BigDaddy Abel's Blog

Trestle Press is putting out the first print ed book by Big Daddy Abel. Which do you like better?: http://www.trestlepresspublishing.com...

Am I the only person who isn't fond of summer? Most people LOVE summer. I might possibly be the Ebenezer Scrooge of summer. The heat, the traffic, the electric bill! First, let me explain a few things: I live in NJ. I actually grew up about 30 minutes west of where that horrendous Jersey Shore show (that is NOT ANYTHING like REAL NJ. They are all from ELSEwhere just making Jersey look bad. REAL bad.) I used to go to the shore as a kid with my family and then when I got a car I would go there, because that's what you did. This was when it was sorta still known as the place Bon Jovi and Springsteen would go. (Shall I break out the time machine for a refresher course of the 80's?) At THAT time I was not so... allergic... to the water. Yes, the ocean water actually burns and irritates my skin. Anything considered "food" that comes from the water is not considered a menu option for me. I'm not fond of anaphylaxis. Believe it or not, I am a little addicted to breathing. I know, I know... it's so monotonous and repetitious. All that in and out. Oy! But back to my past summer experiences... when I could venture into the water. (Cue the theme to JAWS and meet me about 40 feet out from shore, okay?) I would suffer the traffic headed to Seaside. Actually there is a state park just south of there and that is where I would go, but you had to go to Seaside Park/Heights to get there.That was a 35 minute drive without traffic. Everyone heading there? Triple the commute time. I would finally get there and drive to the furthest south parking area, because everyone would usually congregate at the first spot they could. Then after parking I would take my blanket and bag o' stuff and head even FURTHER away from everyone. Why? Because aside from my anti social past, I actually liked to hear the waves and the sea gulls. I know, call me crazy. How dare I appreciate nature. I'm supposed to be full on with amplifiers and loud music 24/7. Anyway, INEVITABLY, the "Brady Bunch" would set up camp SIX INCHES FROM ME!!!!! There was PLENTY of beach back where they accessed it, but noooo.... the matriarch would march her goslings on the Island Beach State Park Death March to plop RIGHT next to me! I can't be mad at children for going crazy at the beach because that's how they're wired. I CAN blame the parents for thinking that I actually care about their kids as much as they do. (Yeah, I mean YOU, Mrs. Jones from Hillside! You're kids were BRATS! Instead of saving for college tuition, you should have saved up for BAIL! It's YOUR FAULT they were miscreants!) Oh wait... the kids screaming and kicking sand everywhere EVERY ten seconds back and forth from the water was enough... TURN ON THE BARRY MANILOW GREATEST HITS TAPE!!! Oh YEAH! (Look, no offense to Barry. He's great. But ME? At 18/19? I preferred Van Halen, Guns N Roses, some Iron Maiden, etc. but I didn't even HAVE a radio WITH ME!) And of course when the kids actually were far enough away to where the wind DIDN'T carry their screams and squeals directly to the center of my brain there was GOOD OLE Mrs. Jones and HER yap fest! On and on about all sorts of nonsense that was easily fixable. I think she talked just to keep the bugs away. And the bugs couldn't even HEAR her! THAT is how ANNOYING she was!

Aside from my increasingly burning experiences with ocean water as years have gone by, there's the sand. INSTANTLY burning off ANY footwear and scorching the bottom of your feet. I needed air lifting from the parking lot directly to the blanket. Maybe you don't have to deal with that if you go to the lake or a pool, but here in NJ, you went to the shore. Lemmings we were. Yoda I talk like no more. Summer. It gets too darn hot for me. Simply can't breathe after awhile. I need air conditioning and not that natural kind. Currently my A/C gets set to 72 when I am home and when we are in hotels it goes to 60. Ahhhhh! THAT'S first class. (After jumping around on a stage in a bar with lots of people around, you would love it too.) Every bad car accident I had was in the summer too. Yes, every. I have had a few. Only three were my fault. The worst one giving me a metal face. All three times I tried a motorcycle happened to occur in the summer and all three of those experiences ended badly. On the third shot I got the message loud and clear. No motorcycles for me!

