Music Before the Money

When I saw the movie, Forrest Gump, one of the main things I wanted to do afterward was to write a novel where my character met famous people throughout a certain span of history. Gump traversed an important time in in modern history.

In The Millennium Man I started my character out to be a Matt Helm/Bond-type but without the smaltz. However, I couldn’t do it. When I got into the plot I had to make my main character, Harley Melanson, a serious protagonist.

The fact that Harley is involved with almost every major conflict from 1917 up until 1949 was done on purpose. Some of the greatest personages in history, both famous and infamous, lived during this time.

My favorite famous character of the book was Winston Churchill because I got to read through a lot of material on his mannerisms, dress and thought processes. I even imagine him speaking the parts I was writing.

Hemingway was my second favorite because he was such colorful person. His friends included bullfighters and big game hunters. It was fun to write the party in in his hotel room with Franco’s artillery hammering Madrid in the background.

The next was Joseph Stalin when he was an underling of Lennon. Being the hatchetman for the Reds he was capable of great brutality one moment and then offer friendship to a condemned man in the next.

One advantage I had is that there are not too many people alive who have ever had a conversation with any of these men. So my artistic license is still in my wallet.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that my first microphone was stuck onto a broom stick which was then screwed to a pieces of plywood to keep it steady on the floor.

Crystals which demonstrate the piezoelectric effect produce voltages when they are deformed. Vocal sound waves accomplish this purpose. The crystal microphone uses a thin strip of piezoelectric crystal attached to a diaphragm. The two sides of the crystal acquire opposite charges when the crystal is activated by the diaphragm. These waves are transmitted to the amplifier and change with with the amount of deformation. They cease when the sound waves hitting the crystal cease.

The first crystal microphones used a special salt because of its ability to maintain a charge. However it was salt and any type moisture will break it down over time. Later came ceramic materials such as barium titanate and lead zirconate. The electric output of crystal microphones is comparatively large, but the frequency response is not comparable to dynamic microphones like the Shure series.

They also packed one hell of a shock when the impedance switch on the amp is flipped the wrong way!