Spitball Army

I think one should write, as nearly as possible, as if he were the first person on earth and was humbly and sincerly putting on paper that which he saw and experienced and loved and lost; what his passing thoughts were and his sorrows and desires.  – Neal Cassady

You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you.  And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.  – Arthur Polotnik

A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer.  – Karl Kraus

1. Jack Kerouac  “Reads Selections from On the Road and Visions of Cody”  (1959)
2. 10,000 Maniacs  “Hey Jack Kerouac”  (1987)
3. The Beatles  “Paperback Writer”  (1966)
4. Elvis Costello  “Everyday I Write the Book”  (1983)
5. Johnny Flynn  “The Wrote & the Writ”  (2008)

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There’s nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.  – Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith

Writing is easy:  All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.  – Gene Fowler

6. Rockpile  “When I Write the Book”  (1980)
7. Ella Fitzgerald  “I Could Write a Book”  (1956)
8. Mojave 3  “To Whom Should I Write”  (1999)
9. Oranger  “The Writer (H.F.)”  (2003)
10. Elton John  “Writing”  (1975)

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I love being a writer.  What I can’t stand is the paperwork.  – Peter De Vries

Every writer I know has trouble writing.  – Joseph Heller

The only cure for writer’s block is insomnia.  – Merit Antares

11. Travis  “Writing to Reach You”  (1999)
12. Jackie Greene  “Write a Letter Home”  (2005)
13. Fats Waller  “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter”  (1935)
14. The Boswell Sisters  “I Can’t Write the Words”  (1931)

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The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.  – Vladimir Nabakov

Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.  – Anton Chekhov

I try to leave out the parts that people skip.  – Elmore Leonard

15. Harry Hilsson  “Good Old Desk”  (1968)
16. Talking Heads  “The Book I Read”  (1977)
17. Greg Brown  “In My New Book”  (1994)

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A prose writer gets tired of writing prose, and wants to be a poet.  So he begins every line with a capital letter, and keeps on writing prose.  – Samuel McChord Crothers

Poetry is just the evidence of life.  If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.  – Leonard Cohen

Poets are mysterious, but a poet when all is said is not much more mysterious than a banker.  – Allen Tatex

18. Ryan Adams  “Sylvia Plath”  (2001)
19. Simon & Garfunkel  “A Poem on the Underground Wall (live)”  (1967)
20. Cheap Trick  “Writing on the Wall”  (1979)
21. Patty Larkin  “Pundits & Poets”  (1993)

[audio:Fred_FM_playlist_021311.mp3]
Approximate playing time: 80 minutes.

If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that’s read by persons who move their lips when they’re reading to themselves.  – Don Marquis

An industrious woodpecker taps out syncopation to the car stereo piano while windshield sleet drops provide a wintry counterpoint.

13° F and the view is a fuzzy steel gray, as if a great exhalation hangs over the yard. I rub both eyes. Cataract check: negative.

He’s tweeting to find out if any of his followers are among the thirty or so in attendance. They’re watching him. His head’s down.

Asleep, she’s a champion mouser, home protector, rewarded with bottomless saucers of milk. Awake, she stumbles, blind, into walls.

A 1944 South Seas Christmas brings gifts of beer, cigars and spearmint Wrigley’s. The soldiers celebrate with an Aqua Velva toast.

Card is titled: “Post Office, Charleston, S.C. 4A-H1400.”

Printed on back of postcard:

POST OFFICE, CHARLESTON, S.C.
This building was completed in 1896, being an imposing structure of marble, situated at the corner of Meeting and Broad Streets opposite St. Michael’s Church.  Here the United States government takes charge of the Mail.

Publishing information: “‘C.T. Art-Colortone,’ made only by Curt Teich & Co., Inc., Chicago, U.S.A.  /  A.F. Doscher Sons, Charleston, S.C.”

Last week’s playlist of demos and alternate versions has morphed into this week’s playlist of corresponding finished products. You’ll notice some artist changes (Tom Petty -> Stevie Nicks) and some song title changes (the Jayhawks number) and some, finally, with completed lyrics (“American Tune”).

Approximate playing time: 74 minutes.

1. Elton John  “Your Song”  (1970)
2. Janis Joplin  “Me and Bobby McGee”  (1971)
3. Coldplay  “Don’t Panic”  (2000)
4. Badfinger  “No Matter What”  (1970)
5. The Shins  “Split Needles”  (2007)
6. Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty  “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”  (1981)
7. Foreigner  “Feels Like the First Time”  (1977)
8. Paul Simon  “American Tune”  (1973)
9. Cat Stevens  “Wild World”  (1969)
10. Ryan Adams  “Pearls on a String”  (2007)
11. Dwight Yoakam  “I Sang Dixie”  (1981)
12. The Jayhawks  “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”  (2000)
13. Warren Zevon  “Mohammed’s Radio”  (1976)
14. Neil Young  “Sugar Mountain”  (1969)
15. James Taylor  “Sunshine Sunshine”  (1969)
16. The Folk Implosion  “Mechanical Man”  (1999)
17. Prefab Sprout  “Bonny”  (1994)
18. Kathleen Edwards  “Asking for Flowers”  (2008)
19. Robyn Hitchcock  “Queen Elvis II”  (1988)

She adds more white stuff, stirs, adds more. Result: six bowls of thin, sweet chili. Powdered sugar looks a lot like corn starch.

Her geometric ‘fro is red, but not redhead. Neon cherry-plum, almost purple. It clashes with her mango lip gloss and ebony skin.