My Top 10 of 2012

My friend Wally Conger used to have a “Top 10 of the Year” list. It wasn’t the Top 10 songs or the Top 10 movies, it was just the 10 top things he encountered each year. Seems like a good idea, so, in no particular order:

Folks, this ain’t normal. Joel Salatin believes the world is turned upside down. People have lost touch with where their food comes from. Government food safety agents are the biggest barrier to safe, locally produced and healthy food. In the quest for a clean and even sterile environment, we’ve made ourselves sick. This remarkable book changed the way I think, and it’ll do the same for you if you dare.

John Carter. Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a series of books 100 years ago that has influenced many many people, a number of whom went on to become scientists and science fiction creators. A century later, this film is one of the best science fiction movies ever made, and the second-best science fiction movie made in the 21st century. Watching it re-ignited my sense of wonder.

Marvel’s The Avengers. Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed the best science fiction film made in the 21st century (Serenity), this year wrote and directed the best comic-book movie ever made. Full of character, good humor and of course loud bangs and crashes, this was the most fun I’ve had in a movie theater in recent memory. (Caveat: I didn't see John Carter in the theater.)

A new home. Red and I have been a team for a decade and a half, and this year our partnership led to construction of a beautiful little house not far from the shores of Green Bay. The project occupied most of the year and is not quite finished, but by August it was finished enough. Love built this home, and I love it.

The Self-Publishing Podcast. This quirky weekly visit with authors Johnny B. Truant, Sean Platt and David W. Wright is irreverant, informative and a heck of a lot of fun. I’ve begun to look forward to their weekly romp through what sometimes seems to be a stream of consciousness but always leaves me knowing a little bit more about writing, innovation, design and moving forward.

Scrivener. The SPP boys kept saying this software is the best tool out there for writers, and they offer a 30-day free trial so I figured, what the heck. By the 15th day I gave in and just bought the thing. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but it’s every bit the great tool they said it is.

The Imaginary Revolution. I lost two of my surrogate mentors this year bookending the creation of my new science-fiction novel. Ray Bradbury showed me how to write and inspired me with his enthusiasm, and when he died I realized I’d been beating around the bush too long. A few days after I completed the novel, Zig Ziglar died, the guy who taught me not to get cooked in the squat. Between the house and the novel, this has been one of the most fulfilling years of creativity I’ve ever experienced. I hope Ray and Zig would be proud.

Men in Black 3. I found the first two MIB films with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones immensely entertaining, but you know, I only ever watched either of them once. They entertained me but didn’t make me care enough to come back. This installment made me want to go back to the beginning and pay closer attention, and I definitely want to see this one again and again.

Nancy. The comic strip that Ernie Bushmiller made famous has always been one of my guilty pleasures. It always was sweet and charming and a little goofy, but Guy Gilchrist has injected something more, by making Aunt Fritzi a music-loving child of the Sixties like, well, me. With the recent re-introduction of her old flame Phil Fumble, it looks like Gilchrist is poised to take the strip to a whole new level.

That’s Why God Made the Radio. The Beach Boys album of new songs marking their 50th anniversary of recording is better than it has any right to be. The harmonies are as crisp and supple as ever, the tunes linger the way their best stuff always has, and the project is a fitting finish if it does, in fact, turn out to be the core group’s last effort together. An endless summer, indeed.

Bubbling under the Top 10:

Christmas with the Annie Moses Band. You have to hear this band.

How to Be Legendary by Johnny B. Truant. Common sense advice about being as great as you can.

Thick As A Brick 2 by Ian Anderson. My first reaction upon hearing about this release was “Oh no!” But on actually hearing it, the reaction was “Oh yes!”

The Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman. I asked for it for Christmas based on a brief mention in Folks, this ain’t normal, and after 20 pages I can’t wait to start gardening.

I know I’ll think of a half-dozen other cool things I encountered during 2012, but these are the ones that rose in my consciousness this evening. If the year ahead has half as many treasures as this year offered, it’ll be lovely indeed.

Cross-posted to WarrenBluhm.com.

The Imaginary Revolution is here.

On Dec. 15, 1791, the folks who were in the process of establishing a new government ratified a list of prohibitions intended to prevent that government from violating the innate rights of free individuals. It was a bold experiment.

Today, Dec. 15, 2012, in honor of that bold experiment, I formally introduce The Imaginary Revolution, a novel about individuals and governments and violence and nonviolence.

I’m not so vain as to think this little novel about an Earth colony that throws off its shackles is as important a contribution as that list of 10 statements. No, this is just my contribution to the idea that power flows from the individual to the state, not the reverse.

It is my contention that a loving individual committed to nonviolence wields more power to change a world for the good than any state, any use of force, any expression of hatred or revenge.

All 10 tenets of the Bill of Rights are under attack in 2012. All 10 are routinely ignored by the state, and in fact most efforts by the state to restrain the individual are met with cheers and applause. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to be secure in one’s person, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures – read the list and you will be able to think of circumstances where the state violates these prohibitions every day.

Uncle Warren's Attic #80

Welcome to another tour of my mind and my stuff, starting with a modest plug for The Imaginary Revolution and a nod to the late, great Ray Bradbury. We'll hear "Well Met Pretty Maid" by Theodore Bikel and Cynthia Gooding and reflections on Middle English and Geoffrey Chaucer, and then there's the classic "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime" by Leo Reisman and his Orchestra, vocal by Milton Douglas.

From there:
"Tea for Two," Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians
"Cocktails for Two," Spike Jones
"Frenesi," Glenn Miller and his Orchestra
"Anything Goes," Kate Capshaw
A taste of Sky King sponsored by Peter Pan
"Frankie and Johnny," Helen Morgan and the Nat Shilkret Orchestra

Click on the pod icon or here to download UWAttic 80. Have fun!

Gorram it, 1984 does not have a happy ending

… it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.

