The Writer's Life 5/1 - Mayday

Here are fun facts about rock stars from buzzfeed.com and rocknuts.net, whittled down from lists of 45 and ten: Axl Rose is an anagram for oral sex... A psychic named Sharon Maynard accompanied Rose on the road. His entourage called her Yoda... Rose earned $8 an hour smoking cigarettes for a science experiment at UCLA... The Rolling Stones' tongue logo was inspired by the Hindu goddess Kali The Destroyer... The Clash's London Calling was named after a phrase used by a BBC show during WWII: "Good morning America, this is London Calling."... Angelina Jolie's uncle, Chip Taylor, wrote Wild Thing... Lynyrd Skynyrd got its name from a high school teacher, Leonard Skinner, who suspended students for having long hair... Brian Jones, co-founder of The Rolling Stones, was proficient at more than 60 musical instruments... Led Zeppelin came up with the title Black Dog after a large labrador walked into the band's recording studio... John Bonham drank 40 shots of vodka the night he died... Each member of Nirvana was kicked out of the Nevermind release party for starting a food fight... Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird is dedicated to the late Duane Allman... Killing an Arab by The Cure was inspired by Albert Camus' The Stranger... Malcolm Young, AC/DC guitarist, worked in a bra factory as a sewing-machine mechanic... The Rolling Stones recorded 19th Nervouse Breakdown after Mick Jagger, at the end of a tour, said: "I don't know about you blokes, but I feel about ready for my 19th nervous breakdown."... Before joining KISS, Vinnie Vincent wrote the soundtracks for Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi... The Beatles' White Album was originally titled A Doll's House... The Eagles started out as the backup band for Linda Ronstadt... Bob Dylan's first draft of Like a Rolling Stone was six pages long... His Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 was recorded in one take... Prince was the first artist to exclusively release an album on the internet - 1997's Crystal Ball... In 1957 Buddy Holly and The Crickets became the first big-name white group to play at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. A promoter assumed they were black. They brought down the house... The final chord of the Beatles' A Day In The Life was played simultaneously by ten different hands on three different pianos.

While sorting through a recent batch of CD's donated to the floating book shop, all but three were classical. One was of Halloween sounds, another on meditation, and a third by a band named The Devil Makes Three. I finally got around to sampling it in my car's player, and I'm impressed. Their music is described as Americana. It blends bluegrass, old time, country, folk, blues, jazz and ragtime. It features two guitars, upright bassist, and occasional banjo. Several of the ten tracks seemed to be about drinking. Here's a link to a live track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqvTcsWkb7o

The NFL draft is always interesting. This year's was stunning almost from the get-go. The Chicago Bears traded three picks to move from the third to the second slot in the first round, and selected QB Mitchell Trubisky, who started only one season at North Carolina. They surrendered third and fourth round picks this year, and a third-rounder next year. There was no indication that the 49ers, the beneficiaries of the Bears' panic, would have selected Trubisky. What makes it even more bizarre is that in March the team signed Mike Glennon, 27, to a three-year $43.5 million contract. The guaranteed portion of that deal is is not known. Glennon had a 5-13 record as a starter in his first two seasons - on a very bad team - before serving as backup to Jameis Winston. Of course, if Trubisky turns out to be at least a solid pro, the move will have been worth it. Opinions vary on his potential.

A Russian gentleman bought ten classical CD's today, and Bad News Billy later cleaned out the remaining 20 or so. My thanks, boys, and also to the woman who bought a Sandra Brown thriller, the other who purchased three books in Russian, and Monsey, who bought three on substance abuse. Her daughter and granddaughter each had problems with it. Those were donated by the Super of the building next door to the Chase bank. They were in a big box that must have been discarded by a former college student. I'd guess he or she was a Sociology or Criminology major. All but two of the lot are non-fiction, and even the fiction is crime-related. There are also several books on sexuality, including one on hermaphrodites. My thanks also to Mr. Conspiracy, who donated twelve works of non-fiction across a wide spectrum of topics.

Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 

Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story Collection:http:// tinyurl.com/lh2tepa 
Vic's 2nd Novel Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j

Website: http://vicfortezzaauthor.my-free.website/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vic-Fortezza-Author-118397641564801/?fref=ts

Read Vic's Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza