Jason Stadtlander Does it All
Stephen Foster
When inspiration arrives, it does so in many forms. It may be subtle and nuanced. It may feel like a Eureka moment. Or, it may encompass both. Just ask long-time Swampscott, MA, resident Jason Stadtlander. Boy, does he have a story for you.
Years ago, before moving to Swampscott, Jason lived in Maine. While there, he struck up friendships with several of the locals. To one, he expressed his love of writing. He may have told her that he’d been writing since he was in the sixth grade. He may also have told her that he wanted to become a writer, that he wanted to work as a writer.
She asked to read samples of his writings, and he gladly complied and handed them over. Jason didn’t dwell much on the request; he was pleased to share his work. He knew that the greater the exposure for his writing, the greater the chance of one day being published.
But he couldn’t imagine what was about to happen.
Several days later, he ran into his friend and she indicated she’d finished reading what he shared. She pulled from her bag a clutch of papers, marked heavily in red, and handed them to Jason, who was crestfallen. This can’t be good, he thought: no way does she like my work.
It turns out that, in fact, she liked his work immensely. She told him so. His friend even showed Jason’s writing to her husband, who was the one behind the red edits. Despite the red ink, he also greatly liked what Jason had created. Jason’s friend said that her husband, too, was a writer and had published numerous novels. It took Jason only a moment or two before connecting the last name of his friend to her renowned novelist husband. Talk about Eureka. Now, that’s inspiration.
When a writer of this man’s stature likes your work, you have no choice but to be inspired. Jason knew, right then, that he could become a good writer. And he did, as you’ll learn. But he certainly had to work at it. You know that saying about success? It’s one-part inspiration and many parts hard work. In Maine, Jason was inspired to succeed and to put in the time necessary to be successful. In Swampscott, he made it all happen.
Fast forward over twenty years, a relocation to Swampscott, and 400 plus rejection letters. Jason’s short story, The Lantern—which takes place in a retirement community and involves a mysteriously beneficent handyman—is nominated for the 2020 Pushcart Prize. The Pushcart is a prestigious award given annually to nominated work emanating from small, independent publishers. The Lantern is one of several stories collected in Stadtlander’s The Ruins of the Mind, published by BHC Press.
The Ruins of the Mind is a genre-busting collection of short stories—fantasy meets mystery meets science fiction. Jason has also published a novel, The Steel Van Man, also BHC-published. Both are available from local booksellers or Amazon. He is currently at work on another novel. His short story count to date is over 250 and growing.
Jason is an avid and frequent blogger on his website, https://jasonstadtlander.com/. He has also written blogs for Huffington Post and other publications. What Jason truly possesses as a writer is what eludes most authors: authenticity. Not a sentence of Jason’s work is artificial or superficial.
Jason was born and grew up in central Ohio, but his real home is Swampscott. He departed Ohio well over twenty years ago and has never looked back. Swampscott is home now, and he loves it. Jason appreciates everything good and unique about Swampscott and what it has to offer, while at the same time gently lamenting its growth and some of the new inconveniences that come with an expanding population. Jason Stadtlander has two children, boys, in the Swampscott public school system.
Jason has realized part of his dream; he has become a writer. What remains is to be able to write for a living, and Stadtlander is someone not to be underestimated. For now, he commutes daily to and from his Boston-based job in the IT industry. Commuting time is good time for writing, after all.
But there is more to Jason Stadtlander. He gives back. He cares about others, and when it comes to the technology than consumes and transforms us daily, he cares enough to pitch in. Not one to miss an opportunity to lend a hand, Jason works with parents, schools and other oversight groups to promote safe internet browsing activities, particularly for children and teenagers.
But there is still more. Jason is clearly enamored of the written word.
But he’s also, not surprisingly at all, a fan of the spoken word as well: which is why Jason produces a regular podcast, called The Story Portal. Its premise is simple enough. For each episode, Jason will read from one of his published works or works in progress. What makes his podcasts so compelling is that, as usual, Jason goes the extra mile. He invites talented voiceover individuals to his podcast and asks them to read from his works, too. By doing this he injects his work with true characterization. He is, in effect, staging an audible play for the listener.
