I like getting stuff for free. A few years back my wife and I packed up our lives in Boston and headed back to my home turf in Vermont. The transition was easy for me but not so much for my wife. She'd spent the best part of eleven years in Beantown and, where I am a ridiculous introvert, she is an extrovert and was being asked to leave behind a fairly massive social circle. It was all very Green Acres. To help guide her through those first few months of social isolation she picked up the hobby of wasting time on a website that was, basically, a clearing house for sweepstakes. It was all there. Good Housekeeping was giving away a year's supply of Clorox to the person who could explain in 500 words or less what "clean" really meant to their daily lives. Give Nike access to your email address and you could win a trip to the Olympics. My wife was hooked for a while and, much to my surprise, her efforts were rewarded. We won trips, concert tickets, t-shirts, and this crazy prize package that included the greatest thing we were ever given for free - a Roomba.
Now, we here at ATWN can't exactly hook you up with a robotic vacuum. We can however scrounge the internet and find free tunes. This next one comes from the chamber pop outfit, Ra-Ra-Riot. Here's a taste of what you can get your filthy little fingers on if you click the link below:
The free-track comes courtesty of NPR's "All Songs Considered" so Clicky-click-click-right-here and head on over there and get your well-deserved free stuff.
Paul Adams spends his time in the wilds of Vermont fighting bears to protect his wife and two kids. He teaches English at a local high school, writes MG/YA stories, embarrasses his family on a regular basis, and lets his geek-flag fly proudly. He dreams of being a member of the Pixies.
I’m the Nashville girl, which I guess makes me the country girl? Well, something like that. I live in a town that is so fueled by music, we earned ourselves the official title of “Music City.” There is music everywhere–good music too–new, talented artists flock here on a daily basis, looking for a chance to make it. As a writer, I sort of luck out with that. I’m not sure what the connection is between music and imagination. I’d like to learn more about it though, because I know it’s a strong one. So strong that the main way I develop story ideas is through listening to music–live, radio, award shows–you name it, I want to daydream to it. Writers deal with writer’s block in all sorts of ways, but over the years, I’ve developed a method that seems to be almost foolproof for me: I drive. I get in my car, hit the scan button on the radio and turn the ignition key. I let the songs on the radio skip and surprise me until a sound, a lyric, or a feeling sets my daydreaming on a determinate path. I daydream about a lyric my character might’ve said or if the sound of the song could be the background music to a particular scene. I drive and drive until I’m daydreaming in three-dimensions. Then, typically, I pull over and make voice memos to myself about it so I won’t forget. I’m not saying my music daydreaming will work for everyone, but it’s one that has worked in my favor time and again. For example, I’m working on a story right now that’s a twist on Greek myth. It deals with gods, zodiacs and fate. Over the holidays, I was explaining my idea to my dad. He shook his head and asked me how I came up with such a thing. I laughed and I told him I didn’t know. But I do. I was trying to outline the new novel and I was failing. In fact, I had five different outlines saved on my laptop and I hated every single one. But then I'd gone over to a friend's house to watch the AMAs (the American Music Awards) and saw Taylor Swift’s performance of “I Knew You Were Trouble.” Halfway through her set, something in my brain clicked about the character I was trying to create and I thought to myself, “Now she would be TroubleTROUBLEtrouble.” The outline that followed turned into 330 pages of a manuscript. So if you're stuck, my advice is to get in your car and let the radio surprise you or watch some of last night's GRAMMY performances and let your imagination go. But if you've got a full proof writer's block method that works for you, let us in on it! I want to know.
As a serious music fan, maybe you've heard of the indie v. mainstream debate. Heck, maybe you've even taken a part in the debate. Maybe you lean strongly toward one type of music and have a heavy distaste for the other. Some people will argue that if you're a true indie fan, you can't possibly also like mainstream music.
I tend to disagree.
In my mind there is no wrong type or lesser quality music. Sure, it gets old to hear the same song over and over and over again on the radio. (That's probably what drives me to switch to my iPod and listen to my favorite lesser known artists in the first place.) But listening to my indie faves doesn't mean I don't enjoy mainstream music. I do. In fact, I find myself drawn to nearly every type of music.
If you took a scroll through my iPod you'd find anything from christian rock, to hard-core rap (the old school stuff you'd be embarrassed to have your mother hear), to country, pop, indie, techno, and just about everything else in between, including instrumentals and musical soundtracks. I turn up the volume every time I hear a Bruno Mars song and sing along. The same goes for Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson and Eminem. Imagine Dragons and Awolnation are frequent playlist favorites, too. You name it, and I've listened to it, and probably even loved it.
Books are a lot like music in this "mainstream" way.
When so many people are raving about the same books, it's easy to get turned off to reading it before even picking it up. TWILIGHT is a common example of this. If you have enough people shoving the book down your throat before you've read it, you're almost guaranteed to be disappointed. How could you not be? I've heard the same complaints about many of the more popular bestselling authors like Nicholas Sparks, John Grisham, etc. As someone who has read and loved TWILIGHT, THE NOTEBOOK, and THE RAINMAKER, I never did understand why some people are so annoyed by others liking them.
Isn't it a good thing that people are finding something to love in so many different places?
Isn't it great that people are reading at all?
Isn't it wonderful that somewhere, someone is smiling in their car while listening to yet another Rhianna song on the radio?
Maybe mainstream music doesn't always offer the most thoughtful lyrics or showcase the best true singers available, but if it gets me to dance, I say let's hear it. Maybe some books get pushed harder than others. Maybe they aren't "as deserving" - and there
are always going to be authors out there that aren't getting quite as
much love as they should, but if people are reading, that's what matters.
It always makes me happy when I see
someone's nose buried in a book. Always.
So I say, why argue at all? Why not just listen and read and just enjoy the lyrics and beats and words on the page as the entertainment they were meant to be? Maybe if we all enjoy the essence of art a
little more, we can all hold hands and dance together without judgement.
(Well, unless you try to do the cabbage patch. There's always judgement with
the cabbage patch.)
And now, just because I'm suddenly finding myself listening to this song again, I'll let you enjoy a little bit of The Civil Wars. You probably already know this, but the entire Barton Hollow album is fantastic revision music.
