Okay, it's true, I've slowed waaaaay down with the blogging. Why? Because I'm frickin' BUSY, that's why. I have to scrape together every spare second I've got just to make deadlines on Riot Band now, and sooner or later I'm almost certain to miss a week because I'm walking a freakin' tightrope here, people. You want me to blog more often? You trying to PUSH ME OVER THE EDGE?
Okay, so it's not all crazy like that. Seriously though. I haven't updated my website in like, two months. Really, all of my focus is on keeping my schedule. You know who I blame? Well, it's the other writers here on the site.
What?
Well, actually, yeah. Back when I was doing Comeback Road and Guitargasm! I wastaking two or three weeks for every chapter. Now these young kids come along and they're cranking out a chapter every week... it's too much for an old man like me, I swear.
Anyway, they're keeping me honest.
So... what is there to blog about? Michael Jackson's dead, that's in the news. Never was much of a fan though...
Politics?
Even though the protests in Iran have been suppressed, I feel encouraged that they took place at all. It's good to see the repressed people of that nation are standing up to the religious bullies that rule them and calling the elections a farce. I can only hope that people in the U.S. will eventually do the same thing to their media.
Americans who are concerned about the direction of their nation would do well to pick up a copy of Matt Taibbi's book The Great Derangement. Seriously, what is going on? What is actually on people's minds? Diversion, plain and simple. And rock and roll is a part of that. I will explain more, in a long, semi-lucid polemic on the oppressive nature of rock and roll, somewhere around Riot Band Blues Part 30.
You know what's awesome? Iggy Pop's new single, "King of the Dogs." It's all jazzy and old-timey and stuff, but it's still Iggy-attitude. Check it out on YouTube, because the video is very well done, with multiple ways to view. Very cool. Iggy can do whatever he wants, and it always comes out cool.
Also, for "guitar cred," do you know an awesome rock riff? "Wild America" off Iggy's 1993 record American Caesar. Good stuff.
So, what else is new? It's a good thing I've been working out the chapters for Riot Band Blues long in advance, because I have done almost nothing in the last month on that story. I've done one chapter instead of four, but if I keep scrambling I should be able to keep going without missing a week. We are strong. We don't miss deadlines. We crush deadlines.
I've largely given up on the short-lived Robot series at nolanwhyte.com, but since I've been otherwise tied up I still haven't taken down the link. I also haven't updated the site, or this blog, for about a month. All that matters though, is keeping up with Riot Band. That is key. If that stays on schedule, everything else will follow along.
Even so, I've been thinking about future projects. I'm thinking about a hockey blog for the next NHL season. I don't think there would be any money in it, so I probably won't bother... I wouldn't want to start it for fun and have it die from lack of attention like past projects have. If there was one magic thing that would really help my career and help me organize my spare time, it would be the ability to know beforehand which projects would be worth carrying through to the finish before I get started on them. That would be amazing.
Anyway, I hope you and your families and friends are all well. Peace to you,
The new chapter of Riot Band Blues wasn't posted on Friday... I'm not sure why. There must have been some sort of delay. I don't what the reason is, but chapter seven should be up soon. Maybe we'll have to wait until next Friday. Hmm.
On an unrelated note, I got another chance to chat with Sin, the guitarist for Ministry and The Revolting Cocks about his recent tours and new albums. He's a great guy, and we should see that interview up on this site in the weeks to come.
New story up at nolanwhyte.com. When I say new I mean old, because it's from July 2004, but it's new to you, right?
Busting my ass on the new (actually new) Riot Band Blues stuff. Did you know that professional wrestling is actually something I keep in mind when I write these things? I think of the shows like RAW and Nitro (remember Nitro?) when I do these things. It's how I craft cliffhangers. I wouldn't do it if I were just writing a straight-ahead novel, but this is a weekly thing, and I need a hook to bring back "the marks."
One thing, also wrestling related: when the 'net started to grow and gain popularity among the wrestling fan community, the bookers of the now-dead Nitro used to watch what people were saying on the message boards and would change what they had planned to do on the shows, in an attempt to "swerve" the audience and keep people from guessing what they had planned, even if it meant completely destroying a carefully set-up story angle.
I used to do that too! With Comeback Road and Guitargasm I would read the reader comments and try to avoid doing what people expected. I looked at it as trying to avoid doing the obvious. I wanted surprise after surprise. Did it help? Maybe. I guess it allowed me to avoid being too predictable.
Am I still doing it? Not really, no. I can't. In order to maintain a weekly schedule, I'm now writing quite far in advance (I'm working on chapter ten today), so if people guess what is going on, I can't change anything to "swerve" them.