The brilliance of this cannot be overstated. Regular listeners will be able to enjoy Jason Stadtlander in multiple voices, beautiful and varied.
Jason is a Swampscott neighbor. When you see him out and about—at a local book signing, perhaps—make sure to introduce yourself. He is a genuine good guy who has the goods.
Jimi Plays Berkeley
Stephen Foster
An early death is, of course, generally "good" (if you will) for your artistic reputation unless, like Elvis, say, you were on the downside early enough in your career to be remembered as much for the beautiful young god swinging his hips to Jailhouse Rock as for his bloated final performances whipping off karate (or whatever) chops to a bewildered audience. Elvis didn’t die too soon; he died too late.
In November of this year, Jimi Hendrix, had he not vanished so soon, would be 70 years old, a fact that invites, if nothing else, pause. Seventy, really? Hendrix, if you think about it, could never be 70; we wouldn’t, we couldn’t, accept him at 70. Janis, perhaps; maybe even Morrison, an aged lizard king whose “poetry” had finally devolved to the banal rant it was rapidly headed toward—but not Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was wired to be the guitar virtuoso of our lifetime, and he had to die young to make it so. He was too gifted, too singularly brilliant to live a long life. Godlike, Hendrix had to die early in order to save us and achieve divinity—he did, and he did.
Not so much to chronicle his Christ-like demise but to remind us—as if we need it—of the man’s transcendent genius, Legacy Recordings (the catalog division of Sony Music) has just released a restored and newly expanded edition of Jimi Plays Berkeley on DVD and Blu-ray.
Made from a new, digitally-restored transfer from the original 16mm negative, Jimi Plays Berkeley (a May 1970 concert) premieres more than 15 minutes of previously unseen documentary and performance footage of Hendrix classics including Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), Machine Gun, and Hear My Train a Coming. These were not featured in the original film release.
Why this concert, when undoubtedly many others survive in the Hendrix archive? Because, other than the fact that Hendrix would die four months later, it presents one of the surest, most confident of Hendrix's performances —his playing was, as with many of his works, both loose and extraordinarily dialed in. He was confident (always that), easy going, and intense when he needed it to be. Hendrix, certainly here, could take a song and spin it numerous ways—get lost in it, wander through the wilderness with it—without losing the overall sense of the piece. His improvisation always had a larger point to it.
To watch Hendrix playing Machine Gun on Blu-ray is to understand that the man played the guitar quite unlike anyone else. Many musicians have suggested that when they’d heard Hendrix they considered giving up the instrument altogether.
As an added bonus, the newly expanded Jimi Plays Berkeley includes an audio-only presentation of Jimi’s complete Berkeley second show mixed in 5.1 surround sound. Showcasing 67 minutes of music the second set concert recordings include Lover Man, Stone Free, and Hey Joe, among many others.
According to the liner notes, Jimi had been playing live often, and desired an extended return to the studio, but his management wanted to capitalize on such venues as the recent Monterey and Woodstock festivals, which propelled Hendrix to fame. The details were eventually worked out and there was great demand for tickets. “All of the available tickets for both shows were quickly snapped up and on the evening of the concerts, more than a thousand empty-handed fans were turned away.”
Yes, Jimi plays with his teeth and by thrusting the guitar through his legs; these were stage hallmarks. But they were never gimmicks; they were a part of Jimi’s showmanship—and showman he was. Electrifying is overused, but watching the Blu-ray you can see that he was this, and more. The Blu-ray, more than most other recordings of Hendrix, capture the man and his music in a fresh and startling way, perhaps aided by the fact that he was performing in front of a smaller crowd than had been usual for him lately. There’s an intimacy here that eludes other documented performances.
The release of the Blu-ray and the CD on the part of Legacy Recordings is nothing short of fantastic. They give us a Hendrix we’ve seen before, certainly. But they also show us a man who is so completely at the top of his form, and so confident in his playing, that it holds up to multiple viewings and listenings—always an indicator of video and audio quality.
Hendrix was 28 when the Berkeley concert took place and would be dead in a few months. What a fine way to celebrate one of his finest concerts and sustain the memory of our guitar-playing savior.