Accordion Heaven
Season 1, #1: When the evil of a snowflake in June (or September) could still be a source of relief
WHEN THIS OL’ body of mine decides it’s had enough of Planet Earth, I want everyone to know this: Man oh man, it loved music.
Oh yeah.
And words. Crazy words, words about whatever—playful words.
Walking to brunch this past Sunday’s lovely September morning, I snapped this photo.
Ah, Accordion Heaven. Call in the grandparents and lemonade, cue the Lawrence Welk, and soak up the quality family time! (Well, those days have passed, but what a memory.)
When I saw this—boom!—it shot me straight back to that time I read a poem on Minnesota Public Radio in the late winter of 1998—because the Café Accordion Orchestra backed us up. You can hear the whole thing here:
Throat-clearing opening: “This is my humble eulogy to the Old Guy…”
Then my poem “Snowman Subpoenaed,” with MPR host John Rabe and the CAO leading us off, reads like this:
“He was the deadbeat dad of El Niño,
Found in a shack outside Reno,
Hauled back to the north to stand trial,
For carrying a season without style.
Now, out till arraignment,
He’s given back his stuff
One pipe, one carrot, two bits of coal
—and a muff?”
Poetry on the radio. Good times.
*Yippee!* (“An Actual German.” Heh heh.)
The Future of StoryShed
It’s been a very relaxing summer and StoryShed is morphing like a caterpillar into…
Into what? you might be wondering.
Well, seasons (thanks for suggesting,
. Maybe. You can catch up with what StoryShed Hath Wrought by checking out the primers below and plans for the forthcoming “seasons”:Season One: Daytalking—September (this post being the first), October 2023, four NEW posts
Season Two: Nightwalking—November, December 2023, four NEW posts
Nightwalking
·
“There are a thousand and one gates leading into the orchard of mystical truth. Every human being has his own gate. We must never make the mistake of wanting to enter the orchard by any gate but our own. To do this is dangerous for the one who enters and also for those who are already there.”
Season Three: Stargazing—December 2023, January 2024, four NEW posts
Stargazing
·
“And I’m there, lookin’ up at the sky, and I’m scared, thinkin’ ’bout the way that I don’t understand anything at all, how it overtakes me, and I’m just so small, do I stand a chance?” — The Flaming Lips, “It Overtakes Me”
Then repeat if that works from the first round. It seems like a solid plan. And I’m grateful to you readers for hanging in there.
With the launch of a new publication, the main StoryShed newsletter will remain “always free” subscriptions (and sending only bimonthly) through the rest of 2023, with more reporting from the new publication.
What is that? you might ask.
Next Up: The Guy Stevens Weather Report
It’s a TV/film project that caught my imagination back in 2006, when I first met record producer Joe Boyd, and the idea refuses to go away. This seems to happen to me a lot. I get hooked on something and try to make it disappear. “Give it to someone else! I can’t do this!”
And like a wounded animal, it appears back on my doorstep. Apparently needing help.
Aw crap.
So, I opened that door last fall. A shitload came tumblin’ in. The initial reception has been crazy. I’ve been, like, “Wha?” Really?
You see, I love music. It’s the acorn buried underneath all the Daytalking, Nightwalking, Stargazing. But for StoryShed, it will be mostly about what I originally set out to do, with the crazy personality triad and diaries and journals and letters and artwork.
So I’m travelling to London in October to see if that’s true. Meanwhile I’ve been drafting a pilot script (of course, totally spec and it—as all drafts are—sucks. It’s awful, it’s terrible, it’s a waste of time, and yeah okay I’ll keep going, let’s see, whatever, because you don’t know what you have until you completely fuck up what you’ve got, I guess).
At this point, The Guy Stevens Weather Report might become a podcast with another writer who’s also a radio producer in Minneapolis but collaboration/timing might be tricky. But it’s worth a try. He’s excited about the drama series project and knows way more than I do, which is helpful when you open a door to a wounded cultural animal like this one.
I’ll be honest, there may be an issue to rolling this out on Substack: a documentary is currently in production by another filmmaker (we’ve been emailing and Zoom meeting) and there are outstanding questions on fair use of subject images and quotes from the estate. These are things everyone publishing to the Web should consider before “going there.” As far as a serial drama TV production? Not so concerned as it’s a different animal.
Albeit a wounded animal.
I’ll keep StoryShed subscribers posted. Hoping some of you find it valuable and pop for a subscription. Time and tide will tell.
And…
…And Getting to Know You
Since I’m not on most social media platforms, it’s helpful to read and respond to your comments here on Substack.
There will be a lot of new material, and I’d love to include more interviews (definitely on the new pub but here, too) and book reviews (please send recommendations, always reading, always welcome).
Lastly, thank you for reading and sharing the journey.
Now here’s some great music:
See you all soon!
Best, as always, Mike