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POP Music and Pop Idols:  What They Tell Us About Ourselves

2/23/2015

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POP MUSIC and IDOLS:  WHAT THEY TELL US ABOUT OURSELVES

By Alan L. Chrisman


I’ve always been fascinated why people liked certain kinds of music and artists and if that said anything about them and us.

I began to believe it could tell us something about ourselves. I also observed how our preference for certain musicians and pop artists and their creations often reflected our own views and how we saw ourselves.  Humans are very social animals and we evolved to mainly be accepted by others-like us.  In fact, the growth and our current constant access to media, has only accelerated this and the obsession with pop celebrities and celebrity culture. There has always been celebrity worship, but we now live in an essentially secular culture, which has basically preplaced many of our traditional institutions like religion and the nuclear family.  We now find our communities and “friends” through often less personal connections.

I have some practical everyday knowledge in this area because I ran record stores for several years.  One of the things I would do when people came into my store for the first time, was ask them what kind of music they liked.  Many would say, “Oh, I like everything.” Then I would say, ”Well then, who’s your favorite artist?”  Again, they would often, at first, say, “I don’t have any.” Now I knew that wasn’t probably true, having as I said, run stores for a long time, and it didn’t help me direct them towards the section they were most likely to purchase from.

So I knew I’d have to probe further if I was to help guide them to the right area. Then I’d say, “Do you like rap (or disco or country)”. I had learned a lot of people didn’t, especially, like those genres.  And they would often say, “No, I don’t like them.”  But it was really to get them to open up a little more.  And often, after a couple minutes of thinking about it, they might say, “Well, I kind of like the blues and the 60’s”, for example.  At least now I had a starting point. Then they might say,“ Actually, I like Eric Clapton.”  I could then direct them to that section.  But if they liked Eric Clapton, they often already had most things by him, so I might suggest something similar-guitar-driven, blues-based, maybe not so well-known, but somewhat alike, because I was always trying to expose people to new music. Fortunately, my stores were second hand and I could play them for them.  Some of these first time visitors would then become regulars and I got to know what they liked for the future.  The other thing is after doing this for several years, I could often even guess what people might chose, just based on my own experience, how they were dressed, etc., so that it almost became “instinctive”, without even thinking about it.  In fact, I’d often play a little game with myself to see if I could guess what they’d like.  Some probably (maybe 80-90%), I could figure out this way.  But there was the small minority which I didn’t guess “right.” These were the ones I most enjoyed because they intrigued me.

It wasn’t exactly a scientific study, but over the many of years of doing it, I must have seen perhaps hundreds of people anyway, maybe thousands. What this showed me, is that first of all, people like to think of themselves as “open” to everything, but actually most of us have certain tastes and preferences, whether we consciously realized it or not.  And a lot more than most people liked to admit, we could be fit somewhat into “types.”

Interestingly, we now live in a social media and internet age, where our interactions are determined by our “likes” and the similar communities and groups we join and mainly follow.  If, anything, our interactions have become even more “narrow” than ever. These new mediums were supposed to open us up to a wider variety and world.  But have they really?   None of us like to be reduced down to a stereotype, but we live in a society now where that is precisely what has happened. Our “likes” and preferences are being collected, along with the sites we visit, by search engines to create a profile on us to later sell to commercial companies (and governments too) to reach our particular interests and demographic to market and sell us products.

Then I began to wonder if there were certain personalities who were attracted to certain kinds of pop music and culture and musical idols?

Again, I learned that a lot of this was probably mainly sub-conscious. For many people just knew they liked something, without perhaps examining why.  And besides these likes and dislikes were probably mainly emotional rather than intellectual, since music and movies are largely emotional, aural and visual experiences.  

My store specialized in vinyl and especially The Beatles, as it was named after them, although I carried a variety of styles and formats-from pop to jazz to folk to country to blues to classical, etc.  But I met a lot of Beatles’ fans (and also organized Beatles Conventions) over the years.  I noticed that certain people liked especially one Beatle member often more than another.  Because the Beatles were made up of four different, often distinct  personalities and, in general, wrote and played different kinds of songs, stereotypes again, but somewhat true, I could ask and observe which kind of customers and fans seemed to like each Beatle the most.