THE END

You know about Big Brother – not the reality TV show, the world leader who infused his regime with the principles “War is peace,” “Freedom is slavery,” and “Ignorance is strength.”

In George Orwell’s prophetic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Winston Smith is a guy who works for the Ministry of Truth changing the news. If a certain public figure has fallen out of favor with The Powers That Be, Winston is one of the clerks who goes into past editions of the newspaper and changes anything that might tend to show that figure in a positive life. If he has become an “unperson,” the figure is removed from the public record entirely.

(I always thought that was a little unrealistic – surely someone, somewhere, would still have a copy of the old newspapers with the original record. Or later, surely someone, somewhere would have preserved the original record on his hard drive. But as we move our information farther and farther onto a paperless cloud, the idea of being able to manipulate all past records seems more feasible.)

Winston has a small problem of conscience: He remembers. He knows that the unpersons once existed. He recalls that even though today the government is at war with Eurasia and has always been at war with Eurasia, there was a time when we were at war with Eastasia and had always been at war with Eastasia.

He begins to notice that people are miserable, he sees that life is pretty dreary with Big Brother Watching You all the time, and he begins to believe that freedom would be better served if Big Brother is overthrown. But he also knows that citizens are being tortured and killed for believing that – or at least he is able to make a correlation between their beliefs and their eventual disappearance.

By the end of the book, Winston has come to the realization that he was wrong, that Big Brother really has a benevolent spirit and Big Brother really will take care of him for the rest of his life.

Just one tiny problem.

Are you ready for a little Revolution?

If you've been paying attention to the countdown in the righthand column of this blog, you know it's only a matter of days before the novel The Imaginary Revolution will be published. As my Cyber Monday gift to you, I have prepared a sampling of chapters from the novel to whet your appetite for the real thing.

The story of how Sirius 4 threw off its shackles will be available for public consumption starting Dec. 15, 2012 – Bill of Rights Day – in both ebook form and a handsome, hardcover print edition. This is your opportunity to get a taste of it so you can decide whether to put it on your Christmas list.

The link below (click on the colorful green button with the blue whale) will lead you to a place where you can download a .zip file containing the Imaginary Revolution sampler in .pdf, .epub and .mobi forms. Enjoy! And consider coming back on Dec. 15.


Click here to download your free sampler of chapters from the novel The Imaginary Revolution, scheduled for release on Dec. 15, 2012.

Ron Paul's Farewell to Congress

No one in Washington, D.C., has done a better job than Ron Paul of defining what's wrong with the U.S. government and what needs to be done to fix it. In his "farewell speech" to Congress, he does an outstanding job of summing it all up.

It's a long read but essential to understanding. We ignore this message at our peril.

Here's a link to the transcript and video.

The coming of The Imaginary Revolution

I posted this note this morning at ImagRev: The Imaginary Revolution, where since early summer I have been sharing the first draft of my upcoming novel.

The End – an editors' note

One planet’s journey to freedom has now been told via this blog, from the perspective of Ray Kaliber, who has received much of the credit for bringing about the Commonwealth of Sirius 4. The task that remains for us is to compile these sometimes rambling thoughts into a coherent narrative for you, the reader. Our goal is to make this available for your purchase and perusal on Dec. 15, 2012.

Why that date? This is a story of liberty, and on Dec. 15, 1791, a new nation on Earth ratified a Bill of Rights, intended to affirm the rights of the individual by prohibiting the new nation’s government from violating those rights. In the centuries since, that list of 10 tenets has been the subject of much discussion.

The nation had been forged a few years earlier by violent revolution against a far-off state that had routinely trampled on the rights on the list, as states are wont to do. The Bill of Rights was championed by people not so concerned about that far-off former threat as about making sure the newly formed state never behaved as tyrannically, ensuring that the revolution did not turn out to be an imaginary one.

To release the story of The Imaginary Revolution on Dec. 15, then, is a nod to the anniversary of that revolutionary document. The extent to which Ray Kaliber’s story is relevant to the ongoing discussion is entirely up to the reader.

Watch this blog for updates about how to obtain your copy of The Imaginary Revolution.

Reflecting on the election

There are a number of folks who haven't seen much by way of choices in recent elections; it seems to be the left wing of the Big Government Party versus the right wing of the Big Government Party. Not much there for who believe we would all get along better without a Big Government. Here's Claire Wolfe's perspective on this week's events.

Uncle Warren's Attic #79, 79, 79, 79, 79 ...

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD.

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UW Attic #79 features:

• An homage to "Revolution #9"
• "Dixie Highway" by the immortal Aileen Stanley
• 12 minutes of the 14-minute edit of "Heroes and Villains" as revealed on album rock radio the night of April 30, 1967
• A plug for my upcoming novel The Imaginary Revolution

All packed within a mere half-hour - readily accessible by clicking the links above.

Uncle Warren's Attic #78.6 - Happy Halloween

Click on the giant podcast icon to download Uncle Warren's Attic #78.6 - which is really a rerun of the now-legendary UWA #6, my "War of the Worlds" episode from the early days of the podcast six (!) years ago.

Featured on this show (and not exactly either – you'll see) are these fine tunes:

Flying Saucer, Part 1 - Buchanan and Goodman
Not to Return - Randy Bachman
Any Road - George Harrison
I Don't Want to Know - The Donnas
Joe - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
The Rollicking Man From Mars - Scotty MacGregor
Flying Saucer, Part 2 - Buchanan and Goodman

Enjoy! 

Uncle Warren's Attic #78

A new era begins with the first edition of Uncle Warren's Attic from the new Attic. As promised, podcasting has resumed in the fall.

By the way, you can subscribe to the Attic via iTunes at this link.

Among the odds and ends this time around:

"If I Only Had a Brain" by Claudia Schmidt
"Greensleeves" by Cynthia Gooding
"All the Cats Join In" by Benny Goodman

The main event is the 30th anniversary of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, which as you know contains the finest movie score of all time in my humble opinion.

