To Touch the Sun

It's finally here. The day To Touch the Sun, my vampire novel set in Chicago is released on Amazon. As you can imagine I'm very excited.

And now I'm officially on YouTube. My editor posted my reading of the prologue for the book today too. So since this is a blog about listening as well as looking, I thought I'd post my humble reading effort on here. Hope you enjoy it.




I might work on more audio to promote the book, whether it be reading a few more excerpts or just talking about the book. It's all as time permits. The book is available in paperback and Kindle format at Amazon.

And if you'd like to know a little more about the series or what went into writing the novel, you can check out my Sentient/Feral Vampire Series blog.

I hope the novel is as enjoyable for people to read as it was for me to write.

On Feb. 25 there will be a Facebook launch for the release of my novel To Touch the Sun, my vampire novel set in Chicago. I'm pretty excited about this. It took me many years to find a publisher for this novel but I finally found Dagda Publishers who've been great to work with. And the novel has been getting some good advance reviews on Goodreads.

Stop in at the Facebook launch and say "hi." There's a free book up for grabs to people who attend. The novel will be available beginning Feb. 25 on Amazon for Kindle and paperback format.

In honor of this release, I thought I'd post one of my favorite bits from Eddie Izzard regarding movie vampires. Eddie Izzard is one of the best comedians out there. He has an almost rhythmic quality to his stand up, which touches on a variety of topics from culture to politics to entertainment. I first "met" him when I picked up a VHS (yes, that long ago) of "Dress to Kill" on a whim. Kill he did in this concert and I was an instant fan. Enjoying later concerts like "Glorious", "The Definite Article" and "Circle" to name a few. He's a comic I can listen to over and over and never get tired.

In his bit on horror movies he addresses the points we all consider when we're watching them at whatever a.m. in the morning. Hope you enjoy it. And I hope to see you at the Facebook launch of To Touch the Sun Tuesday. Just click on the link above.

Beatlemania: Fifty Years and Going Strong

Let the record show that I arrived in Chicago five months and two days before the Beatles did. During their North American tour, they arrived at Midway Airport at 4:30 in the afternoon Sept. 5 greeted by 5,000 screaming girls. Well, 5K screaming girls, probably some jealous boyfriends, some perplexed parents and a smattering of bemused reporters who know doubt wrote clever stories about this musical "flash in the pan" descending on the town. I mean, no one had seen anything like it, so how could it be anything legitimate or lasting? A year later, who would even remember there were a Beatles?

The Beatles beat my arrival in America by less than a month. I was still cooking when they played that historic Ed Sullivan show on Feb. 9. I later asked my mom what she thought of them as she watched the telecast, and she said she really liked them (I wonder if some of those good endorphins the show produced in my mom made their way to me). One of my regrets in life is that I never talked to my mom about some things, music being one of them. She was quite a good singer and claimed, though I'm not sure how true this was, that she had been asked to go on tour with a big band. Whether it was because these topics didn't come up, or because of the various bouts of nastiness going on in my household forced me to simply wish to tune it all out, there are things now that I wish I had asked both my parents about. The Beatles arriving in America would have been on the list of lighter topics I wish I could talk to them about. 

Bottom line: The Beatles and Laura L. Enright arrived in America the same year, 1964, though I suspect that the Beatles had more of an impact. Of course, you never know. The day is young. I can say that my arrival had quite an impact on my family since when my mom went into labor with me, my dad had a heart attack. 

Maybe when it comes to impacts I should give myself more credit.

Anyroad, my sister recently reminded me of the connection of time that the Beatles and I shared suggesting that it could be why I'm such a huge fan of the group. In terms of age I generally don't think of it. I think that's one reason why hitting the milestones never really fazed me. Thirty, forty. Actually, I had a rough time of it in my teens and twenties so my thirties and forties, at least emotionally and in terms of confidence, were a treat. What my fifties will bring, is anyone's guess. I remain hopeful. 

But my sister may truly be on to something here, though if I was bitten by Beatlemania during that golden year of 1964, it took ten years to incubate. I became conscious of music close enough to the group's music being played in normal radio rotation to gain an appreciation for it. And I seem to remember a yearly viewing of Yellow Submarine shown around Easter. I loved that movie, though I'm sure, at the time, a lot of subtext was lost on me.