 Paul was the “cute” romantic, and mainly wrote melodic songs like “Michelle”, “Yesterday”, ”Let It Be”, etc.  George was considered the more spiritual, and introspective with songs like “My Sweet Lord” and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, etc.  John tended to write songs more questioning, political and edgy like “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “I Am The Walrus”, etc.  Ringo, considered the down-to-earth “everyman”, didn’t write many songs with the Beatles and tended to like covers of more traditional songs and country like “Act Naturally” or the Beatles’ children’s song, “Yellow Submarine.”   In fact, some have argued that’s why The Beatles appealed to such a wide cross-section of society and were able to create a variety of styles.  When they were in The Beatles, they sometimes wrote songs together (Lennon & McCartney’s early songs especially), but by the time they split up, each, with a few exceptions, carried on in these particular veins primarily. So was it possible that certain kinds of people and personalities related most and tended to like one over the other? By observing The Beatles as a microcosm, together and solo and their followers, perhaps, this could be examined and certain “conclusions” could be reached. 

Also this could also be extended to other kinds of music and groups as well, from harder rock and punk on one side to softer forms like folk, jazz and classical on the other.

Somebody said once there is no accounting for tastes.  But my observations taught me that there were, in fact, accountings for tastes.  Again, many of us might not be consciously aware of them, but they were there. And they could be somewhat predicted. Another interesting observation I made, was that there were, In general, gender differences too.  Women tended to like different kinds of music than men. The fact, up until the 70’s or 80’s, rock n’ roll was mainly created by males and reflected their points of view.  But as society became more open to females, there also began to be a change in rock as gradually more female musicians began to be heard. And younger generations began to support that difference more.  But still from the experience in my stores all the way into the early 2000’s, it was primarily males who came in to buy records.

I noticed, in general again, women tended to prefer the softer kinds of music, like folk, jazz and classical. This began to change over time, as I said, with exposure to more female songwriters and performers and with younger generations. Women sometimes sought out female artists whom they felt more spoke for them.  But overall, as some writers have maintained*, women still often looked at pop music and pop idols in somewhat different ways. Guys tended to collect records and to try and copy their favorite musicians and learn to play guitar while girls from the Beatles’ female teen-age fans screaming on, seemed to collect pictures to put up on their walls and to worship their pop idols more as “boy” bands (and interestingly still basically saw them that way into their older ages even). Of course, there were exceptions with females, especially those who were musicians, and whom learned instruments too.  But as we’ve now know scientifically, despite what was said sometimes in the 70’s, men and women are different and in fact, have different brains and their views on many things and pop culture reflects this (as well as because of the way boys and girls are still primarily raised differently).


These observations and statements of mine about pop culture and pop music, I understand, may not necessarily be shared by some people. They are, as I say, only generalizations, based on my own personal experience and encounters with many music fans and admirers over several years with a fair variety of people. I realize most people probably don’t even think about these things as intellectually as this, but instead just like or not like something and there’s nothing wrong with that.  But as one of my favorite pop culture writers, Chuck Klosterman, says,“nothing is ever only “in and of itself.”  

Below Chuck Klosterman’s classic book, Sex, Drugs And Cocoa Puffs, 2003,examination of pop music and culture:

By doing so, I hope to at least raise some of these questions as to why we like certain kinds of music and follow certain pop figures. And perhaps, this can help us see the often deep effect they have on us and even what this can tell us about ourselves too.   

*From Carl Wilson’s, Let’s Talk About Love: Journey to the End Of Taste (2007) & Chuck Klosterman’s 20i3 book, I Wear The Black Hat." 

Updated book by Carl Wilson with other essayists, 2013, “ Let’s Talk About Love” ( & Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste.)”


Below Chuck Klosterman’s classic book, Sex, Drugs And Cocoa Puffs, 2003,examination of pop music and culture: 


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YOKO ONO:  HER OWN ARTIST

2/18/2015

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YOKO ONO: HER OWN ARTIST by Alan L. Chrisman

Yoko Ono is 82 on Feb. 18.   John Lennon said once that Yoko was one the most famous artists in the world, but few people have actually seen her work.  But that has changed over these past several years and she has emerged as her own respected artist. Her art had been shown and received critical acclaim in many major art exhibits all over the world*.  And several musicians from succeeding generations from The B-52’s to The Flaming Lips to Lady Ga Ga credit her with inspiring them. Many people may also not know that she has had 12 #1 Billboard Dance Chart hits of her own songs since 2003.

She is recognized as one of the founders of concept and performance art going back to her involvement in the early New York movement, Fluxus, who were influenced by recognized pioneers John Cage and Marcel Duchamp.  She published her book, “Grapefruit”, in 1964 (which contained a poem “Imagine the clouds dripping”) that helped inspire Lennon’s signature post-Beatles’ song and made her own avant-garde films.  This was all before she even met Lennon in 1966.  There’s no doubt that she helped expose him to concept art and how it could be used to make social statements and reach the public, such as in their Bed Peace events and the War Is Over (if you want it) campaign, etc.

But besides seeing her husband, John Lennon, being murdered right in front of her by a crazed Beatles’ fan in 1980, she has had to endure years of some fans vilifying her. There are some that still accuse her of breaking up the Beatles, now 45 years ago. Even though, Paul McCartney said in 2012 that he did not blame Ono for the breakup of the Beatles and credited Ono with inspiring much of Lennon's post-Beatles work.  

 When she married Lennon in ’69, she was called the racist name  “dragon lady” and was seen as cold and manipulative and later for her treatment of John’s son, Julian, from John’s first wife Cynthia.  But Paul McCartney, with whom she at one time had some copyright and other differences, has said since then:  "I thought she was a cold woman. I think that's wrong..... she's just the opposite..... I think she's just more determined than most people to be herself." Julian and Cynthia posed with her at Julian’s photo exhibit in New York in 2010.  And Sean and Julian remain close half-brothers. Some may also not know that Yoko in return thanked Paul for actually helping John get back together with her (while visiting with Ono in March 1974, McCartney, on leaving, asked "[W]hat will make you come back to John?" McCartney subsequently passed her response to Lennon while visiting him in Los Angeles. "John often said he didn't understand why Paul did this for us, but he did."

Most of these disparaging myths that have built up around her have become mainly water-under-the-bridge for the parties involved. And it’s the public who sometimes carry on these misunderstandings. It’s like any family that doesn’t always agree on everything, only it’s been magnified because they’re immensely famous.  But most Beatles fans, I think, have come to respect Yoko for carrying on John’s legacy and their commitment to peace and change. 

A far as her music, she has been accused of not having talent and that her singing is just “screaming”. But a lot of people who have said that, again, have probably never even heard many of her albums. It’s really only on her first album, which was made at the same time as John’s own first real solo album, Plastic Ono Band, in 1970, right after they had both gone through primal “scream” theory with Arthur Janov. They continued to release solo albumsfor both of them for the next few years and these contained very few such songs. In fact, there are some very well-constructed songs by Yoko on her next album, Fly in 1971 (“Midsummer New York”, a rocker, and the haunting “Mrs. Lennon”).  Yoko’s next record is a double album, Approximately Infinite Universe with backing by the Elephant’s Memory band. It is my favorite of hers, and like my favorite Beatles’ album, The White Album, it’s full of great songs by her and in a wide variety of styles. With songs like “Death of Samantha”, “Looking Out from My Hotel Window”; the rocker, “ Move On Fast”, and the political plea, “Now or Never.” For anyone who would actually listen to the words and performance on this album, I believe, for example, it would soon dispel the myth that she can’t sing and write good music. In 1973, she released the jazzy, Feeling the Space.