But mostly, in part with the little guy who phoned home, this is my celebration of how good it is to be home again for the first time.

This episode features a vintage radio ad for Camel cigarettes, some homemade political ads, and the usual miscellaneous bits and pieces of my aural stash. Tell me what you think in the comments!

Download UW Attic #78 by clicking right here!

Writing a revolution

As you know, since two days after Ray Bradbury died I have been working on a story I conceived several years ago, in the form of a blog "written" by the story's central character. I'm creating the novel – perhaps novella will be a better word in the end – in the same manner Brian Wilson recorded "Good Vibrations" and Smile. The blog entries serve as modules of content to be rearranged into the final composition.

Especially early in the process but still somewhat at this stage, I may write a scene or part of a scene from the beginning, middle or end depending where the muse takes me on a given day.

On Wednesday night I printed all of the entries to date and sat down to put them in an order. I found with some satisfaction that this process is indeed telling the story that I wanted to tell oh-so-long ago. I thought it would take about 100 blog entries of 300-to-700 words each, and at Entry 75 I truly am about three-quarters of the way through.

This little sorting also identified what I have left unwritten to date, and that is an invigorating thought. Much as I wrote my earlier novella The Imaginary Bomb knowing how it would end and enjoying the ride from here to there, it's time to start writing the scenes that draw it all to that conclusion. And as these characters now write their own stories, I'm sure I sometimes will be surprised at how they reach their destination.

It is a time of civil unrest. An Earthian colony on Sirius 4 chomps against the bit of a colonizing force. Those who have chosen to lead a pioneering life in space did so because they desired independence and liberty. The ties to the old world were meant to be severed, not forged into strong cables. A revolution is inevitable – but one man, Raymond Kaliber, envisions something more than simply exchanging a far-off tyrant for a more local one.

I've set a goal of releasing a finished product on Dec. 15, which is Bill of Rights Day, the anniversary of a day when revolutionaries ratified a pact intended to protect individual freedom. In the meantime, the blog is a chance for you to get a sneak preview of the story and watch the process of its creation day by day. Check it out; we're getting to the good parts.

Thirty years of E.T.

With the release of another edition of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial comes another chance to wax eloquent about John Williams' incredible score. More than any movie in my experience, the music of E.T. becomes a part of the narrative, helping to tell this beautiful little story of loneliness, love, loss and triumph.

Listen to this movie. Listen to how the music helps propel the story and how it adds to the emotion of each moment.

Williams is arguably the finest movie composer of his generation – his themes define Jaws, Star Wars, the Indiana Jones films, the Harry Potter films, and so many more great movies. But E.T. is his masterpiece.

I plan to delve into this thought a bit in Uncle Warren's Attic #78, coming soon to a podcatcher near you. Are you subscribed?

Campaign season again

Yep, here we go. Every time you turn on the telly, you're assaulted by someone telling you to be afraid of what will happen if the other guy wins.

Must be an election coming.

I wrote Refuse to be Afraid a couple of years ago in part because of times like these, when people with agendas are ratcheting up the fear factor. The political ads try to get you to place your hopes and fears for the future in this person or that's hands.

The goal is to divert your attention from a basic fact: Your future is in your hands. It's not about choosing the right boss to watch over you. It's about swallowing the fear and living your life.

Getting you to focus on that life was the reason I wrote this book. 

A while ago Wally Conger and I spent some time talking about this: You can listen by heading here and following the links.

The Smile obsession

I am writing my new novel as a series of blog entries, not necessarily in chronological order, to reassemble them in its final form - not unlike the way Brian Wilson composed "Smile."

Thanks to GarageBand, I have now reassembled the various musical components of "Smile" into a form that, to me, captures what I expected to hear when the album would have appeared in 1967. It's exhilarating, like solving the toughest puzzle ever created.

I'm a tad nervous that I've become obsessed with "Smile." But I gotta tell you, there are a lot worse musical compositions to get obsessed over. Over and over the crow cries uncover the corn fields.

Fall colors

The view from the new Attic

This part of Wisconsin is so beautiful that tourism is the biggest local industry. This is the time when thousands of people drive here just to drive around and appreciate the explosion of color that comes with the season of transition.

It has been a lengthy season of transition around here. More than two years ago, we packed up Uncle Warren's Attic and moved into temporary basement quarters to prepare for selling the house. A little more than a year later, the house sold and we moved into interim housing. With an extra stop for two months at a second interim location, we have now moved into a brand new home built to our dreams.

Unpacking the boxes and putting stuff into its "permanent" place has been a liberating experience. There's no place like home, Dorothy said, and home has been a moving target for a couple of years.

Podcasting will resume sometime this month – more on that shortly. This is just a shoutout to say hey, we're home, and come on over soon, you hear?

Unpacking

What marvelous marvels could be created behind that window? Podcasting resumes in the fall!

Crooner Tony Martin dies at 98

One of the folks whose voice is preserved in my collection of vintage 78 rpm platters has passed away; Tony Martin lived to age 98.

"A peer of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, Mr. Martin sang full voice in a warm baritone that carried special appeal for his female audience. Among his hit recordings were 'I Get Ideas,' 'To Each His Own,' 'Begin the Beguine' and 'There's No Tomorrow,'" says this obituary.

I thought he had appeared in a number of Uncle Warren's Attic shows, but a quick search finds only his appearance way back in #4, when I played "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine" for you. As I unpack the shtuff and start podcasting again, I'll have to rectify that situation.

Almost home

Red and I are days away from fulfilling our dream of moving into our new home not far from the waters of Green Bay in beautiful Door County, Wisconsin. We have owned this land for about seven years looking forward to this day.

There has been precious little time for reflection of late, but I have had moments here and there to think about the type of art I'm compelled to make. We all make art, you know, whether it's perfectly executed door trim or an imposing mound septic system or something as mundane as a Mona Lisa.

