A musician friends back in the early 70s used that line to introduce the song “Six Days on the Road,” a seminal truck-driving tune made famous by Dave Dudly. It’s a terrific piece of country-rock, and I’ll be playing it this Saturday (May 19) at Riley’s Pour House – one of western Pennsylvania’s top venue’s for Irish and American music.

Of course, as good as that opening line is, I must admit that I can’t think of one other song about Pittsburgh that involves leaving it. But songs about leaving Ireland? Man, there’s a ton of those.

Let’s consider a few that I’ll be playing this Saturday. [Read more at 21st-Century Scop.]

A musician friends back in the early 70s used that line to introduce the song “Six Days on the Road,” a seminal truck-driving tune made famous by Dave Dudly. It’s a terrific piece of country-rock, and I’ll be playing it this Saturday (May 19) at Riley’s Pour House – one of western Pennsylvania’s top venue’s for Irish and American music.

Of course, as good as that opening line is, I must admit that I can’t think of one other song about Pittsburgh that involves leaving it. But songs about leaving Ireland? Man, there’s a ton of those.

Let’s consider a few that I’ll be playing this Saturday.

Topping my list is the traditional song “Leaving Liverpool” (a.k.a. “The Leaving of Liverpool” and “Fair Thee Well My Own True Love”). In spite of its title (Liverpool is in England, not Ireland) the lyrics tell of a sea voyage that most likely begins in the port of Dublin, then continues on to Liverpool and outward from there. The song’s narrator, bidding farewell to his lover and home, certainly has a long trip ahead of him, as he is “bound for California” on a ship that is either “a floating hell” or “a floating grave” (depending on the version).

“Leaving Liverpool” is often sung as a ballad, but I prefer the up-tempo version that I recorded with the Laughrey Connolly Band. That’s the version I’ll be playing this Saturday. [Click on the player below to hear “Leaving Liverpool.”]

Another leaving-Ireland favorite is “The Rambling Irishman,” a traditional tune made popular by Andy M. Stewart. “Rambling Irishman” begins much like “Leaving Liverpool,” with the narrator lamenting the leaving of “this Irish nation” and all that he loves, including his beloved Nancy. Indeed, he misses Nancy so much that he dreams of her on the ship to America. But then, when he arrives in Philadelphia, everything changes. Feeling “both stout and healthy,” be bounds into port delighted at the prospects that America has to offer – not the least of which are the women, with their “blue petticoats and white blouses.”

“The Rambling Irishman” is an up-tempo song, with an earworm refrain that is hard to shake once you hear it. The Laughrey Connolly Band recorded it for It’s All in the Song, a special Andy M. Stewart tribute album that also featured Stewart covers by Mike Gallgher, Guarenteed Irish,  Terry Griffith and others.

Perhaps the best known of all songs about leaving Ireland is one that is loved by some, maligned by others. Often dismissed by Irish-music purists, “Danny Boy” is narrated by a man who never leaves Ireland at all. But his son does, and the father feels the loss of that leaving for the rest of his life. I used to perform this one as a surf instrumental. Honest. And it works, too. This weekend, however, I plan to play it straight.

Other leaving-Ireland songs on tap for this Saturday include “Wild Colonial Boy,” “Wild Rover,” “Black Velvet Band,” and my original contribution to the cannon – the rocking “Castlegregory,” which I’ve recorded with The Laughrey Connolly Band and special guest Bob Banerjee of Corned Beef and Curry. [Click on the player below to hear “Castlegregory.”]

This upcoming show is going to be a blast. Most of my appearances since the release of Veins and the accompanying CD Veins: The Soundtrack have been book events, and I can’t wait to get out there to do a full night of live music again. Look out Pittsburgh!

If you’re anywhere in the western Pennsylvania area on May 19, I’ll hope to see you at Riley’s Pour House for a night of stories and songs about leaving Ireland. Of course, I’ll be doing some American tune as well . . . and at least one about leaving Pittsburgh.

Riley’s Pour House is an over-21 venue.
 

Leaving Liverpool

“Leaving Liverpool” (trad) from the CD Home from the Field, recorded in 2005 with The Laughrey Connolly Band. Lawrence C. Connolly, guitar & vocals; Chris Laughrey, guitar and backing vocals; Duane Davis, bass; Lee McGinn, drums.
 

Castlegregory

“Castlegregory” (words & music Lawrence C. Connolly) from the CD Two Seas recorded in 2006 with The Laughrey Connolly Band. Lawrence C. Connolly, lead guitar and vocals; Chris Laughrey, rhythm guitar; Bob Banerjee, mandoline, Duane Davis, bass; and Lee McGinn, drums.
 

The stories are as followes:

“The Executioner,” Lawrence C. Connolly
“The Deadly Sin of Sherlock Holmes,” Tom English.
“The Adventure of Lucifer’s Footprints,” Christopher Fowler.
“The Color that Came to Chiswick,” William Meikle.
“The Adventure of the Six Maledictions,” Kim Newman.
“A Country Death,” Simon Kurt Unsworth.

Clearly, “The Executioner” is in good company.

World Horror fans give the V-sign at Voices & Music reading.

Sounding the depths.

That’s what I call it.

It’s that phase of the writing process that exists apart from lived experience, the time when (as Wordsworth said) the stuff of life can be “recollected in tranquility.”

[Read more at 21st Century Scop.]

World Horror fans give the V-sign at Voices & Music reading.

Sounding the depths.

That’s what I call it.

It’s that phase of the writing process that exists apart from lived experience, the time when (as Wordsworth said) the stuff of life can be “recollected in tranquility.”

I’m currently spending a good bit of my free time in that phase, working to meet a couple of short-story deadlines and finish the first draft of my third Veins Cycle novel Vortex (which is due for release in 2013). Fortunately, this phase of self-imposed seclusion comes after a string of enjoyable real-world events, the kinds of personal appearances that are equally important to the writing life.

At Jozarts with Carla E. Anderton, Stephanie Wytocivh, and Sheldon Higdon.

A couple weeks ago, I sat on a panel at WHC, talking about the role of Social Media and the importance of balancing an Internet presence with time spent going deep into fiction. Among the strategies discussed was one that seems to work for a lot of people, namely the scheduling of a fixed amount of Social Media time each day. One writing friend has told me that he allocates 90 minutes to working on his blog, Facebook posts, and email. What he doesn’t finish in that time, he saves for the next day. Thus, the rest of his writing time is devoted to fiction.

The 90-minutes-and-stop approach seems like a good one, and I have no doubt that it works for some people, but for me?

Jeff Strand, the master of comedic horror who served as MC for this year’s Stoker Awards, parodied the distracting pull of Facebook during the award ceremony. What would we see if a writer’s life were made into a reality show? He showed us by assuming the writing pose: hands on keys, eyes staring deep into the fictional landscape. Then the expression changes. “Hey!” the writer says. “I wonder what’s on Facebook!”

It’s for this reason that I find I’m much better at real-world social media. When I’m at a convention or doing a reading, that’s all I’m doing. My focus is on the event. I enter life, go deep, and stay there until the interaction is finished.

My approach to writing is much the same.

I’ve had a grand time during the last month, doing readings at Horror Realm, World Horror, and Jozart Center for the Arts. But now comes the real work, the reason I got into this crazy business in the first place. Now it’s time to use what free time I have for living in fiction, spending time with some wonderfully eccentric characters and finding out where their lives are taking them. In short, it’s time for going deep into the world of fiction.

All of this is by way of explaining the irregular frequency of my blog and Facebook posts. I’m not hiding. Just working.

That said, I do have a number of things to share in the coming weeks, some new fiction announcements and details regarding my upcoming all-music shows at Riley’s Pour House.

But for now, the fiction is calling!

We explored the question at last week’s World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, with a multi-media reading from Voices: Tales of Horror. As part of the on-going 21st-Century Scop project, the presentation featured prose selections set to the music of Veins: The Soundtrack.

This week, the exploration continues at The Jozart Center for the Arts in California, PA, where I’ll be joined by two terrific up-and-coming writers, Sheldon Higdon and Stephanie M. Wytovich.

[More at 21st-Century Scop.]

We explored the question at last week’s World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, with a multi-media reading from Voices: Tales of Horror.  As part of the on-going 21st-Century Scop project, the presentation featured prose selections set to the music of Veins: The Soundtrack.

This week, the exploration continues at The Jozart Center for the Arts in California, PA, where I’ll be joined by two terrific up-and-coming writers, Sheldon Higdon and Stephanie M. Wytovich.

Sheldon Higdon has had over thirty publications, ranging from fiction to non-fiction to poetry, in numerous magazines and books. His work has appeared in Rue Morgue Magazine, Shroud Magazine, The Portland Magazine, Necrotic Tissue Magazine, Horrorwired, Death Be Not Proud, and Northern Haunts.

Stephanie M. Wytovich is a Rhysling Award nominee (for her poem “The Craving”) who is currently pursuing an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University.

Prose, poetry, and music – the sounds of horror.

Jozart will be the perfect venue for this event.

At World Horror we had to make due with portable equipment set up minutes before the reading. It went well, but at Jozart we’ll be able to work with a system that has been calibrated for the performance space – always an ideal situation.

Jozart is located at 333 Second Street in California PA. You can reach them at 724-938-9730. If you’re anywhere near the area on Saturday, do consider joining Stephanie, Sheldon, and me as we explore the sounds of horror.

The event will run in the evening from 6:00 – 10:30. Admission is free. A reception and book signing will follow.

The award is named for Bram Stoker, best known as the author of Dracula. The trophy, which resembles a miniature haunted house, was designed by author Harlan Ellison and sculptor Steven Kirk.

