Dia Reeves

This is what I’ve been listening to on repeat the past two days.

I like the parts when he goes, “OH!” Don’t ask me why. :p I’ve also been listening to the Sweeney Todd soundtrack, the original cast recording with Angela Lansbury–this song especially because it’s not in the Tim Burton version.

What else? Oh, yeah. On the way to Florida, we listened to some CDs I made of old school stuff, and one of the songs that took me waaaaay back was this one.

I made a reference to it in Slice of Cherry–the sisters are at a Juneteenth celebration and the old folks are listening to Lenny White. This is the song I was thinking of when I wrote that.

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For this edition of Music Monday, I’m going waaaaaayyyyyy back. To, like, the eighties, man. xD Anyway, the first song is “Dr. Soul” by some group nobody’s ever heard of called Foster and McElroy, featuring the great MC Lyte. I have very distinct memories of doing the wop to this song.

And this one by Young MC. EVERYBODY knows this song.

And speaking of busting a move, just in case you’re wondering what kinda funky fresh steps to perform with these songs, here you go. This guy is totally representing for the eighties, yo.

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According to the random number generator, Tina G. is the winner! Yay! I will need you to email me your address (diathewriter at yahoo), and then I will mail you the ARC of Slice of Cherry.

And to everyone else, thanks for playing along. It has been very entertaining, indeed. Really dug the stories/neuroses (looking at you Georgia; and possibly Mallory–a rabid squirrel? xD). A few things though:

Ari – The Book of Lost Things sounds cool. I’ll have to look that one up.

Jena – What is this mysterious sexy comment of which you speak? The only time I require sex in a book is if I’m reading a romance. A romance novel without sex is like cornflakes without milk. Blerg.

Ronni – Hot mess is right, but the finished copy will be cold and tidy. And don’t I know you from somewhere? The blueboards maybe?

Doret – Apparently knives are the killing tool du jour. But in the rock, paper, scissors of life, I think bus beats knife. Hands down. ;p

Kay – Creeptastic, as usual. I’ve never felt a need to hurt a truffle bar, but I often torture candy bars by sinking my teeth into them. Repeatedly. I feel no remorse for this. I can only be me.

Sara – You definitely had the best comment. Love the image of the 60-year-old aunt sniffing crack off the bodies of hot guys. xD

And music! Forgot to do this yesterday, so here’s one from Faith No More. People mostly remember their one hit wonder “Epic”, but they had a couple of other songs that I like. Like this one. The video probably won’t make sense unless you’ve seen the movie Vertigo, so all you young’uns avert your eyes.

Tags: Music, Slice of Cherry
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Still haven’t got a cover yet and I’m still working on correcting some of the goofs–hoping to get everything ironed out for the final copy. However, if you want a sneak peak at a big, juicy slice o’weirdness, leave a comment. But you know the rules–it has to be interesting/entertaining or I will throw you under the bus. And don’t think I won’t–I’m magic. I’ll pick a winner at random a week from today. Oh, and since I missed Music Monday, there’s a tune down below. Three words: Disturbing. As. Crap. Enjoy!

Tags: giveaway, Music, Slice of Cherry
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I haven’t done one in forever, so let’s see…

Lately, I’ve been listening to Dakota Fanning’s version of “Cherry Bomb” which I actually like better than the original. Yes, that’s probably blasphemous to all The Runaways fans, but screw it. Anyway, listening to “Cherry Bomb” made me remember my fave Joan Jett song, which is “Bad Reputation”. I swear to God, she wrote that song especially for me. So if ever anyone should try to get holier-than-thou with me about how my stuff is inappropriate for teens, I will simply send them a link to “Bad Reputation”. And also, possibly, advise them to suck it.

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So I’ve been listening to “Old Man” by Neil Young a lot lately. Probably because I’ve been watching the documentary Dogtown a lot–not so much for the skateboarding as for the soundtrack. Anyway, I read somewhere that Young claims “Old Man” is about the janitor who worked for him, which I found very disappointing. Because to me, the song is about a (somewhat angry) son trying to get his father to acknowledge him as a person. But my interpretation isn’t based on anything except my crap relationship (relationship might be the wrong word) with my own father.

It’s impossible to have an opinion about something without revealing a part of yourself, isn’t it? And it’s also impossible to put something out in the world and say, okay this is what this is about and nothing more. Because people always internalize everything and come up with their own narrative, despite the creator’s original intent.

So Neil Young and his janitor can both suck it, I guess. I like my interpretation, and I’m sticking with it.

And I totally thought Neil Young wrote this song. Turns out, there’s some dude floating around out there called Neil Diamond. Who knew?

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I really like the 80s band Devo, which I first discovered in an episode of Square Pegs (short-lived show about dorks trying to get in with the cool kids). I even remember the song from the episode, Jocko Homo, which is still one of my favorite Devo songs. (They also did the song Whip It, which even you young’uns have heard of .)

Anyway, this guy recommended I listen to a Japanese band called the Polysics because they have the same nerdilicious sound and aesthetic as Devo. See for yourself.

Unless you speak Japanese, fast forward the Polysics video to about 2:08.

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I love playlists. I have playlists built around all kinds of crap: food, people’s names, nonsense lyrics, mean boys, robots, spooky sh*t (I blogged about this particular playlist here). I even have a playlist based solely on the Berkinator, which I like to call Berkin’ It Up.

And so of course I have playlists for my books. Here’s a sampling from the Bleeding Violet playlist.

Tags: Bleeding Violet, Music, playlist
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• I hate surprise parties. If you want to be my friend, never throw a party for me. Ever. I will not forget and I will not forgive.
• I think it’s cute that some reviewers think writers look at bad reviews, study the criticism, and then use the lessons learned from the criticism to suck less when writing their next book. Absolutely adorable.
• Speaking of bad reviews, to all the reviewers who don’t like Bleeding Violet, but who think I have talent and are looking forward to my next book, don’t bother. It’s just more of the same sex and violence and surreal crap that turned you off in the first place. Try a Sisterchicks novel instead–those are sweet and wholesome, and when you turn the last page, the story will not linger in your mind or derange it with disturbing thoughts or imagery. You have been warned.

I haven’t done a Music Monday in a long time. I’m in a mood to celebrate the bizarre, and who’s more bizarre than Grace Jones? She’s this scary/beautiful supermodel from the 80s who’s been in movies, but is also a singer. She even sings in French–that’s how badass she is. This song isn’t in French; it IS creepy and strange though, and I’m kind of into it right now.

Tags: Music, random thoughts, weeding out the non-weirdos
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Sometimes I can’t reconcile these two sides of myself, you know? One side is moved almost to tears by old school Al Green.

(And note that he’s not lip-synching, which is typically the norm on Soul Train, even way back in the day.)  But the other side loves the awesome battle rap that is “Top That”.

(I especially love the guy rocking the capris and all those sweet sweet dance moves.)

I’m not sure how the two sides of my self are able to coexist, but they do. I should work at the UN and school warring nations on how to live in peace. If I can do it, everybody should be able to.

Tags: Music
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