Paul Zarzyski - OP 081906

Olio-’n’-Pastiche Archive: 08.19.06: News Flashes continued

ARCHIVE ENTRIES:
08.19.06: News Flashes cont.
08.16.06: News Flashes
07.01.06 : poem Snapshot Gravity

5: Speaking of Bucking Horse Moon, Wylie Gustafson is not only covering the song but is also making it the title cut to his forthcoming album recorded in Nashville earlier this summer. John Carter Cash produced the CD, which is scheduled for a late October/early November release. The record also includes Rodeo To The Bone, a rowdy, bluesy, humorous, romp of a co-write by Gustafsonski and Zarzyskison. And yet one more in which I played a hand—Whispering Hope, written with Ian Tyson. Talk about serendipitously surfacing out of nowhere!: I’d sent Wylie a cassette with a couple of song pitches. After a responseless month or so, he finally fessed-up that he’d “misplaced” the tape. So, while trying to relocate the rough cuts I initially sent, I stumbled across a caseless dusty cassette labeled something like “Tyson/‘W. Hope’/Sozzled in Missoula motel room--’87-’88?” I remembered doing a version on stage with Horse Sense when we worked together in the ‘90s. I dug deeper and found Justin Bishop’s arrangement and sent them both to Wylie. Ian and his band’s version was left open-ended; I rewrote and finished the closing verse after Wylie fell head-over-spur-rowels for the song. Incidentally, Whispering Hope was a Linger Rodeo Co. bronc I spurred to win the Cascade, Montana bareback riding in the late ‘80s. Yes, Whispering Hope is also the title of a spiritual song from way back when, but come to find out from Pat Linger recently. THAT IS NOT what
gave name to the big bay bucker (more on that

sometimes down the trail). I write about that great day in Cascade in a poem, Luck of the Draw, included in my 1996 Museum of New Mexico Press collection, All This Way For The Short Ride. There’s a good chance that Luck Of The Draw will appear on both of the forthcoming CD projects; it’ll likely be the opening cut to Collisions Of Reckless Love; moreover, Wylie tells me that, at this juncture, Whispering Hope is the grand finale to his new record. I revel in all the connections and reflections AND friendships, between poems and songs, between poet and songwriter storytellers, between artworks of light out in the ol’ Cowpoke Cosmos. Check out Wylie’s web.

6: One final snippet about songwriter compadres: Denise Withnell of Cowboy Celtic Diva fame has been phoning daily to find out if the parcel she sent south has made its way through customs and across the Medicine Line to Great Falls. It’s a mere 5-hour drive between here and Turner Valley, Alberta, but a two-week postal “tough trip through paradise” for a three ounce envelope, this one sporting a cassette of Denise’s vocal to a song her husband, David Wilke, and I wrote purt-near four years ago. March of 2003, if I recall correctly. Dave was passing through for a night when his beloved Canada homeland pounded Montana, as it is prone to do often in February and March, with a sockdolager of an Arctic Express. Snowbound, what COULD we do, other than what ALL

hearty snowbound artists do when faced with such adversity? You got it! We drank heavily and wrote a song. Though the water pipes froze, the artesian wells of whiskey and Guinness ran freely, while our creative bloodstreams pumped hot. David played for me a melody he’d been working on and I made my first attempt at fitting lyrics to existing music. VERY different—FAR MORE difficult—than drafting raw lyrics. I struggled. I seem to recall Dave snoring—cutting more cordwood than a drunk lumberjack—in the guest bedroom, while I toiled into the a.m. to fashion a lyric to dovetail precisely with the dulcet/mellifluous mood Dave had created. I remember actually hoping for the storm to last several days, which it did—just barely long enough for me to break through to the sunshine side. The song’s called Flying, Not Falling, In Love With You. It’s by far the most minimalistic lyric I’ve written to date and I can’t wait to hear Denise’s sweet lilt of it. She’s in the early stages of recording a solo album and I’d be tickled, beyond plum-pink to burgundy-grape-purple, if the song makes the cut. Since her husband wrote the dang music, the odds should be slightly in my favor—I think? Each day, when Denise calls to find out if I’ve received the cassette yet, I can’t help but to inquire, “…by the way, how are you and David getting along lately?” So far, so good. For more about D.W. & D.W. lock-on to Cowboy Celtic.

7: It’s looking 99% certain that I’ll be performing in San Francisco the night of October 5th for an event sponsored in part by The American Prairie Foundation, headquartered in Bozeman, Montana. If you’re “in town” and looking for something to do that evening, keep your ear to the ground of this website and/or www.americanprairie.org for more specifics.

8: After living in pursuit of the 8-second ride for so many years, 8’s become my favorite number, and today I’d like to dedicate my favorite number to good news from my website creator and orchestrator, Grace Kendall and her husband Eric, who are expecting their first child AS WE SPEAK. In light of the fact that Grace will be incurring sleepless nights, as well as sleepless mornings, afternoons, and evenings, it’s hard to say how much energy she’ll have for making website entries. “We’ll” do the best we can to keep you posted. Congratulations Grace and Eric! And here’s hoping the baby does NOT weigh 8 pounds, 8 ounces. (Ouch.)