Twelve new bronze haunted-house statuettes were handed over to the writers responsible for creating superior works of horror last year. This year’s winners are:

Superior Achievement in a NOVEL
Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney (Pinnacle Books)

Superior Achievement in a FIRST NOVEL
Isis Unbound by Allyson Bird (Dark Regions Press)

Superior Achievement in a YOUNG ADULT NOVEL (tie)
The Screaming Season by Nancy Holder (Razorbill)
Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Superior Achievement in a GRAPHIC NOVEL
Neonomicon by Alan Moore (Avatar Press)

Superior Achievement in LONG FICTION
The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine” by Peter Straub (Conjunctions: 56)

Superior Achievement in SHORT FICTION
“Herman Wouk Is Still Alive” by Stephen King (The Atlantic Magazine, May 2011)

Superior Achievement in a SCREENPLAY
American Horror Story, episode #12: “Afterbirth” by Jessica Sharzer (20th Century Fox Television)

Superior Achievement in a FICTION COLLECTION
The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates (Mysterious Press)

Superior Achievement in an ANTHOLOGY
Demons: Encounters with the Devil and his Minions, Fallen Angels and the Possessed edited by John Skipp (Black Dog and Leventhal)

Superior Achievement in NON-FICTION
Stephen King: A Literary Companion by Rocky Wood (McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers)

Superior Achievement in a POETRY COLLECTION
How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend by Linda Addison (Necon Ebooks)

Also awarded:

Vampire Novel of the Century Award to:
Richard Matheson for his modern classic I Am Legend

Lifetime Achievements:
Rick Hautala and Joe R. Lansdale

The Specialty Press Awards:
Derrick Hussey of Hippocampus Press and Roy Robbins of Bad Moon Books.

The President’s Richard Laymon Service Award:
HWA co-founder Karen Lansdale.

Samhain Publishing served as the Platinum Sponsor for the event.

Source: HWA

Utah! Home of the Sundance Film Festival, the Bingham Canyon Mine, and – this year – the Bram Stoker Awards.

My interest in surface mines is obvious, given the setting for the Veins Cycle, but this year’s big draw in Utah is the World Horror Convention, where I’ll be doing a number of book and media events later this week.

[More at The 21st Century Scop.]

Utah! Home of the Sundance Film Festival, the Bingham Canyon Mine, and – this year – the Bram Stoker Awards.

My interest in surface mines is obvious, given the setting for the Veins Cycle, but this year’s big draw in Utah is the World Horror Convention, where I’ll be doing a number of book and media events later this week.

At 3:00 on Thursday, I’ll be joining in a panel discussion on Social Media and the Writing Life. I moderated a similar discussion at last year’s Stoker Weekend in New York, where I was joined by Matt Schwartz, Jonathan Maberry, and S. G. Browne. This time, I’m looking forward to simply serving as a panelist, joining Lincoln Crisler, Derek Clendening, and Gabrielle Faust in a discussion moderated by Loren Rhoads.

I’ve been working with Social Media since the days of the Macintosh SE/30 and dial-up modems. It was mostly email and bulletin boards back then. Now it’s a lot of other stuff. Some of it is useful, but none of it the reason I got into writing in the first place. I have no problem going for days without posting to Facebook, using Twitter, or updating this website. Still, I’m always eager to hear what others are doing.

I plan to spend most the day on Friday networking, meeting with editors and writers, engaging in the kind of personal contact that still makes for the most effective form of Social Media.

Friday evening, I’ll be joining some of the convention’s other writers for a mass book signing and more social networking. The event is open to the public. 

HWA presents the 25^th Stoker Awards on Saturday, and for me the programming day begins at 2:30 PM with readings from Voices, which is nominated for this year’s Stoker Award. The selections will be some of the ones I presented at Horror Realm earlier in the month, and a few more that I will be presenting at a big homecoming event scheduled at the Jozart Center for the Arts in California PA on April 7.

I often feature original music with my readings, using instrumental tracks from Veins: The Soundtrack and employing techniques that I’ve written about in an earlier blog post,  Scop 101.

Fittingly, the reading will be followed by a 3:00 panel on Music in Horror, where I’ll be joined by Guy Anthony De Marco, John Hornor Jacobs, Rain Graves, and Rio Youers.

The day will conclude with the Awards Ceremony, presided over by Jeff Strand and featuring a special award honoring The Vampire Novel of the Century, presented in conjunction with the Bram Stoker Family Estate and the Rosenbach Museum & Library. Dacre Stoker will be on hand to present that award.

The entire event will webcast live beginning at 9:00 PM, Mountain Time.

Streaming Live by Ustream

Here’s an overview of my program events:

THURSDAY 29 MARCH

3:00 PM - Social Networking.  How blogs, facebook, twitter and other social media can help you network with others. (Loren Rhoads (M), Lawrence C. Connolly, Lincoln Crisler, Derek Clendening, Gabrielle Faust).

FRIDAY 30 MARCH

8:00 PM – Book Signing.

SATURDAY 31 MARCH

2:30 PM – Voices Reading.

3:00 PM -Music in Horror.  How it influences the “scar” and why we love it. (Lawrence C. Connolly, Guy Anthony De Marco, John Hornor Jacobs, Rain Graves (M), Rio Youers).

8:00 PM – HWA Bram Stoker Awards Banquet.