This is the room that will become my new Attic, and I hope to be performing weekly again by the end of September. Since we started preparing to put our former home on the market almost 25 months ago, I have not had a permanent place to rest my creative equipment or my vast stash of shtuff. It's hard to say how this has affected the process, but starting this fall we'll see the effect of having a home again.

With all of my electronics save the trusty iMac packed in boxes for the summer, along with my books, records, tapes, CDs, DVDs and almost everything else I own, I have been using these precious moments to dive back into the world of imaginary physics and finally put flesh on the bones of the story that is The Imaginary Revolution, and I thank you for your input and your readership as the story of Raymond Douglas Kaliber squeezes itself out of my heart and soul and onto the, um, printed page. I have posted the book cover with a notation "Available by Christmas 2012," and you've seen promises like that from me before. My goal is that one effect of having a home will be that I keep promises better.

To you few who have been with me since I started podcasting The Imaginary Bomb in 2006, through the premiere of Uncle Warren's Attic that September, and through its various stops and starts, my heartfelt thanks. A new phase is about to begin – perhaps this is the home stretch (pun intended) or simply the next chapter, but I'm glad to have you along for the ride.

My trilogy about life

I still think about kyfho from time to time, and he came up in memory the other day. I remembered a conversation I'd had about kyfho's insistence that you need to define your philosophy of life or otherwise you just drift. Another friend I deeply respect called that statement a bunch of hooey, or something like that.

I got to thinking that kyfho may have influenced my last three major writing projects – the books Refuse to be Afraid and A Scream of Consciousness, and the current effort ImagRev: The Imaginary Revolution, a novel that I am writing as a daily blog that will become a book at some point.

What is this little trilogy if not an attempt to define a philosophy of life? Refuse to let your fears control you. As much as possible, tend to the needs of the present moment, because neither the past nor the future are accessible just now. And, in Ray Kaliber's Tenets of Common Wealth, Love your neighbor as yourself; interact with love, not force or violence; and give more than you receive.

Enough navel-gazing, my other friend has cried a time or two. He misses what I had to say when I was railing against the abuses against individual sovereignty that occur daily in what is proclaimed to be a free country. What I'd decided was that freedom is an internal thing, and that its embers are fanned into a flame not by focusing on politics and government but on personal actions. Still, the forces of government do spend a lot of time trying to restrict and even outlaw personal autonomy.

I'd like to think The Imaginary Revolution would please both friends. It has a healthy dose of philosophy, being about a society based on the Zero Aggression Principle and all. But science fiction, speculative fiction, has never really been about predicting the future as much as it is about reflecting the present in an alien environment. You may find that life on Sirius 4 has a familiar feeling.

Please consider this an invitation to explore these philosophical musings and dramatizations and let me know what you think – especially if you find it a bunch of hooey. Being challenged is how we grow.

State of the Attic midsummer report

Looking north from the new "attic"

We are on track to complete the new house, with its new Uncle Warren's Attic, by early August. The outlook from our temporary quarters is remarkable! I do miss my stash and have not had an opportunity to visit it in its storage unit.

It is now two years since we started packing our belongings away to put the old house up for sale, and 10 months since we actually moved out. Ground was broken May 22 on the new place, and it's been quite an adventure watching it emerge from our dreams after all these years.

The plan is still to launch the "fall season" of Uncle Warren's Attic, the podcast, in the area of late September, or about the time you are getting accustomed to the new season of network television madness. I just gave another listen to the preliminary work I've done on UWA #78 and #79, and I'm kind of excited to reassemble the studio and get going again. But all things in their time.

I have not been standing still, of course, as you know if you've been regularly visiting the new blog, ImagRev: The Imaginary Revolution. There, the long-awaited followup to The Imaginary Bomb is unfolding in the form of Ray Kaliber's memoirs. Speaking of "years in the making," I have been meaning to tell the story of Sirius 4 independence since I wrote the first novel in 1988, since I podcast it in 2006, and since I published it in 2008.

It took the death of Ray Bradbury to at long last release the muse and get The Imaginary Revolution started. You may recall a false start or two, and you may even detect the rewritten sections from those early efforts, with some essential changes. I have been known to drop the creative ball over the years, but as sure as Buffalo Springsteen has reservations about being called "Buffy," I think this time the story will finally be told in its entirety.

First Ray has to finish his memoirs, and then the blog needs to be edited into more or less chronological order. He's tending to jump around in the time continuum as he decides what he wants to write about day-to-day. There's a lot of key moments this week as Ray completes his first month of entries.

Sometime this fall or winter – depending on when we conclude he's finished with the story – The Imaginary Revolution will appear in book/ebook form. Sooner than that, I'm planning a podcast version. Stay tuned.

I appreciate everyone who's been around during 12 episodes of The Imaginary Bomb, 77 episodes of Uncle Warren's Attic, 150 episodes of Ikthuscast, a small pile of books, a couple-three blog identities, and various other odds and ends. If you're liking what you see on ImagRev or hear from the Attic, I'd sure appreciate your sharing it with your friends. My main motivation is to entertain and/or express some big ideas, and I'd do it for a handful of friends or even just one, but the more the merrier.

New buttons ------------>

You may have noticed there's now a handy-dandy button linking you to ImagRev: The Imaginary Revolution, the daily memoirs of Ray Kaliber, who is considered the founder of the stateless Commonwealth of Sirius 4. This would be a good week to drop in, because he's talking about the development of his philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience and the early moments of his courtship with the love of his life, Buffalo Springsteen.

It's still early enough that it would take just a few minutes to catch up by wandering back to Entry 1. You also have an opportunity to look like a trend-setter by being one of the first to get hooked on this interplanetary tale of freedom, rebellion and romance that no doubt will have all of cyberspace talking one of these days soon. The blog is updated at 5 a.m. every day, so go ahead. Make it a habit. Click the button! Start the conversation! Tweet and retweet! Get the buzz buzzing about ImagRev: The Imaginary Revolution.

