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A very long serial novel running from 1974 to 1987, plus sequel and prequel. |
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Rehearsal is my baby, my writing baby. It's what turned me into a novelist. It's been therapy and education and fun and hair-pulling and brain-testing. It's my "work of the heart" (although all of my books truly matter to me). I started this story way back in my teen years, inspired by an actual band and somewhat by actual events of that band. It is NOT that band and the characters are not meant to be any of the inspirational band members. They are purely my creation. Four of the books out of what will be a set of seven, plus a sequel and a prequel, have been released, beginning in 2006, but they're being pulled off the "shelves" for a revamp. Here, I will be posting research, music used, original lyrics, excerpts, character interviews, and other Rehearsal related items while I work on getting it together and ready for a new shebang release sometime in the future. |
Anytime (1978) Written by Robert Fleischman, Gregg Rolie, Neal Schon, Roger Silver and Ross Valory; Performed by Journey Journey figures heavily into Rehearsal over the years, since Susie adopts a few Journey songs as special to her. Anytime has several writers, mostly band members, and it showcases the beautiful harmonies that help Journey stand out. Both facts are reminiscent of the way Raucous shares songwriting duties more as time passes, as well as sharing lead singing duties and solos to help each member stand out. They're very much in it as a team and want each other to look as good as possible. They're also big on close harmonies, which is pointed out by several reviewers. The song is also a metaphor for the way Susie always makes her time and energy available to the band when they need her, even at her own expense. The repetition of "anytime that you want me, anytime that you need me" echoes how often she says, "What do you need?" and "How can I help?" ------- This is entry #5 for
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It's A Game (1977) Written by Chris Adams, Performed by the Bay City Rollers Susie is very straight-forward and honest, and while helping "her band," as she calls Raucous, she finds herself very uncomfortable having to manipulate the image and hide the truth in order to play the game that is the big world of music. The Bay City Rollers also happen to be the inspiration for the series, way back when. Yes, I was a huge fan. I still am. Their music was fun at first, turned deep and introspective, and they were much better musicians than the critics gave them credit for. Anyway, after creating the characters fully through my teen years and early twenties after they disappeared from view (or at least from my view) and having much of the story written, I did happen to meet and talk with a couple of them. I can easily say that although many of the issues in the story are echoed from real life (as I think all good novels should), and although there are borrowed names and some coincidences, such as: in the story, Duncan's sister's name is Laura and he calls her Laurie, while, years after that had been written, unbeknownst to this author, the actual Duncan who takes over as lead singer in the late 70s marries a band follower named Laurie, the characters and actual musicians have very little in common. It is fiction. The characters are who they need to be for the story and nothing more. Only a couple of names were borrowed and a couple adapted, as a tribute. It is, after all, just a game. ---------- This is entry #4 for
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Beth (1976) Written by Peter Criss, Stan Penridge, Ezrin; Performed by KISS Raucous, along with fighting personality issues, also has to fight their label on a regular basis. Axis wants them to retain their boy-next-door look and sound while Duncan spearheads the fight to move into the mid-Seventies with a harsher, more adult sound. With the money controlling the albums, they're forced into doing a lot of cover songs they feel are holding them back. Susie joins the fight to let them move forward, mentioning other bands doing well with harder, more adult looks. One of the bands she mentions is KISS: "That's scary, really." Scary or not, she does become a KISS fan. Beth is about a musician too busy with his career to spend much time with his girl and he's apologizing for it, but he knows it's not going to change. At one point, Stu sings part of it to his girlfriend, with unintended results. Much of Rehearsal deals with the life of rock stars: the long, late hours, the traveling, the fans, girls throwing themselves at them, never knowing which are interested in them for them rather than only for the image ... and how those who try to be close to them deal with it, or don't. ---------- This is entry #3 for
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You're My Best Friend (1975), written by John Deacon, performed by Queen Friendship is a major part of Rehearsal. When five guys with personalities big enough to be rock stars spend much of their time together over several years, there are bound to be issues. Every band has them. Raucous, my fictional band, has their share, particularly between lead singer Mike Kean and keyboardist/bassist/songwriter Stuart Lowe. They grew up in the same town on different sides of the street, so to speak. They learned music together. They have a deep respect for each other. But they also bicker constantly. Doug Lawrence, the drummer, also grew up with them and being calm and level-headed, he is well used to playing mediator between the two. By the time Rehearsal starts, Evan and Mike have been roommates for a couple of years and also good friends. Kate Montgomery, who grew up in PA with Evan and Susie, has been roommates with Susie for the past two years, and dating Mike almost that long. Her relationship with Evan is complicated and mostly hidden. Susie and Evan are best friends hands down. They constantly look out for each other. They adore each other. They need each other. And yet, they're something between them neither really understands and can't get past. Duncan often gets caught between that. He deeply respects them both and tries to stay out of their squabbles while trying to help them understand each other a bit better than they do. Duncan and Susie are very fast to understand each other and to build a strong friendship that becomes more. You're My Best Friend from Queen's A Night At The Opera (1975), was written by their bass player John Deacon, to his wife. They managed to stay together through the turbulent years, and they're still together. Deacon learned the electric piano due to the fact that Freddy Mercury wouldn't play it and the song was written on it. This song and its background serve a nice metaphor for the series as a whole, especially for Evan, the lead guitarist turned bass player after Duncan joins because Duncan only plays guitar and has no interest in any other instrument. As the series progresses, a lot of Raucous songs come from the band members writing to their mates. --------- This is the 2nd entry for
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Please Be With Me, written by Charles Scott Boyer, performed by Eric Clapton Rehearsal, the Series, begins in 1972 when two very different guitarists from very different backgrounds happen to meet in a dingy little bar in Greenville, Pennsylvania while one is playing with a "barely third rate" band and the other is hanging out with college buddies on a date that's barely a date. That's only the prologue. The actual story begins in 1974 when Duncan O'Neil, a Scottish guitarist hiding from authorities by jumping to different states, playing with whatever band he can find and working whatever cash jobs come his way, accepts an invitation to visit from the "college kid" he met at Sam's two years before. At the end of the rope, he decides he has nothing to lose. Evan Scott, now working as the manager of a gym, is entrenched in a band with three friends from New Hampshire now living in Massachusetts. His life-long friend Susie Brooks has moved with him from Eastern Pennsylvania where they grew up together, and lives across the hall in the same apartment building. She's a dance teacher struggling to make ends meet. Hooked to and dependent on Evan, who is five years older and her main stability, she's thrown when she meets Evan's friend. He's fully not what she expected and fully captivating between the way he plays that guitar, his stance, his "painted on" tee and jeans with holes in the knees, the long, dark hair, and ... that accent. It doesn't take long to find out Duncan is a huge fan of Eric Clapton. She doesn't call herself a fan, but she likes some of his music, which captivates Duncan in return. There starts a very long story that includes plenty of family issues, from all band members, and a love triangle fueled by several kinds of passion. Eric Clapton's LP 461 Ocean Boulevard was released in 1974, after four years of his fight against drug addiction. It's been said it's his best album. Duncan and Susie talk about it in the story, about their thoughts, using it also as a metaphor for restarting on their own new paths. Please Be With Me is a love song of not only the heart, but of the soul and the mind, a celebration of a true connection with another. It's a metaphor of the burgeoning relationship that means far more than their initial physical reactions to each other. --------- This entry is part of the 20th Birthday Celebration (Entry 1):
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