Mission Accomplished!

I made it! I sold the 55 books required during the pre-sale period for a full printing from Finishing Line Press. I actually had 66 books sold for the period ending August 28, so that means I get a full first printing of 250 copies, plus 25 free copies for me to sell at readings, give away, or do whatever I want with them. I have to admit, it's a bit of a relief to have that pre-sale over with. Thanks to all of you out there who made this possible with your orders and your faith in me and my work. I got orders from family, co-workers, poet friends, online friends, and maybe even a stranger or two. Thanks also to Leah and Kevin Maines (the publisher-editors at Finishing Line Press); and to Anna Evans, BJ Ward and Therese Halscheid for writing wonderful blurbs for the book. If you are didn’t order yet but are still interested, the book is available at: http://www.finishinglinepress.com/NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm

Music: I’ve been touting the website music club known as eMusic for some time now. It has been a great source for downloads of independent labels and hard-to-find albums. Recently I was a bit disappointed when they reduced the number of downloads per month with my membership, apparently to offset the increased price of bringing in some major labels like Columbia. But I must admit they have sweetened the pot with bonus downloads and such to keep me in the club. And I recently realized that Bob Dylan is one of the new artists they offer – virtually his whole catalog. So I snatched up about 50 favorite Dylan songs that I don’t already have on CD or elsewhere. That got me to thinking: what are the top Dylan albums I would recommend? Here they are, in order of preference:

1. Blonde on Blonde
2. Highway 61 Revisited
3. Bringing It All Back Home
4. Blood on the Tracks
5. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
6. John Wesley Harding
7. Another Side of Bob Dylan
8. The Times They Are A-changin’
9. Desire
10. Time Out of Mind
11. Oh Mercy
12. Modern Times

The other find on eMusic was one of my favorite “New Age” artists, George Winston. His “Seasons” box set (which includes his albums Winter into Spring, Summer, and Autumn) is available on eMusic for 12 download credits – that’s for 33 tracks – quite a bargain.

Poem of the Fortnight: I had fun with Robert Brewer’s Poetic Asides blog weekly prompt this week, so I thought I’d share it here. The prompt was to write a poem about something mislabeled. My subject was a little bit of a stretch for the topic, that’s okay. The title is the word for misheard or misinterpreted lyrics in a song – it originates from an old English folk song that contains the line, “and laid him on the green”, which has been misinterpreted as “and Lady Mondegreen”.


Mondegreens

We do not pledge allegiance
to the republic for “Richard Stans”.

“Gladly the Cross I’d Bear” is not a hymn
about a cross-eyed bear named Gladly,
and “Silent Night” is not about “round John Virgin.”

Creedence Clearwater Revival
did not sing about a “bathroom on the right”,
and Jimi Hendrix did not want to “kiss this guy”.

And as for the Beatles’ “Michelle”,
they’re singing in French, not about
a “Sunday monkey” who won’t play a piano song.

So get it right, people!
Now if you don’t mind,
I’ll listen to my favorite classical pieces,

like Mozart’s “I’m Inclined to Knock Music”,
or the "Cannon" by Paco Bell.