When John and Yoko released his last album, Double Fantasy, both of them shared the duties and compositions, often counterpointing the other’s songs (such as his “I’m Losing You” with her’s “I’m Moving On”).  The night John was shot they were working on her song, “Walking on Thin Ice”, which later became a dance hit.  Yoko, like with her art, has continued to put out several albums over the years and as I said, has had many dance hits. Several others have recorded her songs from Elvis Costello and Rosanne Cash, to more recent urban and alternative artists. Yoko is in her 80’s now, but doesn’t seem to be slowing down one bit in her art, music or pursuit of peace and social change. And more and more the world and fans are finally catching up with her.

 

I was privileged to see Yoko and Sean perform in a small Toronto club in 1996 for her album, Rising.  And it was interesting to see how she won over even the few Yoko detractors by the end of the show. I had actually seen one of her early art films in a small movie theatre in my university town, before I knew she was with John Lennon, and also around that same time, witnessed a music performance by John Cage, legendary art concrete founder.

BOSTON HEARLD: Feb. 16, 2015:  Monday's great women: Yoko Ono, Helen Mirren, Uma Thurman

I LIKE criticism. It makes you strong," says LeBron James.

THIS IS perhaps true. And in that mind-set, Yoko Ono must be one of the strongest of humans. What Yoko endured during her marriage to John Lennon -- and even for years after she was widowed -- was enough to bring down another person. But Yoko stayed true to every single ideal of her life and her art. In doing so, she has survived triumphantly. In her 80s she has seen the cultural world turn around and embrace her -- not just her own generation or people in their 50s or 60s who still carry a lot of nostalgia for the Beatles and John. Nope, Yoko became a big deal on the dance charts with her unusual and uncompromising music. Kids know Yoko!

Now she is being celebrated in a soon-to-be published limited edition book, "See Hear Yoko" by Bob Gruen and Jody Denberg. Gruen, who was Yoko and John's personal photographer, and Denberg, who interviewed Yoko many times over a 25-year span, have packed their tome with more than 200 photos and observations about this impressive, talented and courageous woman. (And might I add, for all her strength, a much more vulnerable person than the insulting and racist "dragon lady" publicity of her early, fraught years with John.)

"See Hear Yoko" is out next week, from Harper Collins

"http://www.bostonherald.com/inside_track/celebrity_news/2015/02/mondays_great_women_yoko_ono_helen_mirren_uma_thurman

* From May 17 to September 7, 2015, The Museum of Modern Art presents its first exhibition dedicated exclusively to the work of Yoko Ono, taking as its point of departure the artist’s unofficial MoMA debut in late 1971.

 

  Below Yoko singing her haunting,” Mrs. Lennon”, 1971:

  http://youtu.be/9wZGwXFP7RY

Yoko Ono's 1972 album, Approximately Infinite Universe, has many songs in a wide variety of styles and is one of her best:

 

 

 

 

 


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TONY SHERIDAN:  BEATLES' HAMBURG INFLUENCE

2/17/2015

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Tony Sheridan: Beatles’ Hamburg Influence

By Alan L. Chrisman

Tony Sheridan, who influenced The first Beatles in Hamburg, Germany  died on Feb. 16, 2013.  When the original Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best) first arrived in Hamburg in 1960, the most popular entertainer there was Tony Sheridan. He had a big musical and performing influence on them, and on George especially, with his guitar playing. George said Hamburg is where The Beatles learned to become the Beatles.

Sheridan was one of the first English musicians to go to Germany, after showing promise as a guitarist backing several visiting American 50’s rock ‘n rollers to the U.K. like Gene Vincent (“Be Bop a Lula”) and Eddie Cochran (“Summertime Blues”). In fact, he just missed being in the car accident that killed Cochrane and seriously injured Vincent.  Sheridan was already performing at the Indra Club in Hamburg when the still very young Beatles were sent there by their first Liverpool club owner/manager, Allan Williams in 1960.  And when the Beatles (this time with John’s friend, Stu Sutcliffe, on bass) returned to Hamburg for their second trip, they were moved to The Kaiserkeller, the second club owned by the same German owner. The Beatles became even closer to Sheridan who was also performing there.  They would often share sets and back-up each other up on stage.

