm not entirely convinced that one size fits all when it comes to anything connected to being an artist. Hard-and-fast rules meet my stubborn streak like a bug on a windshield; I much prefer rules of thumb that make allowances for the immensity and complexity of the human equation. Besides this, writing—for me, anyway—isn't math. It isn't numbers. It isn't about keeping score. It's about self-encounter. Gestalt, if you will. I've never been able to approach any of my artistic endeavors any other way and, as tidy and orderly as I am without, I am equally chaotic within. That chaos, that yin energy is where my work comes from; I cannot be left-brained about it. On the other hand, I can't imagine that a little self-discipline could be harmful in any way. If it is, I'll stop, having lost nothing, but having learned something important about myself.

My guidelines for will be:
Write every day (or night). The number of words doesn't matter, just write something and log it in my journal.Write on one project only. Forget that those other wannabe books are there and focus on Book Three.Don't edit until the writing session is over. If I'm too tired, then do it in the morning over coffee.And that's it. Fini. That's all, folks. There ain't no more. I might let you know how it's going, but I might not. The latter will be the case if my experiment is a dismal failure.

Heirophant

I am here.
Holding court,
receiving pilgrims.
Creatures whom,
having sprung from my imagination,
I sent on my bloody crusades.
They return to haunt me like ghostly Templars
who at last recognize the
sodden, lascivious humanity of their pope.
They ask me how, why, and why not,
driving me more firmly into the throne
of memories and vices and madness
of my holy cause.

Mag 212

Copyright © 2014 SK Waller

Ah! The Muse!

After living an entire lifetime as an artist, I've finally discovered the identity of my muse. Ah! The muse! The beneficent guardian spirit who protects my ideas and inspirations. Ah! The muse! She who indeed breathes that inspiration into mine ear as I lay in gentle reverie. Ah! The muse! The repository of every lofty idea I shall ever imagine. Ah! The Muse!

Yeah, right...


Since I first began expressing myself through the arts over half a century ago, I have listened to her goading, coaxing, enticing me to kick the ball she holds, and no matter how much I trust, she always, always pulls it away at the last minute. Time and again we have repeated this little game; I never learn.

Or perhaps I know all too well, but hope against hope for a different outcome. Perhaps I believe that one day she'll take pity, or have mercy, or lose interest, and just allow me that one lovely kick. Perhaps I'm insane.

Or perhaps next time I'll aim a little higher and send her sprawling.

Beyond The Bridge in Laurel Canyon!

Do you live in the LA area? If so, and if you're looking for a worthy cause to help support (as well as great time!) check out the website of Laurel Canyon's Wonderland School .

This Saturday evening, Friends of Wonderland will be holding a silent auction to help support, among other needs, their recent hiring of three full-time teachers in the fields of music, art, and gardening, and the Special Edition of my book, Beyond The Bridge will be under the gavel. If that doesn't jibe with my main character, Gordon Hammond, I don't know what does! If you've read either (or both) of the first two books in the series, you know that these three subjects are what make Gordon tick.  He in fact spends a significant amount of time in Laurel Canyon and falls in love with it. For a while he even entertains the idea of moving there, only one of two places in the entire world that ever nearly lures him away from his beloved Chadwicke Park. What's really awesome is that the organizers of this auction had no knowledge of this little fact when they approached me.
"As you may know, many schools in the Los Angeles area have fundraisers to enhance the education of their children. With the current budget crisis in LAUSD, the funds that we raise are crucial! Fundraisers not only guarantee the much-needed day-to-day supplies, but also basic curriculum, like art, P.E., music and technology, as well as our unique gardening curriculum. Wonderland Avenue Elementary School is proud of the accomplishments of its remarkable students and teachers. Our school is public and located in Laurel Canyon. We serve the neighborhood as well as attracting children from all over the city to our Gifted Magnet program. Our 550 students broadly represent the many cultures and ethnic groups within Los Angeles. We also have a very active parent body that donates time, energy, and resources to our classrooms and both the PTA and to Friends of Wonderland, the school booster club." - Friends of Wonderland

When they came to me asking if I'd like to donate a copy of my book, I leapt into action. How could I not? Not only have I been a resident of Laurel Canyon , but the state of education in our country is of great concern to me. We need more public schools like Wonderland, but to create and maintain those, we need to donate what we can, and help support them with our time, money, and involvement.

If you'd like more information, check out the school's website, which I linked above. The event, called "All That Jazz", will be held at the famous celebrity A-List venue, The Sportsman's Lodge in Studio City. Tickets are $85 if bought in advance. At the door they will be $100. Entertainment will be provided by The Looters.

Song of the Excommunicant

When Jesus sat at the supper table
to serve them bread and wine,
He said, “Among you is the one
who will betray me tonight.”
The disciples didn’t point at each other,
daring to judge or try,
they just looked within themselves asking,
“Master, is it I?
Master, is it I who would run from you
just to save my life?
Master is it I who would thrice deny you,
or sell you for the highest price?”

So when you're gathered all together,
to devour Him in your feast,
remember where you’ve put your faith:
that he came to save the least.
When you stoop to judge your neighbors,
because they don’t comply,
Stop and look within yourself and ask,
“Master, is it I?
Master is it I who will run from you,
From love, from faith, from light?
Master, is it I who will create pain,
Ignorance and blight?
Master, is it I who have shamed your name,
the grace sent from above?
Master, is it I who’s blind and lame
Because I refuse to love?”

(If it's a bit choppy in rhythm, it's because it really is a song that came to me.)

Mag 211

Copyright © 2014 SK Waller

Want to Fall in Love This Weekend?

After extensive rewriting, re-editing, and re-wanting to shoot myself, Beyond The Bridge is on Kindle . This single-volume Special Edition includes book one, With A Dream, and book two, With A Bullet. If you've already purchased the paperback (Special Edition only), the Kindle version is free. Otherwise, the price is $3.99. Hey, it's two books, and you get to fall in love with the handsome guitar god, Gordon Hammond!

Onward, now, I march bravely into writing book three. It has been hiding in the corner for too long.