“My name is Frank Gosnell. I have flown to Massachusetts from Los Angeles to care for my mother. My mother is losing her mind.”

This is the opening line to my new novel, The Memory Songbook. The story pulsates between the Winter and Summer life of singer-songwriter Frank Gosnell. Is it autobiographical? No. And yes.

The video was created for a www.kickstarter.com project. My initial intention was to release the novel with a CD of songs written by Frank (Me). But schedules and other demands made it impossible for me to do any more than release the Kindle version of my book, even though many of the songs have already been written.

Baby boomers, please take note: The Memory Songbook address what we all now face: Parents who raised us now need our help.

When my father died in 1990 I was there. I cared for him — with the help of my mother Lois, my sister Jane and my great big brother Bob — in the final 5 days of his life. A blessing — for me. I discovered him in his death bed.

My mother Lois passed away on New Year’s Day 2011. Also a blessing, because she was so unhappy with life.

Meanwhile, my sweetheart Kim is now overwhelmed with all that must be done to help her mother transition to assisted care. And virtually all my baby boomer friends and relatives have or are now grappling with these same issues.

Needless to say, The Memory Songbook is my own way of reckoning with life as it is and was: messy, thrilling, disappointing, inspiring — a paradox of events and feelings.

Please share you own thoughts about parents, the Winter of life … and the songs that remind you of important moments in your life.

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of :

The Memory Songbook

The Cancer Assassin

The Lake That Stole Children

She died in the wee hours of New Year’s Day 2011 in a hospice room.  She wanted to go and had prayed to her Lord to take her.  He was slow to hear her call.   She could not understand why.

I wish I had asked Lois Jean Clark, my mother, more about her life.   We think we know our parents and then they leave this Earth and we realize how many questions we forgot to ask.

Lois played the French horn in high school, but didn’t pursue music.  Instead, she married a gifted musician named Robert who believed there was no greater experience than playing music in an ensemble, concert band or jazz ensemble.  The incomparable group experience, as he saw it, did not include rock ‘n’ roll bands — my preference.

I didn’t write The Memory Songbook in anticipation of my mother’s passing.  Nor was it written for my father, who passed away in 1990.  I wrote it because life is short and there are so many things we wish we could remember about those people we love.

I wrote it because music defines my life in a deeply emotional way.   Songs, melodies, symphonic compositions take me back to events that shaped my heart and mind.  They trigger memories I might otherwise forget.

If Mom were still alive I would ask her, “What songs were you listening to when you fell in love with Dad?”   Other questions would follow.

Nearly every baby boomer I know has dealt with or is dealing with a parent of failing capacity.  Time catches up.  Time flies.  Time is an illusion or a master or –

– a precious paradox:  the world carries on yet each of us is born with an expiration date concealed in our DNA.

All the more reason to stay alert to the songs that help us gather  the very best memories of lives well lived.

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of :

The Memory Songbook

The Cancer Assassin 

The Lake That Stole Children

Paul McCartney will release a new album on Feb. 7 that includes classics from the American songbook.  The list of melodies has not yet been released, but something much more intriguing has:

McCartney says the album will include favorites that helped him and John Lennon understand song structure.

From Paul’s website:

In short,Paul believes it is about time “the songs me and John based quite a few of our things on” received the recognition they deserve. Moreover, the record also features a couple of new original McCartney compositions in the spirit of those classics.

Now that’s interesting.  Not only is Uncle Paul sharing his version of The Memory Songbook, he is also revealing his early influences.

It comes as no surprise to me that McCartney loves the songwriters of his father’s day.  You can hear a broad range of musical styles in his music with the Beatles and certainly throughout his solo career.

But the songwriting team of Lennon/McCartney were such innovators, I’m looking forward to knowing more about the chord structures that inspired them.

The emotional connections to these songs must run deep.  It is one thing for McCartney to write a tribute to Lennon, as he did in “Here Today.”   It was reported that when Paul sang this song at Amoeba Music here in Los Angeles a couple years ago,  his voice “cracked” as he recalled his friend.

“But as for me, I still remember how it was before .  I’m holding back the tears no more … I love you … “

Now, to go back to the songs that he shared, in some way, with Lennon when they were aspiring musicians … well … this album may be far more interesting than those releases offered by other talented recording artists who were simply dipping into a songbook of beloved standards.

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of :

The Memory Songbook

The Cancer Assassin 

The Lake That Stole Children

Hank Bordowitz, author and Huffington Post blogger,  has much to say about music and  “The Lost Audience,” also known as the AARP baby boomer crowd.

