Rock and Roll Love Story : A Novel

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Higher Power
2008-01-30 02:34:00
I'm not usually in the habit of praising George Bush but it took a lot of guts for him to stand with those alcoholics today and admit that he was once one of them. The President obviously recovered and became the most powerful himan being on Earth.In my book, Ronnie James DeRenzo faces an agonizing uphill battle to regain his mental health. Watching Congressman Patrick Kennedy endorse Obama the other day, I had to remind myself that a few years ago, Kennedy was very sick with bipolar disorder.The best of us suffer from mental illness. The President should be congratulated for his sobriety and applauded for standing up for the addicted and hopeless.There is a way out!
More About: Power , Higher , Higher Power

The Bridge
2008-01-29 01:54:00
You think Barak let's Michelle go out driving with Teddy?
More About: Bridge , The Bridge

Dont get me wrong
2008-01-27 22:49:00
When I hear the inspiring rhetotic of Barak Obama, I too am lifted up. In so many ways he reminds of Jack and Bobby Kennedy.But let's face facts here. He's a liberal, very inexperienced black man in a country where 70% of the population is white and considerably more conservative. 40 years after Martin Luther King's death, we've come a long way but not far enough. We may be ready for a black president, but it would have to be someone greatly experienced, more moderate and above the fray, like Colin Powell.I've also worked in the ghetto for five years, and I have seen the miserable failure of the welfare states and bankrupt morality that is destroying African Americans. The problem afflicting black America today is not racism by whites or institutional injustice, its the self-inflicted wound of the shattered black family, entitlement thinking, and a lack of the desire to work hard, sacrifice and pull oneself up by their own efforts. This all comes from the failed policies of the...
More About: Wrong

Lemmings
2008-01-27 21:40:00
Obama's big win is still reverberating around the country. But there is a high degree of horseshit going on here, and I beg to differ :Race doesn't matter? What are smoking? 80% of the blacks vote for Obama, and 75% of the whites do not. Bill Clinton, the "first black president" is sounding like George Wallace. How can you sit there with a straight face and say that race doesn't matter?What is it about Democrats that every four years when another Republican bozo seems ripe for the taking, they horde themselves in unthinking packs and fling themselves to death over the rocks?I've been watching as the looney tunes far left has been in the process of destroying the party of the Workers now since 1968. I thought eight years of winning with Bill Clinton taught them something. I thought that eight years of losing and suffering under George Bush rammed that lesson home.I resigned from this party a long time ago. My vote is up for grabs.Caroline and Teddy are coming out for Obama. And i...

Warmer weather
2008-01-27 21:00:00
Readers who have been following this blog for a while know that I finally ripped myself out of the inner city to a beautiful Jersey Skylands location closer to my home. It was a promotion in every way and it also meant a whole lot more work and responsibility.As I enter my fifth month there, I have a better grip on the work. Unfortunately its the deepest, darkest part of winter, and my health, which has not been great over the past 10 years, started acting up again. As I told you elsewhere in this blog, I found a new specialist doctor to deal with the diabetes and there has been an improvement. But I've only seen this doctor twice, and we're not done weaning me off insulin to new drugs more suitable to the type two diabetes I have.Diet and exercise would help a great deal, and while the new drugs are supposed to help me with the diet, I am still too old, out of shape and plain old bushed at the end of the day to make exercising an easy option.If I want to live, and believe me I ha...
More About: Weather

Minimalism
2008-01-27 19:59:00
The one room cabin in upstate New York didn't last through the bitter cold and dark of January. Now it's a studio apartment in LA or Miami.Checklist :King sized bed with brass frame4 pillows, sheets and quiltdesk with executive chairlaptop computer with headphones, DVD-RW, broadband Internet, speakers with subwoofer and portable hard-drive for MP3 versions of my BEST OF CD's to 60's,70's and 80's bands.floor lampnightable with clock radio, telephone with answering machine, lamp2 comfy easy chairskitchen table with 2 windsor chairsrefridgerator for the beer and winemicrowavecast iron fry pan for bacon, hamburgers, eggs and steak (we're going to be on the highprotein diet in this apartment)coffee maker & Krups grinderdresser for golf shirts, underwear & socks and her stuffcloset for dockers, blue jeans and LL Bean dress shirts & woman's attireI think that's about it, don't you?