Another summer time memory... TRAFFIC on the turnpike. Almost lost a few jobs due to people passing through the state. Ever wonder why people from NJ are a little ornery? We have a little traffic law here: PASS left, KEEP right. NJ is the passageway from folks going to the northeast or heading to the south and the NJ Turnpike is their route of choice. Well guess what? While "you" are headed to vacation or to visit grandma, WE are trying to get to work or go to the grocery store and SITTING in the left lane about a FOOT off the back bumper of the guy in the RIGHT lane will cause us a little road rage and we'll then show you the state bird as we pass by. Hey, we like to educate here in the Garden State. I guess I shouldn't paint ALL my summer memories as bad. When I was a teacher we no longer had to contend with the administration for a few months. The KIDS were great, but those superintendent and administrative types? Oh boy... How I wanted to take them on a field trip to visit the Jersey Devil out in the Pine Barrens. I must say I have been blessed though these past few years with quite fond memories. Playing with The Amish Outlaws gets busier in the summer and I have met a lot of nice people. We've played quite a few family shows at parks and festivals and the one thing that has made me forget the heat and the traffic and any other possible irritant is seeing the look on a child's face as you play music and dance with them or for them. To have them come up later and ask for an autograph (which will get lost before they ever get back to the car) or to have a photo taken with them has quickly made summer a VERY enjoyable time of year for me. I hope you got a few laughs out of this and I hope the rest of your summer and every summer is filled with happy memories with those you love! ~Big Daddy Abel of The Amish Outlaws.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Edge of Cataclysmic Big Daddy Abel The Author's Lab/Collaboration series

I stole this from Giovanni Gelati's Gelati Scoop Blog:
http://gelatisscoop.blogspot.com/2011...



Who has the desire to tackle the subject of global warming and just kick it in its teeth? Who has the ability to not only do that, but back it up with it up with a soon to be released follow-up that has possible solutions on not just a world wide scale but on an individual one? Why that author would be Big Daddy Abel, he of the highly rated and also Number 1 “Open Mic” series (in its Amazon Kindle category for sales, Open Mic volume One is #1,Volume Two is #2, and Volume Three is #7,not bad!). What BDA (his friends call him that, for me it saves time in the conversation, not saying we are good enough buddies yet, but you know what I mean),has done here is tried to raise the issues, what he thinks are the most vital parts of this big debate and put his stamp on them. The best part of all this is that in the very near future he will be backing this up with his solutions. As long as I have had the pleasure of knowing the man, I have not known him to be just a stone thrower, but someone that has the desire and motivation to help others. That is the aim and the intention, so in the foil to “The Edge of Cataclysmic” he will offer up his feelings on the solutions. I haven’t read too many authors that are willing to do just that, put themselves out there for you his fans and readers. Controversial subject to say the least, but when you get into it what he says, it makes sense and has many valid points. That is the essence of Able, to get to it and do it with emotion and heart. As a reader I love that kind of stuff. Do yourself a favor and drop the coin on this download, it is a buck well spent.
