Inspiration through Music

Music - the track, hill, loop, and turn of my emotional roller coaster. I am not musically inclined, not even a little bit. The only reason why I know the difference between a c scale and a g scale is because my Mother forced me to take piano lessons for 3 years.
How did it go? Well… My Mother is an angel and will probably be whisked through the pearly gates without a second glance. With that in mind, I have only been slapped by my Mother twice in my life, even though I deserved it countless more times, and each one was at the piano. In conclusion, piano lessons didn’t go well.

Nevertheless, the enjoyment of music has played a significant role in my life since I was young. Wether it was listening to the Peer Gynt Suite No.1 over and over again while running in circles when I was six or rollerskating to Staying Alive on 70’s night at the roller rink during college. I’ve always felt connected to music as I am sure many of you do.
But for me, the love of music has gone beyond appreciation. Music is the spark that sets my imagination into motion. Every single movie, book or story I’ve ever created has been born from a song that I heard.
Many years ago, I was perusing some of my dad’s old bossa nova CDs. Why did he have bossa nova CDs? To this day it is a mystery. He isn’t Cuban, he isn’t from Miami, nor does he have an affinity for Latin dancing. But there I was, listening to the bristling brass sections of Beny More and Perez Prado when on pops ‘Patricia’, a peculiar and ridiculous song. Instantaneously my imagination was transported to a sunny retirement village where plump retirees dressed in tropical colors are playing heated croquet matches.

Mallets are swinging, croquet balls racing along the manicured grass and I think, wouldn’t be amazing and silly if there was professional croquet? (There is!) And wouldn’t be even better still if a former champion succumbed to pressure and threw a championship match. The words “Black Croquet: The Story of Herman Strazinski” formed in my head and I was off!
That idea formed into a film script that never got made, but the idea was later incorporated into my new book Fremont Rosenbloom: Party Assassin for Hire.
So when I think back to every story I’ve created I can tie it to a song that helped me take flight. I’ve created a playlist of songs that have sparked stories.

What are some of the songs that have transported your imagination away?

Here are a few of the stories I’ve created and their corresponding song.
Funk Down (Movie) - Get Down Tonight
Crossovers (Movie) - Subterranean Homesick Alien
Crossovers (Book) - Hand Covers Bruise
Fremont Rosenbloom (Book) - Patricia and Wait
My new book I am working on (Book) - A La Lumiere Des Diamants  I hope you enjoy them!