Blues Jam - Book Tour

 

Fiction / Coming of Age

Date Published: June 10, 2024

A young woman battles loss and addiction growing up in Saint Paul and finds her way to live her dream of becoming a Blues drummer.

 

Read an excerpt below

About the Author

Stephen was born and raised in Henderson, NY. He moved to Saint Paul, MN to attend Hamline University. After working a variety of jobs, he began a career as a computer programmer. An interest in writing words preceded his interest in writing code.

 

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Quotes from "Blues Jam"

While she worked at the record store, she was able to explore many different styles of music. One of her favorite genres was blues. It spoke to her.

Kelly and Melissa both helped Art raise his daughter. Sarah saw Melissa as an aunt who was always there. Kelly was like her sister and intimate confidante.

Art came to suspect Kerstin was hiding something from him. She was.

“My goodness, Sarah, you’re playing drums!” an excited Grandma Elizabeth declared.

“If she wants to go this bad, I think she would enjoy it. It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You never know, it could be the beginning of her playing maybe all the way to college…” Cullen paused, before adding, “Or it could be the end.”

“You’ve grown up fast. No kid your age should have to deal with something like that,” said Kelly

Walking home, Sarah imagined herself and Otis playing along to the car noises, sirens, and crickets of the Saint Paul night.

“You know kid, I don’t play drums, but I can tell if you can,” he said.

“Zadie?” Sarah asked. “How about I play a little shuffle until we get to the turnaround?”

“Grand Old Day is less than two weeks away,” Louis said, adding, “Too soon, man. Too soon.”

“Hey, you know, if we, I mean Selling Guitars play any more gigs, I thought of a new band name for us,” Cliff said.

Howlin’ Wolf was singing “Smokestack Lightning” on the cassette player just loud enough to be heard. The two friends looked at each other and smiled, secure in their lasting connection.