Full Circle, and More to Follow…

As we sit here in mid-July, we have managed to navigate a horrific birthday party, which I paid scant attention to, an overproduced, overpriced, grifted and manipulated World Cup (I love soccer, but not this kind), plus a week of insane heat and humidity that I have not experienced in a good four decades.

That’s a lot, isn’t it? On top of that, today’s “sudden” passing of South Carolina Senator (and Republican lapdog) Lindsey Graham at the age of 71. “Lady G,” as some know him, or her, or whatever pronouns they chose to use, died suddenly of an aortic dissection. For those who don’t know, that is when, quote, “a tear happens in the inner layer of the body's main artery. That artery is called the aorta. Blood rushes through the tear. This causes the inner and middle layers of the artery to split, called a dissection. If the blood goes outside the artery, aortic dissection is often deadly.” (Reference: Mayo Clinic)

It is also damned painful. I do not believe there is any nefarious umbrella poking at the lower leg, like a certain foreign spy agency employs. What may be surprising is that this follows the packing in ice of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell. (It now appears rumors of his death were greatly exaggerated: NPR has reported that McConnell is very much alive, and that he himself says he had suffered a fall that led to his being hospitalized, and that he was unconscious for a while.)

Who will go for the trifecta? Believe me, after 42 years in this insane business, and watching my better-paid, known, coiffed and botoxed colleagues gush, mush and slobber themselves into submission…you get pretty cynical after a while.

What this shows in quick succession is that life, no matter how hard we try to hold off the end, comes to that end. There are plenty of other power brokers in Washington and elsewhere who have little time left to live. Charles Grassley is 85, I believe, in Iowa, and Bernie Sanders is in his 80s. I do have a place for Bernie, not completely due to his politics, but because he stood up for my home state of Vermont, demanded more power for the cities and towns, and proved he actually gave a shit about people.

Frank Bryan and Bill Mares wrote in their wonderfully silly (and still pertinent) book, Real Vermonters Don’t Milk Goats, that Real Vermonters were ashamed that a Socialist from New York City was the man who stepped up and did the job.

So yes, we could say life is shit, or as murky as the bottom of the reflecting pool, for now. I await new developments, and from my position, do my best to navigate them without going completely fucking mad.

I am often perplexed, if not outraged, at people who alternately see conspiracies under every rock, reds under every bed, that the murderers of certain pieces of scum I could care less to name weren’t the killers, and that Vladimir Putin is also on the slab, covered for by numerous doppelgangers, all of whom we’ll find with bullet holes in their temples, floating in a water tank behind the Kremlin someday.

I just don’t have the time. I’m keeping my finger down the throat of all this, despite some people thinking I don’t care. I do. Just because I don’t scream it doesn’t mean I don’t.

Method to my madness, people.

What other things? Well, most of the Northeast got the worst heatwave I can recall since my teenage years. The mercury topped out above 100 for four or five straight days, with heat indices far higher. Just being outside for a few minutes was shocking in how hot things got. The weird weather has calmed down a little, but it is just getting more unpredictable. Oh, but global warming doesn’t happen, right…let’s check with InfoWars, now that The Onion owns it, heh.

Now, here’s a neat thing. I don’t know if you can see that picture too well, but I’ve sent the screenshot about. On Friday, I got the chance to see my old friend Suzi Brown perform at the Abbey Bar in Harrisburg, up the street from me in this old mill that they’ve turned into a hipsterish, cool, quirky place.

I’d not been here in nearly a decade when I went to interview Ruthie Foster; I missed her, but got to watch her fantastic set. Anyway, Suzi is a brilliant guitarist, singer, songwriter- the whole package. She’s traveled the world, and as she noted, has lived ten lives. These have included touring in a band, working to stop human trafficking in Thailand (and now here), being an advocate, running coffee shops, just done a ton of things.

Suzi loves tech. I cannot understand how it’s done, but she takes loops, recordings, effects, and combines them with a guitar style that cannot be described; it has to be heard. I’d long thought our mutual friend Mike Banks must have given her lessons, but no. In any case, she turned in a lovely set including a song that I’m going to talk about.

Anyway, she joined the headliner, a fellow named Mikel Paris. He is known as a touring keyboardist/instrumentalist for O.A.R. In his own right, Mikel has his own recordings, and he delivered an amazing set of originals and covers. He plays guitar flat, like it’s a steel guitar, drums, and plays upon it, also using keyboards, a stomp platform, effects, and two different mics. He also has one incredible voice. And they played together…imagine that.

So yes, here’s the deal: on Suzi’s Siren Song recording, she has a song called “Frank Sinatra.” It is a pop song, layered with sound, vocals, and wonderful lyrics. This song stuck with me when I first heard it in 2012, and I’d bought the album. A few years later, while I was laying the groundwork for my new book, The Legend of the Black Swan, there became a secondary character named Chika. She served as the best and oldest friend of Arisa, our heroine; a brilliant singer, Chika has her own story that is told, her own trauma, and how she has fought to overcome it all.

Her song to sing was “Frank Sinatra.” Chika, being Japanese/Canadian, discovers Suzi’s song while over there and falls for it. Arisa and the collective of music friends, students, and artists learn the song, and it becomes the one that Chika takes refuge in. Like Arisa, she has a theme song, and from there it is hoped they can step off into the next stage of their lives.

I well remember how different stages for me became leaps of “faith,” or dives off into the abyss, with the hope of hitting the water and not the rocks.

So I finally got to see Suzi last night, and presented her with the promised signed copy, which she gratefully accepted. I didn’t see the picture and notes she made until later.

She was happy to let me use the lyrics for nothing, and as years went by she must have thought, “Did Tory just not write that book, or did he change his mind?” Nope…as she said, full circle.

I’m taken by her kindness, and yes, as an old friend says, “Gratitude is Everything.”

Let’s now look at me again…well, I dyed my hair purple.

Actually, I’ve done it twice; I don’t think I’ve left that stuff on long enough. But there’s an interesting hue to my hair now. I’m wondering how that is going over with those who have noticed.

I did another thing: to explore my dress style, the way I used to dress when younger, to see how my body and mind reacted, and to see what I could derive from my identity. I figured out how to wear shorts in public without looking as obtrusive; it’s the old thing we did in the 70s as kids: we take our long-sleeved work shirt and tie it around our waists if it gets too hot. It looks like a semi-short utilikilt…no one’s said anything, and they damned well better not.

It’s none of your damned business. As Mom would say, “It’s too hot to argue.”

I’m feeling a little more “me,” finally after so many years of not. More comfortable, maybe, being whatever “me” has become.

I’ll leave it at that.

The next thing: Book Fair @ Bel Air, in Maryland, is August 8th, and it is at Harford Community College. I was there about 10-12 years ago to see Joe Ely perform. A nice campus, and I will be at TABLE 4—HINT, HINT!

Books to sell and offer, old friends to see, and more to do! Can’t wait!

I have a close friend examining what will be my next book. I have strong character and storyline ideas for two new books, and I have again endeavored to see if Book 4 of the Sweet Dreams Series just might work…it’s close, but I wonder…then Book 5 is in my mind shaping up a little bit…

It’s coming! The creativity!

Well, it’s always been there, but it continues to grow, and I can’t stop it. I want it all out by the time I’m old enough to sit on the veranda with a cup of coffee and someone else’s book and comment on the scenery.

That…will never happen. Kao won’t allow it, as she needs food and treats.

There you have it.

Peace, Out!