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Probably more than anything else, RARWRITER.com is a writer's site, and on this page we house examples of the work of RARWRITER readers with similar interest in the "written arts". - - RAR __________________________________________________________________________ COWBOY TOWN , RAR's story of ranchers surviving turmoil and changing times in 1950s Colorado, is being serialized at RARWRITER.com and additional chapters have been added. Chapters "Introduction" through 16 (of 50) are now posted! Click here to go to the beginning of the novel. __________________________________________________________________________
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Proper Records
presents ...
This book clocks in at nearly 900 pages with 16
pages of very rare and often previously unpublished photos. Tracing the history
of the group it includes reminiscences from key members of The Magic Band and
The Mothers Of Invention. There are amazing stories about the recording process,
particularly Trout Mask Replica, and life on the road with the Captain. John French is better qualified than anyone to talk about Beefheart, joining the Magic Band in 1966 at the age of 17 just before recording their Safe As Milk debut album, finding himself plunged into a tyrannical regime which would dominate his life for the next 14 years as he played a major role in eight subsequent albums, including translating the mind-blowing avant-blues assault of 1969’s Trout Mask Replica into readable music for the Magic Band from the Captain’s piano poundings under torturous conditions he likens to a cult. French’s remarkable memoir starts with a vivid description of the rarely-documented early 60s Lancaster garage-rock scene which also spawned names like Ry Cooder and Beefheart’s childhood friend and later nemesis Frank Zappa, whose appearances in the book will enthral his own legion of fans. As his spellbinding, often shocking tale unwinds, he encounters names including jazz giant Ornette Coleman, Jim Morrison and Paul McCartney, writing with dry, sometimes surreal humour and disarming honesty about his old boss and even himself, occasionally bringing in his old Magic Band comrades to jog his memory. The book is packed with new revelations, many previously-unseen photos and enough anecdotes to keep the Beefheart faithful ruminating for years, French finally crystallising and bringing to life over 40 years of legend and speculation in what has to be the ultimate book on the mercurial genius of Captain Beefheart. "One of the most incredible stories to emerge out of 20th century music ... the definitive account of life with the Captain from the inside." Kris Needs - Mojo.
__________________________________________________________________________ Trower Drummer Bill Lordan's Rock Life
Bill Lordan, pictured left, has been in the high ether of the rock, funk and soul universe for 40 years. Coming from humble beginnings in Minnesota, Lordan caught on with soul groups The Amazers and The Esquires, perfecting his chops at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, the only white guy in otherwise Black ensembles. Success in that company led to the big time with Gypsy, The Mystics, Sly and the Family Stone and the Robin Trower Band. Bill Lordan, working with RARWRITER.com contributor Diana Olson, has written his autobiography, From the Basement to the Coliseum, charting his long and successful career. They are currently in negotiations with publishers. Lordan remains an active player, winning an L.A. Music Award as recently as 2004 for his compilation album "The Best of BLX" (i.e., the Bill Lordan Experience). Click here to read a brief excerpt from the book and listen to MP3 from his "Best of..." LP.
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L.A. Rocker Tony Gamble (left) has been through quite a lot over the past six years, including album releases, rock tours, and shows at the annual NAMM conference, where he represents ESP Guitars. And...oh yeah, there was that murder, that body found in a trash bag in a dumpster wearing Tony's watch... Oh-oh... Tony Gamble is a RARWRITER Featured Artist in this edition, where he discusses the book he is writing on his experiences surrounding a highly publicized murder case in L.A., his childhood in Malibu, growing up with the Z-Boys of Dogtown and the children of famous rockers, and his plans for the future. Click here to read the Tony Gamble exclusive.
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RARWRITER.com Offers Serial Novels NOTE FROM RAR: Beginning with this May 2009 edition, RARWRITER.com will begin the practice of serializing novels, offering long works in installments. I intend to do this with my own completed work as well as a few things that I currently have in development. I invite the participation of other writers of short and long fiction, should they have work they feel would find an audience through this site. Contact me by email at Rick@RARWRITER.com to make inquiries. The first offering is my "western novel" Cowboy Town, which is a story of love and redemption set against temptation, lust and violence. If that sounds like promotional text from another era, it is meant to. Modeled on 1930s-40s era cinema - read the forward provided with the novel - Cowboy Town aims at the unapologetically romantic and sentimental, and serves it up sautéed in testosterone, just like how I knew it growing up out there on the Great Plains and in Rocky Mountain country. This first installment includes the first 11 chapters of 50 total. Next month will include additional until the book is full. Click here to go to Cowboy Town. The serialized novel will open chapter-by-chapter in separate HTML files.
Click here to go to the RARWRITER Literature page for additional information. ____________________________________________________________________________________
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INSIDE STORY: James Warner, Ransom Stephens and Yanina Gotsulsky launched InsideStoryTime, which SF Weekly selected "Best New Reading Series" of 2006. It is described at Jame's site as "A fun, cozy event where you can booze and schmooze with the San Francisco literati." Ransom Stephens is a PhD., a Physicists, and a public speaker in the fields of electrodynamics and signal analysis. He is also a novelist, a memoirist, a technical writer, and a consultant in problem solving. Yanina Gotsulsky is a novelist, poet, and a translator of Akhmatova and Pasternak. She holds a degree in Russian Literature from York University in Toronto, travels frequently, and splits her home time between Canada and Northern California. She is represented by Markus Hoffmann of Regal Literary. James Warner is profiled briefly in the following story. James Warner: Identity Theory San Francisco, California - Our friend James Warner has carved out something of a niche for himself in San Francisco's literary circles, publishing in various on-line publications (McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Eclectica, Monkey Bicycle), reading at the City's LITQUAKE festival, and producing the club-hosted InsideStoryTime reading series. British-born James, whose credentials include a degree in philosophy from Oxford and a Java programming certificate, tends toward the "pataphysical" in his own writing - and he will appreciate that reference, along with Paul McCartney, Eugene Ionesco, Autolux, and other readers of obscure French journals - or at least he used to. These days he is hosting a literary blog (click here to read and leave comment) in which he is downright sober, like a 7:30 a.m. survey class on 19th and 20th Century British and American novelists. James' recent entries have included musings on Nabokav, Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, and a bevy of other historical heavies, plus the very alive Louis de Bernieres. For those who enjoy deep analysis of what it may mean to be brilliant, all tied up in neat Gordian bows, you might find James' musings highly entertaining. You might even learn something! Or become inspired to write. James is a musician, classically trained on piano, and he has written some wonderfully entertaining tunes over the years, though this avocation seems to have taken a backseat to his literary explorations into what it all must mean. Check out James blog at www.identitytheory.com.
• ARTIST NEWS • IN THIS EDITION • FEATURED ARTISTS • THE LINKS AT RARWRITER • ARTIST RESOURCES • MUSIC REVIEWS • BOOK REVIEWS • ESSAYS • CINEMA • ABOUT RARWRITER.COM YOU ARE ON THE WRITTEN ARTS PAGE |
Written
by the man who spent more time than anyone else with Don Van
Vliet and The Magic Band this book serves as the definitive
story about the group.
"Valhalla
of Decadence"
