{"id":2787,"date":"2022-04-17T16:53:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T21:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/?p=2787"},"modified":"2022-12-05T23:29:48","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T05:29:48","slug":"remixing-heartman-songstress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/remixing-heartman-songstress\/","title":{"rendered":"Remixing Heartman & Songstress"},"content":{"rendered":"

L Extreme<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>plays out in album order as a track-by-track adaptation of\u00a0A Love Extreme<\/em>, but ironically following the song sequence generated a non-sequential narrative that loops back on itself in a series of flashbacks.<\/p>\n

Keeping score at home? Excluding framing devices, re-arranging the chapters into chronological story would be along the lines of:<\/p>\n

21, 3, 8, 9, 10, 23\/11, 12, 13, 1, 2, 4, 5, 16\/6, 7, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26<\/p>\n

(You could also argue 1\/19\/25 happen simultaneously & 8 is contemporaneous with 9-13. Plus it wouldn’t be too hard to convince me the unlisted epilogue actually belongs first…)<\/p>\n

Got all that? Numbering schemes aside, it’s a wild trip. Many readers have told me Side B (8-13 chronologically) would make a good standalone novella. Some even say reading Side B before Side A is a better intro to the story. It’s a valid take.<\/p>\n

Sticking (mostly) to the album sequence, I viewed the genre-shift of the extended B-Side flashback as a bit of a twisty rug pull that pushes the story in a different direction for the second half. Using it as the hook instead of the twist hadn’t crossed my mind, but the more I thought about it the more intrigued I got.<\/p>\n

Better still, why not have it both ways? Asking anyone to read the same book twice to fully appreciate it is too much. But what if the free sample came from Side B instead of Side A? If you dig it, you can take it from the top. When you reach the part you already read you have the option of re-reading or skipping over it without penalty or confusion. Now I really loved this idea.<\/p>\n

Re-introducing\u00a0The Ballad of Heartman & Songstress<\/em><\/a> \u2014 a lightly remixed version of\u00a0L Extreme<\/em>‘s\u00a0second act that removes the frame story, mixes in the Jessica flashback chapters, adds more Benji Hughes inspired section titles plus one brand new scene.<\/p>\n

Completely standalone & completely free, featuring a killer cover illustration via Stuff By Mark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Story by JL Civi, Songs by Benji Hughes, Stuff by Mark<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L Extreme\u00a0plays out in album order as a track-by-track adaptation of\u00a0A Love Extreme, but ironically following the song sequence generated a non-sequential narrative that loops back on itself in a series of flashbacks. Keeping score at home? Excluding framing devices, re-arranging the chapters into chronological story would be along the lines of: 21, 3, 8,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,22],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-2787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes","category-writing","tag-benji-hughes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfx3-IX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2254,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-origin-story-part-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":2787,"position":0},"title":"LX Origin Story, Part II","author":"LBDG","date":"August 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Like I said towards the end of Part I, after chipping away on a novelization of A Love Extreme on and off (mostly off) for a few years I had a song by song storyline that (amazingly) worked so much better than I imagined given the circumstances. I'd also come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2478,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-21-kenny\/","url_meta":{"origin":2787,"position":1},"title":"LX Commentary #21: Kenny","author":"LBDG","date":"November 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Bonus track time!Or said differently, I cheated again...First I swapped the order of Mmmmmmm & Even If. Here I'm including a song that isn't actually on A Love Extreme. Why? It's complicated.In the first draft this flashback to Jessica meeting Kenny in Jamaica was the second half of \"Where Do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Kenny-Single-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2237,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-9-do-you-think-they-would-tell-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":2787,"position":2},"title":"LX Commentary #9: Do You Think They Would Tell You?","author":"LBDG","date":"July 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This wasn't supposed to happen, but ultimately it became the embodiment of the epigraph at the front of L Extreme: \"Oh definitely. There is a theme there. I don't want to say anything about it. Maybe it's love. There is something that the whole thing's all about.\"\u2014Benji Hughes, Artist Direct\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hints on the paperback spine.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/LX-Spine-49x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2339,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-commentary-13c-girl-in-the-tower-part-iii\/","url_meta":{"origin":2787,"position":3},"title":"LX Commentary #13c: Girl In The Tower (Part III)","author":"LBDG","date":"September 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's pick up where we left off with the doors. SAL + MON = Salmon. The CD version of the album Songs in the Key of Animals assigns these names to each disc. The LP version subtitles the sides. L Extreme the novel pays tribute with little signs on two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/SalMonSITKOA-279x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3211,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lbdg-commentary-17-timely-persuasion\/","url_meta":{"origin":2787,"position":4},"title":"LBDG Commentary 17: Timely Persuasion","author":"LBDG","date":"October 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In the last commentary I mentioned an aversion to albums that share their title with a song on the record. I prefer album titles to come from lyrics or overarching concepts vs. having a title track. (See: Nevermind, Skittish, A Love Extreme). On the other hand, I'm a big fan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Annotated-TP-Chapter-16-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Annotated-TP-Chapter-16-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Annotated-TP-Chapter-16-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Annotated-TP-Chapter-16-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Annotated-TP-Chapter-16-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2088,"url":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/lx-origin-story-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":2787,"position":5},"title":"LX Origin Story, Part I","author":"LBDG","date":"April 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Behind the Scenes"","block_context":{"text":"Behind the Scenes","link":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/category\/behind-the-scenes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Believer Issue 64, July\/Aug 2009","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/200907.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2787"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2851,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787\/revisions\/2851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.timelypersuasion.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}