Confessions of an anti-war voter
2008-01-27 03:35:00
Well they had their say and 80% of the black people in Carolina didnt like the way the Clinton's tried to say that they had some sort of divine right to the black vote, so Obama won it big.There is just this small problem.We now have a candidate that 75% of the white liberal Democratic party won't vote for, and 85% of the rest of this far more conservative country is white.After four years of George Bush, the country was ready for a Democratic landslide, alright, but most of us had something else in mind. I've seen it happen year after year since 1968, and I grew tired of it back in the Nineties when I changed my registration to Independent...In 1968, the country was in a fervent anti-war mood, and it might have been much different had Bobby Kennedy lived. But Hubert Humphrey was so wounded by the Chicago convention and the Yippies that he couldn't beat Richard Nixon, a pro-war candidate. A few years later, George McGovern was slaughtered. You know the rest.I do think that Hilla...
More About: Confessions , Anti-War , Anti , Fess

Where we are with the writing
2008-01-26 18:33:00
In the latest drafts to Rock and Roll Love Story, some flavors of bands that were around in 1978 and were featured in the real Speed Limit have been grafted onto to the story for authenticity. A more graphic description of the beauty of the Fabulous Shelly was inserted into the first scene in the State College cafeteria, Abby's Warner's endearing addiction to cookies was littered throughout the hard times she faced, and finally Rocket's turn to the spiritual side to conquer his demons -- while not really a religious Holy Roller kind of God -- makes the final copy.As soon as I am done with these changes, the final copy will be printed out and I will read it. The Fabulous Shelly/Abby Warner duality in my life has promised to read it if I behave myself and take of my health.In that respect, I have a new doctor and a new treatment regime, and I am just beginning to see the light of day in the demanding new job in the mountains of my Skylands home. But it's mid-winter and its still d...
More About: Writing

Dont be so quick to condemn
2008-01-24 19:17:00
When you're suffering anxiety, insomnia and depression you're often at wits end, and the various prescription drugs you're on sometimes cause more side effects and grogginess than anything else. You can suffer at the hands of a psychiatrist for years before you ever find a combination that works for you.So please try to understand the difficulties that people like Health Ledger and Britney Spears have gone through. It can be very tempting to mix tranquilizers and alcohol or illegal drugs.Most of us have suffered thru anxiety, depression and insomnia at some period of our lives. Imagine if that suffering were to last weeks and months. Imagine it is 24/7.My condolences to Michelle Wiliiams and her daughter, and to the entire Ledger family.
More About: Quick , Condemn

Leave Britney Alone
2008-01-19 04:01:00
The paparazzi are not going to be satisfied till they kill Britney Spears.
More About: Leave , Leave Britney Alone

A decision
2008-01-13 00:34:00
Regarding the post below, and others in the past about the current state of politics, happenings with other musicians and authors and dissertation of my world view, I have decided that anything more that I can say in that regard would only be exploitative of other people. I am not a politician, and as much as stray into the gray of social critic, it is only germane to the plot of Rock and Roll Love Story, Book One : The River. This is my deal here, my life in the late 1970's and early 80's. It is a snap shot of what was and what could have been. I have said that this novel was written in a near hypnotic state over the course of the first few months. It was and is a tale from a parallel universe of what might have happened to me if a few things went differently. I am seeing from 30 years later, but I can't bring it up to the present day in a blog or an interview or a press release. That is to be attempted in a second book, Book Two : The Ocean which is partially written and a thir...
More About: Decision

Stalled
2008-01-11 03:22:00
If you've been around this blog in the past few months you know that there have been some posts but I took all those down.I really don't have the time to keep up with a blog right now and I don't want to tell you too much about this book. This is becoming a bit of a joke, right? The blog has been up since 2005 and the book is no closer to publication.For that reason, I am suspending operations for a time. I will be back whenever. Whatever is here will have to suffice.

I love you Britney
2008-01-06 01:27:00
Britney Spears in happier days
More About: Love , Britney , I Love You

Faith
2008-01-05 20:20:00
I stand by Britney Spears in her struggle to regain her mental health. What she is going through is not easy but there is a great deal of reason to hope. People recover from mental illness and go on to live successful lives. Britney has all the money in the world she needs to get the best treatment available. Rock and Roll Love Story is one story about a similar situation with an emerging rock star. I wont go into the personal reasons as to why I wrote it. But trust me, I know that Britney can beat this thing.
More About: Faith

I still love you, Tara
2008-01-01 22:59:00
Star and People have a picture of Tara Reid in a bikini on the front cover that is said to be very unflattering. The magazines described her as anorexic. I thought Tara looked a bit thin and tired but I thought she was still hot looking. If she got a little rest and a few good meals in her, she'd be right in form.She's a bit too old to play the 19 year old Shelly but if we ever picked up the story in the later years, as I imagined in the second book, Tara would be one of my choices.Don't worry Tara. These people are jealous and they're vultures. They wish they could be on the front cover of the tabloids, anyway, anyhow.
More About: Love

Hannah Montana
2007-12-30 17:14:00
I'm not so old and crusty and so punk rock and alternative and nasty and negative that I can't watch a cute kid like Miley Cyrus do her Hannah Mont ana thing and smile a big smile. In point of fact, I am a 70's guy, not a 60's Baby Boomer. I am really part of the Squeezed Generation and so is my rock star, Johnny Rocket. When the older kids were dancing naked at Woodstock and taking drugs at Haight Asbury with the Grateful Dead, we were in our feet pajamas watching The Partridge Family at home with our moms and dads. I bought my little girl a CD-MP3-AM-FM radio this Christmas, with the Best of The Partridge Family and Hannah Montana 's new album. She's been YouTubing and Googling ABBA, Cindy Lauper, Michael Jackson's Thriller and the Bangles all Christmas. And yes, the other day she asked me for my Green Day album. The Partridge Family, the Monkees and Donnie & Marie Osmond were really big where I lived. And looking back, the studio musicians and actors who made the music d...