No, I can't remember what age exactly, it may have been when I was 11, but it wasn't till about a decade later that I was overcome by full blown Beatlemania. WGN Channel 9 had an afternoon showing of "A Hard Day's Night." I think at this point I had already fallen in love with various British things like Monty Python, Doctor Who, etc. It was the first time, however, that I saw this movie and it blew me away. 

THEY WERE SO CUUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!

Okay, the music was fantastic. The dialogue wonderful. And even though for much of it, acting wasn't necessary (the movie was specifically meant to be a "day in the life" sort of look at the group's life after all), they were incredibly natural with sharp comic timing. 

It's pretty impressive when you think about it. Here are these four young men, recently having entered this maelstrom of fame, and not only are they fantastic musicians, they're naturals on the big screen. Just one example of why the Beatles are so compelling even 50 years later.

And THEY WERE SO CUUUUUUUTE!!!!!

You see, when I really discovered them, I was the age I should have been when they first arrived in America. It was bound to happen, it was just delayed a bit. So there and then I was overcome by Beatlemania. All the collecting I would have been doing in the 60s, I did in the 70s. Records, books, magazines. The thing about the Beatles is, they broke up in 1970 but they continue to be a force to be reckoned with. Listening to their music still lightens my way a bit. That's why you have a big celebration in the U.S. fifty years after their first visit here. There's something about them and their music that keeps them relevant and exciting.

My first Beatleish album was a compilation titled Rock and Roll Music. It had some of their earliest music on including, much to my surprise, "Got To Get You Into My Life," which I had only heard performed by Earth Wind and Fire (one of the bands able to adequately cover a Beatles tune). This Beatles version was completely different. I liked it. The album also featured several covers the Beatles did of other songs that illustrated how versatile this band was and cemented my belief that they could take any song and make it their own.

My first Beatles album was The White Album. This could be why it might be my favorite album of the group even though it was a clear indication of the members themselves moving off in their own direction. The White Album showed the full range of what the individual members were capable and it was quite varied. McCartney, author of "I Will" and "Ob-La-Di Ob-La Da" also penned "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Helter Skelter" for heaven's sake. John went from "Dear Prudence" to "Sexy Sadie" to "Yer Blues" And Let's not forget "Revolution #9" which, say what you will, has a musical charm all its own. George's contributions are equally interesting. "Savoy Truffle" "Long Long Long" "Piggies" and the exquisite "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Ringo never was much of a songwriter, but the songs he performs "Don't Pass me By" and "Good Night" remain favorites.

I was so blown away by the album that I insisted my older sister listen to it while my younger brother and I were off on vacation with our parents (she was old enough to stay at home). When I got home I quizzed her on it. "Wasn't this song great!" "Wasn't that song great!" And she dutifully nodded and enthused over songs that I now know she probably never listened to cause she wasn't a fan of them. 

Well from there it was just a matter of collecting the other albums, and being impressed at how much their style changed in so short a time. The band was only together for ten years, but it's stunning to think about the work that was produced in so short a time especially when you consider how young they were. George Harrison was only 17 years old when they started cutting their teeth on live performance in seedy Hamburg clubs (these gigs being one reason they were so incredibly tight when playing live). In fact he was deported from Germany for being underage. They were musical, but never studied music. Paul, whose father played trumpet and piano in his own band, was perhaps the closest to a trained musician. None could read music. Paul and John lost their moms at young ages. John and Ringo were both fatherless. Ringo spent a good deal of his childhood battling one illness or another. 

Despite all this, they had a drive for music that couldn't be denied. I love this part of the story because considering where they came from, it makes it all the more amazing to think of what these guys accomplished. They wrote their own songs at a time when that was unusual. They made albums with songs that were all equally good (not just a couple of singles and the rest filler, as was often the case at the time). It would have been very easy for them to stick with the sound that had given them such success and milk it for all they could. They themselves didn't know how long it would all last and they were very open about this in early interviews. Rather than stagnate, they chose to grow. Their willingness to experiment was one of their greatest strengths and it encouraged others to follow suit.

Of course all that growth eventually led them to grow apart. Even though I read them long after the fact, that's the part of the bios that always made me misty: That part where the Beatles called it quits. It's tough even for a little Beatlemaniac late to the game.

