'THE BOYS ARE BACK' BATTLE OF THE BANDS XXX and THE INSECURE WRITERS SUPPORT GROUP 'Creativity vs. Anxiety'

For those of you who have been coming around here regularly, you know I confuse easily. I think I’ve been going back and forth in my BLOG titles regarding what number Battle of the Bands it is. Today, I went back and checked and counted ‘em all up. This is definitely number thirty (30) (XXX) for me.

Now that we’ve got that straightened out, let’s begin shall we?

By my title I’ll bet you’re all thinking I’m using THIS for my BOTB entry, but not so.

The ‘boys’ I’m referring to include those ‘toxic twins’. They got a lot of ‘hate’ the last time I pitted them against a country artist in a BOTB. Yes, I bet some of you guessed who I’m talkin’ bout. It would be Arrowsmith.

Anyway…the song I’ve cnoosen is ‘Sweet Emotion.

Here’s what Wacky watchee has to say about Arrowsmith and ‘Sweet Emotion’: 

"Sweet Emotion" is a song by American rock band Aerosmith, released by Columbia Records in April 1975 on the album Toys in the Attic^[3] and was released as a single a month later on May 19 (see 1975 in music).^[1] The song began a string of pop hits and large-scale mainstream success for the band that would continue for the remainder of the 1970s. The song was written by lead singer Steven Tyler and bassist Tom Hamilton.

Many Aerosmith fans believe that Steven Tyler wrote all of the lyrics to the song about the tension and hatred between the band members and Joe Perry's wife. Tyler himself has said that only some of the lyrics were inspired by Perry's wife. It was stated in Aerosmith's tell-all autobiography Walk This Way and in an episode of Behind the Music that growing feuds between the band members' wives (including an incident involving "spilt milk") may have helped lead to the band's original lineup dissolving in the early 1980s.

The beginning of the song is a repeating electric bass riff tracked alongside the bass marimba, played by Jay Messina. The introduction builds with the use of a talk box by Perry, which has become one of the most famous uses of the guitar talk box in popular music (Perry's guitar "sings" the line "sweet emotion" over Hamilton's bass riff). Eventually Tyler joins in, singing in unison with Perry's talk box. The actual talk box device used was called The Bag and was made by Kustom Electronics. The now discontinued device had been used earlier by guitarists including Jeff Beck and Mike Pinera.

The song kicks into a more rocking rhythm with dueling guitars, and rapid-fire angry-sounding lyrics sung by Tyler. The chorus of the song consists of a repeating guitar riff followed by a mirror of the "sweet emotion" intro.

The song also features several bizarre instruments including two shotguns, a broomstick and a sugar bag.

I decided to beat some of you ‘music gurus’ to the punch, and give you that little bit of background. (I’m looking at your Mr. Strat Player – Chris Fries – HA!)

Tried as I might, I just could not hear one shotgun let alone two, a broomstick, or a sugar bag, in this version, and it says it’s the original from 1975. But, then you know you can’t really trust Wacky Watchee or Youtube for that matter.

So enough of this talk. Let’s hear ‘Sweet Emotion from Arrowsmith.

I’ve been spending a lot of time driving from Lake Tahoe and Reno and back again. I usually listen to a rather eclectic radio station. It’s K something something X, or ‘The X’. Sorry, ‘The X’, I can’t remember the call letters and give you a plug, but I can tell you it’s found at 100.1 on your FM dial. If you’re ever in the Reno//Sparks/Tahoe area please check them out. Anyway, I did say they were eclectic didn’t I? The play everything except ‘new country’ and ‘opera’, they’re also light on the commercials and talk.

So, I’m driving home one day and this song that sounds kinda familiar comes out of the box. It is ‘”Oh Well’ (a song Mr. McCarthy aka ‘the sexiest man on the planet’, used in a Battle awhile back). I really like the version, so I went to Youtube and looked it up. It was by Leo Kottke and Bob Gordon. Under their Youtube listing I saw that they had also done a cover for ‘Sweet Emotion’.

Here’s Leo Kottke and Bob Gordon with their version of ‘Sweet Emotion’:

Now you guys know me, I’m not good at making all of those links AND BOTB is growing by leaps and bounds, but Mr. McCarthy aka ‘TSMOTP’ (that looks like something printed on the side of a car at NASCAR). Whom you can find HERE will give you the link for each and every participant. So the minute you’ve finished up here, click your way on over to his space STMcC Presents Battle of the Bands, and check out his current BATTLE. Once finished up there, please try to visit all of the participants.

Should you feel so inclined, please join us and post your own BATTLE. If you do, don’t forget to tell me in the comment box, so I, and everyone else, can stop by your place and vote there also. If you plan to be a regular participant, also notify Mr. McCarthy, so he can add you to the list. Please leave the light on for us, because this is starting to look like a Blog Hop and it takes a while to get around.

I’ll be back on the 7^th with the final tally and my vote.

PLEASE NOTE – These BATTLES take place on the 1^st and 15^th of each month. I sure do hope you’ll have so much fun that you’ll keep coming back. 

INSECURE WRITERS SUPPORT GROUP

This IS a Blog Hop hosted by Mr. Alex J Cavanaugh. Get all the details and find the Linky List for other participant HERE (When you get to this page, click on the tab that says Insecure Writers Support Group, of course.). I encourage you to also hop around and see what some of these good folks have to say. You never know, you might be inspired.

I ran across this quote and thought; how appropriate for an IWSG post.

As writers we often use our imaginations to create anxiety as opposed to fueling our creativity. I, for one, usually imagine the worst when I send my work off to someone else to read. I fret and worry, even when I’m not ‘standing naked in front of others’, by revealing my writing. Is my story strong enough? Will others relate to my characters? Like them? Really be able to see them? Are their big gaping plot holes? And the list goes on and on and on.

There are no easy answers. When you’re working with a CP or editor, you have to trust them to consider your feelings, but also to help you make your work the very best it can be, and often that’s… difficult at best.

I’m sitting down and going over my MS one more time. Trying to take the ‘whiny baby’ out of one of my characters, filling those plot holes, and writing ‘real’ action scenes, instead of the ‘grocery list’. It will never be good enough for me, but it’s time I let it out to the CP’s and ‘let them have at it and me’.

I’ll have to develop a new mantra 'imagination = creativity NOT anxiety'.