Sawasdee khrap!
Your favorite author, songwriter, and publisher in permanent exile kept himself relatively busy again this past month, although as you can see from the pic above he did find time for a brief pleasure trip to Thailand. That prayerful posture, by the way, is called the wai and the birdlike angelic creature I am emulating is known as a kinnari. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, please allow me to share the highlights of my November to remember:
I Am (Still) a Pilgrim and a Stranger . . .
Speaking of pleasure trips, I hope you saw the promo for Pilgrimizing and were able to download your free copy of the e-book. If not, there will be more promos in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the e-book is once again available at the regular price. Note also that the paperback version of Pilgrimizing will be out before Christmas. If you read the book, in whatever form, please take the time to rate and review it on Amazon, Goodreads, and BookBub. Thanks, as always, for your support.
Weekly Jukebox in Your Inbox
I trust you’ve continued to enjoy receiving a new “Song of the Week” with words & music by Mark Will every Friday. As you surely noticed, I’ve been sharing tracks from the forthcoming remix album by my musical project [ai], No Cure for the Princess Disease or Its Mutant Viral Strains. Here’s the latest upload to YouTube:
My Name Is Will
After No Cure for the Princess Disease or Its Mutant Viral Strains has been released, I will start sharing tracks from my forthcoming solo album, My Name Is Will, work on which continued apace this past month at 112F Studio here in Taipei. The album cover, which will be unveiled sometime next year, will feature the artwork of the painter Brian Whelan:
Does the title make sense now? If not, see my namesake’s Sonnet 136 or simply enjoy this recently uploaded short video:
Attention, Beatleologists!
My analysis and discussion of the Beatles’ “Now and Then” on the latest edition of Guitar & Pen inspired some interesting comments. The full episode as well as clips have been uploaded to my YouTube channel.
The next episode of G & P will focus either on Samuel Beckett’s Words and Music or Roger Waters’ Dark Side of the Moon Redux. What’s your preference?
O Come, O Come, Immanuel!
I’ve also been prepping for the next episode of Books Are Burning!, which will focus on Immanuel Kant’s To Perpetual Peace. Needless to say, the US Empire and its Zionist attack dog in the Middle East fail to measure up to the standards set by the German Enlightenment philosopher. But more on that later.
Textual Deviants Engage in Textual Deviance
As you may know, Tomek and I recorded another “special emergency edition” of Texting based on our respective trips to the Caucasus and Bangkok. Here’s the video version of the full episode in case you missed it:
Clips are still being edited and will be uploaded with all possible speed.
And yes, I know I still need to do a write-up of my trip, which will be titled either “Siamese Dream” or “One Night (or Two) in Bangkok.” For that matter, I still need to do a write-up of my summer trip to Hong Kong. All in good time.
The Ever-Evolving Blueprint
I now think that the best publication schedule for this newsletter is as follows:
Monday - podcasts and podcast-related posts
Wednesday - poem of the week
Friday - song of the week
Other posts, both paid and unpaid, whether essays, audiobook excerpts, promos, leaks/previews, and these monthly updates might appear on any day. How does that sound?
Thanks for your continued interest, Substackers. See you next month.
MW