In 1976 Lorne Michaels, producer of Saturday Night Live, took a moment on the show to offer the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show. According to Paul McCartney, a week later, while he was visiting Lennon, they were watching SNL and debating making a surprise visit to the show (it was a live show) just for fun. One of those, "Yeah that would be great! Ah, never mind" moments.

Four years later, John would be dead, shot outside his apartment building by an obsessed fan.

The three remaining Beatles got together for the Beatles Anthology project and even produced a couple of new songs using vocals John had recorded years before for his own songs. The documentary was shown in 1995.



George Harrison died in 2001 of cancer.

Today, fifty years after their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Beatles will be feted, the two surviving Beatles on hand for the accolades. Interestingly, the two remaining Beatles are the two who seemed to have an easier time of coming to terms with their Beatle history. It's hard not to consider the "what if" though. What if Lennon had not died so young and the four Beatles did come together again to make music? At least for a short while. Not to fulfill any contracts. Just for themselves. I'm not sure whether or not it would have been great, but I bet it would have been fun.

Vampire Music Part IIII

To continue the choices I made for the chapter on music in my book Vampires' Most Wanted, I offer Blondie and Sting.

4.  A Carnival Ride

The drums roll with the urgency of a car crash leading straight into Blondie’s ska flavored “Screaming Skin” a lyrically clever song about a vampire going to feed.  The song is found on the groups’ 1999 CD “No Exit” which is full of the most eclectic and enjoyable music of its career.  Debbie Harry’s voice is able to pull off breathy and ethereal, as well as straight up cocky.  Known for mainstream hits like “Heart of Glass” and “Call Me” the group has been around since the mid-70s and its music has remained elastic, alternating between edgy punk and danceable pop always with a challenge to take it or leave it.

“Screaming Skin” possesses creative lyrics as it describes a vampire who perhaps waited a bit too long to feed.  “Swallowing my pride no longer/I take the forbidden sun/If I’ve been sculpted by hunger/I’m not the only.”  The song has a sort of carnival feel to it with its energetic beat and flowing guitar though Harry’s deep-voiced vocal leaves no question of her intent when she sings, “My skin cries/My blood sighs/I still owe some dread on this hide of mine.”  There is no secret to what she’s after.

3.  Bourbon Street Blues

There was a rumor decades ago, when talk of a movie version of Interview with a Vampire was first bandied about, that Sting was being considered for the part of Lestat. In those early days of The Police he certainly exuded the sort of poetic conceit that Rice’s most famous vampire possessed.  Whether the rumors were true or not, it’s now a matter of record that the movie took quite some time to finally be made.  In 1985, Sting released his first solo album “The Dream of the Blue Turtles” when it seemed as if The Police had been put to rest.  A jazz aficionado, he assembled some of the rising stars in jazz at the time including Branford Marsalis and Omar Hakim to spice up an album that explored all sorts of musical styles.

“Moon Over Bourbon Street,” inspired by Interview with a Vampire, is a song that seems perfect for a stage musical.  In it, Sting tells the story of a reluctant predator as he cruises the streets of New Orleans, considering fate of endless night, forever an outsider “Oh you’ll never see my shade/or hear the sound of my feet/while there’s a moon over Bourbon Street.”  After explaining himself, his longing, his loneliness, at last, as if the confession were ripped out of him, he cries out “I must love what I destroy and destroy the thing I love.”  Sting captures the lonely melancholy projected by Louis the heartbroken vampire who can never reconcile what he must to do to survive.  Lestat may have the flash but were it not for the quiet soul of Louis, there would have been no Interview.

Next up, a bloodletting and a creepy ode to Bela Lugosi.

Vampire Music Part V

And so we come to the end of the chapter on vampire music from my book Vampires' Most Wanted. It was a lot of fun to go through so many great tunes to get these ten. Here are numbers 2 and 1.

2.  Bloodletting

Johnette Napolitano’s biker chick voice is perfectly suited to Concrete Blonde’s hard driving introspective sound.  Formed in 1982 and recording off and on over the decades, the band had a minor hit with the song “Joey” off the album “Bloodletting” which also contained “Bloodletting (the Vampire Song)” another song influenced by Anne Rice’s vampires.  The song has a sauntering swagger to it with evocatively cryptic lyrics that seem to elude to the singer’s run in with a vampire that may have changed her life forever “Oh, you were a vampire/ and I may never see the light.”  The encounter leaves her with much to ponder, “I got the ways and means/to New Orleans…I’m gonna have a drink/and walk around/I got a lot to think about.”   Another allusion to vampires is made in the chorus of “The Beast” when she sings, “Love is the vampire, drunk on your blood.”  The band’s sound is not pure gothic rock, but, fast or slow, the melodies are haunting, the lyrics poetic often times speaking to themes of loss and longing.  All the while, however, Napolitano’s fierce vocals are charged with defiant independence.  Even after a run in with a vampire, she would be nobody’s victim.

1.  Bela Lugosi's Dead

This song is straight from the crypt.  Over nine minutes long it comes off as sort of an undead jam session.  It’s minimalist, guided by simple, bone dry percussion sounding in parts as if someone were scratching on a coffin lid.   The guitar licks are striking, the voice, with the drone of Jim Morrison, is deep, ladened with reverb. The lyrics come to the point quickly “The bats have left the bell tower/the victims have been bled/Red velvet lines the black box/Bela Lugosi’s dead.”

Formed in 1978 in Northampton, England, the Bauhaus are credited with being at the forefront of the gothic rock movement which combined the anger and disillusionment of the fading punk rock movement with the musical exploration of New Wave. There was also an element of glam rock to the band’s music and style. The group took its name from the 1920s German Bauhaus movement and in some respects the band’s music could be a match for the German impressionist films of the time.

The song opens the 1983 Tony Scott film “The Hunger” as scenes of the band performing are intercut with scenes of the vampire Miriam and her paramour David enticing two club goers to go home with them for the  night.  The band less then two months old, they recorded five songs and in an audacious move, released “Bela Lugosi…” as their debut single in 1979.  Never a hit on the U.K. charts, the song none the less remains a classic in the gothic movement.

There you have it. Hope you enjoyed it. As I stated when I began, I don't claim these to be the ten best. Everyone has their own opinion. They were among the best though. If you have any songs you'd like to suggest, drop them in a comment.

Vampire Music Part III

This is the third part in my series featuring the chapter on vampire music in my book Vampires' Most Wanted. There is a surprising amount of music out there inspired in some way by vampires that it was really hard to choose. My choices in the whole book don't necessarily reflect my opinion on what's best. Just what I found interesting. Best, biggest, brightest is just too subjective a thing to try to state. But I only had ten entries to work with. Here are numbers 6 and 5:

6.  Opera of the Dead

The Italian gothic metal band Theatres des Vampires has a fixation for vampires, among its other dark song subjects.  This is not upbeat music.  It’s dramatic and unrelenting yet curiously beautiful in its black mood.  It seems to understand the romance and the danger of the modern concept of vampirism and how a soul can be lost to its deceptive beauty.

“Vampiryca” begins with a gentle piano and the soft sounds of a woman crooning.  As the tempo picks up, a guitar wraps around the song like a rope being pulled taught.  The song is both an entreaty and a warning.  “When you walk my dark path/ love like a blood bath.”  The singer is answering a prayer yet cautioning that the gift will change life in dark ways unexpected. 

“Suicide Vampire” is a slower song, yet meaty and operatic, guided largely by violins and a heavy beat.  The desperate confusion of a person torn between two extremes is palpable in a chorus performed with the staccato of a chopping ax.  The singer speaks of his immortality purchased with other lives, but it’s “A dismal journey in the valley of death.”  Perhaps this is the gift in “Vampiryca” making itself fully realized.  Eventually, the song drifts to an end as if disappearing into the night like the vampire itself.

“La Danse Macabre du Vampire” is another song of operatic passion.  An 80s sounding synth line threads throughout the song punctuating the cat-growled lyrics with a curiously poppy feeling.  Make no mistake, though.  This is a hungry song.  Attempting to seduce, “I’m your pleasure…” yet promising, “…your pain/this night we rise for our thirst/this night we rise to live.”

