COMPETITION

I tend not to be a very competitive person. For the most part that’s a good thing, but sometimes not so much. I do believe wholeheartedly in competing with myself. The goal should be to be better, not be better than someone else. I’ve always become bored quickly with the “I’m better than you… ’My work is better than yours’ syndrome.

In the on-line writing community there is a spirit of cooperation and help, but sometimes we too, become just a little bit too competitive. I don’t know about the rest of you, but this only heightens my insecurities. Everyone is different. It’s important to develop your own style. Perfect your craft within your boundaries and limitations. ‘To Thine own self be true’.

Lately, my life is in a heap…literally. I’ve just moved and am still in the process of finding everything and finding a place for it all. This tends to promote my insecurities in general. I feel lost and overwhelmed. I know this will pass, I know I’ll get organized, I know I’ll develop a new routine (or at least as much of a routine as I ever confine myself to) but in the meantime, I need to keep reminding myself…

If you want to know more about the Insecure Writers Support Group click HERE and get all the information from the founder and creator Alex J. Cavanaugh. There’s also a list of other participants, where you can find a little more encouragement than I’m able to give this month.

BATTLE OF THE BANDS XXI - ARE YOU 'WILLIN'?

Well here it I June 1^st and time for another BATTLE OF THE BANDS and I don’t have Internet. I spent this past week moving. The cable guy came on Thursday and hooked up the Internet and then someone unpluged the modem and now it won’t recognize my router. Oh well, I’ll get this posted just as soon as I’m back on line.

First things first. DRUM ROLL PLEASE! The Winner of the MAY BATTLE OF THE BANDS CONTEST IS Al Bondigas. Please let us know which CD you would like and we’ll get that right off to you. You can choose anything from one of Mr. McCarthy’s or my BOTB from the very beginning.

Now, let’s get on with BOTB XXI shall we?

Due to the move and the fact that I can’t find anything, my list of possible match-ups went MIA. Also, due to the move and my being overtired, I have been unable to sleep. So, late at night I troll my favorite blogs on my phone. While eavesdropping on a conversation in the comment box of one such musically orientated blog someone mentioned Little Feat’s ‘Waiting for Columbus’ album. I own (on vinyl) and love that album, even though I haven’t heard it in a long time. Sadly, Little Feat has not been the same since the death of Lowell George.

Thinking about Little Feat also reminded me of a concert of theirs that I attended in Denver. Great concert, memorable night, right up until the point when my date lost my car keys. I not so fondly remember a large group of chemically enhanced friends trying to hot wire my Ford Bronco. Next came the hair raising drive back up into the mountains where we learned that due to an accident the Eisenhower Tunnel was closed and we would have to drive over Loveland Pass. 

If you’re not familiar with this area, no big deal; if you are, join me in a great big YIKES! I probably should not have been driving anywhere, let alone on a steep curving mountain pass. Why wasn’t my date driving? That would have been the night I also learned he was a Kiwi wetback, terrified of being found out by immigration and receiving a one way ticket back home, courtesy of Uncle Sam. Just another one of those things from my youth, that I miraculously  survived.

Will you look at that, there’s me going off about myself again, and this time no one’s even speaking French? Now, where was I? Oh yeah, BATTLE OF THE BANDS.

First let’s hear from the big man himself. Here’s Lowell George and Little Feat doing a song written by himself. ‘Willin’

Next, Miss Linda Ronstadt and her version of the same.

OK, folks you know the drill. Leave me a comment with your vote and your reason. Then head on over to Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends the home of the effervescent and always charming Mr. Stephen T. McCarthy, and see what he has cooked up for us in his BOTB. I can always trust Mr. McCarthy to list links to the other participants in BOTB, and I encourage you to visit all of the sites.

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

Believe it or not, it's still the 1st of June and I made it!

ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE...

I know you're all surprised to see me here when it's not time for another BATTLE OF THE BANDS, and I've just posted the RESULTS from the last BATTLE OF THE BANDS, but that should give you an idea, how important this message is.

DL Hammons is hosting another 'Write Club' bout. This is an incredible endeavor, and an opportunity for you to get a free critique on a five hundred chunk (that's a technical writing term) of your current WIP or five hundred words of something new. Either way, you get to enter anonymously,(how cool is that?) and see what folks have to say about your work. In the end your piece has the potential to get before an actual agent.

Now, you all know me, and if I try to give you the particulars we'll all be thoroughly confused. I suggest you head on over to DL Hammons Web Site . Once you're there click on 'Write Club' on the bar across the top. This way you'll get the rules and regs right from the horses' mouth, or DL's Web Site, as the case may be.

The deadline for entries if this Saturday, May 31st, so what are you doing' still hanging around here. Get on over there and check it out. Then sit yerself down and crank out those five hundred superb words and join the fun.

I'll see y'all back here on June 1st with another BATTLE OF THE BANDS and Mr. McCarthy and I will announce the winner in our May contest. 

 

BATTLE OF THE BANDS XX RESULTS

Before we get too far along here I want to take a minute and thank each and every one of you for the well wishes. When I wrote my BATTLE OF THE BANDS POST I was thinking ‘what is wrong with people today?’ THEN you guys showed up and told me just exactly what is RIGHT with people, at least some people, today. THANKS!

Just so I don’t mislead you, my troubles aren’t health related, other than the stress involved in this whole mess, but rather someone lied to me, cheated me, and stole from me. In the end I’m having to hire a lawyer, and probably go to court to get back what is mine. In other words: it’s a fine mess and the only people who are really going to ‘make out’ in the end will be the lawyers.

Anyway…enough of that!

This BATTLE OF THE BANDS was a little different for me. Because of the troubles in my life I was totally unprepared and had not made my choice of songs or artists. The day before while I browsing some of my friends sites, Donna Weaver over at Weaving a Tale or Two posted the Alex Boye version of ‘Roar’. I clicked on the link, but didn’t recognize the song. I was thinking this song sounds familiar, and when they got to the chorus. I was pretty shocked to realize it was Katy Perry’s ’Roar’. All along I thought I hated this song, but it turns out what I really don't like is Katy Perry's shouting her way through a musical number, and calling it singing.

The final tally was pretty lopsided and there was a lot of ‘Katy hate’ in the comment box. While I’m personally not a Katy Perry fan, I was shocked that so many of you felt the same way, and so strongly. I normally don’t try to predict (even in my own mind) how the voting will turn out, or who will vote for which artist, but I have to say there was only one vote for Katy that I had mentally predicted. Four of your really surprised me.

I’ll agree with most of you who said that Alex Boye’s version was primarily drum driven, and a sing-a-long, but I did think it was fun. Alex does a lot of covers. He calls them ‘Africanized’ versions. Most are beat driven, as you might imagine African music would be. If you have the time, go over to YouTube and check him out.

The ‘FINAL TALLY’:

                        Alex Boye           14 votes including mine

                        Katy Perry          5 votes

Before I forget, I also want to thank Sheboyganboy 6 and STMc for the ‘conversation’ in the BATTLE comment box. You guys went a long way to take my mind off my troubles. And Sheboyganboy 6, you can disagree and correct me any ole time you want, as long as you continue to do it in French.

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think about the outcome. Remember, a comment here and one at F-FFF gives you a final chance to enter the drawing for a CD. Check out the contest rules HERE. 

Also, be sure to see who won the other BOTB contests playing around town.

See you back here on June 1, when we’ll announce the winner of this May BOTB contest and present another fine BATLE for your vote.