Busy Little Bee

Happy Sunday!

Hope all of you are well. I have finished marking up the first draft of my new story which I now admit has been sitting untouched for several days. I have been wrapped up in movies, books and music as of late.

On the music front I'm enjoying the sounds of Gary Moore, Peter Frampton and Cathie Ryan. I nearly fell into shock earlier in the week when I met someone who had never heard of Peter Frampton. I could understand not knowing Gary Moore but not knowing Peter Frampton? How absured. However, I was shocked even more moments later when the same person admitted of having never heard of Jimmy Page or Led Zeppelin. The person is question is older than I am by about 20 years so it was a shock to me. At least they had heard of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.

I recently watched "Michael Collins" which I have to say had an incredible cast. Liam Neeson is awesome. While I did enjoy the movie it is the one I watched after it I liked even more. At the recommendation of my friend and co-worker Teresa, I watched "In The Name of the Father" starring Daniel Day Lewis about the Guildford Four. Amazing movie and am glad I sat down to watch it. As with most movies based on books, they aren't exactly the same so I've purchased the book because the movie was so good.

My pile of books to read continues to grow as always but I have one less in the pile as I just finished "Ten Men Dead" by David Beresford. It was an interesting read about the 1981 Irish hunger strike.

The Snow God has answered my prayer by dumping sixteen inches of the white powdery stuff on us. I can finally go cross-country skiing! I'm still getting adjusted to the whole thing and after four trips out I have yet to fall on my butt. YEAH!

Hope all of you are doing well.

-Maynard

Writing, Reading, Snow & Steve Clark

Hi All,

A new year is here and I am busily working on a story that I started in November. It's a very complex story, the type of story I have never tried to write before and I find it very challenging at this point. Whether or not I publish this story is far from my mind right now as I write sections over and reorganize the story.

I have found comfort reading the Harry Potter series (I decided I needed to figure out what all the roar what about). Let's face it, it's a complicated story. How JK Rowling kept track of timelines, characters, places and the list of spells boggles my mind as I find myself in this very situation which drives me batty. If only I could pick her brain to find out how she organized herself to keep it all straight!

I don't wish to reveal too much of what I'm working on now but I've got a small town with thirty families to keep track off. There is a main character of course with nine others in supporting roles. I have several plot lines going on at once and at one point my timeline was out of whack but thankfully I've fixed that issue. I'm not sure how to describe this story. I think it's too early to say what genre it is besides fiction. I'm in no rush to get this story done so I'm going to take my time with it.

Speaking of time, I wish it was time for a snowstorm! Yes my friends as I sit here in Vermont the January thaw has swept in and melted all the snow. Normally I would be happy with such an event in the middle of winter but I went out and bought a pair of XC skis before the thaw and have yet to go skiing. It is Vermont so you just wait five mintues and the weather will change. Thankfully, there is snow in the forecast. I just hope it's enough for me to go out and play.

I apologize for the lack of updates to the site over the past month but writers need to take a break too! HA HA HA. Never fear new features will be coming soon to my little space here on the net.

As I wind this post down my mind fills with an image of Steve Clark as January 8th marked the 17th anniversary of his death. There are others like me who took a moment to celebrate his life this week knowing full well that he touched so many of us without knowing it. Little does he know that he still keeps touching people with his music so many years after his death. What we heard from Steve yesterday can still be heard today and we'll hear it again tomorrow. Music is the perfect gift. It keeps on giving.

-Maynard

The Musical Shopping List

As promised, here is the list of Cd's I picked up during my latest shopping spree.

From CD Baby (cdbaby.com):
Chris Poland: Return to Metropolis Live
Elias Viljanen: Leadstar (Guitarist from Sonata Arctica)
Mysteria: Out of the Blue EP
Perpetual Fire: Endless World
Streif: Nordic Winter
Tsuumi Sound System: Hotas


From Amazon:
Sonata Arctica: Takatalvi (Contains interesting version of "Still Loving You" by the Scorpions and Metallica's "Fade to Black")
Korpiklaani: Tervaskanto
Gary Moore: Wild Frontier

It's an interesting list. I enjoy listening to music I might not normally buy. I like the experimentation of diving into a band I may not be completely aware of or have only heard snip its of music. That's how it was with Korpikaani (from Finland). I heard a snip it of music and decided I wanted to check them out more. With Gary Moore, he has such a reputation for his guitar work and of course you all know me. I'm a sucker for guitar players so I had to check this album out.

Speaking of guitar players, I discovered a blues/rocker yesterday by the name of Walter Trout. I had never heard of him before but thanks to Internet radio I heard one of his songs on Planet Rock out of London. They play a really REALLY good mix of classic rock music. Better than any station around here. So I've done a bit of checking around on this Walter Trout guy and will be purchasing a CD of his shortly. I'm not familiar with the blues/rock genre of music very much and even a friend of mine who is, didn't know who Walter Trout was.

That's how I am with music I stumble upon stuff by accident. Some times those accidental discoveries lead to the best musical gems.

Rock On!