Here is the synopsis and a little bit on BDA:
“Number Eight in The Author's Lab/Collaboration is here and it is the first one that is being done in more than one part. "The Edge of Cataclysmic" has some serious undertones to it as Big Daddy Abel takes on the subject of Global Warming, an issue near and dear to his immense heart and soul. The companion to this piece will have possible solutions to Global Warming and what we can do as individuals to make a difference in our own homes, communities and beyond.
Big Daddy Abel is the author of the highly acclaimed "Open Mic" Series of humorous digital shorts. Here is a little more on the man himself:
"Big Daddy" Abel wears his heart on his sleeve, and has his "real" heart in the right place. He lays himself emotionally naked for us to read, ponder and absorb. This is real, at times all too real. Be prepared; guard yourself, as "Big Daddy" takes you for a "real" ride into his real mind, real heart and real soul.
Hi.
Introductions may be in order, yes? Only proper thing to do I think. I am Big Daddy Abel. A singer, guitar player, & entertainer.Usually my "job" is to entertain. Getting people to laugh, dance and sing and just have a good fun time. However, at times... my mind goes beyond that. It goes a little deeper and sometimes, as I've been told, a little TOO deep, (I used to be a school teacher in my former life. Shhh! Don't tell anyone.) Thank you for giving/sharing your time here with "my thoughts". I hope you feel something positive on the other end of it all.
One of Big Daddy Abel favorite quotes ""So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future."
Here are some of his favorite bands/musicians: Van Halen (1976-1984), The Beatles, Aerosmith (1973-1989), The Black Crowes, Prince, Seal, Led Zeppelin, Butch Walker/The Marvelous 3, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Alice in Chains, Love/Hate, Buckcherry, The Cure, George Clinton, Mozart, Electric Mayhem, The Soggy Bottom Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fishbone, Too Much Joy, Beethoven, the kid down the street learning guitar.”
Things have changed around here. I am now the published author by Trestle Press of “I Have Chrome Balls, Don’t You?” an “In Between The Collaborations”, “Down Low- Dead” with Vincent Zandri, “The Jersey Shore Has Eyes” with Big Daddy Abel”, “G.S.I Gelati’s Scoop Investigations Psychotic Detectives” with Thomas White, “Who Whacked The Blogger” with Benjamin Sobieck,“Thad and The G-Man’s Most Awesome Adventure” with Thad Brown , “Hotel Beaumont” with B.R. Stateham, “Bring Us Your Living…Now!” with HR Toye, “The Edge of Cataclysmic” with Big Daddy Abel, “The Ultimate Six-Pack” ,”Fangs,Inc.” with Laurie Bowler and the soon to be released “A Prince in Trenton ,Seriously?” with Mark Miller . All the stories are available @ Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and Smashwords. I am also the host of the wildly popular The G-ZONE blogtalk radio show. Thanks for stopping by today; We will see you tomorrow. Have a great day. http://www.gelatisscoop.blogspot.com

