nostalgia – beckycochrane.com

Writing Wednesday

Kinsmart die cast model of the classic 1953 Cadillac Series 62.

I actually am not writing today, or haven’t so far. I’m mostly outlining on paper, and mentally, a bunch of possible scenes and plot points that will eventually bring the Neverending Saga to a close. And when I write those words–“to a close”–my brain can’t quite conceive of it. It isn’t that I want to drag this out forever, like a nighttime TV drama where characters go through more jobs and marriages and crises in seven seasons than most people will ever experience in their entire lives. (Or, for that matter, a daytime TV drama, where characters die and return to life on a consistent basis, and sometimes they look very different, and sometimes they’ll die again and return looking like their original version. Soap operas are a delight in that way, and I say that sincerely.)

I’ll be happy when all my deserving characters are happy and doing what they should be, and then I’ll leave them alone for a while. If I rewrite the second and third 1990s novels, many of these characters appear again in supporting roles. Plus I have three strong ideas for completely unrelated novels. I have much I can write, but I’m not anywhere near saying goodbye to this group yet.

I do reflect a lot on what I changed from the 1990s versions, and I’m happy with those choices. I provided backstories where there were none. I changed or let go of certain storylines that I never thought I would, but doing so opened up so many better possibilities. There were people who read those 1990s books and said they loved them, and I have no way of knowing if they would love these.

If I were to tell you some of the ways these seven manuscripts I’ve poured my time and heart and effort into for the last seven years have been a means for a few people to criticize, belittle, or disrespect me, you might wonder why I keep going. It’s okay. The books and I are still standing. The people who respect what I do or who love me are still supportive in a range of ways. The others are either no longer a part of my life or if they are, I mostly stopped talking about writing with them (sort of the way most of us avoided talking about politics, religion, or our problematic relatives before it became a thing to share all that over social media–with words and videos–and now we can’t avoid it by moving to the other side of the globe because our phones will deliver it all to us 24/365. My detractors are safe from this rambling commentary since they also don’t read this blog.).

I had a lovely period of time once when things I wrote were published. Maybe I’ll get to experience that again. Maybe not. Publishing didn’t bring me riches or acclaim or the security that I’d always have a writing career. It brought me happiness, a sense of fulfillment, and the understanding that I’m able to follow through and finish things.

Some day, I hope you’ll come along for the ride with the Neverending Saga.

And remember…

Tiny Tuesday!

Time to browse the book that inspired this weekly feature, and today I chose this prompt:

I’ve recently taken out my wee keyboard to see if I can still play any of the easy piano music I learned WAY BACK WHEN. Turns out I can (falteringly); it’d probably be a lot easier on an actual piano. The electronic keyboard really is wee, having only 26 white keys (natural music notes) and 18 black keys (sharps and flats). For comparison, a standard piano of 88 keys has 52 white keys and 36 black keys.

Still a lot of fun though, and coincidentally, this favorite old classic my parents liked to dance to is in the music book, so I took a (very slow) run through it.

Sounds better when Ella sings it.

Where would your sentimental journey take you?

Tiny Tuesday! and Song Challenge: Day 19

Today’s song challenge is “a song that makes you think about life.” Oddly, one of the first songs that came to mind evoked Judy Collins, and though she recorded it, it’s the signature song of its composer, a different female artist.

Then I realized Judy Collins had a 1975 hit with a different song that also makes me think about life, a Stephen Sondheim composition from A Little Night Music, “Send in the Clowns.” Collins received a Grammy for “Best Song of the Year” in 1976 for her rendition. The song was frequently performed by the character Doug Williams on “Days Of Our Lives” in the years when I watched that daytime drama. Funny that the Time cover celebrating soap operas came out the same month Collins won that Grammy and featured “Doug and Julie,” played by real-life married couple Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes. I’m not sure if he’d performed the song on the show before the Grammy win, or if that’s when the writers decided to make it Doug and Julie’s song because the characters were so star-crossed in their relationship.

A favorite memory of mine is living on the bottom floor of an apartment in Tuscaloosa and watching Doug and Julie’s wedding on TV. It was the kind of moment that you wish you could share with another viewer (now we have social media for that!), and I remember being so happy and walking outside just as the girl from the upstairs apartment came out. She looked happy, too, and we smiled at each other. “I know it’s dumb,” I called up, “but I’m SO HAPPY Doug and Julie just got married on my soap opera!” “ME, TOO!” she said, having also just watched it, and thus a friendly acquaintance based on a soap opera began.

Years later, I watched the wedding of the characters Luke and Laura from “General Hospital” with a theater full of people at Ferguson, the student center at Bama, where cake and punch were served to us in their honor. Soaps were a BIG DEAL to college students. In graduate school, I took my daily lunch break in the TV room at Ferguson to watch “The Young and the Restless” with other students (I didn’t own a TV anyway, but it was fun to sit with a diverse group of people and react to the show.)

I don’t have clown phobia, but I couldn’t think of anything at the Hall close to a clown to photograph to tie the song challenge to Tiny Tuesday. Then I remembered this little item from the toy box: the character Nemo from the movie Finding Nemo,, who is a CLOWNFISH. =)

Song Challenge: Day 14

Today’s challenge is “a song you liked hearing at a wedding.” I sat here thinking of all the weddings I’ve been to in my life, and the only songs that immediately came to mind are from marriages that ended in divorce. For all those weddings I’ve been to where couples are still together, I can’t remember their music! My advice to people getting married is: Pick music or songs you’ll continue to feel affection for no matter how things end up, and don’t let anybody talk you out of your music choices. That music may be among your best memories.

“Colour My World” is the first song I taught myself on piano. Yes, it was played at a wedding. My first one.

