Musical Journeys #211

Emilia Dahlin:

places where I could not speak the language at all and these little islands in Indonesia, people we really connected through music.

Tess Gerritsen:

That is what causes you to have something new and creative and new and different is that you are seeing connections between things that have no connections.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine Radio Show Number 211, Musical Journeys, airing for the first time on Sunday, October 4, 2015. Journeys can be both literal and figurative. We can see the world through travel, but we can also journey without leaving our physical space. Today we speak with international best selling author Tess Garretson and musician Amelia Dahlin about the journeys they have each taken while practicing their craft and how the melodies of life have influenced their experience. Thank you for joining us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

first introduced to our guest Amelia dahlin at a TEDx that happened a few years ago here in Portland. I'm really glad that we are able to connect and bring her in to speak with us today because she's a pretty inspiring lady. Amelia Dahlin is a singer songwriter based in Greater Portland. Born on a small farm south of

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Boston to a musical instrument collecting father and accordion playing Mother. Amelia was destined for a life of music.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

She started piano formally at the age of five and trained classically for the next 13 years. It was Christmas Day 1996, when Amelia decided she wanted to play the guitar. She went up to the attic, pulled out a warped and worn guitar that once belonged to her great grandfather, and started to play. She never stopped. She now lives in Gorham with her husband and son. Thanks so much for coming in today.

Emilia Dahlin:

Thank you for having me. Pleasure to be here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's such a lovely story of your life. You know, this whole. I love that your father was a musical instrument collector and your mother was an accordion player. Those both have very different sort of musical connotations in my mind.

Emilia Dahlin:

Oh, boy. I don't know. I mean, in some ways, there were a lot of different genres and styles that I grew up with in the household. My mom is actually a really big Broadway fan. Lots of musicals, Tommy tunes. And my dad really loves classical music and has kind of gone towards more Celtic. And so there was always just a lot happening. And then we had. My uncle was a radio DJ in the 70s, and he had this. He got his collection of vinyl, Led Zeppelin, Beatles, you know, just kind of classics from that era. So I feel really lucky that I was kind of immersed. In some ways, I feel like it set me on this path early on.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And it was Christmas Day in 1996. What was it about that particular day? It's so specific.

Emilia Dahlin:

This is gonna sound really cliche in some ways, for you can be as you want to. So I received 10,000 curfews, which was the Indigo Girls Live CD that day. My sister Ingrid had given it to me. And I was listening. And they're incredible songwriters, just so gifted and great musicians as well. And I was listening. I thought, I want to do this, I need to do this. And I knew that we had a couple of guitars laying around which belonged to my great grandfather. And so I decided that was the day. And we had a few books laying around, instruction books. And that's when I started.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So this is actually. It is more of a family business than just your mother and your father. It sounds like great grandfather guitar. And you've got some music running through your veins.

Emilia Dahlin:

Yeah. So my Italian great grandfather, he got to play clarinet at Giuseppe Verdi's. I don't know if you're familiar with Verdi's. At his birthday party when he was just a kid. And so, yeah, I'd say it runs in the family a bit.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

When I heard you speak @tedxirrago, you were talking about the work you did traveling around the world and actually doing work with different groups, playing guitar, singing songs. And it was a very. It was like a. I don't know, like almost a musical missionary thing that was happening, and it was really pretty fantastic.

Emilia Dahlin:

Thanks. We, you know, I can't say there was a mission in mind. I was traveling with a group of people, and we were visiting sustainable and intentional communities in different places in the globe that had been long, standing there for 50 years or more and really looking at the challenges and the successes of how really strong community is built. And wherever we were, music was the thing that brought everybody together. And so having, you know, a background in music, I got to really plug in and pull people together a little bit in that way. And it was just. Just cemented for me, this idea of the power of music to really connect people. And in places where I could not speak the language at all, and these little islands in Indonesia, people, we really connected through music. And it's also amazing to hear, you know, when I was in the favela in Sao Paulo, Jason Mraz being pumped out through the speakers, and people who. They couldn't speak English, but they were singing along to the music in Indonesia, the Eurythmics people understood, and it is incredible to hear the reach of songs and music that goes out into the world. Yeah, powerful stuff.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how did that work if you couldn't speak the language? And I'm assuming that you were playing songs that you knew, did you also pick up songs that were from wherever it was that you went?

