Comments on: THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD http://mikedennisnoir.com/the-long-and-winding-road/749/ Noir fiction for the modern reader. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:44:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mike Dennis http://mikedennisnoir.com/the-long-and-winding-road/749/comment-page-1/#comment-194 Mike Dennis Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:56:01 +0000 http://mikedennisnoir.com/?p=749#comment-194 Tell me about it, Charlie. A good friend of mine came here to Las Vegas about 2 years ago. She's a dynamite singer and keyboard player, very soulful. When I played on Bourbon St in New Orleans, I was at the same club for nearly 7 years, and she was down the street from me, where she packed them in every night for years. But with the way things are today, she came out to Las Vegas and couldn't find any meaningful work at all. She left town a couple of months ago. It's tough, brother. I got out at the right time (2003), and I'd hate to be trying to keep it going today. The work just isn't there. On the other hand, it's not so bad. We still have our writing, and there'll always be room for a good story. Tell me about it, Charlie. A good friend of mine came here to Las Vegas about 2 years ago. She’s a dynamite singer and keyboard player, very soulful. When I played on Bourbon St in New Orleans, I was at the same club for nearly 7 years, and she was down the street from me, where she packed them in every night for years. But with the way things are today, she came out to Las Vegas and couldn’t find any meaningful work at all. She left town a couple of months ago.

It’s tough, brother. I got out at the right time (2003), and I’d hate to be trying to keep it going today. The work just isn’t there.

On the other hand, it’s not so bad. We still have our writing, and there’ll always be room for a good story.

]]> By: Mike Dennis http://mikedennisnoir.com/the-long-and-winding-road/749/comment-page-1/#comment-193 Mike Dennis Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:52:06 +0000 http://mikedennisnoir.com/?p=749#comment-193 David-- Next door to Ithaca? Well then, you're right on the other end of Cayuga Lake from Seneca Falls. David–
Next door to Ithaca? Well then, you’re right on the other end of Cayuga Lake from Seneca Falls.

]]> By: Charlie Stella http://mikedennisnoir.com/the-long-and-winding-road/749/comment-page-1/#comment-190 Charlie Stella Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:56:01 +0000 http://mikedennisnoir.com/?p=749#comment-190 Mike, I'd give a lot to have that musical experience for just a few months. Trying to keep a blues band together at 53 is more frustrating than my diets ... Mike, I’d give a lot to have that musical experience for just a few months. Trying to keep a blues band together at 53 is more frustrating than my diets …

]]> By: David Cranmer http://mikedennisnoir.com/the-long-and-winding-road/749/comment-page-1/#comment-189 David Cranmer Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:49:50 +0000 http://mikedennisnoir.com/?p=749#comment-189 Still live there occasionally. It is next door to Ithaca. Still live there occasionally. It is next door to Ithaca.

]]> By: Mike Dennis http://mikedennisnoir.com/the-long-and-winding-road/749/comment-page-1/#comment-188 Mike Dennis Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:53:37 +0000 http://mikedennisnoir.com/?p=749#comment-188 David--Where's Freeville? I've never heard of it, and I can't find it on the map. Did you live there beyond adolescence? And is it easy for you to write about it? Charlie--Thanks so much for the compliment. Like I said, I never really thought about setting any of my writing in Seneca Falls, but maybe I'll think about it now. Dana--I know what you mean about living in the Megalopolis. It's pretty soulless. NOBODY'S FOOL captured a Seneca Falls-like town perfectly, and the movie looked exactly like it, complete with all the despair. Good luck with your WIP. David–Where’s Freeville? I’ve never heard of it, and I can’t find it on the map. Did you live there beyond adolescence? And is it easy for you to write about it?

Charlie–Thanks so much for the compliment. Like I said, I never really thought about setting any of my writing in Seneca Falls, but maybe I’ll think about it now.

Dana–I know what you mean about living in the Megalopolis. It’s pretty soulless. NOBODY’S FOOL captured a Seneca Falls-like town perfectly, and the movie looked exactly like it, complete with all the despair. Good luck with your WIP.