"Why are women mean to each other?"

Fresh off of playing another series of live shows in several different states, I tend to contemplate things. How to make shows better, look for new songs, etc. Sometimes I revisit the actions of people I observed in my travels. Currently I am wondering: Why are women mean to each other? I don't mean that ALL women are mean to each other, but quite a few are. I see it a lot. Mainly I see it at night while I am on stage in bars/clubs or on a break, but I have seen it in stores, walking through the mall, on TV, or in movies as well. (Yes, I realize TV and movies are scripted that way, but the idea comes from SOMEwhere.) So, why? Being a man it made me curious enough to actually Google the question. (Oh no! I Googled! Now the government knows what I'm up to!) A poll popped up as a result and here it is:

"Why are women mean to each other?"
1. Because of low self esteem and feeling threatened?
2. Because they like to outshine the others.
3. Because they are shy and wounded
4. Because they just don't give a f*ck

I am not sure what the answer is, if there even IS one. The thing I DO know is that I have SEEN women be mean to each other. There is a photo from 1957 and it seems to sum up what happens when one women thinks another woman is "more attractive". Take a look for yourself: http://www.goodreads.com/photo/author...... Is Sophia Loren looking with... contempt? disdain perhaps?... at Jayne Mansfield's....ya know. You tell me what's on Sophia's mind. There are 2 other photos there. Have a look.
In Sophia's defense, it was supposed to be a dinner promoting her new movie and the production company Jayne worked for set up the publicity stunt to usurp some of Sophia Loren's thunder at the time.
I found an article about the topic too. "Are girls each others worst enemies? Is the "mean girls" phenomenon a media smokescreen?" by Melissa Beattie-Moss (Full article: http://www.rps.psu.edu/bullies/girls.... ) She interviewed Marnina Gonick PhD. and Carol Gilligan, who wrote a book in 1982, "In Another Voice", about girls being misunderstood and oppressed by society in America. (I sadly think that might be true world wide.) Gilligan's book changed things for girls and they eventually were doing better than boys in many school subjects. Basically Gilligan feared a backlash against girls and Gonick cited reasons that "girls being mean" was just a media smokescreen and that men should be the focus of mean behavior towards women.
I can't personally say that either woman is cut and dry, right or wrong. Too many variables all over the place really. But look at the photo at the link. Do you think Sophia wanted to throw a sweater on Jane? Or just "rip her **** off"? Is something like that considered women competing for the attention of men? The limelight? Gonick thought it was a "media smokescreen", so I looked further. Ever read one of these books?: "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch, "The Group" by Mary McCarthy, "Best friends" by Martha Moody, "The Robber Bride" and/or "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood. Or have you seen either of these movies: "All About Eve" or "Dogville". These are some of the titles most often thematically tagged as "women being mean to each other". Books and movies are still considered "media", right? (TMZ didn't COMPLETELY take over yet, did it?) And how about that Margaret Atwood? She has a few of those "women being mean to each other" titles if you look. (Think there may be a therapy bill there somewhere that could rival the income of some small nations?) ;-)
When I Googled I also found the blog of a woman who works as an RN. She asked "Are we more mean to each other?" She then stated that she worked with a lot of women and, to her, "it seems as if we can't just leave each other alone and do our damn jobs and there are those who look to make other co-workers miserable. They usually won't let up until the victim quits, is fired, or breaks down emotionally." She also stated that "the men, nurses, security guards, etc. generally never bother with this crap". She continued by quoting a post by Helen Kay who works at a literary agency: "We don't see the male literary fiction writers demonizing their lad lit cohorts with shrill condemnations, much less books titled, This is not one of Dan Brown's books."
I still wondered why, and in search of answers, I returned to the source of ultimate modern "wisdom", Google. I found this question: "Why are girls mean to each other?" A lady named Iris answered: "I really wish I knew the answer as to why girls can be so difficult to one another. It really shows their own insecurity about the many changes going on in their own lives if they can not be good to others. No one feels very confident enough about themselves during their teen years and some people think that making others feel bad is a way to make themselves feel better. Of course, this never works. Fortunately, most girls do learn how important friendship is and adult women are usually very good to each other. You will have that good experience as you become an adult."
I gave Yahoo a shot:"Why are women so mean to each other?" Answer: "That's a good question. Women are very competitive creatures. If a woman is insecure and perceives another woman to have an advantage over her - whether it be looks, intelligence, personality, likeableness, education - she may feel threatened by that if she is insecure within herself." Another answer was "She will try to find some way to undermine her or knock her down a peg or two, in order to buoy her own self-esteem. Hence the meanness factor."
Maybe men let some stuff go because the stakes are potentially more physical? Women and men are biologically different obviously. Men go to war over things. They get physical and duel to the death. Women seem to basically just try to turn their peer networks against each other? Being outcast from the group appears to be the worst female-style punishment. Females band together to ostracize the women they feel threatened by, instead of physically going to war. Although THAT has been changing the past few years... again... THANKS "Jersey Shore"! I have no answer to WHY. Maybe I am wrong about all of this and I'm basing this question on the few incidents I've seen? Maybe you know someone like this? I would really like to know, because it baffles me to no end. I now return you to your life already in progress and I hope you have a fantastic day!

