Do It Yourself Nick Tosches

The man has definitely arrived - perhaps years later than he deserved - it was back about 92 [already over10 years late!] - I was reading his liner notes on a Screaming Jay Hawkins [the Black Tom Waits if yer a rootie-toot] cd -then a couple years later Nathan started pushing around a little 'fiction' book called Trinities . . . just those two items would be enough for anyone to be proud of, and of course there are so many authors who are prolific and shouldn't be. . . I thought it would be fun for some of you 'writers' out there to try your own Toshcesian feat - enjoy! - Vivat Pirata
Step one - Read a mess of Ezra Pound to get that sweeping back and forth between the centuries feel - Tosches takes us farther than Pounds simple Latin, but the mood is key. That the man himself references Pound in 'where dead voices gather' and therein lies integrity. A lesser man would try to distract us from an influence.
Step two - lash these facts together - the first keyboard instrument was the organ -invented circa 300 bc by Ctesibius of alexandria, who was looking for some self blowing pan pipes. [make note of the fact that this is almost unbelievable in academic circles -the modern vogue of collaboration and waves and currents make it nearly impossible to belive that and INDIVIDUAL is capable of anything at all except swimming in said currents]
- All the organs in Christian churches are actually carrying the pipes of pan forward through the centuries.
- the Piano arose in the early 1700's out of a desire for a more expressive instrument than the harpsichord -and it was it's ability to play with lighter dynamics that finally brought it acceptance.
-the black keys [at the time the white keys] wern't invented until the 14th century.
- it is a mark of our colonial complex that we use the term piano or pianoforte at all.
If you tell some doll 'say momma, I'm going to play you a nocturn on the SOft and Loud. . . ' it doesn't have the same ring.
Step three - lament the stupidity of those who don't know this, and further lament the stupidity of those who think they're wiser for knowing it. -This is the whole point, and improvement on Pound. It's okay to have an influence if you can escape its gravitational pull!
Step 4 -have a smoke, and a drink! If this is too difficult to do at the same time, practice,one then the other, until you achieve 'simultaneousity', and may the ghost of Bob Stinson smile upon you!