City of Legends

Just got through bringing up more than half an hour of more free downloads and listens of my recordings from my CDs, getting further down the road to having them all available to my readers and listeners.

In this batch we added:

(from the CD The Last Romantic Verb)

• from out of the city
• Bragi to Freya, on his deathbed
• Wordslinger
• glass roses

(from the CD Nemicorn)

• Damascus 3
• Brisant Revelations
• Texture of Your Tongue
• Love Gods (Multivox)

They are now all available at www.williamfdevault.com

The Unbitter Suite.

It’s a name, a play on words (my son, Dante, loves plays on words), and it is true. That dangly piece of music I have been working on for the last few weeks? I dreamt it the other night, and it fell into place as the musical spine of a set piece, akin to my early works Wordslinger, Eros V and Beasts of Legend off of my CD The Last Romantic Verb.

It’s big. and grand (note, without the "e") and majestic. It petrifies me, to be honest, as I am wondering if my words and voice can do it justice. But, being prone to leaping from parapets at the slightest provocation, I have to try.

If my obit reads I was found, eyes glazed, headphones on, the sound of synthesized bells and orchestra and a chaotic blast of emotion…then I failed. Or succeeded beyond my wildest dreams (Okay, maybe not my wildest dreams, as those generally involve an exotic beauty with an accent and a large pool of dark chocolate…but close).

I have been building on the musical theme, making it more complete and complex, a suitable compost for the words I must now plant into it. I am going to mostly harvest existing works that work with the mood (unrepentant romanticism) and the rhythmic structure.

It will be big. It will be true. It will be fun to do.

Love to all, I am off to see if I can make the world hear what I hear, feel what I feel when the right word or voice or touch or kiss is upon me and I yet believe that what I am told is more than just the faux fur finery of a pretense.

I am so glad to be alive, and to know what love is, at least in my own sphere.

Subject to my imperial whim (and we all know how mercurial that can be) I am making the following changes over the next 10 days:

• The dissolution of peacat.com
• Completion of the first 100 elements of williamfdevault.com
• The gutting, then dissolution of my Random Drafts and Chapters blog
• There are a few cosmetic changes to be done, as well, as well as some behind the scenes changes that no one likely to be reading this note will ever need to be privy to.
• I will make available the entirety of all my CDs, including Evangelist, as free downloads via williamfdevault.com
• Plus, for those who attend my readings on the 17th of this month, there will be some dramatic news about my books, past and future.

That’s all I have to say for now. Thanks to the people from StumbledUpon who notched my new presentation of Soubrette at williamfdevault.com. Mucho attention, mucho gracias.

Okay, one miracle down (you have no idea how much furious effort is going on in the background to accomplish all of this)…

The City of Legends Store has re-opened.  You can get there by slicking the linked name (in the previous sentence) or by following the top of the page link that reads "The City Store" (trying to keep it simple).

We’re offering some discounts on some books and CDs as a "Pre-tour Blowout", and as always, free shipping and custom signing.  Shopping cart services are courtesy of PayPal.

Available in the ‘Store are:

Books:

• As such…romantic poetry of rebirth
  
• Ronin in the Temple of Aphrodite
  
• Psalms of the Monster River Cult
  
• The Morgantown Suite Poems
  
• The Compleat Panther Cycles

CDs:

• Nemicorn
  
• The Naked Reads
  
• Amomancer:  nightblooming
  
• the last romantic verb

Not in the store?

• from an unexpected quarter
  
• Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion
  
• PanthEon
  
• 101 Great Love Poems (hardback and paperback)
  
• Invocato

But I may later decide to fold them in…I just hate making the store too chaotic and huge.  All of those not in the official store can be purchased elsewhere.

And yes, when Evangelist is done, it will be available through the City Store.

I need some sleep.  And a pile of fried chicken livers.  And a really good, earnest kiss.  And a rubdown.  And a new pair of running shoes.  And a vacation.   And a Damascus that is not an illusion.  And a Peppermint Patty (she candy, not the Peanuts character).

But for now, there is the forge and the hammer and the heat of the coals.  It is enough.