Rube
2007-12-27 03:52:00
"Name is Huckabee and you should vote for me because I killed this here bird with my big gun.The gun is not the only thing that is big on me, if you ladies know what I mean."Hey you're out there in the heartland! Is this stuff really flying out there? All the McCain/Guiliani types in New Jersey are cringing in abject embarassment. Everybody is saying that the only question now is, how much does Hillary win by?

Christlike?
2007-12-27 01:44:00
You're going to be seen as lean and mean.You're posing with guns and tanks and fighter jets, blowing apart small animals and promising to invade sovereign nations and slaughter people without thinking about it. You're going to be tough as nails and eliminate all social programs for the poor and weak and helpless. You're going to make them work and sweat for sub-human wages. You're going to be absolutely intractable and nasty when it comes to the divisive social issues that divide us. You're never going to compromise or listen to anyone who doesn't agree with you. You're never going to raise taxes for any reason. You're going to send people to gas chambers, and have zero tolerance when anybody does drugs, and send people away for life. You are going to let Big Business run completely amok without any regulations.You will appoint people who are "mean as junk yard dogs."You're an American conservative but please don't tell me that you are a Christian, and what you are doing ...

Change
2007-12-26 16:54:00
Rocket Ron stood at the Stairway to Heaven of the State College cafeteria and watched a sea of change go before him in 1978.This is another time like that, but in another direction.I am watching the 2008 presidential election and I keep hearing about the religious right and the evangelical Christians and conservatives, and i have to question very seriously if the old farts in the old media know what is happening in this country right now.We are right in the middle of one of the most radical revolutions in US History : The Information Age...Anyone under 40 these days is a college bound, cyber savvy Global Teen or GenXer with a tatoo, a body piercing and a muliculturally diverse set of sushi eating, transgendered friends.From 40-62, its the mess called the Baby Boomers. Jane Fonda is on Medicare. The 60 year old Wall Street shark in the Cadillac has a Dead Head Sticker in his window. Morgan Fairchild and Diane Keaton are in their Sixties and theyre still doing nude scenes. Everyone sm...
More About: Change

Go Benedict
2007-12-25 15:50:00
The Pope's Christmas message for world peace, justice, unity and environmental stewardship would be a good place to start. I don't agree with everything that the Church does or says of course, but it is overwhelming a force for good.
More About: Benedict

Middle East
2007-12-24 05:21:00
I have the sense that Israel is going to overwhelm Hamas and Hezbollah with its superior military and economic power, the same way that the United States is going to overwhelm Al Qaeda and the radical Islamacists. There will be peace in the Middle East , but the radical forces just won't be able to continue for very much longer. The West is too big, too rich, too powerful and too technologically and too culturally superior. It's the classic clash of cultures, and the more modern, flexible and dynamic one is bound to succeed. Eventually the Palestinians will look at the other side and realize that any deal from Israel is better than the one they can get by force. Eventually the Palestinians will want to make money too.It's not as easy as all that however. A lot of us want to make money but we dont have any skills or goods and services to offer to the world economy. We exist in quiet desperation, hoping that the world will someday change and we will be valued again. The Palestinians...

True Yankee fans
2007-12-24 03:10:00
Johnny Rocket is a die hard Yankees fan and so am I.I'll be 50 years old next May and I have been rooting for the Yankees since I was 3 years old in 1961 when I watched Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris chase Babe Ruth. I am a true, died in the wool Yankee game, not a front runner. I was there in the late 60's and early 70's when the Mets owned this town, and the Yankees were absolutely miserable. I was there was Horace Clarke was the best hitter on the team, and Celerino Sanchez was the great Latino hope at third base.My grandfather rooted for Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, my father rooted for Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, and I have rooted for Reggie Jackson and Derek Jeter. God willing, my daughter plays softball next spring and I will pass this thing down to her, since my son doesn't seem interested in organized sports.True Yankee fans do not require a championship season every year. Those people are the front runners and they are totally spoiled. True Yankee fans wouldn't trade ...
More About: Fans