Will that be good or bad for the story-telling? I'm not sure. I'm still unsure how people are responding to this story. I'm sure on one level they're just happy to see me doing something, but I hope everyone is patient while I develop the scenario.
Okay, so we've got the next several chapters of Riot Band Blues in the can... up to number eight, so I am definitely on sccchhhhedule. Awesome!
Also, I came across some work I had done for a magazine called "The Beat" from waaaaay back in 2004 when I was living in South Korea. I dusted them off and I'm going to post them at nolanwhyte.com. The first one, called "All The Right Things Will Happen," is there now. It will appear crude and overly stylized compared to my more recent stuff, but I think it's worth a laugh.
By the way, I notice that people always smoke cigarettes in my fiction. They did then and they do now. And yeah, I used to smoke. I quit. I don't know why my characters don't quit. I think I use it as a symbol of spriitual decay. What I'm trying to say is, kids, don't smoke. After you're eighteen it's up to you, but really, it's pretty gross when you think about it. Smoking. Blech.
I guess you've all seen the first installments of Riot Band Blues by now... The responses were good, but what the hell, right? It's only one chapter. A few comments:
As in the past, I won't be participating much in the comments dialogue following each chapter. I think that conversation is for the readers. If I have something to say, I'll say it here in the blog.
I think the suggestion that a new story means the end of other columnists on the site is silly. The site has always had lots of different contributors and the more quality writers we have, the better it is for everyone. Competition guards against complacency. For one thing, the recent contributors have made me raise my game by keeping a weekly schedule--now I have to do the same. All the best to the best of them.
I've started something new on my own site as well. It's a little sci-fi thing called "In Robot Country." You can take a look here: http://nolanwhyte.com/inrobotcountry.html.
What do you think about that for an album title, if the album was all old-timey blues? Yeah, "Out of the Cold and Into the Old." I dig it. I don't know why.
So the first chunk of the new series is done, and will be in Russian hands shortly. I've even settled on a title for the new series. I haven't had a good title for a series yet, so I'm tentative about announcing this one. "In The Van on Comeback Road" is an absolutely awful title. "Guitargasm!" is somewhat humorous but mostly just tacky. What's a bad writer to do?
Okay, we'll be using "Riot Band Blues" for this one. Don't worry, this one will be just as slow-moving and full of filler as all my previous work. I'm actually hoping to break filler records with this one. Just kidding. Or maybe I'm not.
Lot of people writing music stories around this wa
Jebesus gang,
There sure are a lot of people taking up the torch and writing good ol' rock'n'roll fiction on U-G these days, aren't there? Yes indeed. I figure some will stick around a while and share some quality, while some will gradually fall by the wayside...well, best of luck to all of 'em. Life is hard. Few survive it.
Am I reading the stuff? Yes, some. Am I going to comment on them? No. I see my name popping up in the comments often enough. I don't think any other writers would be interested in seeing me drawing attention away from their work. Besides, the comments have been very positive as far as I've seen, and that's good. You don't need me sticking my nose in. And I don't have any wise advice; I'm hustling myself.
So, will the site be so stuffed full of fiction that people will be unhappy to see more when I start my next one? I hope not. I've started work on it, but it will be about a month before it sees the light of day. We'll see who's left standing by then. It's an endurance contest, isn't it folks?
Okay. Let's see what happens. Enjoy everything, people. Live is full of surprising joy. Here's my self-help bullshit for the day: don't be passive. Be an active participant in your own life. Fight, fight, fight!
My two-year-old boy was stung on the back of the neck by a wasp the other night. He took the pain like a trooper and was fine a few minutes later, but DAMN is this a bad summer for wasps.
Anyway, I'm glad people were thrilled by the crazy turn of events in this week's installment of Riot Band Blues. After writing these band stories for three years I'm worried about keeping the material half-way fresh (although some people might say it was getting thin by the end of Comeback Road).
So to further thin the material, I'll be starting another writing project in September called Frozen Sheets. It will be a hockey blog, hosted at my home sit, nolanwhyte.com. I'll have a link up tomorrow.
Just a note to say that the new series will probably be kicking in around March, although as always that is subject to change. Who knows when anything will be ready? We're busy people, aren't we? Well, maybe you are. I'm not. No, wait, I am busy. Maybe.
Anyway, I've got stuff to do. Got some good shit coming for you later on though. Wait for it. You got questions? Ask me questions. Peace.
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Nolan Whyte's blogs, last updated : December 17, 2009