Here’s the tracks you can pretty much bet your grandmother’s virtue will be on Evangelist:

from the CD Amomancer:  nightblooming

• the taste.  Possibly the most sultry work I’ve done.  so far.

from the CD The Gods of Love:  Nemicorn

• NQ.  A funked up dance number.
• Right Set of Lips.  A charming little acoustic piece everyone seems to love.
• Strange…but Beautiful.  A tribute to every woman’s unique charms.  And the charm of unique women.
• Darfur (Jesus Wept).  We debated the inclusion, as it is inconsistent with the other pieces, but it has to be said.
• Love Gods (Multivox).  An experiment that did me proud.  Some people (ahem) still insist I had help on this one.
• Thetis.  I am not a huge fan of it, but someone dear to me adores it, and I am a sucker for that.
• Brisant Revelations.  A throwback to late-60’s classic rock.  The poem itself was written on a napkin at Larry Jaffe’s Moondog Cafe poetry readings one Spring evening while waiting to take the microphone.

from the CD William F. DeVault and The Gods of Love:  The Last Romantic Verb

• Kisses for Karma.  And yes, we’ve muted the horns in this lush evocation.
• Beasts of Legend.  How could I refuse this twelve-minute poetry jam?  Be thankful I left out Wordslinger.  God, but I love the transition into Radiant Tigers in this one.

That’s the current inclusion list for previously released tracks.  It could get altered if Jesika™ or Jazz decide to jam out their numbers to Layla-lengths.  We shall see.  And expect some pretty heady stuff and a surprise dedication on this disk.

Thanks to everyone, especially Mac, Dan, Sabrina, Jen, Karla and Twist for the emotional support. 

Ordered my new boots today.  You didn’t really think I’d start a new tour without a new, shiny, overpriced pair of exceptionally sweet Arthur boots, did you?   You obviously do not know me too well.

If you think I am going to turn in before midnight, PST, or feeling as funky as I was a few hours ago, you’re mui loco. (Did I get that right?)

One of the talents I have is the ability to manipulate my own emotional state. Sometimes it is easy, like running downhill, all you need to do is start moving. Sometimes it’s a lot tougher, like running uphill, requiring more will, but possible.

So I am right now fighting my way out of a funk a dunk to end all funk a dunks. I call those my suicide spirals. I ride them out for a few, then seize the first opportunity to pull up…I do this by any of several methods, not the least of which is list making. Tonight’s list is the ten best tracks on my CDs this past year.

Hmmm…I really can’t use THE NAKED READS as more than one track, as that’s really all it is, despite the multiple works on it, one very long track. But the contents of THE LAST ROMANTIC VERB and NEMICORN are valid, so here goes.

1. DARFUR (Jesus Wept): Have to give this track its due. It has received radio airplay overseas and recognition from several sites. It is nice to take the focus off my heart or genitals once in a while.

2. RIGHT SET OF LIPS: But not for too long…this romantic but sweetly intense work could be used as backdrop to most relationships I’ve screwed up over the years.

3. THE NAKED READS: Let get this long-ass piece out of the way. Dozens of poems, from softly romantic to gently erotic. Ear candy with a pillow-talk sensibility.

4. STRANGE, BUT BEAUTIFUL: Wow. That piece gets me every time I listen to it. I don’t know where I pulled it from, but I am glad to be able to claim it as my own.

5. TEXTURE OF YOUR TONGUE: I was on the fence about this piece, then the other night this beautiful young woman, giggling, kept asking me to read it to her, then chickening out. I must have done something right, eh, Jaz?

6. KISSES FOR KARMA: In the atom bomb that was NEMICORN, many have forgotten this piece from THE LAST ROMANTIC VERB…upbeat but unremittingly romantic. Yes, the horns are a bit much, but…

7. A PASSION, UNRELENTING: Like nothing else I’ve ever done, this piece just come from a space I cannot define. The music and the words just fell into place.

8. THE NOSFERATU’S QUANDARY: Who says this guy can’t funk it up in a good way? All we missed was Prince, shrieking in the background.

9. BEASTS OF LEGEND: The second longest arc-work from VERB, the bridge before RADIANT TIGERS alone is worth the price of admissions.

10. WORDSLINGER: At just over 18 minutes, an hellaciously long poetry arc, but when keystone phrase of IN THE MEMORY OF LOVERS, "I will take no pretender, again, to my bed", kicks in, you know who is shaping this universe.

There you have it…about ninety minutes of experimental madness. And there’s a whole new year out there, waiting.

And I feel better.