Rosy Nolan on "Seven Questions for Songwriters"

SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR SONGWRITERS

1. What makes you write?
What makes me write has changed recently. What used to make me write, 99.99% of the time, was feeling down on love. Recently, I've been writing songs to console my former love-sick self, so I guess the topic is basically the same.

2. Who is the greatest unknown influence on your music?
I can't separate an influence on my life from an influence on my music so I would have to say, my mama.


3. What is your most closeted, secret, guilty and humiliating musical pleasure?
I really enjoy relaxing to Native American flute music.

4. What established artist made you want to write songs, and why?
Lucinda Williams, because she speaks her truth so unapologetically and I wanna do that too.

5. Advice for just-starting songwriters on establishing yourself as a woman in the industry?
Write, write, write, write, write and what ever you do... don't date your guitar player.

6. Why country?
It's organic and raw, warm and inviting, and feels like coming home.

7. Favorite backwoods expression?
"Git 'er done!"

What is going on?

I try to stay away from talking about coaching rumors and things like that, but since we have a lot of future coaches in our department, I feel like this is a topic worth discussing and learning from. The question is, what in the world is going on with Urban Meyer? On December 26, he announced that he is retiring from coaching due to "health reasons." We later learned that he had lost 20 pounds during the season, and had to be taken to the hospital after the SEC championship game due to chest pains. Most people know that college football coaches work very long hours, have poor diets, and do not get much sleep. The fact that he was stepping away due to his health and wanting to be there for his family seemed noble. But, the next day, he apparently changed his mind, deciding only to take an undefined "leave of absence" in order to take care of his health. Then, news came out this weekend that he apparently is not taking any time off. He said he tried to take a day and a half off, but that didn't work. So, the question becomes, does he really have health issues, more specifically, cardiac issues, that need addressing, or was he just tired at the end of the season and made a rash decision? I just don't understand how he can go from retiring one day because he is afraid of the consequences coaching has had and will have on his health, to now not taking any time off at all. I can only come to two conclusions based on these sequences of events. 1) His health is really not a problem, and he just overreacted initially, or 2) His ego is so big that he can't step away from coaching in order to take care of himself or his family. I just think that he owes some sort of explanation for all of this. Hopefully future coaches can learn from this situation, that they need to take care of themselves, and be honest with people, because the facts around Urban Meyer do not add up.

Happy 128th Birthday Virginia Woolf!

Born January 25, 1882
Died March 28, 1941

"I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past."

Photo I Love

Gypsy Rose Lee and Her Girls
Photo by Ralph Steiner, 1950

I love how commanding Gypsy is in this picture with her gigantic fur wrap. So glamorous. Curves ahead indeed.

Happy 148th Birthday Edith Wharton!

Born January 24, 1862
Died August 11, 1937

"Beware of monotony; it's the mother of all the deadly sins."

RIP Jean Simmons

Born January 31, 1929
Died January 22, 2010

Obituary in the New York Times
I've always enjoyed Jean Simmons. I first remember her from TV. She starred in those great mini-series The Thorn Birds and North and South. But as I discovered older films, I discovered her too in things like Young Bess and Guys and Dolls and Olivier's Hamlet. In these later years, I really loved her in How to Make an American Quilt.

Here she is in a scene from Until They Sail, a little known WWII film from 1957. This is the scene where she first meets my darling Paul Newman, an American soldier stationed for a short time in her New Zealand port town.

The Misfits - 1961

Every time I see this film, I love it more. I think it is tragically overlooked considering the powerhouses of cinema who starred in it: Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, Thelma Ritter and directed by John Huston from a script by Arthur Miller - what more could a movie lover ask for? Besides that, it is the last finished film for both Clark and Marilyn. That tinges it with a sadness that goes beyond the sadness that is portrayed in the film. It's about the death of the Old West, the lonliness that one can feel even while surrounded by people, and how you can't tame a wild thing. If you haven't seen The Misfits I encourage you to do so immediately. After looking at the behind the scenes photos I'm posting here, I can't imagine you could stop yourself from HAVING to see it!

You can watch my favorite scene here.

A few years ago PBS did a documentary about this film. Their site is where I found these photos: PBS.org - Making The Misfits

Photos by Elliot Erwitt:
Photos by Inge Morath:
Photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson:
Photos by Eve Arnold:
Photos by Ernst Haas:
Photos by Erich Hartmann:
Photo by Dennis Stock:
Photos by Bruce Davidson: