Coming soonish to a bookstore near you

Well, okay, not soonish. Maybe digitally in a few months, but in print... next year at the earliest.

Oh, perhaps you are interested in what the heck I'm talking about?

Evolution Device. A book I wrote. Not my first book published but my first novel. The title is subject to change, as these things are until it's too late to change them. The reason I'm posting about it here is because it this book was a long time coming. It was conceived oh, just about when I first started listening to The Yardbirds, in a way. Just about when the music of Jimmy Page first entered into my consciousness. 

It just fermented in the deep dark of the back of my brain, receiving jolts every so often as I listened to that music. It called to me, the magic I felt in that guitar, magic I've written about at length here. Eventually I had to respond.

I started Evolution Device in 2009. It's only now getting ready to be born. Maybe it'll be a Frankenstein's monster, but maybe it'll have absorbed enough of its Master to bring its own magic to the world.

It's not about Jimmy Page, but in a sense his music is my muse. 

Evolution Device 

♪
Rock guitarist Eddie Edmunds has inadvertently manifested his spiritual Muse, Lilith, into physical reality. Lilith must now get Eddie to learn to control his power before he -- and she -- are destroyed by the wild magic of his music. Or before the drugs he uses to dull the power take him out. But a Muse can only do so much and Eddie is headed down a path of no return even as his band, Evolution Device, is dragging him to greater fame and fortune.

If you're interested in following the adventures of Evolution Device's... um.. evolution, you can sign up for my email newsletter soon as I set up an account. It's all up in the air right now, so stay tuned!

UPDATE December 2017
Evolution Device is being whipped into shape with the help of a professional editor.  The revisions, rewrites, and copy editing is almost done.  Then the hunt for an agent and publisher begins.  Stay tuned!

Fake news is no news: Led Zeppelin reunion

I have a lot of trouble with fake news. "Fake" is too nice a word. Fiction is what it is, but when the "news" is presented as fact then what we have is lies.

Lies.

But what's more troubling to me is how so many people have lost their marbles -- excuse me, I mean their critical reasoning ability -- and gulp up fake news as truth. And then, like a flu, they spread it.

Let's talk about a Led Zeppelin "reunion"

First, what is a reunion? It's a regathering of people who have gathered before. So... a true Led Zeppelin reunion would require that John Bonham be sitting at the drum kit. Sorry, I'm not one of those folks who accepts Bonzo's son as a real member of the band. Yes, Jason's a great drummer... but he's not his father. He hasn't worked with the other three gentlemen to create new music. The music that he drums to is his father's music. Jason is a cover drummer. I love the man, but there it is.

Let's talk about "facts"

No, let's not. There are no cold facts. Videos that supposedly prove Jimmy Page intends to do Desert Trip 2017 are from years ago, before there even was a Desert Trip. Use your brains, people. No one who counts has made a definitive statement about a reunion in Nevada, in 2017, or anyplace/anytime.

Now let's talk about Desert Trip 2017 itself

A Led Zeppelin reunion would trash Desert Trip. How many million people tried for tickets for the last time Led Zeppelin got together? Over 20 million. There would be that many and more for another try to see the gentlemen on stage. So let's think about what happened to the Ahmet Ertegon Tribute (the actual name for the 2007 event at O2). Quickly now, who can tell us what other headliner bands were there - raise your hands. Um... I'm not seeing hands. Why? Because the Tribute is usually called the Led Zeppelin Reunion for a reason. When the gentlemen in question get together, that's all there is in the world. Back in 2007 Pete Townshend famously refused to show up, saying that with Led Zeppelin there, they didn't need him. What headliner band would want to be reduced to a supporting act that nobody came to listen to?

Some kind of festival that would be.

This is all stupid talk anyway. It's not like the the rumors that Led Zeppelin are reuniting to perform at Desert Trip 2017 could possibly be anything but fake news. These news articles that announce "insider sources" are reporting that Robert Plant has agreed to a reunion in 2017 because of the band's upcoming 50th anniversary.

Um. Do the math, people. Led Zeppelin was formed and first performed in 1968. So Desert Trip 2017 would be... the 49th anniversary.

But more logic

So let's suppose that Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones have agreed to a reunion and Jason Bonham has accepted an invitation to join them. And let's suppose that they decide to do this in 2017 instead of 2018. We know very well that the boys are perfectly capable of being sneaky about such decisions, and are perfectly capable of meeting for practice sessions without the slightest hint of a rumor getting out.

We know this. But suddenly these rumors. And not one bit of confirmation from the gentlemen in question. So what does this tell us?

It tells us that Desert Trip probably put an absolutely baseless rumor out there to begin with, because what this has done is created incredible publicity for them. But... do we see any announcement of dates in 2017? No. Do we see any confirmation of a lineup for 2017? No.

Uh huh. Sure Led Zeppelin's going to show up. Because if it's on the internet it must be true. And hey -- I've got a confounded bridge to sell you.