Halflins, Hecklers and Dundee’s Literary Figures

Tags

Dundee, Frankenstein, Ian Fleming, James Bond, John Quinn, Joseph Lee, Literary Heritage, Mary Brooksbank, Mary Shelley, O halflins an hecklers an weavers an weemin, The Jute Mill Song, Verdant Works, William McGonagall

 

 

James Bond and the Dundee connection https://shehannemoore.wordpress.com/2017/03/27/james-bond-and-the-dundee-connection/

Mary Brooksbank and Susan Devine, the mysterious woman in the green felt hat. From ‘O Halflins and Hecklers an Weavers an Weemin,’ by John Quinn.

Susan Devine : – Mary Brooksbank! What are you daein here – you’re still a lassie!.

Mary : – Eh’m here tae learn fae you Susan Devine how tae fight back against the brutality o’ Capitalism and the Jute Barons!

Susan : – Well said. We’ve got a good crowd today.( Policeman appears. Susan gives him the finger. )

Policeman : – What’s going on here?

Susan : – (Ignoring him) Cox Brothers have decided to cut the number in a squad fae ten tae eight and lay off thousands. For the people that remain that means mair work for less money!

(Chants from everyone onstage. ‘Everybody Out! Everybody Out! Everybody Out!)

Susan : – Right you are – and we’re staying out until everybody’s re-instated. (Starts chant. All join in )  ‘March doon the Lochee Road girls. March doon the Lochee Road!’

Policeman : – You can’t do that without permission – you need a licence!

Mary Brooksbank : – Is that so? Well there’s a lot o’ women here and no many men…..

Policeman : – I’ll need reinforcements!(Blows whistle. Exit.)

Susan : – Roond tae Cox’s hoose at Clement Park. An we’ll tour the ither mills fur support. (All chanting  and marching round) ‘We’re gonna win an we’ll pit their windees in. We’re gonna win an we’ll pit their windees in.. .fur we are the weemin o’Lochee! (Takes off green felt hat and throws to Em. Marches off  brandishing shuttle.)

Mary Brooksbank : – And they didnae go back until the fowk that had been laid aff were re-instated. There were major disputes elsewhere such as the  Carters’ Strike. The spirit of revolution was in the air. But of course the Jute Empire struck back.  Black Watch soldiers were brought into the City of their heartlands to keep order. Early in 1912 Cox Brothers sanctioned the purchase of revolvers for their foremen. And Susan Devine? She melts back into history.  Me? I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

(Exit.)

Em : – Susan Devine didnae quite melt back into history. (Brandish hat.) This is still remembered round here sometimes. (Get Suffragette hat and shawl.)

Ken : – As for Mary Brooksbank she was quite a woman – mill girl poet orator revolutionary family woman and voice of the poor. She was blacklisted and jailed for standing up to be counted. What can never be jailed though is her legacy

 

‘Not that I have murdered anyone..’ The April Author Interview

Tags

Accent Press, Alice Cooper, anthologies, Chinese Opera, David Cassidy, In a word murder, Jane Risdon, Pamela Anderson, Shiver, Wishing On A Star

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay Jane Risdon, firstly, ignoring all the rude dudes,  PLEASE tell us a little about yourself.

Shey, thanks so much for inviting me to tell you something about myself and my writing journey.

My early years were spent in Singapore where my mother and I joined my father who’d been posted there after serving in the Korean War. 

Go on Jane

He was a stranger to me, having gone off to war soon after I was born and I didn’t see him until I was 3. We lived in what is now the city of Singapore, so different to the country you see today; it was still mainly jungle back then.  Dad actually worked over in Johore Bahru, Malaya, where the British were battling bandits trying to wreck the rubber plantations.

As an Army family we were posted all over the show; I recall living in Dortmund in the late 1950’s with bomb sites at the end of the street, and kids living in the rubble.

My best friend was a much older black American girl called Marika, and she and I were on our roller skates all day.  I have the scars to prove it. 

