notapoet's notebook

By notapoet - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Friday, December 15, 2006

This may not get posted until tomorrow.

It’s always going to be a little iffy whether I’ll get to post anything most Fridays because of all the activity on the high school sports scene. Whatever the season there are usually games taking place on Friday night. High school sports coverage takes such a large chunk of my time on game nights... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

One step forward, slide back two

…or so it seems at times. I just found out I won’t be making any extra money during basketball season. They love my coverage and my outlook on local sports. But the owner clamped down on my editor about using too much free lance material. So I’m on a two stories per week limit. I was hoping to have... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

"Paperback Writer"

…is one of my favorite Beatles’ tunes. It struck a responsive chord when I first heard it. It wasn’t really my ambition to become a paperback writer, as in paperback originals. Back then I assumed that I would be a successful novelist some day. I thought of paperbacks as being the extra cream in my... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

It's past time I should be in bed.

I always seem to be out of sync on Tuesday and Wednesday. My freelancing is a very big part of the reason. It always seems to take me all day and night on Sunday to finish my articles and make my deadline. Then I end up sleeping most of the day on Monday. I guess that explains why it takes me a... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Sunday has become my busiest day of the week.

Working for a weekly newspaper that has a 9:00 am Monday deadline for an issue that doesn’t come out until Thursday is the reason. Since I write a weekly sports column in addition to covering high school games, I finish everything up on what used to be my day of rest and reflection. There are a... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, December 9, 2006

Yesterday and Today

…sounds like a song title. It probably should be, but I couldn’t find anything closer than half of the phrase. The Beatles made it to #1 with “Yesterday.” A year earlier The New Christy Minstrels topped out at #17 with “Today.” Both songs bring back many fond and bittersweet memories from my college... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, December 8, 2006

I have a newfound respect for all writing mothers out there.

Especially the ones with small children. It’s beyond me how you manage to write anything that isn’t nonsense while caring for the little ones. I know I can’t do it. My two young grandchildren, ages five and three destroyed my capability to blog yesterday. Don’t get me wrong. I love them both about... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Getting back up to speed.

NaNoWriMo was fun, time-consuming, and exhausting. Even when you’re used to producing a large amount of copy on a daily basis, 50,000 words on a single project is a stretch. I stretched it a little further to come up with a validated total of 64,129. I knew I could produce the 50,000 words in 30... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Nanu, Nanu

No, it has nothing to do with Robin Williams and the old “Mork And Mindy” TV show. It’s NaNo, as in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), that is at least half the reason I haven‘t been around much lately. I first caught wind of NaNoWriMo a little over four years ago. It seemed like such a neat... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Who sings to the solitary traveler?

Every year about this time, when the weather starts to turn cold, I start dreaming of traveling again. When those dreams of travel gradually become more concrete, when you begin to decide I really want to do this, I really can do this, and as your mind approaches that jumping off moment when you may... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

1964 was a very good year for new musical groups.

Two of my all-time favorites got started in 1964, and another enjoyed a breakthrough year. I’m not talking about the British Invasion either. The Supremes caught on big time in the face of the foreign influx. They first hit the Billboard charts in 1962, but didn’t have anything approaching a big hit... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, November 10, 2006

"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor (On The Bedpost Over Night)"

…by Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group was the only English hit song I was familiar with before the Beatles and the British Invasion hit. Or so I thought for a long time. It turns out I was wrong in more ways than one. First of all, it turns out they did another song I was quite familiar with, “Rock... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, November 9, 2006

"Goin' Out Of My Head"

…was my favorite song by Little Anthony and the Imperials. From the late fifties through the mid-sixties they rivaled Johnny Mathis as the kings of slow dancing music. In my mind they were better. It might be because this song in particular pretty much describes my feelings about my first college... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Back to the Future

It seemed like it to me last night. Or was it déjà vu? Maybe it was an awareness of the continuing stream of generations that made the trio of popular Michael J. Fox vehicles pop into my mind. My grandson attended his first basketball practice last night. My son invited me to go with them. It was... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, November 4, 2006

"Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"

…was actually the third charted record by the Four Seasons. I don’t include it in my tally of them having three consecutive #1 hits because it was rushed into release in mid-December to take advantage of their sudden popularity due to consecutive #1 hits with “Sherry” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, November 2, 2006

"Walk Like A Man"

…was the third of three consecutive #1 hits by the Four Seasons from the fall of 1962 to Early 1963. As chance would have it, this period coincided with my senior year in high school. That school year of 1962-63 was unusual in a great many respects. Musically, it marked the end of Elvis Presley’s... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

"Photographs and Memories" revisited

Almost three weeks ago I used the title of the great Jim Croce’s album as the title of an entry in my “notapoet’s poetry” blog. I say “entry,” rather than “poem,” because it was really nothing more than a listing of nine of Croce’s ten charted hits in a fashion that resembled a poem. I barely had... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, October 20, 2006

The English Invasion

…or “the British Invasion,“ if you prefer, involved much more than Beatlemania. For a while anything English with a little bit of a pop rock sound soared to astronomical heights on Billboard’s Hot 100.… That, folks, is about all of what was supposed to be my next post to this blog that made any... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

"I Want To Hold Your Hand"

…the first U.S. release by that new British group, the Beatles, left me cold when I first starting hearing it on the radio in early 1964. By the time my birthday rolled around in February it was firmly established as #1 and seemed to be blaring from every jukebox on the UNC campus all the time.... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"

…is my all time favorite Beatles song even though it never charted as a Single in the Billboard Hot 100 as far as I know. No matter, I still love the song, which I consider to be one of the most beautiful, and unique recordings I’ve ever heard. It was, if I remember correctly, off the “Sgt. Pepper”... Sign in to see full entry.

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