Cindy, Storytellers is a superb show, with a brilliant and very accessible format. It's one of my favourites; Bruce's is in the queue.

You'll notice he mentioned not thinking about it as he wrote it; he felt it. His cerebrality (that can't possibly be a word, can it?) is automatic, and goes into gear when he's putting the words together to scan, to make sense, to follow a line that can be set to music. But the passion isn't parsed as he's doing it. The title of the show says it all. "Once upon a time, there was a [state trooper/hooker/small brown mouse/demolition derby specialist/insert] and this is the road he travelled."

Ray Davies did a beautiful set for the show. So did Billy Joel. I would expect Bruce's to be among the best, because he understands that the craft comes from the head but the impetus to tell it comes from the soul or the heart or the spirit, and that if he can't get them to meld, he's going to have a train wreck, not a song about a train wreck. That, for me, is exactly what a storyteller is.

There's a human element in all of this, and editors don't want to build a relationship with someone who is a) patently insane, b) irritating as hell, or c) certified egomaniacs who will likely argue about every comma, every line of cover copy, and every possible permutation of the cover. When it comes to things like series romance, or lines where editors are looking for a specific kind of product rather than a break-out single-title author, it's usually a good bet that that s/he can find someone just as talented who *doesn't* behave that way.

Sing it, sister! Hello, professionalism...

You'll notice he mentioned not thinking about it as he wrote it; he felt it. His cerebrality (that can't possibly be a word, can it?) is automatic, and goes into gear when he's putting the words together to scan, to make sense, to follow a line that can be set to music. But the passion isn't parsed as he's doing it.

I smiled and said to myself, "Hello, deb" as he was speaking about it.

Deb, you could talk about song writing.

I smiled and said to myself, "Hello, deb" as he was speaking about it.

Cindy, you just put me into some stellar company, there.

Mart, if we pull the cash together and can do this, I'll likely suggest taking a session with the teenagers in the group and having a round robin on creativity: basically a short talk and then, ok, I'm going to start with "once upon a time" and begin a spoken story. Then, after a few sentences, pass it along to the kid at my left and say, your turn: embellish this, take the story down the road, add characters of your own, hang a hard left or start scrambling over a mountain, you have two minutes, then on to the person next to you. Let's see what we can write here, with no prior confab. And for heaven's sake, don't consider it too much, what you're going to add - spend that mental energy listening to what comes before, so you know the terrain under these characters' shoes.

It's pure storytelling.

Dang, I wish I had seen that. Bruce got my puberty started. We go back a ways. And I love the way he writes...more now that I'm older and less inclined to turn off "Nebraska" for being a downer.(Still a downer, but now? Part of its charm.)

erika, the real downer, I think, is "Tom Joad". Could it get any bleaker?

Also, they're reshowing it at least twice this week. If you get VH1, check your listings.

Yeah, but bonus points for the allusion....I've always liked the brainy ones. But, yeah... We definitely get it...the last ST I saw were those twirpy"Green Day" guys...definitely a "You're making our side look stupid. Get off our side." moment for me.

I've always liked the brainy ones

Haven't we all? I'm not saying the Guidos don't have their uses and their place (the family name for a construction worker-style one-night chewtoy), but give me heart and mind every time.

And when it writes like Springsteen?

Glhglhglhglhglh.....

"You're making our side look stupid. Get off our side."

At last, we disagree on something - I think it's a first. I have the "American Idiot" love at warp eleven, I do.

I think it is not the songs but the between patter that got to me.I forget why. Stupid, huh?(But that won't stop me from holding some random grudge, because I'm petty like that.) Never mind, if I'm in the wrong mood,"Have a good day," can make me think it's none of their fucking business what day I have.