Sheridan was approached by Polydor Records producer, Bert Kaempfert, to record some songs from his set. This became the Beatles’ first real recordings, although they were mainly his back-up band for them and they were called the Beat Brothers. With Sheridan, they recorded “My Bonnie” and “The Saints” (Go Marching In) which became a #5 hit for Sheridan in Germany.  The Beatles themselves also recorded though, two songs, “Ain’t She Sweet”, with John on vocals and an early Lennon-Harrison instrumental, “Cry for a Shadow.” But their experience in playing with Sheridan was important in their development as performers and in being in a professional recording studio for the first time.

And according to legend anyway, these songs were the ones that first brought The Beatles to their later manager, Brian Epstein’s attention, when a customer came into his NEM’s Record Store in Liverpool and requested the recordings from this German group, The Beatles.

When The Beatles reached fame, Sheridan still continued on playing and recording in Germany. But he moved increasingly away from the early rock ’n’ roll music he had first done and more towards jazz and blues influences, deciding to remain out of the limelight, which his former students were now in.

In the late 60’s, he went to Vietnam and entertained the troops there. In the 80’s, Tony Sheridan came to Ottawa, Canada and played a small club called the Dill Pickle and I still have a poster from that event. Later I met an Ottawa musician, Joe Sunsari, who was Sheridan’s manager at the time and he let me read an advanced copy of an interesting biography of Sheridan he had written called, “Nobody’s Child”: The Tony Sheridan Story.”  But again, Sheridan shunned publicity and it was, as far as I know, never published. Also as I’ve said before, I’ve met Allan Williams, the man who had sent the early Beatles to Hamburg. And I met the sister Pauline, of Stu Sutcliffe, an original Beatle and promising painter, who would die of a brain hemorrhage shortly before The Beatles became known.  Pauline, co-authored the book on which the movie Backbeat, which tells the story of their Hamburg Days, is based. And Pete Best, original Beatles’ drummer, was a guest at my first Ottawa Beatles Convention I organized in ‘95. All of the above played important roles in the fascinating Beatles’ saga. 

Tony Sheridan with The Beatles ( Beat Bros.) backing, “My Bonnie”, 1961:

http://youtu.be/IgkAgyQgEH4

 

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BEATLE MAKES LITTLE-KNOWN VISIT TO U.S. BEFORE BEATLES' INVASION

2/14/2015

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STORY OF A LITTLE-KNOWN BEATLE VISIT TO U.S.

A (Partially) True Story by Alan L. Chrisman

I was a young girl working as a librarian in a small southern Illinois town when he walked into my library one day.  He was cute and seemed nice, but in a quiet sort of way.  He said he was looking for some books on guitar music and I helped him find the right section.  He said he was only in town for a few days, but that he liked to read especially about music and musicians.

He joked and it made me giggle.  After chatting for a bit, he said he was in town visiting his sister.  He had a British accent which was pretty unusual around where I lived and although I was shy myself, he intrigued me. So it surprised me when he mentioned that his sister was taking him to see a local band play on Saturday night.  He said if I’d like to attend he was going to be there too and maybe he’d love to see me there. It sounded like an invitation.

I knew the place he mentioned where they had regular Saturday dances, but I really didn’t go out much and still lived at home with my parents.  I wasn’t much into pop culture or music.  I preferred Broadway musicals.  But still there was certainly something fascinating about him, so it got me curious.

Enough, that by the time Saturday came around, I couldn’t think of anything else, but learning more about this mysterious stranger. I didn’t know what to wear, but I dressed up in my nicest clothes.  I arrived at the small Legion Hall early and there was a line-up there, but I got in with no problem.  I saw him sitting at a front table near the front and when he recognized me, he invited me over and introduced me to his sister and family there.  Soon the local band came on stage and began to play.  He even asked me to get up and dance with him and he was a good dancer.

