Category: Pop Music
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How Pop Culture and Music Inform the Garratyverse
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in A Bridge Too Far (1977 film), Alex Diaz-Granados, All the Things You Are, All the Things You Are (Kern and Hammerstein), Amazon, Billy Joel, Classical music, Comings and Goings: The Art of Being Seen, Creative Writing, John Williams (Composer), Kindle, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Ludwig van Beethoven, Melodies and Memories: Music, Songs, and Singers, Movies, Music, Music & Concert Specials, Pop Music, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: Coda, Star Wars, Superman: The Movie, The Summer of Two Movies, West Side Story – Original Broadway Cast (1957)How Pop Culture and Music Inform the Garratyverse If you spend enough time inside the Garratyverse, you eventually notice something: Jim Garraty’s world doesn’t just contain pop culture and music—it breathes through them. Songs, films, TV shows, and the cultural noise of their eras aren’t background decoration. They’re emotional weather systems. They shape memory, mood,…
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Saturday Afternoon Musicale: ‘The Way You Look Tonight’
Saturday, May 2, 2026, Orlando, Florida It’s a hot, windy, and potentially stormy late spring afternoon in Central Florida. As I write this, it’s almost 2 PM, and the temperature is 90°F (32°C) under cloudy and windy conditions. With humidity at 49% and a brisk southwesterly breeze blowing at 22 MPH (35 Km/H), it feels…
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A Friday Musicale (No News is Good News, I Guess)
Friday, April 10, 2026, Orlando, Florida Hey, there! I’m off to a late start on this last day of the regular workweek! As I write this, it’s already mid-afternoon in my small corner of Central Florida, and the weather is typically warm for spring in the subtropical zone. With partly sunny skies and the relative…
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A Tuesday in December’s Musicale
Hi, everyone. I’m still tired after that brief trip down to Miami to retrieve most of my belongings from the place where I lived for 10 months after decamping from New Hampshire last fall. So, instead of a regular post or review, I offer a selection of music videos from YouTube.
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Sunday Musicale for November 30, 2025
It’s early afternoon on this last day of November here in the Orlando area. Try as I might, though, I can’t seem to pick a topic for my daily blog, and I don’t feel like checking to see what the WordPress daily prompt is. So…how about some music videos instead?
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Where Time’s Winds Blow: The Scene That Started It All
Every story has a beginning. Sometimes, that beginning is clear and deliberate—a spark of inspiration that feels undeniable. Other times, it sneaks up on you, a seemingly small moment that quietly takes root, only revealing its true significance years later. For Reunion: A Story, that moment came in the late 1980s when I was a…
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Sunday Serenade: Songs and Compositions I Enjoy
Midday/Early Afternoon, Sunday, January 5, 2025, Miami, Florida Hi, everyone. Well, while I am feeling a bit better today, I’m still under the weather. So, instead of the usual narrative blog post or occasional review, here’s a selection of music from YouTube for this first Sunday of 2025! Enjoy!
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Narrative Threads: A Conversation on Crafting the Reunion Duology, Part the Fourteenth
Music and Emotion: Maddie is a concert pianist for the New York Philharmonic. How did you use music to enhance the emotional depth of the story? Are there specific pieces of music that played a significant role in the narrative? Music is a huge deal in the Reunion Duology, and it shapes the story in…
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Themes and Variations: The Timeless Charm of ‘All the Things You Are’
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, All the Things You Are, All the Things You Are (Kern and Hammerstein), Amazon, Amazon Music, Creative Writing, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Melodies and Memories: Music, Songs, and Singers, Music, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: CodaThe author, a fan of standards from the Great American Songbook, shares the influence of music on their writing process and introduces “All the Things You Are” as a significant song. They express their fondness for different variations of the song, providing various links for the readers’ listening pleasure.
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Music to Write Novels By…(And Soothe a Writer’s Troubled Brow)
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, All the Things You Are, All the Things You Are (Kern and Hammerstein), Amazon, Creative Writing, Favorite Songs, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Melodies and Memories: Music, Songs, and Singers, Music, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: CodaLate Morning, Monday, July 29, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire Hey there. It’s pretty overcast this morning and kinda cool for a New England summer day. Looks like it’s gonna rain later, but thankfully, no thunderstorms are on the horizon, so I can focus on my novel without any worries. I’m trying to get in the…
A Certain Point of View, Too 