I have always wanted to pick musical selections to go with an interview about my current book but no small or medium-sized publisher, armed with my latest death-defying prose or poetry, has ever been able to storm the barricades surrounding CBC's http://www.cbc.ca/thenextchapter Shelagh Rogers on my bookish behalf. Alas. Heck.
But hark! Just before Christmas this past year, writer, publisher and broadcaster Sheila Peters www.sheilapeters.com of Smithers, BC asked if I would do just that. O Happy Day! I picked Good Morning Starshine, Canadian Serena Ryder's http://www.serenaryder.com powerful version, from her album, If Your Memory Serves You Well. This great tune was written by Canadian Galt MacDermott galtmacdermot.com who won a Grammy in 1960 for African Waltz and also is famous for contributing to musicals like Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona. I often hum this joyous ode to stars (nobody sings it like Serena so I stick to humming) when I'm out doing weather reports late at night or first thing in the very early morning when the stars bejewel the sky and earthly jets and satellites soar far below them.
Right After My Heart from the Almost Overnight album by Roy Forbes http://www.royforbes.ca has heartbreaking
lyrics, about someone being trapped by life's circumstances, really
feeling down and then getting out of that pit of despair and
"looking all over the world, running right after my heart," which is so
subtle, so bittersweet. I totally relate to both situations. The song
showcases both his virtuoso guitar-playing and his amazing sense of
timing and perfect pitch. Rolla's Roy Forbes and Peace River, Alberta poet and
novelist Leona Gom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leona_Gom were important role models for me
when I began writing fiction, both such talented artists who wrote about
Peace River issues and people, the long-suffering river and the
climate, all of it. Their work inspired me to write my
own Peace River poems and stories and radio plays.
Finally, after weeks of grey skies and the winter monsoons, there is the sweet George Harrison, my favourite Beatle by far, and his sublimely optimistic song, Here Comes the Sun. http://www.GeorgeHarrison.com But the host got playful on me and Sheila substituted the eerily nutso song, I'm Gonna Marry a Lighthouse Keeper, forever an ear-worm thanks to the sound track of Clockwork Orange, a movie which gave me nightmares and which I cannot watch to this day! Oh well. Lots of other people like it and know all the verses to boot.
Do check out the great variety of writers and musicians Sheila Peters has interviewed for her weekly radio show. As well as being a co-publisher at the fine and discerning Creekstone Press, Sheila is a very talented writer of poetry, short fiction, librettos, book reviews and novels who came to my attention when I read her first collection of short stories in 2001, Tending the Remnant Damage. Wow. Really, really good as is her latest novel from Caitlin Press, The Taste of Ashes. Okay, check it all out and enjoy!
http://www.smithersradio.com/
But hark! Just before Christmas this past year, writer, publisher and broadcaster Sheila Peters www.sheilapeters.com of Smithers, BC asked if I would do just that. O Happy Day! I picked Good Morning Starshine, Canadian Serena Ryder's http://www.serenaryder.com powerful version, from her album, If Your Memory Serves You Well. This great tune was written by Canadian Galt MacDermott galtmacdermot.com who won a Grammy in 1960 for African Waltz and also is famous for contributing to musicals like Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona. I often hum this joyous ode to stars (nobody sings it like Serena so I stick to humming) when I'm out doing weather reports late at night or first thing in the very early morning when the stars bejewel the sky and earthly jets and satellites soar far below them.
Finally, after weeks of grey skies and the winter monsoons, there is the sweet George Harrison, my favourite Beatle by far, and his sublimely optimistic song, Here Comes the Sun. http://www.GeorgeHarrison.com But the host got playful on me and Sheila substituted the eerily nutso song, I'm Gonna Marry a Lighthouse Keeper, forever an ear-worm thanks to the sound track of Clockwork Orange, a movie which gave me nightmares and which I cannot watch to this day! Oh well. Lots of other people like it and know all the verses to boot.
Do check out the great variety of writers and musicians Sheila Peters has interviewed for her weekly radio show. As well as being a co-publisher at the fine and discerning Creekstone Press, Sheila is a very talented writer of poetry, short fiction, librettos, book reviews and novels who came to my attention when I read her first collection of short stories in 2001, Tending the Remnant Damage. Wow. Really, really good as is her latest novel from Caitlin Press, The Taste of Ashes. Okay, check it all out and enjoy!
http://www.smithersradio.com/
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