Happy Holidays to all my fellow Droogies and Lepp fans out there.

-Maynard

November Update

Hi Everyone,

This month has been a busy one for me.

A friend of mine is getting married this weekend and I designed the place cards for her reception. It took me about three days to make 100 place cards and that includes me writing each name in calligraphy. It was a lot of work but I enjoyed doing it for her as its such a personal touch.

I'm deep into National Novel Writing Month right now. I'm six-thousand words away from 50,000 words and I have a zillion sub-plots I need to tie up but I'm not worried. To all my fellow NaNoWriMo writers out there, keep chugging away we've got one week left!

While my attention has been diverted elsewhere I did manage to read up on Dave Mustaine coming out with his own brand of coffee. All I could think of was the band KISS. For those of you unaware, KISS put their name on just about EVERYTHING! Believe it or not you can actually get a KISS casket. Anyway, I thought it was funny and yet cool for Dave Mustaine to come out with a brand of coffee. The proceeds go to charity and the coffee itself is free trade so it benefits the farmers who harvest the beans. Which I think is a really good thing. Now before one of you asks me, no I will not be purchasing Dave's coffee as I don't drink coffee. I can think of a couple of friends who drink coffee but they have no idea about Megadeth. Then again they make me listen to music that I would use as coasters on my coffee table. (I kid.)

Speaking of music, I haven't been drowning myself in it like I normally do. Yes, I did pick up the greatest hits of Bing Crosby and a Motorhead compliation recently but that's about it. Quite honestly I wish you all had been with me when I bought the CD's because I also happened to have the latest issue of Metal Hammer in my hand as well. The look on the clerks face was priceless. Which reminds me of a time when I was in my twenties and buying music a lot more than I am now. Anyway to make a long story short, the clerk actually asked me if one of the CD's in my pile was a mistake. The pile of CD's contained the following artisits: Harry Connick Jr., Reba McEntire, Shania Twain and Metallica. I kid you not. Part of me gets a good laugh out of watching store clerk's look at my choice of music. Keeps them guessing.

Over the past week I discovered a website that connects me to streaming live radio stations around the world so I've been bouncing back and forth between a metal station in Finland, a classical/pop station in The Netherlands and an all news channel out of Ireland. While that has been keeping me occupied I did manage to go back to my account at Pandora and played around with it. I was able to listen to some new music there and saved a rather long list of bands I want to delve into further. From Pandora I went back to CD Baby where you can find a lot of independent music or artists who distribute music themselves as they're not on a major label. That's how I picked up CD's by Clock and PJ Smith. I managed to find some really cool sounding Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish prog/metal bands plus a rare find - a Chris Poland CD. (For those of you not up on your history of Megadeth, Chris Poland was part of the original line-up.)
I was bad and bought six CD's. I admit it, I'm a whore when it comes to music especially when I tell you I went to Amazon.com and purchased some more.

Don't worry folks I will share my shopping list with all of you at some point.

Anyway, I best be going. Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Take care!
-Maynard

I'm International

Hi Everyone,

I hope all of you are doing well. October Rain is currently spinning around the world. I just recently found my book listed on websites in Canada, Italy, United Kingdom and Norway! I don't know how to read Norwegian but I was able to navigate around the website pretty well. I thought it was pretty cool to see my book being sold in Norway! Norwegian isn't one of the languages I wanted to learn but who knows maybe I should give it a shot!

I used to read and speak Spanish fairly well but I can’t anymore. I suppose if I took a class or listening to those language tapes it might come back. I’d really like to learn Irish or Gaelic. I’ve been at some websites that have word pronunciations. I really enjoy listening to the words. I suppose learning Gaelic or Irish might help me understand the Celtic music CD’s I have. The music is beautiful but I haven’t a clue what they’re singing about.

Speaking of music if one were to venture to my list page, you’ll notice that I listen to an interesting selection of music. Honestly, you’re only seeing a segment of it. I’m listening to music all the time. It’s a constant in my life. I do listening to Celtic music, some classical, classic rock, prog, hard rock, glam, thrash, symphonic/power metal, country, pop, rock. I think it throws people off to know that I listen to thrash. Honestly, I don’t listen to a lot of it right now I’m rediscovering the bands I grew up with at the moment. Some of them don’t exist anymore but I’m glad Megadeth is still kicking around.

I like some of the music I’ve been hearing coming out of Finland and the Netherlands. I’m trying to find some other hard rock/prog/metal bands from that area of the world. I think it’s because there is an appreciation for classical music and then adding those elements into what we know as heavy metal and all of its various genres. There is a definite music appreciation distinction between Europe and the United States. Sometimes I wish I lived in Europe just because the music seems to be better there.

I’m not a fan of Death Metal. I’ve tried to listen to it and some of the music is great but then the lead singer chimes in and ruins it by growling, screeching or screaming. It’s a major musical turn off for me. I didn’t like Death Metal when I was younger either. As I say, the music is good but only if they gag the lead singer! To each his own it’s just not for me.

If any of you have artists that I should give a listen to let me know. My ears are always seeking out new tunes.


-Maynard