The REV It Up List

Brandi Carlile: A concert to remember

Written by Maria Hammon

Brandi Carlile is DIVINE. Her music, her vibrant lyrics, and the way in which she connects with her audience, are spectacular!

Linda and I attended Brandi's concert earlier this week and I cannot possibly think of a better time I have had in a long time! I can tell you that nothing can be better than getting the chance to take pictures without anyone telling us not to, and getting the chance to get as close as we wanted to (or needed to in order to get good shots) to the artists! We got to listen to some of our all time favorite songs (most of which Linda and I have heard over and over again only because we both have similar quirky ways in which we over-listen to our favorite tunes) and we even got a sound preview of Brandi's upcoming CD, due to be released in the Fall.  This was truly an amazing concert that I highly recommend to everyone!

If you are already a fan of Brandi's music, you probably already know that her lyrics are fantastic! If you haven't heard her music yet, you need to do that now! Really. Two of my favorite songs are called The Story, from her second CD and Follow, from her first CD. Both songs have lyrics I can deeply connect to. And who doesn't relate to the fact that we all must follow our heart to see where it might take us, or that all the lines across our face tell the story of who we are. I think I better go now, I need to go listen to her CDs one more time!

I'll share a few pictures of the concert here, but you can also visit my flickr page as well as Linda's blog and flickr page for more pictures of this event!

   

   

 

David Ben and the Ring Dragon

Written by Maria Hammon

David Ben had a dream that woke him up at 2 or 3 in the morning one day in 2001. It was all "like a movie," he explains, it was vividly explicit allowing him to see the story unfolding right before his eyes and he could even "clearly see the final act of the book!" He woke up that day and knew he had to write it all down.

And that, he did. He turned his dream into a beautiful reality: The Ring Dragon.

David tells me that Ring Dragon is unlike any other dragon that exists in the fantasy world out there. "This is a new brand, a new type of dragon." A dragon whose main target audience is fifth graders (or other dreamers, like me, who love fantasy books even at the still young age of 38.) 

David is an elementary school teacher who graduated from UCSC in 1998 with a degree in film and video production. He later obtained his substitute teaching credentials and has been teaching for the past nine years. In addition to his role as a school teacher, and now a book author, he has also created music for a local school play, Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.  You can hear all the tracks for this musical in this link. The interesting thing about David's musical talent is that he does not play any instruments, he uses a computer software called MIDI Synthesis to create his artful music. He simply has a natural given talent to create music! Specially classical music.

And from reading Ring Dragon, I can also say he has a talent for words! Many of the characters in Ring Dragon were inspired by David's students, and even by himself and his wife at a younger age. And perhaps because of its youthful sources of inspiration, Ring Dragon offers its readers a beautiful story filled with fantasy and excitement as well as a keen sense of humor and frankness. When the characters are faced with life and death situations, they react in the natural way in which normal fifth graders would react. Completely unpretentious with heroes who struggle and make mistakes, but learn from their experiences. Ring Dragon offers a true sense of freshness and fun. 

Like most dreams, the making of them can be a hard task. I asked David if his process of making his dream turn into reality was an easy one. "I had to knock on many doors. I got an agent and sent easily about 100 queries," he explained.

-Can you share a piece of advise to any young writers out there?

"There is no mystery. It's all about hard work. There is no quick way around it. Anyone who wants a successful book can do it if he or she works hard. If there was a secret I would like to find it. For me, it's all been a process of hard work."

David explains that Ring Dragon is intended to be a lengthy series and I am happy about that because I am already anxious to read the next volume! You can pre-order Ring Dragon here. It will be on sale in bookstores by late August.