BFFs since high school enjoying a snow day at Houndstooth Hall. His gray kilt matches the week’s color theme.
Tag: dolls
The Muse and The Time Traveler
I pulled out all the tiles from my Magnetic Poetry® Wood Words box. From the moment I began to assemble my poem from among them, I knew exactly who and what inspired it. When I placed a specific word, I also knew what photo from my archives I hoped to find to share with the finished poem.
From September 2009, based on a challenge from television’s “Project Runway” for my website’s “Runway Monday” series, I found her. She’s in fashion I designed for her of silk, satin, polyester, tulle, and crepe. A sheer coincidence only a handful of people will understand: I’d named this doll Maggie and said she was dressed as a Time Traveler. I’m grateful to my Muse and this Mattel Model Muse doll. I hope she likes the role she plays. There’s no role I’d rather have in my world than writer.
Here’s her poem, destined to be named “Time Traveler.”
Today is the anniversary of the date Riley died in 2008. The L.A. fires and their consequences have kept me emotional for the last week already, so this year, Riley’s loss feels a little sharper. The other night, Tom and I watched The Last Waltz, which I haven’t seen probably since the late seventies, when it was released. I still remembered the songs, the performers (band members and musical guests), and some of the conversations with members of The Band as they talked about how the concert (the focus of the film, as directed by Martin Scorsese) was bringing to an end their sixteen years of performing on the road.
Though most of the members worked together again, they never again performed live as a group with Robertson. Now all are gone, except for keyboardist Garth Hudson, who’s 87 and has been reported as a resident in an assisted living facility since 2022, when his wife Maud died. ETA: Garth Hudson died on January 21, five days after this post.
- Richard Manuel: Died in 1986 at the age of 42
- Rick Danko: Died in 1999 at the age of 55
- Levon Helm: Died in 2012 at the age of 71
- Robbie Robertson: Died in 2023 at the age of 80
I think the footage of The Band singing with Bob Dylan got to me the most, maybe because Riley loved him so much and considered him a songwriting muse. I had a lump in my throat listening to “Forever Young” and “I Shall Be Released.” So many memories. In an alternate life, Riley and I might have ended up in L.A., friends sharing a house in a neighborhood like Altadena, while I pursued all the things that would have informed my fiction and he played everywhere anyone wanted to hear a guitarist, pianist, and songwriter. I’m not sure either of us ever wanted fame and fortune as much as the chance to create and be true to ourselves. Riley did play all over the Southeast (I’m not sure about his time in Nevada), and he wrote a lot of songs. I never lived further west than Texas, but I’ve had fiction published, and what I’m working on now includes real settings (many of them decimated by the fires) and celebrates my fictional artists (none of them native-born Angelenos) of Los Angeles.
I’m so grateful for the years of friendship Riley and I shared. Though we aren’t the Muse and Time Traveler of the poem, Riley’s part of why they exist.
Even websites get the blues
There’s been a lot of activity around Houndstooth Hall for the past few days: plumbers, electricians, and utility company inspectors coming and going. This has kept the dogs riled up. I did manage to make a traditional New Year’s Day good luck and prosperity meal, this time with ham, biscuits (Tom made), steamed broccoli, turnip greens, and black-eyed peas.
The dogs violently spoke out about these strangers all over the property, and my brain couldn’t possibly have written in such an environment. I did manage to get a new banner with events, people, and dogs from 2024 on here. I also did something long overdue (not done since 2022) and cleaned up the original Timothy James Beck website. There were broken links, strange coding characters messing up pages, some pages even had our OLD P.O. Box address (and I’ve had the current one for around ten years). The author photo collages were so outdated that I deleted them–basically, the site was a hot mess.
I know some HTML code thanks to this site, but there were things I had to research, and I managed to learn new tricks and fix the invasive and bad code. I hope it’s all correct and up-to-date now. There’s a page on the site with reviews and quotes from readers. I haven’t read any of that in years, and when I did, it gave me quite a lift.
I told Tim and Jim from now on, when I start feeling like I haven’t done much, I need to treat that page on the site like a scene from the movie Soapdish. Sally Field’s character Maggie, a daytime drama actress, would go with the show’s head writer Rose (played by Whoopi Goldberg) to a mall in New Jersey. Rose would pretend to “notice” Maggie and start fan-girling, which would make people in the crowd stop, stare, recognize, and rush Maggie for autographs, telling her how much they loved her and her show’s character, “Celeste Talbert,” and it would help Maggie emerge from her funk.
Since I snagged the TJB banner from one of my Flickr albums (related to book publicity), I also noticed this blue-dominant photo to share again. It includes Mattel’s Summer doll, who I bought in 2008 (on a shopping trip either before or after an amazing dinner Lynne treated me to) specifically to publicize this book. Summer (named Jandy in the novel) started a whole world of sewing, top modeling, Mattel Model Muse doll buying, and the Runway Monday series on LiveJournal.
You never know when another muse may come along, as I was reminded today. But that’s a story for another time. =)
Tiny Tuesday!
When we were out shopping earlier in December, Tom and I chanced upon these two mini playsets. (They ended up in my Christmas stocking.)
One with an RV and the other with a convertible, for ages four and up. Believe it or not, I have a couple of characters in the Neverending Saga who have become fast friends and are ages five and four; they like playing with Barbie dolls; both have fathers who go on the road as musicians; and one has a mother who drives a convertible. A perfect way for them to comfortably imagine new adventures.
Wishing all of you a safe and satisfying new year’s eve, however you spend it, and a great new year to come.
Tiny Tuesday!