I've also replaced the text descriptions of my books with buttons featuring the cover art. Click on whichever catches your fancy to learn more about what's behind the covers.

An update: Our new home has a roof over it, bathing stations have been installed in the bathrooms, and the electrician has wired the place. Someday soon they'll hook the place up to the electricity grid and sink a well. We're hoping to move in by early August and resume podcasting in September.

While the aural stash is in storage, I'm pleased to be sharing the long-awaited story of Sirius 4, which has been waiting to see the light for a long time.

It's an exciting time! Use the buttons!

A tribute to Robin Gibb

Guy and Brad Gilchrist have done a great job restoring the old Ernie Bushmiller comic strip "Nancy," including making Aunt Fritzi a pop music aficianado. On Thursday Nancy danced a tribute to the late Donna Summer, and today Fritzi salutes Robin Gibb.

Live Forever!

"Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer's make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto."

That's the start of Ray Bradbury's essay "The Joy of Writing," in which the master reveals how he did it. Actually, and in words more poetic than this, he distills writing down to this: If you love to write, and you want to be a good writer, then write. Write every day, and keep writing until you get good at it.

I've been tinkering around the edges of a book called The Imaginary Revolution for, oh, at least four years, when I assigned the tale to the works of my erstwhile alter ego, B.W. Richardson. But truth to tell the story has been in my mind a lot longer than that. For it to still be in my mind and not out in the world on the day Ray Bradbury died – Ray, to whom my lead character's name is an obvious homage – is not just embarrassing, it's shameful. Because this is the kind of story I have wanted to tell all my life.

"Live Forever!" said Mr. Electrico to young Ray Bradbury, and the books are how he will fulfill that directive. Another way is through the thousands of writers who became writers inspired by the zest and gusto in his work.

I always thought I would write an essay when Ray Bradbury's mortal vessel finally ran out of steam, but a better idea came to me. For several weeks I considered telling the story of the Imaginary Revolution through the words of Raymond Kaliber himself, and not as a novel but as a series of blog posts. Still, I let the idea just sit there in my mind. Sitting down to write this week, I realized the world does not need another essay about how great and influential a writer Ray Bradbury was. The way to celebrate the life of Ray Bradbury is to write, write every day, and keep writing until I get good at it.

Wednesday, I learned Bradbury was dead.

Thursday, I launched the blog.

30 seconds of typing

And there, sitting on the chair by the window, pretending to look out at the sun  but in  fact yearning for his attention, was a golden retriever.

Not just any retriever, mind you – this is the small beast that he had declared to the world was The Best Dog There Is, the most loving bit of fur on the face of the planet, looking forlorn and lonely as he poked absentedly at a keyboard and words appeared magically on a glowing screen.

Feed me. Hold me. Love me. Don’t type! she pleaded.

And so he left the screen and complied.

And there never was a man like Doc Watson

To me Doc Watson was the star of Will The Circle Be Unbroken, the incredible 1972 three-LP country-rock-bluegrass collaboration spearheaded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. That gentle and kind voice casting friendly praise in every direction, that great picking – I was a fan for life, especially after I heard "Tennessee Stud" (Jimmie Driftwood wrote this thing) for the first time.

Our time on this sphere is finite, so this day was going to come, but I'm still sad that Doc has moved on. At least I had an excuse to give his stuff another listen – not that we ever need one.

Coming this fall: UW Attic #78 and beyond

I mentioned in the now-legendary Uncle Warren's Attic #77 that my ability to deliver a weekly podcast may be temporarily hampered by the fact that we're moving into temporary quarters while we build a new Attic.

Well, the most practical thing to do turned out to be to move everything from the Attic into temporary storage!

Therefore, We move the podcast - but not the blog - into another hiatus, but never fear pilgrims: I already have begun planning the next series of UWA adventures. Coming this fall, after living a bit of a nomadic life for a couple of years, Red and I plan to be settled into our new home and able to unpack shtuff, some of which has literally been in boxes since July 2010. And, once unpacked, some of this shtuff will amaze and astonish you.

I'm guessing that around the time the fall TV season rolls around, you'll have the additional option of gathering around whatever electronic device you use to listen to podcasts and hear a new season of Uncle Warren's Attic, more eclectic than ever.

In the meantime, monitor the construction progress and otherwise keep in touch with your favorite eccentric uncle by visiting this little place in cyberspace. And feel free to rifle through the archives when you have a strong desire for a UWA episode. Thanks for listening!

As always, you can contact me directly at warren@warrenbluhm.com with questions and comments.

Building a new Attic

Monday

Well, I must say this is rather exciting.

What you are looking at is a view from outside the window of the new Uncle Warren's Attic, which should be a reality in mid-August, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. Red and I have owned this land for about six years, and circumstances finally have arranged themselves in such a way that we can begin building a domicile on the property.

Tuesday

Late last week stakes went into the ground marking where the house will go, and Monday I positioned myself in the corner where there'll be a bedroom that I plan to convert into my office/studio space. That's the top photo.

Tuesday morning, the diggers arrived. At the end of the day, I went to approximately the same spot on the property and snapped approximately the same photo.

Wow!

I have attended my share of groundbreaking ceremonies in 37 (!) years as a reporter-type person, and today I finally understand why they're so excited. The hole in the ground is a symbol of the future, a positive act toward something new. Hurry up, tomorrow, I can hardly wait to meet you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there are bound to be snafus and disappointments and stuff that doesn't happen the way we hoped it would happen. But mostly there's a hole in the ground where a home will be.

How to live to be 100

Cleaning out the old Attic in anticipation of moving the new one we hope to occupy by mid-August, I found my notes from the 100th birthday party for Herbi Hardt, which I mentioned back in Episode 72.

