Writer & Editor
Revising, like war, is hell.
For those of you stuck in your own Work-In-Progress, or for anyone who wonders why it takes so long to write a novel, I offer up my own (unfinished) experience.
Hey all:
I know it’s been a long stretch since the last post, but real life intrudes, with my work-in-progress, some freelance work, and oh yeah — full-time work and parenting! I could put up a few more previously published pieces, but I have been trying to avoid doing too many of those in a row.
Kiss / Sonic Boom (KISS Records/Universal)
Ace Frehley / Anomaly (Bronx Man)
OLD dogs may not learn new tricks, but they can master the ones they know.
Take Kiss. After repackaging and recycling their prime 1970s material on gratuitous “best of” collections and multiple tours for the last 13 years, founding members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley — joined by drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer — finally return with the band’s first full-length studio album since 1998.
The results are mixed.
There’s always more that comes out during an interview than you can ever get into an article. You try, but sometimes those tangents don’t belong in the story you’re writing, or you have to take a third of a direct quote when you’d just like to let the person speak in his or her own voice for a paragraph or two.
When I had the opportunity to interview storyteller Jeanne Pelletier about her part in this anthology of traditional Métis stories published as a graphic novel anthology to help bring the stories to a new generation, one of the tangents was why stories of monsters are good for children.
Duff McKagan’s Loaded / The Taking (Armoury/Eagle Rock)
It’s not easy to live down multi-platinum success, but every former member of Guns N’ Roses has to do it.
Seattle native and founding GNR bassist Duff McKagan has given it his best shot over the years, forming Loaded in 1999 and joining fellow ex-Gunners Matt Sorum and Slash in Velvet Revolver in 2004. Fans that have followed him from project to project will be pleased to know The Taking is actually good.
Sebastian Bach: Kicking and Screaming (Frontiers/EMI)
After being the charismatic frontman for Skid Row in the later wave of hair metal circa 1989-91, Sebastian Bach has kept busy touring, but largely off the radar of current rock music. It’s a welcome surprise, then, that his latest solo effort has plenty of punch. The title track is hook-heavy and throws a deep thrash groove against Bach’s distinct howl-and-growl. Fans of Slave to the Grind-era Skid Row will not be disappointed.
