Aim On You!
I've known James D. Scanlon for a few years now. He's the father of a wonderful and wonderfully talented young woman who's a close friend with CoolDaughter Number 1. In conversations that we've had over the years, it's become clear that Scanlon harbors a couple of passions: a love of music and a desire to leave the world a better place -- both physically and spiritually -- for our children and their children. It should be pretty clear to anyone who comes here regularly that I identify pretty closely with all of that.
Ever since I've known Scanlon, he's diligently been working on a project that unites his passion for music and his deep desire to bring his daughter up as a caretaker of others and of the planet. He's been pretty secretive about it, only revealing hints and small details in a conversation here and there. Last month, Scanlon released the first fruits of his many years of labor in the form of The Musical Adventure of 'One-Shot' Billy, a song-filled book containing a message that can resonate with people of all ages. Now that the cat is out of the bag, I decided to throw a few questions at James to get the details. Read on to see what he has to say, one cooldad to another.
Without giving too much away, can you give us a quick synopsis of The Musical Adventure of 'One-Shot' Billy?
The Musical Adventure of 'One-Shot' Billy is a song-filled story about Cupid … all grown up. It’s also been described as a musical fairytale wrapped in a social commentary for all ages. The synopsis on the book’s back cover reads: "Substitute music teacher, Benjamin Lee, performs his experimental lesson plan for unsuspecting middle school students. The entertaining, yet profound tutorial about love unveils a mystical family who’s managed Earth since the beginning of time. The planet has flourished under their ageless system of give-and-take. However, new data reveals Cupid has allowed a small town's future to be threatened by takers. A last-ditch effort to produce givers is the only hope to save the town and himself from ruin."
What was your inspiration? What made you want to tell a story like this?
Our children deserve a promising future, and The Musical Adventure of 'One-Shot Billy' suggests a way to attain that goal. At its core, the story is entertainment, but I'm hoping it sparks a worthwhile conversation, too.
In the book, you introduce the concept of 'givers' and 'takers.' Can you talk a little bit about that and how you see it relating to the world we live in outside the story?
I believe all of our interactions can be measured by the simple process of give and take. Determining one’s role at any given moment is useful when trying to understand our relationship with the Earth and each other. In my opinion, there are more givers than takers. However, a taker's act, especially one in a position of authority, can greatly overshadow the influence of givers. This concept is addressed in the story, while occurring in a mythical town named, Fair Haven. If you think about it, every town on our planet should be named 'Fair Haven’.
This is a pretty big, multi-media project: The book itself, the artwork, writing and producing all of the songs. How long has it been in the works?
The original idea started seven years ago. My friend Ricky Eldridge asked me to write a song for an upcoming holiday performance. Unfortunately, it took me too long to pen something meaningful, and the song wasn’t completed in time for his show. But the lyrics led me to contemplate an idea that was even more meaningful. Suddenly, I began to develop a coming-of-age fantasy tale in which the Earth was able to express itself through a unique mythological family. I decided to pursue the idea to write a song-filled book, targeting people of all ages, everywhere.
Speaking of songs, the book is full of them. How can people reading the book get to hear them?
Fifteen songs were written and recorded for the story. Eleven made it into the book. The One Shot Billy website and Facebook page contain four story songs available for listening. And the entire soundtrack is offered for purchase on the website with three bonus tracks.
What went into bringing all of those songs you'd written for the story to life?
My relationship with writing music has always been very private. I was never a confident enough singer or guitar player to embrace performing publicly. Therefore, all my energy was focused on crafting meaningful songs. That relentless passion followed me everywhere, and eventually I had amassed a large personal catalogue that I played for myself and people close to me, especially my brothers Steve and Harry.
But when the story came to light, I reached out to a friend from college who’d told me she was going to be an entertainment attorney. Nearly twenty-five years had passed since we’d spoken. Thankfully, she took my call and I flew to Nashville with my wife, Veronica, and our daughter, Holly. The meeting went well and I was introduced to the in-house producer at Major Bob Music, Scot Sherrod. Scot was hired as our producer and he arranged for Greg Bieck to engineer the tracks at his Villa Studios. I’m extremely pleased with how each song was treated. Nashville is capable of producing a wide range of production sounds, and I think our soundtrack is indicative.
It seems like there are lots of opportunities to expand the story beyond the book -- an album, live performances -- are there any plans for something like that?
There are lots of options to consider. I’ve drafted a live stage version of the story which includes audience participation. Hopefully, there's a chance for that discussion to take place in the near future. In the meantime, we‘d like to produce a professionally narrated book-on-tape that incorporates the songs into the storyline. It would be great for family road trips. Also, many who are familiar with the soundtrack have mentioned a touring band. Whichever way it goes, the overall goal is to bring One-Shot Billy to life as someone people can aspire to.
Finally, where can people follow along with all of the developments related to One-Shot Billy?
It’s been a little over one month since we launched the project. Liking the Facebook page is the best place to stay in touch. We've self-produced animated videos (featuring portions of the soundtrack) about our new book salesman, Ludwig. He’s been working hard helping us spread the word! There are also character and scene illustrations by an artist we discovered in Harlem, Al Johnson. Plus, there's other relevant content coming soon.
The Musical Adventure of 'One-Shot' Billy is available now at Amazon.
You can keep up with developments over at jamesdscanlon.com or at the One-Shot Billy Facebook page.
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