The Casual Tradition

No, i'm not promising to post more often. BUT, I have established a tradition I will continue.

I finished Chapter 6 of the novel today, from the Musicians Story (Rough Draft Chapter Title: Blood and Fire). As I've done before, here, for your viewing pleasure, is a short excerpt from the chapter:

"He could hear his horn, resting right nearby in it's case, whispering to him. He could almost feel the beat, as he watched Sonja stripping his mattress of the sheets, her feet setting the rhythm. From the windows, open wide to let the cooler night air in, he could hear the bass drone of freight trains and cars and the murmur of crowds. The horn was dictating a melody to him, a solo to cut above all of it. Her hips were swaying, completely unaware of the dance she had initiated, her arms conducting themselves. Ramon had never seen such a benign, mundane activity with such beauty. He felt delirious from the fever."

There you go. We're back to the Detective next, I think.

Also, for yoru information, May is the Month of New Music. Awesome. New music from my favorite bands:

• Blunderbus by Jack White (with my cousin Lillie Mae, of course!). Typical Jack White, he doesn't deviate from his formula too much. There are a couple excellent songs (Hip Eponymous Poor Boy, Love Interruption), and the rest is only okay so far. I anticipate it to age well.
•  Little Broken Hearts by Norah Jones (with mega producer Danger Mouse). Excellent. Definitely Norah's best work since her second album (Feels Like Home). Danger Mouse's style is all over it, but he always does such an excellent job of matching up with the artists he's producing. Least "mainstream" of her albums by far, a little quirky, but never loses it's pop sensibilities. Favorite song so far, Merriam.
• Not Your Kind of People by Garbage. First listen was underwhelming, hearkening to their latter work (like albums Bleed Like Me), but has improved with further listens. This is not Version 3.0, but it has it's moments. Shirley Manson's a better songwriter when she's writing pop songs instead of stepping up on a soapbox.
• Neck of the Woods by Silversun Pickups. This band just keeps growing on me every day, a little by little. The first album was awesome. the second as well, much of the same thing. But this one, the third, they reached back into the 80's. They retro'd up their sound, changed with the times, but didn't lose their identity as a band in the process. the first time I listened to this album I didn't get it, and I didn't like it. But then I read some of what they said about it, their process and ideas. And then I listened again, and again, and again, and I love it more and more every time. This is an album, and not a collection of singles. I miss bands that do that. it's getting lost in this modern age of digital downloads.