Why I love Anna Nyrayeba - whoever she is!

First a little background:

Back when I worked in a recording studio, Lloyd Maines turned me on to two different acts.
The first was a album that he had just (at that time) produced in New York by Ned Sublett. Now, Ned was loosely known as the "Rapping Cowboy", although he really didn't rap all that much. Mostly he just mashed disparate genres together in a melange that shouldn't work, but oddly did. Rumba, western swing, heavy metal...it was all fair game in songs like Cattle Mutilation Blues and Cowboy's are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other.

The other artist was a more famous one. He handed me a red vinyl album of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, with the words "You have to understand, this isn't a joke. He's completely serious about what he does." The Legendary Stardust Cowboy originally hailed from Lubbock and, in the wake of Tiny Tim's brief popularity, almost achieved a sort of fame with his song "Paralyzed," which was widely regarded as the worst record ever made. The 'Ledge, as he was affectionately known, specialized, heck - even invented, as form of music known as "Psychobilly", and his wild performance abandon was legendary (no pun intended). David Bowie was even a fan and reportedly had the 'Ledge in mind when he created Ziggy Stardust.

Personally, I really like Ned Sublett's music. It's hard to categorize, but it works in a wierd but intriguing way. The Ledge... well, mostly his stuff is just a hoot. Yeah, it's funny in an unintentionally way, but you also marvel at his fearless abandon. When people come to my house and I pull out the Ledge, they know it's time to go home.

So, anyway, I'm always looking for what could most charitably be described as "unusual" music. This past weekend I hit the jackpot.

I was at Half Price Books in Dallas, scavenging through their bargain CD bins when I came across a disc that was tough to identify. This was because it was Russian. The artist was (as close as I can come without Russian Alphabet characters) Anna Nyrayeba. Since it was all in Russian, I couldn't tell anything about the song titles or any other relevant information. But the cover was a day glow green and silver, so I'm thinking "Hmmm, probably techno or disco." Russian Disco?! Sounds like a must have, so I added it to may already large stack.

Well, as it turns out, it's not disco or techno, but something more like Russian bar room cabaret. Needless to say, I kind of like it, but most everyone else hates it. I put it on briefly at the last magic tournament and was quickly asked most emphatically to turn it off.

But, hey! If you come to my house and plan on staying late - you'd better pull out that Russian-English dictionary. You can translate for me and we'll boogie to a little Russian Cabaret!

Blogging to live, living to blog

What a world we live in!

I've always been a bit perplexed by the concept of blogging. We are steadily becoming disassociated with the people around us, and yet we crave community. Where we once stood around at the corner shop and expounded on all things relevant and irrelevant, we now post our words to the net, in all their misspelled glory.

So the question might be why do we care? Why are we interested in the words of people we don't know while we can't make the time to listen to the person on the street? Perhaps, and I'm just speculating here, we are simply more comfortable with an impersonal setting. I see teenagers all the time who would rather send a text message than place a phone call.

When I speak with other people who deal with the public, the topic of civility often comes up. I don't know how many times I've heard someone say they feel people have gotten less polite just in the last ten to twelve years. Now, I don't think people are inherently bad. But perhaps we are working towards unlearning some of the social skills that used to be considered important.

In some ways it's all about risk and reward. Most of us know what it's like to tell a joke and then see blank expressions where we hoped there would be laughter. Those are risks we should be willing to take, but increasingly we seem content to sit at our monitors. Think about it - when you type "lmao" - are you really?

Award Nominated!! (sort of... in a round about way...)

I had a story published in Neo-opsis 14 last year. Now, Neo-opsis is a Canadian sci fi mag, and very good one that I am proud to be associated with.

Since Canada is, last time I checked, a different nation from the one in which I live (that being the U.S.), I started jokingly referring to myself in various blogs and sites as "Internationally Published Author..."

Now, I find out that issues 14 and 15 of Neo-opsis have been nominated for the 2009 Aurora Award for Best Work in English (other). The Aurora Award is Canada's version of the Hugo and my story, "Shedding Skin" was one of twelve stories between the two issues. Okay, it's a stretch. Theyr'e largely nominated for the fine job they do putting together this magazine. But I'm willing to pad my resume with the assiociation.

Besides...I've been guilty by association often enough.