“What's It About?” will be included on the album In The Fifth Circle, which will be released in late 2024 or in January of 2025 (assuming it's ever finished).
When I saw it, this big, beaming light.
I looked at the sky and I marveled at the flames.
My first thought was, like, hey, is this the end?
But I had my coffee. I knew I'd be okay.
There were these shadows burned into the pavement
Where people had stood when the demons had landed.
I didn't ponder these last mortal thoughts.
I was late for work and I needed to get moving.
(CHORUS)
Rage... on and on.
(What's it about, man? They say.)
Breaking chains... on and on.
(What's it about, man? They say.)
We rise. We fly.
(Sometimes you wonder.)
There were the fighter jets screaming overhead.
The Man had come to set things aright.
I took a side-road to avoid the traffic jams,
And just hoped I could make the next light.
The road was blocked by armored personnel,
And a heavily armed soldier flagged me down.
He said, "Where you going? Don't you know what's going on?"
I said "Hey look, man. I'm just tryin' to get home".
(BRIDGE)
With the help of the gods we'll find our way back home.
With the help of the gods we'll find our way back home.
With the help of the gods we'll find our way back home.
With the help of the gods we'll find our way back home.
(CHORUS)
Rage... on and on.
(What's it about, man? They say.)
Breaking chains... on and on.
(What's it about, man? They say.)
We rise. We fly.
(Sometimes you wonder.)
Music: Matt Kessel, Wicasta Lovelace.
Lyrics: Wicasta Lovelace.
Copyright © 2024 Windhaven Network.
Matt Kessel - guitarsproduction
Wicasta Lovelace - lead & backing vocals, bass, drums, programming
Victoria Lovelace - backing vocals
Wicasta Lovelace - mixing, masteringrecording locations
MIRA Studio - Saint Petersburg College (Gibbs Campus), Saint Petersburg, Florida
The Lair - Saint Petersburg, Florida
The short story which matches to “Other Shoe” is titled “The Transient”. It was the last addition to the stories I've been collecting, and the only one to be started in 2024. It came from my experiences taking reports from sheriff's deputies at the agency I worked for, where you got used to seeing certain names; people who deputies and support staff often called “frequent fliers”. It's easy to forget those souls you see out there living in the streets are people, that they had lives before winding up on the streets. Those women you see out there prostituting themselves? They were someone's daughter. They sat at a desk in school, learning to read and write, with the rest of us. I can guarantee you she thought her life would turn out differently.
AN EXCERPT
“ What the hell is going on?” someone asked.
Liam looked over at another driver who was now standing beside him in the street. He shrugged, but realized it hadn’t been an actual question. He looked up at the sky again. Whatever glow had been in the clouds was now fading. They didn’t look to be burning now. So that was good. No fireball was going to engulf them.
A tightness took hold of his throat as he realized how bad that could have been.
He took a sip of his coffee, a little surprised he’d never sat it down. The cell phone in his other hand buzzed and buzzed. He glanced down at Meghan’s many messages.
Let me know when you’re at work.
The neighbors are outside. Something is going on.
Fucking hell. What was that?
Are you okay, Liam? Please let me know you’re okay. Please.
He smiled, and texted her back, I have my coffee. I’m fine.
Liam wasn’t fine, though. Something decidedly bad had just happened. Any idiot could see that. It was like coming up to an auto accident right after it happened, and the emergency personnel hadn’t arrived yet. What do you do? What do you say? Most people are never prepared for what comes next. So you stand around in the street like an idiot with your coffee in hand, and you just try to figure out a way to get back to normal. Whatever came next, he knew that all of their lives had just changed. The only real variable was by how much.
Coming in 2024
Coming in 2024
Coming in 2024
Poor Matt Kessel. Little did he know what he was in store for. Matt and I partnered up for the Music IV class in the MIRA program at Saint Petersburg College. That's the final semester of the music production classes, where pairs of students work together on a project on their choosing. The idea is that it will foster collaboration on both the songs and production (which not all students are used to). I think I probably asked Matt if he wanted to partner up. We'd already been friendly, but hadn't actually worked together.
We got together at Matt's home to see what common ground we had. Matt played me a few of his guitar pieces which, in true Matt Kessel fashion, were all amazing, but the one that really jumped out at me was just quirky as hell. And I like quirky. I immediately heard the bass line which wound up in this song. And we were off and running.
I probably steamrolled Matt a bit on the project. I kept having all these crazy ideas, and Matt let me run with it. I took his original composition and stretched it a bit. It was far too short for a full-blown song. But otherwise, we used Matt's original arrangement, just repurposed and stretched. I added the bass and drums, and did the vocal. My wife, Victoria, pitched in the backing vocals. And somehow or another Matt and I wound up with a pretty cool, quirky song.
Both the album and the short story collection share the title, “In The Fifth Circle”. The common theme between the two is that everything in both collections happened in a fictional nightclub called The Fifth Circle. And both of them are connected to a novel title “Blood & Chartreuse”.
It's complicated, y'all.
Were the songs inspired by the stories? Where the stories inspired by the songs? The answer to both of those questions is “Yes”. To varying degrees there was push and pull in both directions. I hope that in the end they will all collectively add up to an immersive experience that takes us all a little off the beaten path.
The weird stuff is in the weeds. So they tell me. I'll just keep re-visiting these works until they're all finished and there's an album and a book that I can toss onto a fire if need be on those cold, dark nights of the sould. There are too many interesting critters and ideas running around in my head to not see this through.
~ Wicasta Lovelace
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