I been hangin’ ’round gas stations

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I been hangin’ ’round gas stations

26 Mar

I been hangin’ around libraries
I been learnin’ ’bout books
I been talkin’ to playwriters
I been workin’ on words, phrases

Call this my very musically patriotic post. But I was struck while suddenly getting misty eyed over memories of the past. One song has always been there for me, not one that truly inspired any of my writing, but one that’s always been there. The Guess Who’s Running Back To Saskatoon. It always seems that at some point in my life, I’m doing just that, running back to Saskatoon.

It’s not a bad thing, per say. I love the city, I’ve lived in it at various points in my life. I always come back to it. Saskatoon is familiar ground for me, just as Outlook is a comforting home. It wasn’t until today that some of the lyrics of Running Back To Saskatoon really hit home. Oh, I know that Burton Cummings is an excellent song writer, crafting music that sounds fun, but has a message at the same time. American Woman, for example, was ironic. It became a smash hit in the States in the early 70’s, but the focus of the song was more like a slap in the face of what the American government was doing at the time.

Those lyrics that I highlighted in Running Back To Saskatoon hit home, because I’ve really been talking to people a lot lately about books. Over the past two and a half years, I have been hangin’ out in “libraries”. Those virtual libraries of web lit authors and even going to places to learn how to publish my own material (thus, it fits with “been learnin’ ’bout books”).

I have been talking to playwriters, individuals such as authors James Melzer, Jenny Hudock, Edward Talbot. Poets like Ray Onativia. And script writers like David N. Wilson. I’ve learned from them the mistakes and triumphs that they have made, and taken their examples as I plug away at this thing called writing.

And I’ve been workin’ on words and phrases. Over 98,000 words to be exact. Black Mask & Pale Rider has been an accomplishment that has taken almost two years. And it’s so close to completion it’s not even funny. Things are coming, that’s for sure.

But for this weekend, I’m runnin’ back to Saskatoon, hookin’ up with my buddy Pearce, and we’re takin’ in a Burlesque show. Now, sing it with me…