Category: Melodies and Memories: Music, Songs, and Singers
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It’s Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Autumn…by Florida Standards, Anyway
Sunday, October 18, 2026 – Orlando, Florida Hi, everyone. It’s the first truly cool day of autumn in Central Florida. Right now, it’s 76°F (24°C) under partly sunny skies on this Sunday afternoon. It was chilly this morning when I got up, but it’s still relatively early in the season, so I didn’t feel like…
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How I Feel When I Wake Up Too Early….
A musical expression of my feelings right now….
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A Musicale for a Rainy Tuesday in October 2026
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 – Orlando, Florida Hi, everyone. I’m posting this on a dark and rainy evening in Central Florida. I don’t have much in they of news, and I made so little progress with the manuscript for And the Horse You Rode in On that I won’t bore you with how my writing…
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A Thursday Serenade for an Early Autumn Afternoon
Thursday, September 24, 2026 – Orlando, Florida Hello, friends. I’m running fashionably—well, unfashionably—late on my usual blogging schedule. I normally start drafting my WordPress posts between 10:30 and 11 AM, but it’s already a little past noon. Since a decent-sized musing takes me an hour or two to coax into existence, that would push my…
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On Writing and Storytelling: The Little Scene That Became a North Star
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Canada, Amazon Germany, Amazon Italy, Amazon Japan, Amazon Mexico, Amazon Poland, Amazon Spain (Amazon.es), Amazon Sweden, Amazon UK, Creative Writing, Films by Steven Spielberg, Melodies and Memories: Music, Songs, and Singers, Movies, Music, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, West Side Story (1961), West Side Story (2021), West Side Story – Original Broadway Cast (1957), West Side Story: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2021)The Little Scene That Became a North Star Every long‑form project has its origin myths — the moments that, in hindsight, shaped everything that came after. Sometimes these moments are deliberate. Sometimes they’re the result of careful planning, thematic intention, or structural foresight. And sometimes they arrive quietly, almost innocently, in a first draft written…
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On Writing and Storytelling: Why “Somewhere” was the Only Song Jim and Marty Could Sing
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Books, Creative Writing, Films by Steven Spielberg, Melodies and Memories: Music, Songs, and Singers, Music, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, West Side Story (1961), West Side Story (2021), West Side Story – Original Broadway Cast (1957), West Side Story: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2021)Why “Somewhere” was the Only Song Jim and Marty Could Sing Every writer knows the moment when a story makes a choice for you. You think you’re the one selecting the detail — the street name, the shade of blue, the song on the radio — but in truth, the story has already decided. Your…
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Say It with Music: A Saturday Musicale
“Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies.”― Edward Bulwer Lytton
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A Thursday Musicale for a Torrid Late Summer Day (August 27, 2026)
Hi, everyone. On this last Thursday of August 2026, I’m in the grip of a creative slump. Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe it’s depression. Maybe it’s a lack of fun or social engagement in my life outside the blogsphere, or maybe it’s a combination of all these things. Whatever is ailing me, I can’t seem…
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Billy Joel: Greatest Hits Volume III — A Retrospective Review
Billy Joel: Greatest Hits Volume III — 1985–1997 Year of Release: 1997 Record Label: Columbia Genre: Adult Contemporary, Pop, Soft Rock I’ll admit it freely now: I almost skipped this album. When Billy Joel Greatest Hits: Volume III arrived in 1997, I was deep into my classical music phase, spending what little discretionary money I…
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A Monday Musicale for an August Afternoon
Monday, August 10, 2026 – Orlando, Florida Hi, there. I’m still on a longish break from Professional Daydreaming™. I also don’t have any interesting life updates to share, so how about some music videos instead?