But it wasn’t me dudes. So…the writing when a large chunk of your life has been spent on the music biz? Spill….

I’ve always wanted to write but life with a musician was far too hectic, besides I was the main bread-winner in the early days  Years later when my husband’s band broke up we both went into management of singers, songwriters, record producers and actors, and with all the studio time, touring and crazy life we led, it was not possible to sleep let alone write. We worked internationally, living in America, Taiwan, and Singapore mostly; constantly on the road and worn out. 

So, it was not until recently that I’ve been able to do something for myself, when I was not promoting and creating a career for someone else.  If anyone is interested in reading about some of my music business experiences do pop over to my regular blog spot with Creative Frontiers.  I write every fortnight about some of my experiences. The early says when my husband was playing to our days working with the guys from Queen, Alice Cooper, David Cassidy, David Hasselhoff, and Pamela Anderson, and many others too numerous to name.

Working with Rock, Pop, R&B, and even Chinese Opera; television programmes such as Baywatch to Power Rangers, and movies like The Jersey Girl, we’ve had a long and varied career in the entertainment business.  So lots of fodder for writing.

One word. WOW! Once you’d settled down, how hard was it to get published?

A friend I made via my blog is Margot Kinberg, an Associate Professor at an American university, a mystery writer and blogger.  She liked my work and when she wanted to publish an anthology of Crime stories by successful crime writers, in memory of her friend and Crime writer/editor and blogger Maxine Clarke, I was thrilled she accepted two of mine.  In A Word: Murder came out in print and eBook and has proven very successful.

In 2014 I decided to try my hand at finding a traditional publisher and after trying six I was turned down by three, and didn’t hear back from two, until last month when one of them wanted to take things further.  Fortunately for me, unfortunately for them, I was contacted by Accent Press in the summer of 2014, who’d read some of my short stories and asked if I’d like to contribute to two anthologies they were publishing for Halloween (Shiver) and Christmas (Wishing on a Star).

I sent in the stories and in September 2014 I signed a publishing contract with them, the reviews for the book have been good and I have received some 5* reviews personally. They’re waiting for my novel, Ms Birdsong Investigates, which is part of series and so I am working hard to finish it.

You’ve written for quite  a few anthologies? Is Mrs Birdsong to be longer?

I have a back-log of short stories and novels which I need to go back to and finish.  Last count there were about 26 WIP waiting to be tidied up.  Most are crime or espionage themed and some are in other genres, such as humour and observational stories.  I have all 3 Ms Birdsong Investigates books almost completed.

Lavinia Birdsong is a young 40 something former MI5 Officer who is ‘voluntarily’ retired after a mission goes wrong.  Finding herself in a rural village in the Vale of the White Horse she tries to make a life for herself. Soon she finds herself involved in a missing person investigation involving a Russian Oligarch and other villains, which brings an old flame – a former colleague -back from her past, complicating her life.  Before long murder is foremost in her mind as she helps track the killer down.

 

 

What are your Easter plans?

This Easter I shall be working on Ms Birdsong Investigates and awaiting news of another book I’ve been working on which is to be published later this year – not crime strangely enough!

Any advice for an aspiring writer?

Just go for it and write.  Don’t let someone put you off.  Get it down and go back and tidy it up afterwards, having taken a few days away from it.  I do think writing about something you are familiar with helps, not that I have murdered anyone,

 

but I think the words and scenarios come easier and are more believable if you know what you are writing about.

Thanks so much for inviting me to tell you about my life and writing.  I do hope you will provide fed-back and if you are feeling very generous, please do check out my work and blog, letting me have your thoughts.

Amazon Author Page with links to all my books:http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00I3GJ2Y8

My Author Blog:http://wp.me/2dg55

My Facebook Author Page:www.facebook.com/JaneRisdon2

My Regular Music Blog over on Creative Frontiers:http://creative-frontiers.com/blog/profiles/must-criminal-mind/#comment-20529     about my writing.

http://creative-frontiers.com/blog/writing-desk/snore-poison-ill-remember/ Snore Poison so I’ll remember it…..

http://wp.me/p3YvQS-14Q  The Auditions …..