The band mainly played country tunes.  And I was as surprised as he was, when the band asked him to come up on stage and join them.  Finally, with much encouragement from his sister, he couldn’t resist and got up and borrowed one of the member’s guitars.  After conferring with the band for a few minutes, they agreed on some Carl Perkin’s songs they both knew.  At these regular dances, most people were drinking and really didn’t pay much attention to the local band. But soon as this stranger started playing the guitar, the audience stopped talking and were quiet.  It seemed not only was this foreigner cute, but he could actually play quite well and the band asked him to continue playing with them that night. After the show, the tiny make-shift dressing room behind the stage was filled with all kinds of people, and everyone was drinking and talking and joking.

I was about to turn and go away, feeling totally out of place, when he noticed and came over to ask me how I enjoyed the show.  I was sort of taken back with all that was going on and the conflicting emotions within myself.  As I say, this was way out of my experience. But when he asked me if I would like to meet him the next day for lunch, I found myself shyly answering, “Yes.”

I, of course, couldn’t sleep the whole night, wondering what I had got myself into.  But right at noon, there was a knock at my door and it was him.  We had a great time over lunch at the local fast-food drive-in.  He said he especially enjoyed that as they didn’t have anything like it back in England.  He made me laugh a lot, something I hadn’t done enough, unfortunately, in my life before.

He said he was in this band back in England, and they were actually becoming popular in Europe, but I hadn’t heard of them.  He said they had already recorded an album and a couple Ep’s. They had had some songs released on a couple small independent U.S labels (including one out of Chicago), but they hadn’t gotten much radio airplay or reaction over here and the big U.S. record companies had turned down distributing them.  But he seemed hopeful that they would eventually be recognized in America.

We spent the rest of the day together and then he even kissed me goodbye.  He said he was leaving the next morning to go back to England, but he would try to keep in touch with me by sending me a card. This was in 1963.

I didn’t hear from him for several months and missed him, but figured he must have gotten busy and met many other girls, of course.

But one day, in early Feb. ’64, after “just another day” at the library, when I got home, there was a card in my mailbox. And it was from him.  It was an early Valentine’s Day card.  In it, he said that they had even gotten a record deal with a major U.S. label and they had become popular enough to come to America. In fact, they were to be on The Ed Sullivan TV Show that coming Sunday.  Sure enough, as I and millions of others watched that evening, there he was with his band playing  in matching suits their own songs, as all these girls screamed.  There was that friend, I had met that one day a few months before.  He had said his name was George.  And soon everyone would know the name of his band. 



The above fictional story was inspired by a true story told to this writer by George’s older sister, Louise, at my 2nd. Beatles’ Convention I organized.  She told there of a little-known visit by George and his brother, Peter, to her in a small town in Illinois in September, 1963.  He was persuaded by a local band to get up and play with them. The band played with George, some old rock ‘n’ roll including, “Roll Over Beethoven” , “Johnny B. Goode”, “Matchbox”, and “Your Cheatin’ Heart”.  After, one of the band members said to him, “You’re not a bad guitar player. If you keep at it, you might even get somewhere.”  Louise had previously been sent a copy of "Love Me Do” by her mother, Louise.  She had taken it to a local radio station. This was in June, 1963, and it was the first time a Beatles song was broadcast in the U.S.  Later when George arrived to visit her, the two hitch hiked  to the station and brought along “She Loves You” , which had been released in England the month before and the station also played it.  Two members of the local band, The Four Vests, took George to a music store in Vernon, Ill. where George purchased a red Rickenbacker guitar for $400, which he had painted black to match John Lennon’s.  The Rickenbacker 400 was first played in public on the British TV show, Ready Steady Go, on Oct.4, 1963. They also visited a local record store where George bought several singles including “Got My Mind Set on You” by James Ray, but written by mailman, Rudy Clark. George would later have his own hit with it in 1987.  A few months later, on Feb. 9, 1964, The Beatles played on The Ed Sullivan Show. .Louise would be the only Beatles relative to accompany them on the train to Washington, D.C.   And the rest is history, as they say.