Narrative-ly Speaking
By Chantal Boudreau

Choosing what voice you are going to use is an important part of the planning process in fiction writing. Normally, I hate writing in first person. I don’t think I’m very good at it, and I don’t think that I necessarily do the narrator proper justice, but sometimes the stories demand it, so I grit my teeth and go. I have a much easier time approaching a tale as observer. I’ve heard several writing peers suggest that writing for them is a matter of recording the movie going on in their head, and it is a similar experience for me. When writing in first person you are no longer observing but have to immerse yourself into the character completely, and I don’t like trying to present a story from inside of someone else’s skin.
When voice does give me trouble, aside from the narrative, part of the problem is language. I can usually (although not always – I’ve had my dismal failures) capture the nature of the characters in the dialogue. My novel, Fervor, was a test of skill, because the characters were very unusual children and it takes some careful explaining as to why an 8-year old speaks like a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, but the 13-year-olds he’s with sound more like (although not exactly like) typical teens. In most cases, though, it’s just a matter of making sure their personality shows through their word selection.
Accents can be difficult to master too, and sometimes I skip trying to reflect the accent in the dialogue and just note it in the description, like with my wandering barbarian, Traveller. As one of my test readers pointed out though, it’s best to try and find a way in tone or expression to really distinguish your characters in a story, so that there’s never any question as to who is speaking if you have no dialogue tags (my dialogue tags are an overused guilty pleasure, but it is not a habit I’m willing to discard.)
Returning to first person narrative – the hard part for me is not just the perspective, or capturing the voice, but the fact that the voice is coming from inside the character’s head. You actually have to think like that character. That might come easily to some writers, but my brain fights the idea of regressing to the mind-set of a precocious 7-year-old child trapped in a very traumatic situation, like in my short story, “Little Sister,” or even worse, a particularly repulsive, villainous character who is bemoaning a well-deserved, but pretty horrific fate, like in my Arabian moralistic fable, “Dry Heat.” It is a struggle to go against your better nature when it wants you to keep a character like that at arm’s length, and in a way, it comes as no surprise to me that such a story elicited very mixed responses from my test readers, some glowingly positive and others filled with revulsion. Seeing things from that character’s point of view can be horribly unsettling.
There is also the second person option, an obscure form commonly used in select-an-ending YA tales, but I haven’t dabbled in that narrative style yet. I’m not one to shy from challenge, but I think my stories will remain, for the most part, third person. That still leaves me with whether I want the story to be directed – from a single character perspective using the third person narrative – or omniscient which allows for a broader point of view. Once again, it really depends on what the story demands. In Fervor, my digital short story, “The Ghost in the Mirror,” and in my current work-in-progress, When You Whisper, the story really is from one character’s perspective, just not from inside their head, so third person directed was fitting. The majority of my novels, however, cover varying scenes with multiple characters and don’t just follow one protagonist in particular. With these ensemble tales, third person omniscient seems to be more appropriate.
I’m sure there are those who disagree with my approach (especially my use of dialogue tags,) but as an artist, I have to present things in a way that leaves me satisfied with the results, and that I would enjoy if I were the reader and not the writer. It’s good to have knowledge of technique and style, but maintain that awareness that the voice you choose should match your vision and should not adhere to someone else’s absolutes.

or as THEY know it? Funny, it's the end of a "world" every time you change your surroundings or your frame of focus. Go to a movie and you're in the world of the cinema. I played in a bar last night that had THREE huge sections to it. One was mainly country music and had the vibe that that implies. Line dancing and cowboy hats and boots. The area where I played was more of a deck feel. Lots of flashing lights and loud music. Then outside they had a tiki sort of beach area. Each time I went to a different section, it was LITERALLY a DIFFERENT "world". So today is supposed to be the end of the world. Wouldn't all of the retailers have jumped on this? ESPECIALLY the places that sell calendars and cards? Who is going to need a 2011 with June through December now? Those should be AT LEAST 70% mark down. We won't be getting back around to Christmas so any ornaments, etc... heck.. THOSE should be given away just for walking into the store today, no? What about when you go to Disney World. It's IMPLIED there that it's a SPECIFIC world. When you leave, it's the END of that world... as you know it. Or by now, KNEW it. Or perhaps the Vogons, from the BRILLIANT "Hitchhiker's GUide to the Galaxy": are ACTUALLY really FINALLY here to set up the hyperspace by-pass and Earth is in the way. Tsk Tsk mankind! The plans have been available for viewing for a VERY long time. For more about Vogons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogon
Anyway... it's time to get ready to go enter the world of a wedding about to take place in Mamaroneck, NY. We are playing the reception. What an interesting reception it will be. The couple experiences rapture DURING THEEE Rapture.