Part three is due in the next week…..Don’t forget to take the paper bag with you…..

Also you can find me over on:

My Author Page on Chill with a Book:http://chillwithabook.blogspot.com.es/2015/02/wishing-on-s

Dale J. Gordon…The truth is out there.

Tags

Dale J. Gordon, Digital Wiccan, Ghost Candy, John Rapp, Music, Musicians, The Chris Brake Show

Oh now, what is it?

 

 Dale’s not scary.

No, he doesn’t.

Given you’re not exactly a lady, what’s the problem?

Oh well, I will just have to interview Dale on my own. What a shame when he’s a guy and you love interviewing dudes. Flint anyone?

Well, then there’s hamstahs week….

But there. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.  

And what this girl is doing today is welcoming to The Spooktacular the very special, the wonderfully talented, the ONE and ONLY……

But you don’t want to do them, or mention our other Spooktacular guests. So.

Dale–music man extraordinary, you’re originally from West Virginia, have been homeless in Nashville, oh and there’s Trenton.

Any truth in the rumour you faked your own death?

DALE. I was born and raised in “extra-rural” West Virginia yes, I did ten years in New Jersey’s state capital. A month before a well planned move to Nashville TN, I had a house fire that complicated the move and therefore left me without housing before my departure and well into my arrival, that’s the long and short of that, stay tuned for a book on that whole “chapter”…whooo.

 I’ve never had enough spare time to fake my own death. No.

Shey.  Seriously Dale–as we get here anyway–how long have you been involved in the music biz?

Dale.  I first started recording when I was nine years old,

got an actual musical instrument around fifteen, wrote, recorded on various tape machines,  did several albums in high school. I played guitar in a bar band when I was sixteen up until graduation. I first recorded an album in a studio when I was eighteen, did all the art work, pressed it, sold it. DIY ever since.

Shey.  Oh and then, the next year …obviously…..you got in tow with John Rapp from The Chris Brake Show.

No. He’s not.   How did that happen  and what’s with this biz of you being the ‘dreaded frontman of the grunge band, Pats!e.’ You’re not dreaded are you?

Dale.  I met Chris and John while they were touring through the Northeast, been friends ever since, that was 2008 I believe. PATS!E was a band that I started in high school, it ate and spit out many members over many years since 1999, lots of recordings and shows and stories and gray hairs, stay tuned for a bio pic. Dreads?…..Ah, those were like the bell bottoms of my generation a few years back, I still pull em’ out of the closet to show to company sometimes, “If those dreads could only talk….”

Shey. Seriously…I do like to be serious..not….how many albums have you recorded since starting out?

Dale .I really cant give you a straight answer or number, Yes, there are many albums and recordings, bands and short lived collaborations over the years. Its best to leave this in the air for now.

Shey. Can it. Not you Dale…Sylv. The man don’t want to talk, the man don’t

want to talk. What’s  been your main musical influences?

Dale. A. W.H. Auden, Miles Davis, Mark Twain, Robert Johnson,The Dead Boys, Captain Beefheart, The Butthole Surfers, Franz Lizst, Tom Waits, Billie Holiday, Black Sabbath, John Prine, Jim Carrol, Nirvana, Suran Song in Stag, Bill Hicks, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Murphy, Malcolm X, Frank Zappa, Howlin’ Wolf, Blood Cow, The Melvins, Neil Young, Mack Lindsay, J.T. Habersaat, Doug Stanhope and (early) Alice Cooper (the band)……I’ll stop there for now.

Shey.  Wow-how-how.

 

I’ve been listening to  a few of your tracks–courtesy of the fab John Rapp and your equally fab self and I have to say in addition to totally agreeing about your ‘soaked in booze and cigarettes’ amazing voice, it’s hard to pin down your style, which is brilliant. You say Americana but it’s far more than that. It’s a touch of just about everything. 