He had some good answers to the inevitable question of how to live to be a century old, and before I toss the notes into the recycling bin, here they are – to be preserved for posterity! (These are the exact notes – in parentheses I fill out what I remember of what they mean.)

Don’t clutter up your life (with things like hatred, anger and rigid beliefs).

Live now (not in the past or overly worried about the future).

I’m not political.

(Live in ways that will leave) This world to be a better place.

Keep learning and moving on; keep on adding to your knowledge.

Uncle Warren's Attic #77

THIS IS YOUR DIRECT DOWNLOAD LINK FOR UNCLE WARREN'S ATTIC #77.

But seriously, why haven't you subscribed to the RSS feed yet?

Ernest Hare, Floppy the Rabbit, Sir Laurence Olivier and Wolfman Jack - Dare ya to find another podcast that will mix that mix!

In this corner:
"Hello Hello" - Tiny Tim on WABC, New York (1968)
"Dixie Highway" - Ernest Hare
"Floppy" - Mervyn Shiner
"Because" - Julian Lennon (from "Dave Clark's Time")
"Beauty, Truth, Love, Freedom, Peace" - Sir Laurence Olivier (from "Dave Clark's Time")
"Breaking Up is Hard to Do" - Lenny Welch
"I Ain't Never Seen a White Man" - Wolfman Jack

Thanks for spending a half-hour a week rifling through my shtuff with me!

Uncle Warren's Attic #76

Click on the pod icon or this link to download/listen to Uncle Warren's Attic #76.

What does a romantic ballad from the 1920s have in common with a gospel cover from 2006? You'd be surprised how well they fit together in the same pile of shtuff. At least they seemed to be part of the same flow as I cobbled together this visit to Uncle Warren's Attic.

Likewise, you wouldn't think Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Casablanca, Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD, The Prisoner and Firefly have that much in common (except that Joss Whedon produced the first and last), but they made for a pleasant enough opening montage.

That's just the way it is up here in the Attic. You got yer boxes of LPs, the 45s on the top shelf, the 78s down here by my feet, and miscellaneous CDs, DVDs, floppy disks, reel-to-reel and cassette tapes, books, comics, magazines and whatnot all over the place. I still haven't hooked up the 8-track machine, but I know there are a few of those in a box somewhere, too ...

And the result is a fun little mix like this one:

"Rocka My Soul" - Miss Behavin' (2006)
"Sail On Little Girl Sail On" - Leadbelly (1940)
"The Night Sky and A Telescope" - Tara Leigh Cobble (2006)
"Ramona" - Gene Austin (1928)
"Get Together" - Randy Stonehill (1986)
"Country and Western Songs" - Larry Lujack & Tommy Edwards (1982)
"Don't Let Your Sweet Love Die" - Reno & Smiley (1961)
"Orange Blossom Breakdown" - The Stonemans (1964)

Click on the pod icon or this link to download/listen to Uncle Warren's Attic #76.

Catch up to the last 10 visits

Coming up Monday, Uncle Warren's Attic #76 will take us back 90 years, 70 years, 25 years and five minutes ago. But there's a weekend ahead, and here's a fine way to pass at least five hours while you're waiting for the new show. Sure, you could spend that time by going to see The Avengers twice, but this is free! free! free!

If you didn't realize I had settled back in the Attic again, you can catch up with the rest of us by clicking on these links to listen to/download the last three months of excitement (not counting the two weeks of reruns) ...

Uncle Warren's Attic #66 - re-establishing the series with the likes of The Crows, Jimmy Davis, John Cale and Sunny Gale.

Uncle Warren's Attic #67 - Awesome old movie music with Beverly White, Louis Jordan and the King Cole Trio, plus a segment of the immortal "Flick's Tongue" narration by Jean Shepherd.

Uncle Warren's Attic #68 - The original Betty Boop and famous songs recorded by other artists before the big hit versions. Seriously, "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" by Jerry Lee Lewis?!

Uncle Warren's Attic #69 - Excerpts from the 1912 presidential campaign, World War I music, and translating the dialogue from Star Wars I. To be honest, this one looked better on paper.

Uncle Warren's Attic #70 - St. Patrick's Day the way it may have sounded on the Victrola.

Uncle Warren's Attic #71 - The premieres of "This Terrifying Report" and "Poetry Corner," plus a lot of songs with food themes, like "Pumpernickel," "Hotta Chocolotta" and "Sweet Potato Piper."

Uncle Warren's Attic #72 - The Academy Awards for 1942-43, "Barney Google" and "16 Old Ladies Locked in the Lavatory." What's not to love? Here's looking at you, kid.

Uncle Warren's Attic #73 - An especially swingin' episode with Scat Man Crothers, Glenn Miller, Raymond Scott and some other happy stuff.

Uncle Warren's Attic #74 - A fun hodgepodge from the late 1950s and early '60s, including the immortal "Manhattan Spiritual" and a followup to "Hey Paula."

Uncle Warren's Attic #75 - The story of meeting Barry McGuire and how it inspired me to write and record an album and then write a book.

Uncle Warren's Attic 75 - The Barry McGuire Episode

Click on the pod icon or this link to download/listen to Uncle Warren's Attic #75.

This 75th episode of Uncle Warren's Attic tells the story of when I met Barry McGuire, the 1960s folksinger who morphed into a 1970s contemporary Christian music singer and now tours the world with a show called "Tripping the Sixties."

It's the story of my latest book, A Scream of Consciousness, and of my latest little homemade recording, Ten Thousand Days. You'll hear Barry sing a well-known sixties tune and a live solo rendition of "God Like the Wind." You'll hear me sing a song I wrote a long time ago called "Just Today" and a more recent one called "All That's Left You."

If you've hung around for 75 episodes, thanks! If you're new to this, welcome to my Attic!

And if you're ever in Green Bay, make sure you stop by the Cup O'Joy!