 


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Below George Harrison and his band doing " If I Needed Someone":
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"40 SHADES OF RED":  A FANTASY SATIRE

2/14/2015

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“40 SHADES OF RED”: A FANTASY SATIRE 
 by Alan L. Chrisman

One cold, windy late October day, SHE came into my little antiquarian bookstore.  SHE looked plain on the outside, with big thick glasses. SHE told me she was a librarian and SHE looked the stereotype, quiet and shy.  I seemed to also have a fantasy about librarians too (for they also liked books).  SHE said her name was Veronica, just like my long-time fantasy, Veronica Lake, from the Noir Films, which were my favorite.

But despite her looking like a librarian, I couldn’t help but notice her small breasts peeking through the top of her red blouse, with the beginnings of an intriguing tattoo visible (I had a thing for them too- tattoos I mean, my dad had run a tattoo parlour, so I had grown up with them all around me).  So underneath that prim exterior, there was also a sensual side to this intriguing woman, maybe hidden-but there.  And looking back now, I think it was that combination of innocence on the outside and sexiness below that first captivated me from the very first time I met her. 

Still it surprised me when the book she was looking for was by an infamous 19th Century writer, Marquis de Sade, known for his erotic S & M stories.  I happened to have a regular customer who collected his books.  I told her he might be willing to sell the title she wanted, but that he was away in Europe and wouldn’t be back for several weeks.  But she started to come in often to my shop and we’d talk about books, etc.  SHE always seemed to wear at least something in red, and I thought it made her look more feminine and pretty.  In that time, Veronica and I got to know each other better and better. We had good times and laughed a lot.  It was great to watch her come out of herself.  There was a certain naivety about her, almost like a child, that was unusual and refreshing, in these cynical days, we seem to live in today.  Before long, I was falling in love with her.  And she knew it and would let me be affectionate with her.  It was clear she liked me too.

Each visit, she would reveal more and more to me.   And on one visit, she admitted she was married.  I’d always thought she was single, as she hadn’t mentioned anything before.  Then she broke down and cried and said she was also in trouble and needed help.  This is the way SHE told it:  It seemed that when her marriage had been having some problems, she had gotten involved with another man and had had an affair. This man had claimed to Veronica that he was a painter; he had even taken the name of the famous 18th Century Impressionist , calling himself, Monet.  She later found out that this guy, Jack Monet, was a painter alright, but the only thing he had been trained to paint was houses.  But not before he had somehow convinced Veronica in her emotional state and naivety to pose for him, wearing nothing but her tattoos.  And that was the trouble she was in.  For now he was now threatening to expose the affair and her painting to her still husband and children, unless she paid him $ 5,000. 

There had been a craze in the beginnings of the 21st Century called nude selfies-where people would send nude photos of themselves to each other.  It had started out with teenagers, but soon everyone was doing it-parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, employees, bosses, etc.  But a reaction had occurred with all the blatant nudity and, as has often occurred throughout history, the exposing of and which parts of the human body, had gone through many pendulum swings, and it was no longer cool to publically expose oneself (which is why Veronica’s painting could be so threatening).  We had studied, in school, the brief craze of nude selfies back then, as an example of a silly fad, and as with all fads, it had soon exhausted itself, and had disappeared by 2016.  Likewise, in those old days, people had believed that diet, exercise, and stress affected aging, but we now know that, actually, aging is mainly caused by cosmic rays from space and as long as we wore our cosmic suits we could, most of us, live to be 200.

But Veronica didn’t have the money to pay the blackmailer and she didn’t know what she was going to do.  I could see the jam she was in and I loved her.  I didn’t have the money either. But I wanted to help this poor, innocent woman. The world had treated her badly, and it wasn’t her fault.  So here was my chance to rescue her and show her how much I loved her, at the same time.

So then I came up with a plan.  While the collector of the Marquis book was still in Europe, I could break into his place and steal it and we could sell it on the black market for at least that much.  The next week, on a moonless night, I did break into the collector’s house and I managed to steal it. We soon found a willing collector out of town, willing to pay what we asked, and with no questions asked.  I then met with the sleazy pretend-Monet painter and we paid him off and got her nude painting back and told him if he ever bothered her again, he’d regret it.

