Our lyrical raw materials: Cemetery –> Stars/Planets –> Band –> Apology Letter –> Unsent Invitations. Musically it’s a pretty song that takes things down a notch compared to the tunes that preceded it. And that’s the slalom course I tried to ski here. Other connections were also in play. The opening line “Ladies roll by…”…
LX Chapter Commentary #4: Neighbor Down The Hall
Many of the songs on A Love Extreme have phrases I adore so much they became non-negotiable blueprints for L Extreme chapters from the earliest drafts. Here the magic words were “jambox” and “Halloween.” Inserting a jambox as a recurring prop was relatively easy. Working Halloween into the book’s timeline proved more difficult… Why was…
LX Chapter Commentary #3: You Stood Me Up
A dream, a frame story, and a flashback walk into a novel based on lyrics from a double album by Benji Hughes who also stars as the protagonist. Kidding aside, the thrill of working on L Extreme was the kitchen-sink zaniness of the structure. As I began to identify the throughline of the plot, songs naturally…
LX Chapter Commentary #2: Tight Tee Shirt
Chapter 1 of L Extreme ends the dreamy non-dream with “and then I fall asleep,” so we naturally kick off the main action with Benji waking up. After making the switch to fiction, my original concept for the book was a set of loosely connected short stories. Take the same characters and settings and let them…
LX Chapter Commentary #1: I Am You, You Are Me, We Are One
As referenced previously, the first chapter I wrote for L Extreme was about the song “The Mummy” starring Benji, Count & Frank and referencing additional Benji Hughes songs from other albums. I did a few of those in random order and had a rough idea of how to loosely segue my way through the first…
LX Origin Story, Part I
Before I dive into chapter by chapter, song by song commentary for L Extreme I wanted to provide a little background on how this came to be. Let’s start at the beginning… July 2009: I purchased the special music issue of The Believer magazine at Skylight Books in LA. It was a total impulse purchase…
New Novel: L Extreme
It’s been awhile but we’re back with style… Announcing the new novel by JL Civi: L Extreme! Readers of this blog know I’ve been a huge fan of Benji Hughes for years. Somewhere along the line I decided to write a novel based on his album A Love Extreme. For a reason I can’t fully recall…
Of The Year: 2020
—In a strange and challenging year, we needed music to keep us sane more than ever. Somehow it came through in spades with a slew of stellar new releases and live(stream) shows in the new normal. ALBUMS 1. Nobody Lives Here Anymore — Cut WormsCut Worms wasn’t on my radar until Spencer Tweedy covered “Last…
2020 Hindsight Commentary: 25 Minutes To Go, Across Twenty-Six Winters, Prologue (Reprise)
I’m revisiting Timely Persuasion 12 years after releasing it / 17 years after writing it / 6000+ days since I jokingly told Jon Mack “maybe I’ll write a book” with a new round of fresh eyed commentary. Today’s look at yesterday’s chapters is brought to you by Shel Silverstein, Phoenix Mourning, and Katy Keene. 25 Minutes…
2020 Hindsight Commentary: 22 Days, 23:59 End of the World, 24 Hour Party People
I’m revisiting Timely Persuasion 12 years after releasing it / 17 years after writing it / 6000+ days since I jokingly told Jon Mack “maybe I’ll write a book” with a new round of fresh eyed commentary. Today’s look at yesterday’s chapters is brought to you by 22-20s, Carter USM, and Happy Mondays. 22 Days…