Uncle Warren's Attic #74 - Now on Mondays

 Download/listen to Uncle Warren's Attic #74 by clicking here.

Starting now the amazing adventures of Uncle Warren in the Attic will be coming your way first thing Monday instead of first thing Sunday - so you can start your work week with a taste of the eclectic!

This time around it's a hodgepodge of shtuff from the 1950s and early '60s, another edition of This Terrifying Report, and more ...

And next week, a very special event for UWA #75!

This week's lineup:
"Train Song" - w.p. bluhm
"Wake Up Little Susie" (78 rpm mix) - Everly Brothers
"Manhattan Spiritual" - Reg Owen and his Orchestra
"Marzy Doats" - The Innocence
"Flash Bazbo" - Leon Janney and Christopher Guest
"All the Love" - Paul and Paula
This Terrifying Report - Uncle Warren
"Jingle Jump" - Danny Peil and the Tigers
"Flip Side" - The Tigers
"Flash Bazbo" - Leon Janney and Christopher Guest
"Dear Paula" - Paul and Paula

Download/listen to Uncle Warren's Attic #74 by clicking here.

Or let's see if the Wizard Player embed works:

Don't wait up

Uncle Warren's Attic will be available first thing Monday morning starting this week. It'll be worth the wait! You'll see ...

Best of Uncle Warren's Attic - #9

As I explained last week, I am currently in the middle of a hazardous and technically unexplainable journey into the outer stratosphere, to confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother uncles.  And I hereby decree that until what time -- if any -- that I return, you can feel free to browse through the old visits to the Attic at warren-bluhm-dot-com.

But I am a wise and benevolent uncle, and so I’ve also packaged up a prefab rerun for you. For the ides of April, here’s a visit that includes Jean Shepherd, John Kongos, Gammera and much more.

The next new Uncle Warren’s Attic is scheduled for Sunday, April 22 - in the meantime, Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for Uncle Warren’s Attic number 9 - number 9 - number 9 -

Click here to download/listen!

Best of Uncle Warren's Attic - #8

I am about to embark on a a hazardous and technically unexplainable journey into the outer stratosphere, to confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother uncles.  And I hereby decree that until what time -- if any -- that I return, you can feel free to browse through the old visits to the Attic at www.warrenbluhm.com.

But I am a wise and benevolent uncle, and so I’ve also packaged up a prefab rerun for you. This week and next, I will upload a couple of early selections of my eclectic aural stash for you. On this lovely Easter Sunday, here’s a visit that includes Sgt. Pepper, Lonnie Donegan, Leadbelly, Connie Francis, Wilfred, and Glenn Miller - oh, and hey, hey, it's a radio ad from the Sixties, too.

The next new Uncle Warren’s Attic is scheduled for Sunday, April 22 - in the meantime, Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for Uncle Warren’s Attic number 8!

Download it/Listen here!

Uncle Warren's Attic #73 - Swinging into April

Click here to listen to/download Uncle Warren's Attic #73.

Sometimes you just have to let the music take over - and that's what this show is all about.

Get Happy - Raymond Scott
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter - "Scat Man" Crothers
At Last - Glenn Miller
Got a Date with An Angel - Hal Kemp
Frenesi - Artie Shaw
When You Dance - The Turbans
I Got Rhythm - "Scat Man" Crothers
Chattanooga Choo Choo - Glenn Miller

Click here to listen to/download Uncle Warren's Attic #73.

Elise Testone does "Whole Lotta Love" on American Idol

Talk about coming from out of nowhere – Wednesday night American Idol contestant Elise Testone went from being kind of interesting to blow-me-away great. One of my favorite all-time Idol moments.

'Free' - Haley Reinhart debut single

The best singer on last year's American Idol is out with her first single, "Free," and it's a tasty little treat. Even tastier is this live performance of the tune accompanied only by a pianist. Good stuff!

Announcement

Doing some spring cleaning and assessment, and I have come to the conclusion that the Myke Phoenix emagazine has not been successful enough to continue for the time being. Therefore the release of Myke #4 is postponed indefinitely.

The good news is that lessons learned in developing this project can be applied to my various other projects. And I am too fond of Paul Phillips, Dana Dunsmore, Hi Dawson and their host of evil adversaries to let them sit in limbo forever.

You can speed the day toward their return – or catch up on what you've been missing – by taking a look at Myke #1, Myke #2 and Myke #3 or even Myke Phoenix Quarterly #1, and then sharing your enthusiasm with the world.

As for my other projects, they include the Uncle Warren's Attic podcast, a growing stable of ebooks and a slew of paperbacks that are worth reading.

Thanks for checking out Myke Phoenix over the years, and please know this is just a detour, not the end of the road.

Uncle Warren's Attic #72

I know what it's like when you have to wait for another edition of Uncle Warren's Attic - and wait - and wait - and wait. That's why I committed to putting out a show every Sunday - and here is the 72nd episode and seventh in a row. Yes, Uncle Warren is really back to stay, kids. Deal with it! Or better yet, subscribe! subscribe! subscribe NOW, you fool!

Click on the pod icon or right here to listen to/download Uncle Warren's Attic #72.

What you'll hear this go-round is built around the March 2, 1944, broadcast of the Academy Awards, with a few appropriate clips from a certain film that was up for an Oscar that year. You must remember this ...

Also:
"Barney Google" - Jones and Hare
Poetry Corner
"16 Old Ladies Locked in the Lavatory" - Herbi Hardt and his Jovial Jesters

What more could you possibly want?

Click on the pod icon or right here to listen to/download Uncle Warren's Attic #72.

And again, subscribe now. If you don't subscribe now, you'll regret it, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

Uncle Warren's Attic #71

Music with a food theme, and the debut of a couple new features: This Terrifying Report and Poetry Corner, are among the highlights of our weekly tour of cyberspace together.