Confessions of a Giant fan
2007-12-24 03:03:00
The New England Patriots are the team for the New American Superpower.We may not always be right, we may be dead wrong and arrogant sometimes, we may march off straight into the face of disaster. But we're so big and rich and powerful and so great that no matter what we do, we just wear down the other side with our humongous spending and might and stamina and raw economy and miltary power. No other other countries comes close, and even a whole bunch of big strong, rich and powerful countries such as NATO or The European Union has to play second fiddle. Puny Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein didn't stand a chance. We eat these people for mid morning snacks. We just overwhelm the whole world. We are bigger than the Roman Empire.And so also are the Patriots. Tom Brady. Is there any other quarterback in the league, Brett Favre included, that you would rather have at your helm? Doesn't he rank right up there in sheer winning force with Bart Starr, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Bob Griese,...
More About: Confessions , Giant , Fess

My endorsements for 2008
2007-12-24 02:20:00
Oh well, I said I wouldn't do this. But after eight years of abject disaster, the 2008 election is much too important to stay quiet.Republicans -- This one is a no brainer. Of all the Republican candidates only one man stands head and shoulders above the rest and that is John McCain. A veteran Vietnam veteran, McCain is fiscally conservative, socially neutral and strong on defense and foreign policy. One of the most honest and intellectually effect Senators, he doesn't tell you what you want to hear about taxes, Iraq, Social Security, health care or immigration. He tells you the God's honest truth about what America will really have to do, realistically, in the next decade. There is no other Republican candidate who comes close.Democrats - This is a much tougher call. Hillary has the brains, experience and moderate positions on the important isssues to be an effective President. Moreover she has Bill Clinton at her side, despite his scandals one of the more effective Presidents o...

Santa's Elves
2007-12-23 20:16:00
Christina Aguilera and Jamie Lynn Spears are pregnant this Christmas. While it's a bit of a surprise for Jamie, a baby is always a happy occassion in this rock and roll archive.There is a teen aged pregnancy and birth in Rock and Roll Love Story, an affirmation of life.People will wonder when they read the chapter whether Rocket is Pro-Life or Pro-Choice. In fact, while he is political rock and roll animal, he is neither Pro-Life or Pro-Choice. He's right deadset in between, which is exactly where I am, and where I believe most of the country is at the moment.I want to see all babies concieved in this land get a chance at life, at good prenatal care, and a loving family with two supportive parents and a cast of supporting relatives, aunts, uncles and grandparents. I'd like to see unplanned and teenaged pregnancies greatly reduced and if at all possible eliminated.And I'm not a prude or a family values hypocrite or an abstinence only freak. I believe in a healthy, normal sex life...

25 years later
2007-12-23 16:15:00
Believe it or not, 2007 marks the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's landmark Thriller album, the video of which is now available on YouTube.What happened to Michael after that was incredibly sad and tragic, but looking at that video, I can't help but recall how almost everyone I knew had a copy of Thriller. He was a major, major talent, as big in his day as the Beatles in theirs.What kind of pain he must've gone through to end up like this, I really don't know. He had his day in court and was found innocent. I believe in the legal system, so I will let it ride at that.Michael, if you're out there reading this, I'm the same age as you are and I was a fan. I can't stand what you have done to yourself but brother, I feel your pain. Lots of us grow up lonely and isolated. Rock and Roll Love Story is all about enduring and over coming pain and mental anguish.All I can say is don't retreat too far into your fantasy world.
More About: Years

Hypocrisy
2007-12-23 15:29:00
Bush, Reagan, Cheney and their kids : Ever notice that it's always somebody else's kids and somebody else's values they're talking about? When it comes to taking care of their own kids and proving the proper values, they're miserable failures.
More About: Hypocrisy

Yule
2007-12-22 00:56:00
December 22nd is the shortest day of the year, the beginning of winter. Despite global warming, we have our first white Christmas in a long time. I hope that you are safe, warm and well fed and that you can rest this Christmas weekend.
More About: Yule

Merry Christmas!
2007-12-20 03:52:00
No, this is not a picture of me although if my beard was a little whiter and my waistline was a touch rounder, it would be a pretty good representation of what RR Silone would look like in elder years. I'm only 50, I'm not nearly as old as Santa nor do I have this money. I'm going to refrain from dabbling on this blog for the next few years, and I will let this picture postcard do the speaking for me. I am a very Christmas sy sort of guy. Last week, I downloaded Merry Xmas Everbody by Slade. I think that just about says it all...
More About: Merry Christmas

I'm still here
2007-12-19 16:18:00
Working hard and fighting Blue Cross Blue Shield. What else is new? After Christmas, I am buying myself a Gibson Les Paul Studio guitar and a good amp. This will replace the Black Beauty from the band that I sold 20 years ago. I have another good electric, a Japanese knockoff of a Fender Stratocaster. Down the line I want to get a real Strat.I also need to get my father's Gibson acoustic fixed.I am not selling guitars anymore. I am only handing them down to the young people in my family.