A new smaller skeleton joined the pack at Houndstooth Hall: young Ambrose’s twin sister Amarise (whatever century some variety of plague occurred was hard on this family). Here’s a photo from her first appearance on Instagram, wearing a “Who The Hell Is Ben Cote?” button that I let her claim because, as Lord Cuttlebone explains, “Never come between a girl and her devotion to a guitarist, songwriter, performer, and possessor of great hair.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. For more of my Instagram skeleton Halloween homages to music artists, check behind the cut.
Tiny Tuesday!
Every time I look at these tiny skeletons, I crack up. I’m only including the doll for scale. I’m not implying that any characters in the Neverending Saga–of which this doll represents one–have skeletons in their closet.
But sometimes they surprise me. BOO!
Tiny Tuesday!
Barbie and friends do a reenactment of me preparing to find fashion, dress skeletons, and post photos to social media (i.e., my Instagram account), with Lord Cuttlebone and his nephew Ambrose supervising (i.e., chattering unsolicited advice into my ear). Since the theme is set: a spooky season homage to music, WILL I HAVE ENOUGH T-shirts or band memorabilia to do the entire month of October? The Shadow knows…
I’ve put my first seven days of photos behind the cut, if you want to see the artists I’ve featured.
Tiny Tuesday!
She’s tiny, but look at the size of that acorn Tom found in the yard this past weekend. Guess we’ll be having plump squirrels this autumn.
Photo Friday, No. 927
Current Photo Friday theme: Vibrant
Mattel model Abby, wearing one of my dresses based on a McCall’s pattern, in the Place d’Armes Hotel courtyard, New Orleans, May 2009. I was there for a literary conference, and writers had fun posing with my dolls.
I’m happily compelled to share this comment from my last week’s “Album Cover” theme, about a photo that I originally used for a Photo Friday challenge in October of last year. Marc is the person who started the Photo Friday site in 2002, and I told him his comment made my year.
Can I tell you, Becky, that this shot, when you originally posted it, *is* the shot that inspired the #album_cover challenge. It’s a great shot with such lovely storytelling in a single frame. Kudos! marc · Sep 19 2024
Tiny Tuesday!
When I pulled the Alex and Emma DVD off the shelf the other day, I thought it was a film about a musician and a lyricist instead of a writer and a stenographer. Yesterday, I realized how I made the mistake. I was probably thinking of 2007’s Music and Lyrics, in which Hugh Grant plays a musician named ALEX Fletcher, a former superstar whose band broke up several years before.
Now Alex plays nostalgia gigs, county fairs, and amusement parks. He’s given a shot at relevancy with the chance to compose a song for a reigning pop star with a passionately devoted audience (think Britney/ Christina/ Miley/ Taylor). The problem is, he’s had a songwriting block for years and needs a lyricist. Enter Sophie, played by Drew Barrymore, who’s subbing for the woman who usually comes to his apartment to take care of his plants. Sophie once studied writing and has a gift with words, but a bad relationship zapped her confidence. Can these two be the answer to each other’s creative challenges? It’s a RomCom, we know the answer, but it’s fun getting there. The supporting cast adds to the fun : Haley Bennett as the pop singer Cora Colman; Kristen Johnson as Rhonda, Sophie’s older sister; and more characters played by Brad Garrett, Matthew Morrison, Billy Griffith, and Jason Antoon. I didn’t remember seeing the movie before, but Tim thinks I watched it with him, and he’s probably right. =)
I still have romantic comedy DVDs on the shelf, but I’m not sure how many more I’ll watch (though we’re having another bout of summer heat). I mentioned that I’d be rewatching one of my favorite movies with Al Pacino. The DVD came, but somehow I missed that it’s only playable on Region 2 devices, and alas, the U.S. is a Region 1 country. I’m thwarted; any Region 1 DVD of the film I can find is priced prohibitively. Maybe one day.
Today, I went back to the source of wee Becky’s love for romantic comedies: Miss Doris Day. I wasn’t born or was too young for her early career, but I had a mother who liked to watch old movies with me on the weekends. Though I came to her late, Doris Day movies became favorites. I think I found this collection last year-ish in Target or somewhere similar. Naturally, I grabbed it. Not all of the six films are romantic comedies, but they all have Miss Day and her great leading men.
The fashion in 1959’s Pillow Talk adds to my enjoyment of this movie. I REALLY love Doris Day and Rock Hudson (playing composer Brad Allen and his alter-ego “Rex Stetson”) together, and wardrobe did right by them. I’ve never opened my Pillow Talk doll set by Mattel because I want to keep everything pristine. This certainly wasn’t the way I started out with dolls after Neighbor Nancy gave me her Barbie collection when I was around nine. I played with every outfit that came from Nancy, and my mother added to the Barbie couture as she could, whether she sewed doll clothes, bought off-brand doll fashion, or sprung for Mattel outfits.
As I watched Pillow Talk today, I thought of how the movie could have been a direct inspiration for some of my vintage doll fashions. Here’s interior decorator Jan Morrow fresh out of bed in an early scene.
My doll Cassidy models a mid-1960s blue and white lace pegnoir set (not a Mattel label) that my mother bought for my dolls’ wardrobe.
Doris in the boudoir screen caps: pretty in pink, looking happy.
Looking worried.
Cassidy modeling Mattel’s 1960s Barbie Nighty Negligee Set No. 965. This is two pieces–the gown and the robe–and I believe it’s from Lynne’s collection.
Tiny dolls, big nostalgia, and a film full of entertaining scenes enhanced by Thelma Ritter, Tony Randall, and singer Perry Blackwell, who makes the absolute most of her lounge singer scene.