His recent essay at the post laments that entertainment companies have a “Doin’ it for the kids” mentality that undermines good music and marginalizes the enormous Over 50 Audience.

One of the first things that caught my eye in Hank’s excellent post was this:

“Many of us have that one album that we would never have made it through junior high without. Mine was the Who’s Quadrophenia. I wore out my copy, and kept playing the worn out copy.” 

Quadrophenia by The Who

Pete Townshend and the Who loom large in my new novel, The Memory Songbook.   The young Frank Gosnell idolizes Pete and the Tommy rock opera.  But fate. family issues and the magic of music take his songwriting in an entirely different direction than rock ‘n’ roll.

Even so, Frank would not hesitate to include the Who in his memory songbook — a collection of songs that immediately transport him back in time to relive those emotional touchstones of life.

Bordowitz expands on my novel’s concept.  Obviously, the songs we love in our youth will move us for years to come: that’s why reunion concerts are so lucrative.  But who is to say that a 50-something man or woman won’t develop an entirely different memory songbook at midlife.

Bordowitz writes:  “Dunno about you, but I find the need to be musically challenged and the need gets more acute as I get older and collect more experience. These days, I get more depth out of Ornette Coleman, Diane Krall, or even her hubby Elvis Costello. These are intelligent adults making music for the entertainment and elucidation of other adults, their contemporaries to whom music still signifies.”

Exactly.   As we grow up, our musical tastes evolve.  Yet music is still a big part of our lives.  We don’t leave it behind once we pass the threshold of 30.   We continue to seek songs and compositions that appeal as much to our growing EQ (emotional quotient) as our IQ  (you know what that is, right?)

Check our Hank’s Huffington Post blog, as well as his books.

And then ask yourself:  How does what I listen to at 30, 40 or 50 differ from the songs that moved me in my formative years?

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of :

The Memory Songbook

The Cancer Assassin 

The Lake That Stole Children

Burt Bacharach deserves a whole chapter in my personal version of The Memory Songbook.

Sitting with a pretty girl in her basement as the radio played Herb Albert’s version of  “This Guy’s In Love With You” is enough to earn Bacharach honors.

But so many other unique melodies through the years also tickled my ears,  moved me  deeply. and stayed with me.   So much so that when I hear “A House is Not a Home” and “What’s it All About, Alfie?” — to name only a couple among dozens of hits — I can remember where I was when I first heard the melody.

That’s the concept of The Memory Songbook.   We all have one.  What’s yours?

Bacharach, now in his 80′s, has not lost his touch, apparently.  Reviews have been lovely for “Some Lovers” his new musical at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego — libretto and lyrics by Steven Sater of  “Spring Awakening” fame.  The urge to hear new inspired Bacharach melodies … oh my … one of life’s great experiences is hearing a song for the first time by an admired composer.

When I ponder Bacharach’s  signature elegance and class and his emotive melodic style, I can’t help but wonder:  What songs does Burt listen to?   What’s in his memory songbook?

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of :

The Memory Songbook

The Cancer Assassin 

The Lake That Stole Children

It has been a long time since I’ve seen a Broadway show.   Last night at the Pantages — a Nederlander Theatre on Hollywood and Vine — I witnessed the phenomenon known as Wicked.

I had heard a lot about this show, and even friends who generally preferred kitchen sink drama were enthusiastic about the First National Tour production.

Although I was unfamiliar with the score, I have been a fan of Stephen Schwartz songs for years.   In fact, his early hit Pippen was the first Broadway show I saw on The Great White Way while I was in Manhattan  auditioning for theater schools.

Wicked features some wickedly-talented people, particularly Mamie Parris and Katie Rose Clarke who portray the feuding but loving friends, Elphaba and Glinda.  Their vocals were superb.  And both women are first-rate actors.

As much as I enjoyed the score and book by Winnie Holzman (based on the novel by Gregory Maguire), the beauty of the music transported me to my time in New York.   In some ways,  Manhattan is a small town for theater people.  You witness the greats and up-and-comers on stage and occasionally on sidewalks and in restaurants and bars.  You feel part of it all, even though your role in the scene may be modest.

More to the point, I remembered the many times a great song and performance all but lifted me out of my seat.   Music has always been an emotional experience for me.  And I recalled buying the Pippen album and playing it endlessly.

If the Broadway legacy runs deep, the songs run deeper.   In my blood, in my heart.

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of :

The Memory Songbook

The Cancer Assassin 

The Lake That Stole Children

Sting has certainly proven that he is capable of handling more styles of music than rock ‘n’ roll.  He can strum the lute,  perform Kurt Weill songs and even do country.