For someone who has never heard your work, but say may like a certain type of music—they like Zappa, for example, or maybe they like Tom Waits, which album would you suggest they listen to? I ask cos I urge you folks reading this blog, to give Dale a try. His voice, words and music are something else. And there really is something for everybody in his work.

Dale.  Oh, For a Tom Waits fan I guess “Ghost Candy”-2008 would be a good start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi0USiP2bCA

Shey. Suitably spooky.

Dale. For a Frank Zappa fan “White Trash Jazz”-2011 or “Digital Wiccan”-2010 may suffice.

Shey. Honestly though I haven’t heard two tracks the same in your work. Is it a love of various music genres that means you like to write in different ones, or do you do it cos you like a change, or being hard to define?

Dale.  I have a very varied musical “diet” so I suppose that it shows up in my work. Sometimes I may run with a certain style for a while, perhaps for the duration of an album, other times it seems that every other song could be considered a different genre, I also have always enjoyed doing instrumentals and “sound collages” and skits. I’m sure there is a doctor out there who would say “Now, thats ADD if I’ve ever seen it” But it really is second nature to me now, to change and adapt when and where I see fit.

Shey. Oh don’t come crawling out the pumpkin now dudes cos you’re worried about Hamstah week. Dale, tell us about your new album?

Dale.  This album will be mainly acoustic guitar and vocals, A very stripped down, straight to the point type sound to properly represent the live show ; I’m sure I’ll manage to make it “strange” somehow. Hope to have it out and about by early 2015.

Shey.  Dudes……what did we just say? Where does your inspiration come from?

Dale. Ah, Thats more of a “the question” than “Will you marry me?”

Reptiles, bugs, mammals, family, friends, contemporary artists, performers and bands. Bookers,

history (in general), de-construction, disection, photography, film, sanity/insanity, the wee hours of the mornin’, and coffee of course.

Shey. Are you still between jobs, girlfriends, haircuts and houses?

Dale.  No,No, I have ONE good job after having worked two jobs for nine months, FINALLY found a flat here in Nashville after quite an exhausting hunt, Not sure that what is on top of my head constitutes as a hair cut but it seems to be getting the job done just fine thus far. That between jobs bit was the opening line for my stand up act just so ya know, not entirely rooted in truth.

Shey. What’s next for Dale J Gordon?

Dale. Explore Nashville, Press this album, Play lots of shows, hit the road, keep writing, and try to learn how to “take it easy” every once in a while.

Shey. Sounds good to me.

http://reverbnation.com/dalejgordon

 

And his name shall be called… Icepack…

Tags

'BK2SQ!', Bette Midler, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Ella Fitzgerald, John Scofield, Mike Bloomfield, Monkees, Montauk, Musicians, Reverbnation, Tali Icepack Jackson

So, what do we have today in this little calendar of advent surprises? Well, we could have the children, after their experience the other day with the box of ‘goodies’ ,  trolling the ancient yule-tide carol. But alas, this is what we are doing re that.

With this lot too.

and what we are going for is something a little  more upbeat…

okay, so that wasn’t taken yesterday….How’s this instead?

The legendary Mr Tali Icepack Jackson who hasn’t just  played with more  greats than you and I could ping a string at, he’s pretty damn great himself and it’s my absolute privilege, having met him on twitter land —lol! one day when the gale was blasting both sides of the pond — to have him here today, chewing the fat and spilling a few secrets. Out of the blue,  Tali has been amazingly kind to me. It’s what I love most about this crazy biz that you can meet the most amazing people and  better still, get to know them.   I just hope you are not going to get awkward and want to hear from these carol singers instead…

Shey.  Icepack, firstly my jaw is on the deck, please let me pick it up in order to continue. You’ve played, and, or recorded  with,  Bob Dylan, Ella Fitzgerald–who I adore–

 Bette Midler, The Monkees,

Mike Bloomfield, John Scofield, Bonnie Raitt, to name a few, a very big question here, now that I have picked my jaw back up, but how did some of that feel?