]]> By: Dana King http://mikedennisnoir.com/the-long-and-winding-road/749/comment-page-1/#comment-186 Dana King Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:21:23 +0000 http://mikedennisnoir.com/?p=749#comment-186 I grew up in one of three small towns about twenty miles up the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh. Moved away when I joined the Army, come back four or five times a year to visit my parents. Most of my fiction has been set in Chicago, where I was living when I got into writing. The current WIP is set in a fictionalized version of the towns where I grew up, Part of this is because I understand those people better than I do the people where I live now (between Dc and Baltimore), and part is because my area's inability to capitalize on Pittsburgh's renaissance in any real way sticks with me, especially during this recession. So far I like how it's working out, and hope to be able to build a series out of it. If you're looking for books about the kind of town you grew up in, check out Richard Russo. NOBODY'S FOOL, MOHAWK, or EMPIRE FALLS. EMPIRE FALLS is probably the best, but they're all very good. I grew up in one of three small towns about twenty miles up the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh. Moved away when I joined the Army, come back four or five times a year to visit my parents.

Most of my fiction has been set in Chicago, where I was living when I got into writing. The current WIP is set in a fictionalized version of the towns where I grew up, Part of this is because I understand those people better than I do the people where I live now (between Dc and Baltimore), and part is because my area’s inability to capitalize on Pittsburgh’s renaissance in any real way sticks with me, especially during this recession. So far I like how it’s working out, and hope to be able to build a series out of it.

If you’re looking for books about the kind of town you grew up in, check out Richard Russo. NOBODY’S FOOL, MOHAWK, or EMPIRE FALLS. EMPIRE FALLS is probably the best, but they’re all very good.

]]> By: Charlie Stella http://mikedennisnoir.com/the-long-and-winding-road/749/comment-page-1/#comment-185 Charlie Stella Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:44:30 +0000 http://mikedennisnoir.com/?p=749#comment-185 <i>Except that today, most of the factories have closed or moved away. The population is still 7000, but they’re on the ropes. Very little money is circulating and the people wear the hard times on their faces. Like so many fading mill towns, Seneca Falls lives in the shadows, on a slippery slope to oblivion. When I was growing up there, I had no awareness of anything, especially anything regarding the rhythms of life that we all eventually learn. But through reading, television, and looking at maps, I slowly became dimly cognizant of a wider world, a world that called to me all through my adolescence. I figured out that I had to answer the call, so by the time I went away to college at age 17, I never returned there to live.</i> So why not write about the above (with or without) crime fiction? As I was reading the end of the first paragraph, I was thinking Steinbeck ... the 2nd gave even more possibilities. I'd make book that you could write about Seneca Falls. Except that today, most of the factories have closed or moved away. The population is still 7000, but they’re on the ropes. Very little money is circulating and the people wear the hard times on their faces. Like so many fading mill towns, Seneca Falls lives in the shadows, on a slippery slope to oblivion.

When I was growing up there, I had no awareness of anything, especially anything regarding the rhythms of life that we all eventually learn. But through reading, television, and looking at maps, I slowly became dimly cognizant of a wider world, a world that called to me all through my adolescence. I figured out that I had to answer the call, so by the time I went away to college at age 17, I never returned there to live.

So why not write about the above (with or without) crime fiction? As I was reading the end of the first paragraph, I was thinking Steinbeck … the 2nd gave even more possibilities.

I’d make book that you could write about Seneca Falls.

]]> By: David Cranmer http://mikedennisnoir.com/the-long-and-winding-road/749/comment-page-1/#comment-184 David Cranmer Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:40:36 +0000 http://mikedennisnoir.com/?p=749#comment-184 I do write about it but more or less in the past tense. It is Freeville, New York and somewhat close to Seneca Falls. I do write about it but more or less in the past tense. It is Freeville, New York and somewhat close to Seneca Falls.

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