Today, on ArtZany! Radio I’ve got two great stories about ways of telling our stories. We’ll talk first with Gary Rue, a songwriter and teacher who will be offering a songwriting class beginning in June at Hot Spot Music in downtown Northfield.
Next, we’ll take a look at the story structure of a novel with author J. D. Radke who will visit Content Bookstore in Northfield on Thursday, 16 June with his new story levon a.
Click here to listen to the show!
First, in the ArtZany! Radio studio Paula Granquist welcomes musician, song writer, and teacher Gary Rue.
A performer and composer, Gary Rue has been playing music for audiences throughout the western hemisphere since the mid-sixties, beginning with various town halls in the upper Midwest and graduating to East Coast ‘tent’ tours that included the Big Apple (Carnegie Hall as music director and duet partner for Gene Pitney) and on to far flung points in Canada and the Caribbean. Early along the way, Mr. Rue began writing music of his own, and was rewarded with his some of his songs being recorded by (among others) Nick Lowe and Helen Reddy, as well as by many prominent regional artists.
He is the author of nearly 80 scores for music theater (including The Stinky Cheese Man, which toured the US and China with Dallas Children’s Theater in 2005-2006), is a 2010 Minnesota Music Hall of Fame Inductee and an active touring musician and educator.
Songwriting and Compositional Techniques
Hot Spot Music
801 Division Street, Northfield, Minnesota
Classes will be conducted on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30-9:30pm*
*Time is subject to change depending on consensus of students
Begins Tuesday June 13th and concludes on Monday, August 8th.
Materials will be provided (syllabus, rhyming dictionary, thesaurus, manuscript paper, pencils).
Songwriting and Compositional Techniques focuses on songwriting
as a craft, employing the three major elements of American Popular Song:
Lyric, Melody and Harmony, in a lecture/workshop environment.
Gary Rue is one of Minnesota’s most accomplished masters of the craft. The course is limited to six participants and includes two class sessions plus one individual session per week.
$800.00/person
Please register by June 1, 2016
Visit garyrue.com for more of his story.
Check out hotspotmusic.org for details about his upcoming class.
Next in the ArtZany! Radio studio Paula Granquist welcomes author J.D. Radke. His new book is an experimental novel called levon a.
Content Bookstore Event:
Thursday, June 16, 2016 – 3:30pm
314 Division Street
Northfield, MN 55057
contentbookstore.com
From contentbookstore.com:
“Told in reverse chronological order, levon a begins in cosmopolitan modern day Shanghai, China. A bloody disagreement at a posh wedding, and the complicated past of an uninvited guest are just the beginning (or the end) of an intricate tale of good, evil, purpose, regret, and lust that weaves backwards in time to reveal the truth, much like a memory plays out in our minds.
The beautiful storytelling is the triumph of the novel, and readers who initially question the experimental format will sing its praises by the end. Similar reverse order has been executed by literary greats such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and even Plato. It works in levon a (a novel, backwards) because it serves to deepen the meaning of the actions. After the enigmatic characters experience the consequences of their choices, the complex reasons and events that occurred previously reveal why they made them.
J.D. Radke lives in a charming old house on a picturesque street in St. Paul, Minnesota where he often writes on his open front porch. He is retired from Delta Air Lines, and appreciates his air travel perks as he promotes his book.
After studying Economics at Carleton College, Mr. Radke studied Mandarin Chinese in the MIM program at the University of Saint Thomas. He has always been a writer and journaling has been a constant part of his life, allowing him to collect everyday moments that would otherwise be easily forgotten. He has contributed articles in the Asian Pages and the Asian American Press.
Mr. Radke was the first American to work for Shanghai’s international airport in Pudong, China. He is a founding member of the Minnesota club of Shanghai and has served as the vice chair of the transportation committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
Among his many business ventures, Mr. Radke owned a small tattoo shop in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains in Southwest China. The tattoo designs were all made in house by locally famous calligraphers.”