Tali Icepack Jackson -It felt like I was on a cloud working with some of the biggest names in the music industry.

Shey.  SO we are drawing up our chairs here….because I also see from this interview here, let’s just quote it re  a certain all night jam-

 BOB MARLEY, myself and a French soap opera TV star jammed all night and into the next day at a friend’s loft.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblues.gr%2Fxn%2Fdetail%2F1982923%253ABlogPost%253A183628&ei=O9mgUoPlO4nLhAfmvYGoDw&usg=AFQjCNGVFERXzhsYF-NYTpU17IoVnEXJMw&sig2=_zKuYgopTjPjD2oMLgQadA&bvm=bv.57155469,d.ZG4

can you tell us if there’s been some favs there in terms of working with all these greats?

Tali Icepack Jackson – Working with Ella Fitzgerald, who was a walk-on at a gigantic convention in Las Vegas, was a total surprise and to just have her turn around and give me that famous smile is a moment I will never forget. Also, working with famous bass legends Harvey Brooks (Bob Dylan, Electric Flag), Will Lee (David Letterman), Doug Lubahn (Doors), Rick Danko (The Band), Roger Troy (Mike Bloomfield) to name a few was truly an honor.  You can always tell when a drummer and a bass player fit together like hand and glove.

Shey. It’s ok, I won’t ask about the worst……

Tali Icepack Jackson. There is never a worst, I learn from everyone I work with good, or bad!

Shey. Yeah. A bit like life itself!  Okay, another biggie, I’m pretty sure looking at the length of time you’ve been playing, these artists were honored to play with you! But are there any felt honored to play with?

Tali Icepack Jackson. I have learned from everyone I’ve  worked with. I  don’t know if they were honoured to work with me!  But I was truly honored to work with them.

Shey. Obviously you’re a pretty damned fine musician yourself—a Cool Blues Cat, I’ve seen you described as–what started it for you?

Tali Icepack Jackson. My junior high school music teacher during our first music class, trying to determine who would play or sing what, asked us all to #1 sing & #2 blow into a horn. Neither worked for me or came naturally so he asked me to go into the closet stacked with musical instruments and I dragged out the drum set.

Shey. A defining moment. And so a legend was born.  Drums, bass, guitar and percussion. Anything you don’t play?

Tali Icepack Jackson –  It’s not like I can play guitar like Eric Clapton, or bass like one of the legends I mentioned above but drums is my primary instrument and I can play the other instruments good enough to lay down an adequate bass or rhythm guitar line.

or bang out something on a keyboard. which I did on my first CD ‘BK2SQ!’, nothing fancy but adequate. the legendary Al Kooper showed up at an early Bob Dylan session hired as a guitar player, saw Mike Bloomfield was also there and knew he would not be playing guitar so he sat down at the organ and was doodling and Bob Dylan heard him and said that’s perfect for the song ‘Like A Rolling Stone’.

Bob Dylan was never shy about using someone inexperienced on an instrument to play it. I was asked to play on his Rolling Thunder Tour, missed the phone call to record Hurricane Carter so he used the keyboard player on drums and if you listen, well listen to the drums. I would love the opportunity to work with Bob Dylan again.

Shey. Can you tell us about your own musical influences?

Talu Icepack Jackson.  Gene Krupa and any 1930s or 1940s drummer, Sly and the Family Stone, The Chambers Brothers, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, James Brown, 

Lovin’ Spoonful, The Beatles and all of the British invasion bands, any blues guitar & keyboard player from the 1920s thru the 1950s i.e. Guitar Slim, Charles Brown, Roosevelt Sykes, Slim Harpo, Lil Brother Montgomery, Buddy Guy, T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Reed, Sunnyland Slim, I could go on for days.  I’ll listen to everything and make a mental note when I hear something that I like.

