Welcome to Cocomania

Things that I am thinking.

Wondering why my blog fan base is as big in Russia and Brazil as it is in the USA? Georgia and Latvia too seem to have developed a recurrent interest in the Cocoverse. Guess I’ll have to plan stops there on my book tour.

Today I shamelessly flattered a male co-worker into changing the colour printer cartridge for me so that I wouldn’t risk my guitar finger nails.

In the last twenty-four hours I’ve written two new songs and outlined a new story property charting out it’s dramatic progression from short film script to web series to one act play, full length play and feature script. It’s called Brandon Fury and I seem to think it is immensely funny in that I snort with laughter every time I think about it for more then 30 seconds. But I’ve worked it over a few time and I think it is genuinely funny and not just the serotonin talking.

So I guess it’s a comedy.

If not for the day job I’d have written at least two more songs and finished three other scripts in this time period. Got a big stack done at the office too. So either somebody needs to throttle back on the caffeine or the Bipolar type 2 pendulum is finally swinging back in the happy direction.  If so - no worries my lovelies - in my personal expression of the disorder the manic phase is notable only by a clean apartment, excessive chattiness and a new draft of my proposal to achieve total world literary domination. Yah, but also don’t believe anything I promise for the next little while K? The blizzard of personal and professional improvements that I have planned for the next six weeks are all well intentioned but a girl has to remember that a few baby steps and a few pages written everyday will get a girl over the rainbow more surely then a mad dash ending in a sprained ankle and tears.

Spending some time with Mom too working on “Dummy Hand” our theatrical magnum opus about a septuagenarian bridge club. Okay thats’ a word one is not called upon to spell very often. So many stories to write so little time.

Twitchie the House Elf did finally cough up the guitar capo so in addition don’t be surprised if you pass by my door and hear the sound of my voice singing “Hallelujah”. That would be the Canadian Tenors arrangement of the Leonard Cohen tune of course, but transposed by capo magic to a better spot in my vocal range.

I love weekends.

BTW I thought you all might like to meet one of the most often referred to magic talismans in the Cocoverse - the Rock of Truth. Which, just as an aside, is still jammed in the printer. I guess I'd better go find the tweezers.

Hallelujah and Me - Via Leonard Cohen

What is the deal with this song? First of all, how could I have been Canadian for my entire life and not have been aware of this song until I heard the Canadian Tenors version of the song not quite a year ago. Then it starts to get weird.

I announce to my guitar teacher that, “I must learn this song.” And HE’D never heard I before. And he is a real deal composer and serious been around the block guitar player. That was last August. So we’ve been working on the song on and off ever since.

Last guitar lesson, he wants to get serious about working on the song. I have the somewhat predictable Fminor block witch means nothing at all to you who’ve not attempted mastery of the guitar. It isn’t’ the easiest song for a beginner suffice it to say.

Weirdly, though his inspiration to push on the song came from KD Lang’s performance of the piece at the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. The last major composing project my teacher worked on was with someone who had produced more than half of KD Lang’s recordings. So that gave him a push, not to mention that I had been torturing the piece for six month in lessons.

Even weirder. I was feeling melancholy watching the 2010 Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies as I was just beginning to realize that the Canadian Tenors, had most likely performed the non-televised pre-show. So I’m sitting on my couch playing “Hallelujah” and suddenly KD Lang arises on top a big white drum and starts givin’ er.

It was strange. And quite frankly, unpleasant. Nothing against KD’s performance which was as dig down deep and heartfelt as it comes. But I wasn’t my boys version and, truth to tell, it wasn’t my version. I don’t mean that to be prideful. Especially since I discover that Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah is one of the most covered songs. Reason for that has nothing to do with Leonard Cohen’s celeb. Sorry Leonard. It has to do with the brilliance of the song as a piece of music and poetry.

It’s a great song, no doubt. But why is so suddenly mine? And why does it seem to spring up on me everywhere? That I don’t know. It appears in the movie The Watchman and tonight, as I was channel surfing in the movie St. Ralph. Which really hit me in the head and heart hard as I’d been practicing the blessed thing all day.

Seriously I have played and practiced this song nearly every day for months. I can't go to sleep at night till I've heard it.

So what is it with me and this song?