Click here to listen to/download Uncle Warren's Attic #71.

Some of what you will hear, most of it spun at 78 rpm on my vintage, lovingly preserved Dual turntable:

* * This Terrifying Report (Remember, Refuse to be Afraid!) * * 
"Sweet Potato Piper" - Bing Crosby and John Trotter's Pan-Fried Five
"Pumpernickel" - Doris Day with Frankie Yankovic and his Yanks
"Hotta Chocolotta" - The DeJohn Sisters
* * Poetry Corner - featuring my little computer friends * *
Malted Milk - Robert Johnson
A Stein Song/Glorious Beer - The Singing Waiters
Monahan's Mudder's Milk - Marc Gunn
Vintage ads for Anacin, Coca-Cola and Schlitz

And because I knew Poetry Corner would leave you desperate for more, we close with the immortal opening credits from the Roger Corman classic A Bucket of Blood.

Click here to listen to/download Uncle Warren's Attic #71.

Are we having fun yet? Remember, if you subscribe you won't miss any of the thrills, chills, spills and other benefits of rummaging around in my Attic of eclectic delights.

Coming Sunday, news and food songs

All signs in this little corner of the universe are pointing toward an early spring. Temperatures are running more than 20 degrees above normal, which would make a case against climate change skepticism if we didn't remember the 16-inch snowstorm last April.

The warmer weather has heated the creative juices a bit, and this weekend's show features a couple of new things – a little newscast I'm informally calling This Terrifying Report, full of odd stories that would be scary if we didn't all Refuse to be Afraid, and also The Poetry Corner, kind of a robot beatnik hangout.

In between is the usual assortment of musical tonalities culled from my pile of 78s and downloaded from here and there. I must have been hungry when I chose this week's songs, because they're all about food this week.

All of this is to encourage you to start your week with a visit here on Sunday morning, or better yet – subscribe to the RSS feed so you don't miss a single episode!

Myke Phoenix #3: The Strange Ultimatum of Quincy Quakenbos

 This just in from the Myke Phoenix blog: A new edition of my monthly superhero sensation.

An odd duck-man tests the limits of our mysterious superhero by holding Astor City hostage. Well, how else do you determine what the big guy can do? The latest edition of our free adventure e-magazine is now live! Read it below – read/download it on Issuu – or download a copy by clicking here. 

Two things to know: Watch for the cover of Myke Phoenix #3 to change from what you see as this edition is released on March 15, 2012. That’s all I’m sayin’ for now.

Also: April will bring something new. If you’ve followed the adventures of Myke Phoenix so far, you know that these first three issues have been essentially the same stories that appeared in the now out-of-print book The Adventures of Myke Phoenix. From now on, it gets more interesting.

Be around on the Ides of April for the first completely new Myke Phoenix story in, well, 20 years: “The Decline and Fall of Alan Pinkstaff.” If it doesn’t rock your proverbial socks off, well, then.

And remember you can purchase an authentic, collectible dead-tree edition of the first three stories in Myke Phoenix Quarterly #1, available for the ridiculously low price of $7.99 plus shipping at this address.

And now, sit back and enjoy "The Strange Ultimatum of Quincy Quakenbos":

Open publication - Free publishing - More adventure

Uncle Warren's Attic #70: Sure and begorah

Here we are once again approaching March 17, which is always a treasure trove of nifty old music. And so the Emerald Isle takes over the Attic.

Click on the pod icon below or this link to download/listen to Uncle Warren's Attic #70.

The lineup:
"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" - Allan Jones
"A Little Bit of Heaven" - Charles Harrison
"Sweet Rosie O'Grady" - Hildegarde with Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians
"Who Put the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?" - The Singing Waiters
"I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover" - The Harmonians (Irving Kaufman, vocal)
"Danny Boy" (Londonderry Air) - Glenn Miller and his Orchestra
"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" - Riley Puckett
"Two Re Lour A Loura (An Irish Lullaby)" - Chauncey Olcott
"Mother Macree" - Charles Harrison

We also read from "The Lives of the Saints" and revisit a commercial music theme that will be familiar to listeners of a certain age.

Click on the pod icon or this link to download/listen to Uncle Warren's Attic #70. And remember you can always ask your computer nicely to do it automatically for you by subscribing.

Coming Sunday, a London Deriere

There are certain songs that are always fun to hear but are more likely to get dusted off at certain times of the year. As we approach March 17, this week's edition of Uncle Warren's Attic features songs that recall the Emerald Isle, shamrocks and shades of green.

If you're looking for something to get you in the mood before Sunday morning, here is a link to an appropriate and lovely Pandora playlist compiled by our friend Pint of Stout. The things you can find on Twitter these days ... speaking of which, have you "liked" Uncle Warren's Attic on Facebook yet?

Uncle Warren's Attic #69

The 1912 presidential candidates state their case, including the incumbent's plea for an end to war ... we hear from one of the biggest singers of songs during World War I ... and we head to a galaxy far, far away that's on the brink of war. Kind of a thread going on there this week in Uncle Warren's Attic.

Yes, you'll hear the voices of President William Howard Taft, along with challengers Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, in recordings from 100 years ago. Then we'll shine the spotlight on Billy Murray, the biggest recording star of the early 20th century, as he sings "Over There," "I'd Feel at Home If They'd Let Me Join the Army" and the immortal "K-K-K-Katie" from the WW1 era.

What? What did you say?

Then, using the screenplay for Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace, we recreate some key scenes featuring Viceroy Nute Gunray, whose alien accent was so alien as to be unintelligible in the original film. I think I finally understand what was going on in those scenes!

Also included in this jam-packed episode are the legendary "How'd You Like to Spoon With Me" by Franklyn Wallace and vintage ads for Mountain Dew and Mr. Clean.

What are you waiting for? Click the pod icon or THIS LINK to download or listen to Uncle Warren's Attic #69!