 Speaking of influences, in the summertime my brother and I would leave our windows open so we could hear the music from this club called the ‘Cottage Inn’ which had some awesome music including pre Lovin’ Spoonful members and other people who would go on to be legends in the music biz.

Check the pic on this website with pre Lovin’ Spoonful members at the club about 50 yards down the road!

http://steveboone.net/

Shey. Nowadays you live in New York….Where it’s kind of freezing… A bit like sunny Scotland….

Tali Icepack Jackson.  I was born in New  York city and grew up on Long Island and still live at the end in Montauk.

When I was growing up  I was not a cold weather person and still remember my mother waking us up in the winter for school and looking out the window and seeing snow. I would just sit there with a blanket over my head, watching the 3 Stooges and cartoons and listening to the radio station that influenced me the most as a teenager. They just celebrated their 50th anniversary. I can’t get enough of the West Coast weather!

Shey.  And you make a lot of sweet music just the same!

Tali Icepack Jackson.  Well thank you, I try my best and learned from doing a lot of commercials to hold myself accountable for what I play before the public hears it!! It also has to with the mix and the people you work with to hold themselves accountable instead of letting the person mixing the music to find your mistakes while he mixing. It’s better to stop the song while recording or fixing it in the studio before it goes to the person mixing the song.

Shey. You make appearances too…

Tali Icepack Jackson.  Appearances will be more often after the 2nd CD is completed. I must take the time to thank all of the people who  have supported me and have helped promote the first CD even though they did not participate in the making of it.  That is truly an honor and I don’t plan to let them down with the 2nd  CD.

Shey. Tali, I doubt that very much. But I know you are keen to get that CD out there.  Where do you mainly find your material?

Tali Icepack Jackson.  I am not a true songwriter. I dream up some songs or someone will say something that sparks an idea and i have friends who are awesome songwriters.

Shey.  So what’s next for Tali Icepack Jackson?

Tali Icepack Jackson. The CD tentatively titled BK2BIZ, which is mapped out and recording is in progress. I will be recording on the East and West coasts. Most of the legends will be returning plus even more unbelievable legendary musicians who you hear on the radio everyday, like the legends on the first CD.

Shey. Well having that heard that because you were kind enough to send me a copy I am tapping my fingers here…just waiting.   I am also dying to ask–especially as we’re being hammered by icy blasts here in Scotland–how did you come up with the name  ‘Icepack.’

Tali Icepack Jackson. I  was working at a local K-Mart style store and I was the Stock Room Manager and some of the managers were robbing the place blind.

Shey. Not you I hope Tali!

Tali Icepack Jackson. Uhh!  To  keep me occupied the managers had me work on this project  while they carried everything out the back door. The project included heavy lifting which sprained both of my shoulders. 

Shey. Right… As you do.

Tali Icepack Jackson. At the time I was playing with a blues band called the MOJOS and the lady cook would come out and put ICEPACKS on my shoulders as I was playing. One night the guitar player turned around and said your nickname is ICEPACK. that was around 1993. I think  the name has stuck!

Shey. It only remains for me to thank you for taking the time to come here today. WELL, it doesn’t exactly. I have to say I have been listening to ‘BK2SQ!’ and I am going to be reviewing it but you might as well know, I love it.  Especially the mixture of rock, jazz and blues.  No wonder on the Reverbnation Charts it is listed

blues rank USA                      #3

blues rank  GLOBAL               #4
blues rank Across All Genres  #294 out of over 3
million artists.

http://www.reverbnation.com/controller/store/view_item_album/artist_667299?item_id=517977&eid=A667299___lnk1012&utm_content=1012&utm_medium=email&utm_source=fr_layout_13

Please catch up with Icepack here. http://www.rvrb.me/fan_reach/pt?eid=A667299___lnk1009&url=https://www.youtube.com/user/ICEPACKJACKSON/featured?view_as%3Dpublic

https://twitter.com/icepack9999

https://twitter.com/icepackrecords

‎https://www.facebook.com/icepack9999

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