Posted by Lisa Annelouise Tomer on June 25, 2000 at 11:22:27:
call for submission- visit www.nightrally.org for more info.
It's important to say something that is not confined to it's medium -Rudi
Gernreich
There are undoubtedly songs so finely crafted that they, on their own, pass
into literature. Listening to Bruce Springsteen's "Spirit In The Night", it
is easy to believe that it is a short story being sung to a conveniently
crafted tune, so perfect in natural cadence is the narration of the first
verse. By the time Springsteen's voice cracks on the phrase "they're built
like light", he is a storyteller more than he is a rock star.
It was that very verse of that very song that T. C. Boyle used as a
springboard for his short story "Greasy Lake". Writers everywhere admit
readily to pulling a song title out of their memory or tape collection to
serve as a title for their own story, or even as a prop within the piece
itself. In night rally's special all-fiction second issue, dutch pink and
italian blue (a phrase from the Tom Waits' song "Temptation"), short stories
are written within the boundaries of songs themselves.
Suggested reading: "From 'Maggie May', 1981", by the brilliant Lester Bangs
in his posthumous anthology Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung.
Suggested listening knows no bounds, from Henry Mancini instrumentals to last
year's one-hit wonder pop morsels (although night rally recommends titles
such as Springsteen's "Greetings From Asbury Park", Steely Dan's "Katy Lied",
and the Violent Femmes eponymous first release). Submissions deadline:
October 15, 2000.