Last week I saw him harmonizing with Vince Gil on a TV special.   Sting held his own.

But not until he strapped on his bass guitar and launched into “Every Breath You Take” did he truly relax and take full command, in my humble opinion.

His body language said, I know how to do this. Get outta the way.  His voice opened up, too,  and I was reminded how unique his sound is in his chosen category.  (To my ears, he sounds a bit reedy singing ‘art’ songs.)

But then my memory of Sting was created listening to records by The Police.  I can still remember hearing  “Every Breath You Take” for the first time in New York City, where I worked in a bar/restaurant.    I thought,  Oh, so that’s them, eh?  The Police.

We inhale great tunes.  That’s why it is inevitable that we all create what I call  “The Memory Songbook” — a personal list of songs that can transport us to our former selves and situations.  Such as tending bar in Greenwich Village on 7th Avenue.

Sting has come a long way since his days with The Police, and so have his talented band mates, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland.  All great musicians.

But my memory songbook vows …

“Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching you”

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of :

The Memory Songbook

The Cancer Assassin 

The Lake That Stole Children

“The Memory Songbook” for baby boomers likely includes melodies written and recorded by The Beatles.  The group’s “Magical Mystery Tour” album included two amazing songs about remembering the past.

“Penny Lane” by Paul McCartney and “Strawberry Fields Forever” by John Lennon could not be more different.  McCartney remembers “blue suburban skies,” while Lennon recalls a past that is dark, somewhat mysterious and where “nothing is real.”

Great songwriters are welcome to their own view, of course.  And listeners may love one song more than the next simply because it matches or sheds light on their own feelings about the past.

In fact, it is almost impossible to avoid creating one’s own personal memory songbook.  Who doesn’t whistle a happy tune or hum something a bit more somber or reflective as time goes by?

Yet as we grow older, it may be helpful to sit for awhile and makes lists of songs and feelings.  Imagine a chart that includes song titles in one column and accompanying emotions, events and people in an adjacent column.

The point is to make the emotional connections now while the mind is clear.  The hope is that by doing so, as memory fails, or the dreaded Alzheimer’s Disease takes hold, we all have our own memory songbook that helps recall a vivid and enriched past — the magical mystery tour of life.

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of The Memory Songbook, The Cancer Assassin and The Lake That Stole Children

I grew up in a Detroit suburb when Motown Records was a local phenomenon that gained national recognition.  So naturally I love The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terell … and so on.

The Motown Sound shaped my youth with great songs that are tied to events, people and locales.

The British Invasion also impressed me.  The Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Who were at the top of my hit list.  To this day when I hear one of Pete Townshend’s songs from Tommy I travel back in time.

Every generation consciously and unconsciously creates what I call The Memory Songbook.   That list of melodies that are tied to indelible memories.

My father was a great musician and band director who loved Swing.

My daughter once lived in the San Francisco area where she became a big fan of Pomplamoose.  (Not that she doesn’t appreciate Classic Rock or Motown and Broadway show tunes.)

Our emotional lives are created, explored and revisited through our favorite (and not-so-favorite) songs.

Need a quick fix for a memory lapse?  Hum.  Or jot down the tunes of an era in your life.  Make a memory map.  Connect your heart to song titles.

Music is memory.

Create your own version of The Memory Songbook.    Drawn from the American songbook or the Latin or World songbooks.   Rely on music to keep you fresh, alive and in love with the life you’ve lived.

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of The Memory Songbook, The Cancer Assassin and The Lake That Stole Children.

Taylor Swift looked astonished — again — when she won three trophies at the 39th annual American Music Awards Sunday night.

But that’s nothing compared to what she’ll feel in decades to come when her fans come of age and still weep with joy when they hear or sing her songs.

Every generation creates its own memory songbook, replete with melodies that have the power to instantly take us back to meaningful events, people and accomplishments.

When I watch the excitable girls and young women sing along with the talented Ms. Swift I believe they are archiving their feelings with favorite songs.  They may grow out of their need for these early songs as they develop new musical tastes.  But later in life,  when they hear those great tunes again  and feel a rush of various emotions, they will sing “Thanks for the Memory” to Taylor Swift.

Fiction and Memory

Unlike Swift whose young career continues to surge, baby boomer and singer-songwriter Frank Gosnell — the central character in my novel The Memory Songbook – has lost all faith that his songs matter.  That changes when his elderly mother begins suffering from Alzheimer’s symptoms and his only way of communicating with her is through music.

Reach into your own memory songbook from time to time.  And relish your rich, enduring emotional history.

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of The Memory Songbook, The Cancer Assassin and The Lake That Stole Children.