Mood: Monday and Song Challenge: Day 11

Breathe With Me
©Preston M. Smith, USA
oil on canvas, 2017

I’m fascinated by Smith’s work that (I think) I found for the first time today. I connected with so many of his paintings and their titles. This one felt like the right match for today’s song challenge, “a song that you never get tired of.” For me, that song is Dennis Wilson’s “Forever,” from the Beach Boys’ Sunflower album in 1970. This was a lesser-known gem Beach Boys fans and followers loved for a long time. It found a new audience when it was sung by an actor on a popular TV show in the 1990s. While considered a sweet love song, there’s a sadness woven through it within the context of Dennis’s passionate, glorious, and tumultuous life and early death.

Song Challenge: Day 7

I had an appointment to go to so I turned Thursday into a day of errands: dropping off clothing donations, making a rare visit to the wonderful Texas Art Supply (it used to be so convenient in the old ‘hood, and today they gave me a bunch of help) to buy a couple of gifts and goodies, filling up the car with gas, and grabbing Starbucks along the way.

I have a car playlist called “Driving,” and since today’s song challenge is “a song to drive to,” I switched to it. Songs include Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer,” U2’s “California (There Is No End To Love),” Jackson Browne’s “Chasing You Into the Light,” One Republic’s “Come Home,” Paul Young’s “Everytime You Go Away,” Wesley Dean’s “Hello, I Love You, Goodbye,” Gladys Knight & The Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia,” and Gregg Allman’s “Midnight Rider,” “Multi Colored Lady,” and “Please Call Home.”

All excellent songs and fun to sing with as I drive, but for this challenge, I’m sharing what may be my favorite song to drive to or even think about driving to. I love to hear it, sing it, and make up stories to it and have been doing so since I first heard it in 1971. I made an entire video in my head to accompany this song before videos were a thing, and I still remember my mental video all these years later for Carole King’s “Carry Your Load” from the great album Music. Give it a listen if you haven’t heard it or want the nostalgia of remembering it.

I have two of those Barbie convertibles, one from Margret via Lynne, and one from Nurse Lisa. THANK YOU!

Song Challenge: Day 6

Today’s challenge, “a song that makes you want to dance,” reminds me that I’m a person who wants to dance WHILE no one’s watching, not LIKE no one’s watching. I wish I still had access to my family’s home movies that I lost in a computer meltdown, because I think there was footage of young Becky dancing, and I’ll get to that in a minute.

I never went to school dances and even at the mandatory “proms” my last two years of high school, I didn’t dance. My girlfriends and I didn’t dance at slumber parties. I don’t, for example, think I’ve ever seen Lynne dance, and we’ve been friends since we were twelve. During our teen era, kids I hung out with were “too cool” to dance, which was fine, because dancing just wasn’t my thing.

In the 1970s, I did go to bars/clubs during the height of the disco era, but I didn’t dance. In the 1980s, when I finally DID dance at clubs and bars, they were usually slow dances, though I absolutely do remember finally dancing to the songs of Prince and Michael Jackson. Resistance was futile. Then, under the influence of my favorite enabler, Kathy, I learned to Texas two-step at country/cowboy bars. My footwear was red ropers like these, which oddly, I donated to Goodwill when I moved to Texas.

So probably the only time in my life when I danced without feeling self-conscious and awkward, I looked a little like this.

And I absolutely know what I danced to. And I always will. When no one’s watching.

Button Sunday with Song Challenge: Day 3

In honor of today’s song challenge, what song reminds you of summertime?

Bet you thought I’d choose a Beach Boys song, but no, here’s a deep dive from Mungo Jerry in 1970. You’d have to work hard to feel unhappy when this came over your transistor radio.

Challenges yet to come.

Photo Friday, No. 897

Current Photo Friday theme: Futuristic

In 1996, Barbie and Ken joined Kirk and Spock on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Star Trek’s” television debut. I don’t believe that in 1966, anyone looking toward a future in space imagined that here on Earth, the TV show would launch all the subsequent series, movies, Hallmark ornaments, dolls and toys, costumes, or fan gatherings and enthusiasm the franchise still enjoys.

Live long and prosper!

Buying a little peace of mind

When I recently listened to the double CD that includes Dennis Wilson’s solo album Pacific Ocean Blue and the tracks from the second planned solo album, the last couple of songs on both CDs had skips on them. Fortunately, I was able to find a used copy from an eBay seller for a good price. The cover of this second one is beat up–mine isn’t–but the CDs both sound fine. If you know me, you understand this is a crisis averted. This collection is a go-to for me when I need to find a certain kind of solace and peace. In the past, I have’t listened to it on my little CD player, so maybe a different player wouldn’t have had the same problems. I’ll check that out sometime later. For now, I’m good.

News came out this week that Dennis’s brother Brian, the oldest of the Wilson brothers, has some form of dementia. Since his wife, who recently died, managed his care, and the care of their children still living at home, a conservatorship has been approved by a court with the family’s input. Apparently, Brian’s still singing and playing at home, but he doesn’t always do well in unfamiliar situations or with unfamiliar people. I wish him the very best and hope there aren’t any issues within his family about his care or his money or property. Not everyone inside the Beach Boys organization as it now exists has been kind to him, just as they were often unkind to Dennis. There’ve been many books and articles written about them; no need for me to rehash it here. I simply think Brian’s life has been tumultuous, and his gifts so beautifully shared, that he deserves a gentle and loving twilight.

Now that I’ve been through my A to Z CD binders, I have plans for what music I’ll listen to going forward when I write. More to come.

A few photos of the Wilson brothers I’m mostly saving for my own future reference, though it’s interesting to see how they changed through the years before Dennis died in 1983 (drowning, age 39) and Carl died in 1998 (lung cancer, age 51).