The group’s name is taken from Anne Rice’s Paris vampire coven in Interview with a Vampire.  Members have romanced the notion of vampirism adopting nicknames like Lord Vampyr, Incubus and Strigoi and using album titles like “Nosferatu” “The Vampire Chronicles” and “Vampyrisme.”  Hardly understated, but definitely worth a listen.

5.  Oh Yes They Will

There’s a gothic, lonely-drifter feeling to My Chemical Romance’s “Vampires Will Never Hurt You.”  The song can be found on the New Jersey group’s 2002 CD “I brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love” a musical scream from start to finish.  The CD was recorded three months after the group’s formation in 2001 and is surprisingly tight for so young a band.  Citing among their influences the arena rock of Queen, the media-punk of The Misfits, and the drama of the Smiths, its no wonder their songs contain an element of theatricality in their storytelling.

In "Vampires" two people seem stranded in a horrifying situation.  It's a dramatic song, the music harsh and unrelenting, almost frightened, the singer desperate in his desire to save them both.  One can practically envision the singer and his love holed up in some ghost town, terrified of what will happen when the sun goes down.  The singer vows that he'll do what he can to protect his beloved from whatever undead seems about to come upon them.  All the while, he tells her, "And if they get me take this spike to my heart."  But as much as he insists, "I'll never let them hurt you now tonight" it seems it's a promise he's unable to keep.  The force they're running from is just too powerful and at some point the sun will go down.



Next time, two names that started in the late 70s yet managed to stand the test of time.

Vampire Music Part II

In my last post featuring bits from the music chapter of my book Vampires' Most Wanted, I offered #10 "Vlad the Impaler" by Kasabian, a grungy and bizarre little ditty, and reggae songs for the #9 entry featuring Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sinead O'Connor, Black Uhuru and Tribal Seeds singing songs titled "Vampire." I think of the latter bunch, my favorite would be Tribal Seeds for the sheer drama of its sound, but I like them all.

So let's continue with numbers 8 and 7:

8.  Love and the Horror Hostess

Formed in 1977 The Misfits are noted as the progenitors of horror punk which would influence later bands embracing more gothic elements.  A New Jersey band, it took its name from the 1961 Marilyn Monroe film “The Misfits” and plunged happily into the emerging punk rock movement that had been making its way over from England.  They released a few EPs and played live gigs, even touring the U.K., but it wasn’t until 1982 that they released their first full length album “Walk Among Us.”  Heavily inspired by horror films and sci fi of the 1950s this is mosh pit madness. Rarely going beyond one minute 50 seconds, the songs of The Misfits are surgical strikes:  You’re in, you’re out, you’re onto the next song before your ears have stopped ringing.  Or bleeding, depending on the song and how loudly you’ve listened to it.

“Vampira” is an ode to the 1950s TV frightfest host Vampira, she of the freakishly small waist and high arched brows.  There is no subtlety musically or lyrically nor should there be.  The singer has been in love with her since he was a kid and is calling to her now with the aggression of a high school quarterback juiced up on steroids.  “Mistress to the horror kid/Cemetery of the white love ghoul, well/Take off your shabby dress/Come and lay beside me.”  He’s only been allotted so much time to get his point across so he does so with the bluntness of punk.

7.  Dracula’s Wedding

There’s a lot going on musically for this quick song but the beginning lyrics say it all.  “You’re all I’ve ever wanted but I’m terrified of you.”

In 2003 the members of Outkast each recorded solo albums and put them together to give us the double CD “Speakerboxx/The Love Below.”  Nestled in on track 16 of Andre 3000’s “The Love Below” is the song “Dracula’s Wedding” which uses Dracula as a metaphor to illustrate the fear of commitment that strikes everyone when “till death do us part” comes into play.  “I wait my whole life to bite the right one/then you come along and that freaks me out.”  You may have found your forever love but forever is a long time and a lot can happen between now and forever.

Heavily jazz influenced, the whole CD has a sort of stream of consciousness vibe to it, Andre 3000 moving in any direction the impulse took him.  “Dracula’s Wedding” has an electro/gothic/folk/funk feel as it speaks to the fear of intimacy and being trapped between a desperate longing and fearful uncertainty.  It would seem when it comes to love, even the king of vampires can take fright.

Next time, a chemical romance and gothic metal.