To celebrate after all this, Veronica and I made love, and as I suspected, she was no librarian in bed.  She showed me sides of myself I didn’t know I even had.  She also admitted to me later that night,that SHE, this shy little librarian, also worked part-time as a dominatrix.  Now her wanting that Marquis de Sade book made sense.

Veronica and I were finally free, we thought.   But a couple months later, the police came to visit my bookstore.  I didn’t think much about it; I figured they were just checking to see if anyone had tried to sell the stolen Marquis.  But it was worse than I thought. That fake Monet guy, had tipped off the police on us, anonymously, and had skipped the country to Europe (where he would no doubt try to take Picasso’s name).

I went to court and I had to admit that it had been my plan.  SHE turned prosecution evidence against me, when they threatened to charge her too, in exchange for testifying against me.  SHE got off scot-free and is back working at the library (and on weekends as a dominatrix, evidently still). 

Me, I’m here in prison, serving my time, and writing this story.  Let this be a warning, be careful what you fantasize about; it might just come true. 


See below P.P. Arnold's 1st version of " The First Cut Is The Deepest ", 1967 , originally written by Cat Stevens, later covered by Keith Hampshire, Rod Stewart, and Sheryl Crow:
http://youtu.be/oo__EIXzAco




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"The Day The Music Died", Feb. 3, 1959

2/3/2015

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Picture
“THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED”, FEB. 3, 1959 by Alan L. Chrisman

This day has been dubbed “the day the music died” because on this day, three top 50’s rock ‘n’ roll acts, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” died in a plane crash  after a show near Clear Lake, Iowa.

This sad event was later immortalized in the song, “American Pie” by Don Mclean in 197I.  Buddy Holly was one of the most influential artists in rock.  He defined the rock band line-up with guitars, bass, and drums with his back-up band, The Crickets.  Some say The Beatles even created their name, partly, in reverence to him.  He wrote his own songs and many believe he was just starting to expand his and music’s directions when he was killed at only 22.  Already, he was experimenting with strings and different sounds and new recording techniques.  And his music was, like Elvis, appealed to both black and white audiences. He had several big hits, both rockers and ballads. ”That’ll be the Day”, Peggy Sue”, Maybe Baby”, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore”, and many more.  The Beatles covered his, “Words Of Love” and The Stones did his “ Not Fade Away.”

Richie Valens, was a Latin–American artist who helped open the doors for that ethnic group in mainstream  pop music, with his hits, La Bamba” and ‘Donna” and he was but 17. “The Big Bopper”, J.P. Richardson, was a former D.J. who had had a big hit with “Chantilly Lace.” So it was a sad day indeed, when rock ’n’ roll lost these three irreplaceable talents. Waylon Jennings , later well-known ‘outlaw’ country singer/ songwriter with Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, was a bassist in Holly’s band at the time and famously gave up his seat on that fated plane ride.  I was fortunate to see the surviving Crickets and Waylon Jennings at a Chicago Blues Fest.  Don Mclean’s epic song, “American Pie” perfectly captured in words and music, just how powerful their loss would be, and in fact, the future of rock, better than anybody at the time. They are so good, I’ve reprinted them here:

“American Pie”  lyrics below by Don McLean:

 A long long time ago

I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance


That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while

But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step

I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died
So

[Chorus]
Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin' this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die

Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Do you believe in rock and roll?
Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you're in love with him
'Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues

I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died
I started singin'

Now, for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
But, that's not how it used to be

When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me

Oh and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned

And while Lenin read a book on Marx
The quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died

Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast

It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance

'Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?
We started singin'


Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again

So come on Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend

Oh and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell

And as the flames climbed high into the night 
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
He was singin'


I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away

I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play


And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died
And they were singing

Songwriters: MCLEAN, DON, 1971

American Pie lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

 Below: Video Story: “The Day the Music Died”:

 http://youtu.be/r9M6u7-9yNE

Below Don McLean’s video for “American Pie”:

http://youtu.be/tr-BYVeCv6U

 

 

 

 


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    Alan Chrisman went to Purdue U. and U. of Ill.(International Relations), came to Canada, was influenced by The Beatles, and became involved in many aspects of music and writing.

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