Welcome to my self-indulgent location for the stories (good and bad) that I can't prevent myself from writing. All comments and criticisms welcome. I post on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
To listen to samples of the soundtrack, visit iTunes.
If you are
not familiar with StringBridge,
check out the book trailer:
Rave Reviews for String Bridge:
“Jessica Bell’s STRINGBRIDGE strummed the fret of my veins, thrummed my blood into a mad rush, played me taut until the final page, yet with echoes still reverberating. A rhythmic debut with metrical tones of heavied dark, fleeting prisms of light, and finally, a burst of joy—just as with any good song, my hopeful heartbeat kept tempo with Bell’s narrative.” ~ Kathryn Magendie, author of Sweetie and Publishing Editor of Rose & Thorn Journal
“Poet and musician Jessica Bell's debut novel StringBridgeis a rich exploration of desire, guilt, and the difficult balancing act of the modern woman. The writing is lyrical throughout, seamlessly integrating setting, character and plot in a musical structure that allows the reader to identify with Melody's growing insecurity as her world begins to unravel …String Bridge is a powerful debut from a promising writer, full of music, metaphor, and just a hint of magic.” ~ Magdalena Ball, author of Repulsion Thrust and Sleep Before Evening
“Jessica Bell is a brilliant writer of great skill and depth. She doesn't pull back from the difficult scenes, from conflict, pain, intensity. She puts it all out there, no holds barred, no holding back. She knows how to craft a scene, how to develop character, how to create suspense. This is an absolutely brilliant debut novel. I look forward to reading her next novel, and next and next.” ~ Karen Jones Gowen, author of Farm Girl, Uncut Diamonds and House of Diamonds
Thanks to arlee bird for hosting this BlogHop. I've had a lot of fun thinking about this over the past week. In fact, as soon as I signed up, I set my iPod to random with all 4000+ songs and let it go. Most things didn't fit, but a couple did, and the whole process encouraged my memory to work harder. Luckily I have a good 20 minute walk to school everyday.
Be sure to visit the other soundtracks and their awesomeness --->
So, without further ado...
A Soundtrack to a Random Life
random [randəm]: n. made, done, happening, or chosen without conscious decision.
Maybe a better title would be "eclectic", but as I look over the list, "eclectic" doesn't really work. The genres are limited, most of the songs fall within a relatively short time. But this is the sense I want to give to my word "random", not random in the sense of purely arbitrary. Simply put, these songs seem to represent me by gut instinct, and not by conscious decision. E.g., a large collection of people coming together to list soundtracks to their lives, people who are barely related in this world, and not perhaps an assortment of haphazard objects thrown in a jar with a firefly for light.
Besides, I love the word. It doesn't roll off the tongue per se, but it hangs in the back of your throat like a good Anglo-Saxon word should. Just lovely.
Note: I tried to get a playlist to embed here. Unfortunately, either (a) I would have had to link a ridiculous number of additional songs outside the playlist, (b) I just couldn't get the program/widget to work, or (c) the widget came through with 13 of my songs, but the songs would never load. So, instead, here's a link to a playlist where you can listen to most of the songs. Others are linked directly below.
Part I: Random Wanderings
"Pretty Bird", Jenny Lewis (pictured right). A life wandering with questionable success, but, oh, what beautiful things you find.
"The Wanderer", Dion. Yeah, I'm not a player, but he's got Rosie on his chest, so...
"Walk This World", Heather Nova. In high school, I was enamored with the idea of this song.
"Moab", Conor Oberst. Inspired from my iPod shuffle, when this came on I kept hitting repeat. Something about it spoke to me. "There's nothing that the road cannot heal."
"Circles", Soul Coughing. In addition to seeing them in concert in 2000 in Chicago (a story involving an ambulance, one-way streets, and bad parallel parking), this song perhaps fits more in this category for me because of its lyrics and how I would listen to it every time I would drive home from college.
Part II: Random Memories
"Rose Marie", Slim Whitman. My dad used to sing this to me when I was little. This, of course, is ignoring the fact that I normally responded, "Stooooop! You're embarrassing me!" But now it makes me smile.
"Walk Like an Egyptian", the Bangles. One year in summer camp our group performed this song in a region lip-sync contest.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit", Nirvana. Ah, Kurt... I was such a grungy teenager. In fact, my senior pictures portray me in a green and blue flannel shirt, a pair of embarrassingly ripped jeans, sitting on my 1967 Dodge Dart (named Daisy).
"6'1"," Liz Phair. College manifesto I.
"32 Flavors", Ani DiFranco. College manifesto II, plus self-esteem builder.
"Blue", Eiffel 65. The dance-scene über-hit the year I studied in Russia. If it didn't have that association, I would probably strongly dislike it.
"Аривидерчи(Arrivederci)", Zemfira (pictured left). A popular Siberian pop star, this was the first hit off her debut album. I got to see her in concert in Krasnodar, Russia in 1999. Did you know that you can light and smoke half a cigarette while playing a thirty-second guitar solo? Now that's talent.
"Tu Veneno (Your Venom)", Natalia Oreiro. My friends came back from studying in Buenos Aires raving about this woman and saying how, not only did she look like me (or I like her... whatever), but her attitude and demeanor reminded them of me. Not sure how I feel about that, but it's a catchy song :)
"Prawy do Lewego", Kayah and Bregović. Traditional Serbian music, modernized, and the lyrics translated into Polish. What could possible be better? :)
Part III: Current Randomness
"Pump It", Black Eyed Peas. When I'm a little sluggish in the mornings, this is the song I play while walking/biking to class to increase the energy.
"Measuring Cups", Andrew Bird (pictured right). Andrew Bird is probably one of the most talented musicians out there right now. This just happens to be one of my favorite songs.
"Handle With Care", Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins (originally recorded by the Traveling Wilburys, 1988). I think this song is apt for many of us, not just me.
"Starlight", Muse. If any song could feel like one of my characters speaking directly to me, this would be it.
"Bad Romance", Lady Gaga. So many things! First, even if it's not the point, they "could write a bad romance". Second, there are so many echoes in this video of "Thriller" (without mentioning the obvious influence of Madonna). And, of course, Lady Gaga is oddly fascinating. I'm sorry, but it's true. I can only watch the video in awe.
(Sorry for the horrible embedding. It was necessary to get the official version—a.k.a. the one with decent resolution not made by holding a cell phone in front of the TV.)
