Brandon's Buzz

Regular readers of this blog may or may not know that once upon a time, I was writing a novel.  (I say was because, even though I often refer back to it in my mind’s eye — twenty or thirty times a day, easy — and have come to quite enjoy torturing myself by toying with the notion of revisiting it in a serious way — an idea that I’ll one day make a concrete reality — I haven’t set finger one upon it in years.)  The book is about a hundred different things — and is driven by and populated with every bit as byzantine a constellation of backstories and bystanders as you’d reasonably expect from an author who is also a soap fan of nearly three decades — but, primarily, the book is about a guy.  Jeremy.  Early 30s.  Recovering alcoholic.  Hasn’t spoken to his brother in a decade over a ridiculously lopsided family inheritance which failed to break in his favor.  Doesn’t know how to admit it, but is still madly, hopelessly, irrevocably in love with the very first object — a flaxen-haired, brutally forthright gem of a gal — of his intensely loyal affection.

It may not make a hell of a lot of sense here in the boiled-down synopsis (and, truth be told, it may not make much more sense in the actual book), but Jeremy was once a successful trial lawyer in Boston, and is now a warbling piano player in a smoky Florida nightclub.  (It’s a long road from there to here, that seemingly wonky transition, and the minutiae therein aren’t terribly relevant to the particular yarn I’m spinning for you now, so let’s just go with this:  as increasingly detached as the repetitive tedium of his daily existence as an attorney made him feel, that’s how increasingly fulfilled Jeremy is by the fresh thrill of plugging his mind and heart and hands into the concrete joy of creation, and of imagination, as a piano man.)

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“Very interesting site.  Hope it will always be alive!”

— a lovely sentiment from a bot advertising penis enlargement pills which got caught up in the Buzz’s spam filter this morning. (Hey, we’ll take what we can get around here.)

Not much going on this week, but the good stuff is really good. Take a look:

Nothing new has been added to it, which is a shame, since this would have been one instance in which a deluxe-ified reissue would have been entirely appropriate: Blue Roses from the Moons, the riveting 1997 masterwork from the legendary Nanci Griffith, returns to print this week with a gorgeous, crisply remastered edition, and it’s well worth the effort it’ll probably take to seek this out. Anchored by a haunting update of her classic “Gulf Coast Highway” (done this time around as a stunning duet with Hootie and the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker, just the perfect pinch of smooth soul to complement Griffith’s informal folk), Roses also includes a hilarious cover of “I Fought the Law” as well as several tunes — in particular, “Waiting for Love” and “Two for the Road” — which have become integral staples in the Griffith songbook.
Buy this at once.

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