Editor’s Letter
By Sandy Rodriguez
Besides being hugely successful artists in their own categories, what do grunge pioneers Nirvana, punk-rock band The Ramones, and art rock icon David Bowie have in common? They all performed songs inspired by books.
Like any other type of artist, musicians can find inspiration pretty much anywhere, and sometimes the source is a book. On other occasions, a performer might be required to base a song on a piece of literature, perhaps for inclusion in the soundtrack of its film version.
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain loved Perfume: The Story of a Murder, authored by Patrick Suskind, so much that it led him to compose Scentless Apprentice. The Ramones created one of my all-time favorite songs, Pet Sematary, based on a Stephen King bestseller by the same title. David Bowie’s 1984 paid homage to the George Orwell novel.
Sometimes, books give way to musicals, such as Les Misérables; to orchestral works, such as Franz Liszt’s Faust Symphony inspired by Goethe’s Faust; or operas, such as Carmen, a novella by Prosper Mérimée adapted by Georges Bizet.
Fascinating examples of the intersection of literature and music abound, but rarely is a composition incited by a non-fiction book. It was thrill for me to listen to a surprise prepared by rocker Roberto C. Tejada and singer-songwriter Eva García Luna—original instrumental rock music inspired by my motivational book, Choose to Prevail.
The exciting, heart-pounding, high-energy theme music will be featured in the Choose to Prevail book launch, to be aired as a TV show on January 10th on the all-new Heart Of Hollywood Streaming Platform.
The platform was not created overnight, just because recent lockdowns increased the popularity of streaming movies and TV shows. This was a project that was in the works for years, was announced publicly at a Heart Of Hollywood event in 2018 and is meant to benefit you in many ways, whether you’re a subscriber or a content creator. Now, in 2021, the platform is a reality. The dream came true.
May 2021 be the year you also make your dreams come true!
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