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Friday, October 20, 2017

The Writer's Life 10/20 - Words

I have very low expectations for politicians. All one can do is shake the head at some of the words and deeds from them. The Congresswoman who criticized President Trump's phone call to the wife of a soldier killed in the line of duty reached a new low. For decades, well before he became Commander in Chief, Trump did more for veterans than just about anyone alive - on his own time, at his own expense. Kudos to General Kelly for coming to his boss' defense. I hope the left has finally hit bottom. How much worse can they get?

I've been playing Ghost Riders in the Sky on guitar for years. The chords are easy. I tried to figure out the main riff, wanting to integrate it into the song, but never was satisfied with what I conjured on my own. I finally got around to googling it. For some reason, I thought the riff was a lot older than the song itself, so I typed "Johnny Reb Guitar Riff" into the box. That brought up a ton of links to a song by Johnny Horton, with which I was completely unfamiliar. I went to youtube and asked for an instructional video on that term, and it too brought up the Horton song. Finally, I entered "Ghost Riders Riff," and a bunch of instructional videos came up. I chose one that's a minute and a half. The guy is great. I've been working on the first 14 notes for a few days. It's tricky because it involves a lot of open notes. I will definitely go to the next part when I'm ready. I'm not sure I will try to tackle the entire lead.

Last night Lev called and asked me to pick up the last of his books, which his wife ordered him to get rid of so their two-year old twins will have more room. He looked pained, as if he were giving up a part of himself. As a book lover, he couldn't bring himself to just throw them in the garbage. Without exaggeration, the total is three to four hundred. Unfortunately, the inexpensive digital camera I purchased a few months ago has stopped working. Those stacks would make a great picture. My thanks, sir.

My thanks also to the young woman who bought Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter and Stephen King's The Shining, to the gentleman who purchased Vladimir Nabokov's Ada, and to all the folks who chose books in Russian. I had a visit from young Romanian-born artist Andu, whom I hadn't seen in a long time. He was wearing a Batman mask. He claims to have recently saved a mother and child from harm, and also that the police and military are now on his side, so he has help against the forces who are trying to kill him. He bought a DVD collection of the Robert Rodriguez Mexico Trilogy comprised of El Mariachi (1992), Desperado (1995), and Once Upon A Time In Mexico (2003), and handsome diaries for himself and his mom, who writes poetry. I also had a nice talk with one of my biggest supporters, Marie, who is reading my second short works collection, Billionths of a Lifetime. She said her name could be substituted for the character in Chaos in Alphabet City. I wrote only the introduction to that story, which was written by an unrequited love it took me about ten years to get over. I last saw her circa 1990, and lost contact completely. I used the piece without her permission. I gave her credit, using only her first name and the initial of her last name. If she ever finds out, I hope she will forgive me. I hate to think our paths will not ever cross again. She doesn't seem to have a presence on social media, at least not under her real name.
Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 
Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc
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