Emilia Dahlin:

Yeah. So we would teach each other songs, and even though you might not understand what the words are saying or exactly how to say them, you could kind of pick it up. So there was a lot of just teaching each other or figuring it out, picking out my guitar and just kind of noodling around until I could contribute in some way or participate.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what about musical instruments? Did you pick up any musical instruments that were part of the culture of wherever you went?

Emilia Dahlin:

I did not. I got a couple really small percussion instruments, but we were living out of a small bag. And so I had Doug Green of Green Design here in Maine lent me a little traveler guitar, a little backpacking guitar. So it was light enough that I could take it with me. And that was about the only thing that I had room for to travel.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that's interesting. I didn't realize that they had traveling guitars. It kind of makes you seem like an itinerant musician, you know, little backpackers

Emilia Dahlin:

Some look like little sticks, you know, very, very thin guitars. So it's pretty cool.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've been working with Seeds of Peace, I believe, and this kind of extends on this multicultural, global interest that you have.

Emilia Dahlin:

Tell me about that. So I. You know, before. Before I left, I've always had this belief in the power of music to bring people together. And that's, you know, playing at a bar in the Old sport, or it's playing in some kind of a multicultural setting where it's really bringing people together. And I think that serves in their own ways and really important ways. And. And I had been touring really hard for over a decade before I went on this trip and was really, really getting tired and also from feeling like something was missing. Being a DIY musician and doing a lot of your own booking and managing and promotion, it was getting tiring for me and feeling like I was missing a little bit of that kind of mission piece. Like, what can I do that's greater outside of myself through music to do something positive in the world? And so I had gone on this trip, and just when I left, I was kind of at the high height of my career, and I had just released this new CD that I was really proud of, Rattle Them Bones. And I had just opened up Ferrani DeFranco, and I was touring around. It was a good time. And I thought, okay, if I leave now, is this gonna be the end of things?

Tess Gerritsen:

Does this.

Emilia Dahlin:

Do I lose my momentum? But I felt really strongly that I needed to find something, find a different way to engage. And so when I came back, a good, dear friend of mine, Deb Bicknell, who is a facilitator. You're smiling.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm smiling because I went to high school with Deb Bicknell. Yes. It's a small world. Main thing.

Emilia Dahlin:

Yeah. And she's kind of. She's famous around here, I think, a little bit. Every. A lot of people know Deb, so. For being an extraordinary person. So she and I got together, and she said, you know, I have this idea. I just had this incredible experience in Gaza where I was brought to this place, and they played music, and I finally felt like I was home. I was in this really unfamiliar place, and it just really brought everybody together. And I've been wanting to do something like this here, and I had also been feeling like that. And so we got together, and what we called this project was the Transcendence Project. The idea that music gives us this ability to transcend our personal boundaries in some ways, our geographic boundaries, and Political. And so Deb had been working with Seeds of Peace. And we for a while were just listening for, okay, well, we want to do this thing. How is it going to manifest? And how it ended up manifesting is that we collaborated with the educators course through Seeds of Peace in this one particular year. So this was now 2012, I believe. 2012, they brought educators from nine different countries in conflict from the U.S. pakistan, India, Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Palestine. There's somebody there from Gaza. I don't know if I said Jordan. I want to make sure everybody. You can go on the website and check it out.

Tess Gerritsen:

You did say Jordan, but can you

Emilia Dahlin:

maybe just list the last couple or list one more? Let me see.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Or you can just say nine different countries, such as give a few.

Emilia Dahlin:

Okay, thank you. So there are nine different countries in conflict from the U.S. israel, Palestine, Jordan, Pakistan, India. And these are all people who engage the arts and the peace working work that they do in the world. And so 35 different people came to the camp here in Maine, and they were having their own experience in the camp. But what the Transcendence Project brought to it was performance. And so we were brought in to help cultivate and foster this performance that would become a public, public performance and kind of an offering an opportunity for people here in Maine. And So we had 10 days to get together these 35 people from nine different countries with all different disciplines from, you know, there were writers and poets, singers, percussionists and musicians, cellists, viola players. So. And we had no plan whatsoever of how we were going to do it. So we got everybody together in a room. And over the course of 10 days, these songs arose and these kind of theatrical dramatic pieces as well, and readings. And we were over at Pepac here in. In Portland and put on this performance at the end of 10 days. And it was a pressure cooker. And before the curtains opened, we had no idea what was truly going to happen on stage. And it was absolutely beautiful. It was a breathtaking evening with just an incredible show of creative solidarity. And so people were really moved and by the experience. And over the past few years, we've all kept in touch and decided this music, these writings, this work has evolved from this piece. How can we carry it forward? And how can we become kind of a clearinghouse? Not a clearinghouse. How can we become a resource for other people who are out doing this kind of work, using the arts as a catalyst for social change and the places where they are? And so Shoshana Gottsman, who is a viola player and has worked At Seeds of Peace, she wrote a grant to continue this work, and it was funded. And she's been kind of the catalyst who has roped everybody in and I will say trying to record. So we re recorded these songs. It was really difficult trying to get a singer from Gaza to. To record. I mean, this is. We don't. I feel like it's hard to imagine here in the US Just trying to move across borders can be incredibly challenging for a lot of these folks, and in some cases, really dangerous. What they're doing and the people that they're collaborating with is considered dangerous in some ways. So people are really putting themselves on the line some ways for this, for this vision. And we're just releasing a website, so we're calling it we make the Road by Walking. There is. There are writings, there are recordings. We've put it out on Bandcamp. It's free, it's by donation only. So we really wanted to make it accessible. It's connected to a link on the Seeds of Peace website, which is, again, a resource for educators where they can find more material ideas and just kind of hear the story about what we've been doing. So that's the long version of we make the Road by Walking. If you go to Bandcamp and type in we make the Road by Walking, you can find the cd.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also have your own personal live music CD coming up. And now you're going to play a song for us, which I'd like you to tell us about.

Emilia Dahlin:

Okay. So this is a newer tune. It's entirely inspired by Maine. And so part of the reason why I've chosen to stay here in Maine is just. I find it, the natural beauty of Maine is so inspiring to me. So we were living on a friend's farm for the summer up in Montville, Maine, which is near the mid coast. And this kind of arose over the past. Over two days. The moonlight streaming in the window and the owls and the birds that were around. And just feeling a lot of gratitude for this natural beauty that I get to experience around me here.

Emilia Dahlin:

Thank you to the pregnant moon that strewn its light across the room

Emilia Dahlin:

thank

Emilia Dahlin:

you to the owl's cry Kept company all through the night Just before the light blew dawn Wood thrush calls to cheer it on from the field not far away Grateful for another day. Thank you to the breeze that comes to sunlit fields before work's done Waiting

[Unidentified voice]:

for the rain to drum and wash

Emilia Dahlin:

us all of noonday sun Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Unidentified voice]:

Who.

Emilia Dahlin:

Thank you to the screen that grows

[Unidentified voice]:

Memories fade of winter Snow garden spill and overflow Escaping neat and tidy rows

Emilia Dahlin:

the light of dark is much like dawn Laughter floats across the pond Windows

[Unidentified voice]:

glow like fireflies we break bread until

Emilia Dahlin:

it's gone until it's gone

[Unidentified voice]:

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Al.

Emilia Dahlin:

Thank you to the pregnant moon who quiet gently fills the room thank you to the starry sky whirled overhead all through the night Just before the light

[Unidentified voice]:

blue dawned A wood thrush called to cheer it on from the field not

Emilia Dahlin:

far away Grateful for another day Whoa,

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that was very beautiful. And I can imagine that your son probably enjoys hearing you sing that to him.

Emilia Dahlin:

He does.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You are the mother of an 18 month old at this point.

Emilia Dahlin:

I am.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And he keeps you pretty busy, I think.

Emilia Dahlin:

He does. I gotta say, it's been a real struggle to keep my identity as an artist during the past 18 months and keep a creative practice. It's. I'm. I sing my way through my days. I'm always singing, but to really sit down and I think people who, anybody who has a creative practice can understand that it takes time and in some ways, discipline to really continue creating work. And so it's part of the reason why new CD feels live recordings is really exciting. I'm still getting out and playing and hoping to do more of that. I'll be performing at Federal Street Folly, which is part of the press Hotel on October 2nd. It's first Friday, so. First Friday at Federal Street Folly. It's a great alliteration. Help you remember. So, yeah, I'm feeling excited about feeling like a songwriter again.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I must say, for those of you who are listening and heard the Aaron Frederick interview, there might be some echoes here because Aaron is actually Amelia's husband. So we actually had a conversation about what it was like to have a small child in the house and how it shifted one's ability to, I guess, exist in the world in the way that one was used to previously. So I've heard this before. It's Funny to hear from your standpoint and also from Erin's standpoint, And anybody

Emilia Dahlin:

who's a parent can understand. It's just. It's a major. You've got to reprioritize. And it's also just a shift in identity, becoming a mother and thinking, okay, who was I? Who am I now? Who who do I want to be, and who can I be? Questions I'm asking all the time, hey, I feel it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I have my own three children, and I think it's interesting how often I go out in the world, and I am Campbell's mom, Abby's mom, Sophie's mom, and my oldest is 22. So that's been a couple decades, which is about half my life of being somebody's mom. So I totally understand what you're saying, and I think it's interesting for you because at the end of the can, I can leave my house and go to my job, and I can be that person at that job. If you're a creative individual who's trying to be working creatively out of your home, then I'm guessing it's not so easy to do that.

Emilia Dahlin:

No. In fact, when I leave here, I brought my guitar, and I'm going to the park, I'm going to the East End, I'm going to bring my guitar, and I'm finding that. Finding space away from home, and that's what I need for my own creative process. And I think that's been a really important part of kind of figuring out how to do this is okay, how can I support my creative process best? And for me, that means being away from the responsibilities that I have and finding quiet space and being outside, too.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also do work as a teacher. You are an artist in residence from. At a local school, and this is something that you find pretty gratifying.

Emilia Dahlin:

I have. Yeah, it's been incredible. It's been great. So my. My kind of role as a teaching artist started through the Telling Room here in Portland, who. I just have a huge amount of respect for the work that the Telling Room does in the community. And they had pulled me in to. To do a songwriting workshop, and I had also done that with Ripple Effect. And so I had started doing this a little bit more with kids, and I'd go in and we'd talk about some of the literary tools and basics of songwriting. And then we. Within a few hours, we'd whip a song together, and it was a lot of fun. So I started working with the Main Academy of Modern Music as well, and the founder and director Jeff Shaw is on the PTO over at Ocean Ave Elementary School, as well as Gibson Felablanco, former executive director over at the Telling Room. So the PTO wrote a grant that was funded through the Maine Community foundation and in part by the Maine Arts Commission to fund arts enrichment throughout the year for these 450 kids, K through 5, a very diverse, vibrant school. They had writing, they did dance, they had some sculpting as well. And so I went in to write songs with all 450 kids. So I was working in tandem with Dr. Mack, who's the music teacher over there. And we wrote a song over the course of the year, a song for each class. So 21 songs. So we've written 63 songs throughout the past three years. Some of them not as complex as others, obviously with the kindergartners, and some of them very complex and I think sophisticated for an age group that you might not other might not otherwise think that they'd be up for that kind of a challenge. And every year there's been a different prompt, but it's been really gratifying and we've brought in as part of that, we've brought in musicians and songwriters from the community. So we brought in The Fog Cutters, 19 piece big band to play for these kids. They were blown away. Santiago came in and rapped, Sam James came in and told stories and showed, played and showed him all his guitars and resonators. So it's been really exciting, a way to engage the community here. And I think for some of these kids it's the first time that they've been exposed to live music like that. So the kids have loved it and I've, they've, the school has been really welcoming and I hope I get to continue that work with them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As you're talking about this, I'm, I'm interested because I'm thinking about the different ways in which we communicate. And obviously we're in a multimedia world these days, so we've got social media, you know, we've very image, very photo driven. The songwriting piece though, it's not necessarily something you immediately jump to. We think about sharing music, but we don't necessarily think about writing a song and sharing our story through music.

Emilia Dahlin:

And it's a really wonderful way to engage. You talk about imagery, creating imagery only through words and through the feeling of the song. And so we talked a lot about literary tools and how to create really strong imagery and storytelling as humans. We've been storytellers in every culture throughout, throughout History. And I think there's a piece that's really. Stories are important and for a lot of different reasons and for legacies in terms of history, in terms of empathy and being able to understand each other and compassion. That is what stories do. They bring us in and allow us to live in somebody else's shoes or experience somebody else's experience. So I think all kids should be storytelling more. And I think as a culture, it's becoming a lot more popular and kind of in vogue when you think about the moth and all these storytelling events that are becoming huge. And it's simple, but I think it's because it's part of what we do is humans and. And kind of crave in a way.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I had recently done some, I guess, some studying up on linguistics because I love language and I love the idea of languages. I had no idea that there are more than 6,000 languages in the world. We think of some standards, but what some people would call dialects, they're actually languages. It's just that they aren't maybe as codified, they aren't as written down. And also this idea that if the world were 24 hours old, then it would only be 23 and a half would be when we started to write things down. So there is this amazing oral history tradition, and probably part of it is carried through with song. So you have this long legacy behind you.

Emilia Dahlin:

Without a doubt. Without a doubt. And, you know, we're doing it digitally, but I still firmly believe there is no substitute for resonance. And what happens when you hear a voice and it comes from a real body with emotions, and we are all. We receive it in a different way when it's actual sound.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Amelia, I know people are going to want to hear you at the Press hotel at the first Friday that's coming up on October 2nd, and they're going to want to get your live CD and they're going to want to learn more about Seeds of Peace. Do you have a website?

Emilia Dahlin:

Yes. So. Ameliadahlin.com so my name is spelled with an E. It's E M I L I A. Dahlin is-L I N. So ameliadahlin.com, i also have a Facebook page. You can find me in the digital world pretty easily, but I'd say the website and Facebook page are probably the best ways to find out about what's going on. And the Transcendence project, Seeds Collaboration.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You can also see a picture of Amelia and her beautiful child and her lovely husband. They're all in the Old Port magazine, Active Life this is with Erin Frederick. You can listen to the conversation we had with Erin not so long ago. We've been speaking with Amelia Dahlin. She's a singer songwriter based in Greater Portland. It's really been wonderful to speak with you today and thank you for all the great things you're doing to bring music to the world.

Emilia Dahlin:

Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

[Unidentified voice]:

we

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

have many amazing people in Maine who are doing things on the international scene. One of these individuals is Dr. Tess Garrettson, who is both an international best selling author and a physician. Dr. Garrettson, Tess is known for the Rizzoli and Isles series, which was just renewed for its seventh season on TNT and is going into syndication. Her latest book is Die Again. She also has the book Playing with Fire coming out. Not a Rizzoli and Isles book, but something I think people will want to read because I certainly found it to be a page turner. Tess is creating a feature horror film set in Maine with her son and she lives with her husband in Camden. Thanks so much for coming back in and talking with us today.

Tess Gerritsen:

Oh, thanks. It's great to be back.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you came in and had a conversation with Susan Grisanti and I not so long ago. Susan is the editor of Maine Magazine. You were talking about your book Playing with Fire. You really got our. You got us interested because it has the strong musical theme. You're a musician, strictly amateur. Okay. But still, you have a very strong musical background and there's something about that. And also this idea of travel to a foreign place because this next book is set in Italy. All of these things kind of came together to create this book for you, which is very different than the Rizzoli and Isles series. Yeah. So tell me about this.

Tess Gerritsen:

I think of it as a gift from the larger world. You know, it's usually when I sit down to create a book, it's my editor wants a particular type of book, and that is the Rizzolian Isles mystery series, which sells very well. So I. This book came to me as a gift almost from the universe. I was in Venice for my birthday and I had a nightmare. I dreamt that I was playing my violin. And it was a very dark and disturbing piece of music. As I was playing, there was a baby sitting next to me. And the baby's eyes suddenly glowed red and she turned into a monster. And I woke up thinking, I have no idea what this dream comes from. I mean, yes, I do play the violin, but who was the baby? And why did the baby turn into a monster? I was really quite haunted by that whole idea of music turning innocents into horrifying people. And I walked around Venice that day thinking, there's a book here. I don't know what the book is about, something about evil children. And where does this music come from? So I ended up in the Jewish quarter, the original ghetto in Venice, and was walking around where they had these memorials to the 246 Venetian Jews who were deported to Portland and executed. And all of a sudden the whole story came to me just in a flash. I mean, just from beginning to end, I knew what this story was about. I went home and I began to write it. It is about a woman violinist who picks up a mysterious piece of handwritten music in Rome, takes it home, and every time she plays it, her three year old goes berserk and does something violent. So this is the monstrous child. What is the history of this music? So the book really goes into great description about the piece, what it sounds like. I mentioned Devil's Chords, and those of you who are musicians will understand what those are. They're tritones and they're very disturbing to listen to. And one morning, after having worked on the book for about a year, I woke up with the melody in my head. And this was the other thing was a gift from the universe. I heard the music from my dreams and I composed it. So not only do we have a story about this mysterious piece of music, we also have a piece of music that is recorded by a very, very well known violinist and will be available for readers to hear as well.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm interested in the story of the bedeviled child because it's not something a lot of authors want to take on.

Tess Gerritsen:

No, it's scary. Those of us who are parents, it's probably the worst thing you can imagine is being terrified of your own child. And I made the child three because that is an innocent age. That's an age when you don't think of children as being evil. So this mother who is confronted with the possibility that her child is evil has, you know, she's living this horrifying, this horrifying life now because her whole family is falling apart. She is afraid of her three year old and everybody else thinks she's going crazy because who's afraid of A three year old.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And that was something that I. As I was reading the book, I was struck by this. Her husband didn't believe her. It was sort of threatening to break up her marriage. She actually had to leave and get away from her husband so that she could kind of get her head on straight. And then there's an interesting twist at the end. So it turns out that the child. Well, I don't even want to.

Emilia Dahlin:

It's a spoiler.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I don't want to say anything. There's an interesting twist at the end. Let's just say yes. One of the things that you and I talked about with Susan Grison, when the fact that you do the type of work that you do always has some basis in reality, and it was important to you that there would be a good reason for this all to have happened.

Tess Gerritsen:

Right. I don't like to play with the super. I mean, I like to tease you with the possibility of the supernatural because the supernatural fascinates me. But I am, at heart a science person, and I always want to circle back to something logical, to something believable, and to something possible.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also, in the book die Again. You. You go into an interesting thing for me. Which is. Which is the killing of animals.

Tess Gerritsen:

Yes. Which is in the news now, surprisingly.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Exactly. Exactly. So talk to us about that.

Tess Gerritsen:

I went to Africa on safari a couple of years ago, and we had really. My husband and I had an interesting experience out in the bush. Now this. Those people who've been on safari will know. You take a plane out into the bush and some guy meets you in a jeep at the airstrip. Our guide who met us said, I'm here to keep you safe. You must not get out of the jeep unless I tell you it's all right. We listened to his advice because a couple months before, there had been a group of Chinese tourists who did not understand those instructions. They stopped to look at lions, and two men jumped out and were killed. So, of course, we stayed in the jeep. And one afternoon, we stopped for cocktails in the bush. And we all got out of the jeep because we thought it was safe. And we were sitting around drinking our gin and tonics, and my husband said, I need to go pee. I'm gonna go walk into that bush over there. Our guide said, why don't you go in the other direction? Because I'd heard reports of a leopard being seen and, you know, down that valley. So my husband walked in the other direction and less than a minute later, out of the bush that he had originally been Headed for a leopard walked out. We were all out of the jeep. We're all standing around with our cocktails, and the leopard came toward us. And our guide just. He just stepped between us and the leopard made himself really big. And the leopard decided she didn't want to tackle him. Him and walk back into the bush. I realized after that that, you know, he saved our lives, that man. You have to trust your guide. But then, of course, the writer always takes over. And the writer thought, but what if you trust the wrong person? What if the man who picks you up at the landing strip is not who he said he is? What if it turns out the most dangerous creature in the bush is on two legs? So that was the basis for Die Again. And as you mentioned, it talks a lot about big game hunting, about the killing of protected animals, and a lot about the nature. The real nature of cats.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I think what I liked about Die Again was, again, it was an interesting twist. At the end, there was these two stories, the two storylines, and I couldn't quite see how they were all going to come together, but I had an idea. Well, maybe this is going to happen. But at the end, and you surprised me. I turned the page, you surprised me. And I was like, wow, she's masterful. Obviously, you're very good at what you do.

Tess Gerritsen:

I try. I try. And the truth is, I did not know the answer to that mystery until about two thirds of the way through the first draft. And that's the way I work. I really couldn't. You know, I set off without a net, standing up there on the tightrope, trying to figure out, just step by step by step. And then about two thirds of the way through, I thought, now I know the answer. And that's just my technique for writing. I don't recommend it because it drives you crazy. And I get writer's block, but it works for me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It is very interesting because as a physician, in many ways, even though we have to be problem solvers, we're also trained to be fairly linear. So there's algorithms. You follow the algorithm and you come out with what you hope is going to be the expected outcome.

Tess Gerritsen:

Right?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's not the way writing is.

Tess Gerritsen:

Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it? Because I know. I know lawyers who are also novelists, and they are. They line up their ducks. They have their ducks all lined up in a row, they plot out their book, and then they. Then they write it. And I'm sure that the average doctor would probably do it that way as well. I've tried to do it that way. What happens is that about halfway through the book, I just veer off my outline because I get bored. I think part of it is that when you have an outline, you know what's going to happen. And it takes the excitement out of. Out of writing the story. So I like the opportunity of being able to veer off the track to let the characters do something that surprises you. I'm always waiting for them to surprise me, and when they do, I'm just thrilled.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, I appreciated that. And I appreciated actually both of these books. I was reading them at the same time time, and I was thinking, you know, the idea that you could come up with something that was not what the reader would expect is pretty wonderful.

Tess Gerritsen:

And again, I just go back to my subconscious. I don't know where it comes from. I think that part of creativity is. This is my theory about creativity, about where you come up with new ideas is all your experiences you're reading all the kind of. Of things that you. All this data you collect, the facts you collect. If you can somehow match up part A with part Q, things that people don't even think are connected, that is what causes you to have something new and creative and new and different is that you are seeing connections between things that have no connections. And that's what I'm always trying to do with the books. For instance, with Playing with Fire, we start off with music and we start off with a crazy child. But then I also put neuroscience into it, and that is, you know, that is all that all ties together at the end for the solution.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you also threw in a little bit of interesting history and about the Jews that were deported to Poland from Italy, which you also were describing to us when you came in. And you were saying that the interesting kind of cultural aspect of Venice that kept it so there were only so many, many Jews that were deported compared to some of the other countries where so many more.

Tess Gerritsen:

Well, that was what really fascinated me about this topic. I mean, yes, the book is about music, but it's also about World War II and Italy and how Italy was so different from the rest of occupied Europe. I was looking at these statistics for Italy. They were an Axis power, and yet 80% of their Jews survived the war. What made it different from Germany, where 90% died, Poland, where 90% died, even Holland, where I think it was like 80%, 75% of their Jews died. What was different about Italy? And the stories that I came across were what really moved me the most, because I think it Was the courage of a common, ordinary Italian, which was so beautiful, people would hide their neighbor. They had nuns and priests who would hide Jews in convents and monasteries and at risk to their own lives. There were some funny things, too, about what made Italians different. And there was one psychologist who said, well, drive around Rome and you will see that Italians don't follow the rules if they don't believe in them. You know, just traffic. And that's true. I mean, if they don't. If they don't believe. Believe in a law, they won't follow it. And I think that's what happened in Italy is that a lot of Italians just said, you know, screw this. I'm not going to turn over my neighbors.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So that must have really appealed to you. You're the person who likes to veer off the. Veer off the track.

Tess Gerritsen:

Isn't that funny? Because this really moves me, I guess, the idea of quiet heroes, people who don't have to do something heroic and do it anyway. I mean, even while I was writing the book, I was just so moved by these stories.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's interesting that even now it brings up these emotions for you.

Tess Gerritsen:

It's gonna be tough going on book tour with this. With this particular book.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah. I feel it's. I think you're interesting what. Having now interviewed you twice, you. You have this very sort of. Let's take control of, I don't know, the horror mystery. And then there are these things that kind of crop up for you, and they kind of tweak you in a way that you don't expect.

Tess Gerritsen:

I think writing, for me, is very much an emotional process. I think you can't tell a convincing story unless you are so thoroughly entwined in your book that the emotions come through you. And I think that's what happened with Playing with Fire was that the emotions of this young couple that fall in love and they're, you know, this doomed love affair, and then the overall tapestry of a whole country trying to come to grips with a leadership that is telling them to do things that they don't believe with, you know, how do you react to that? Why were the Italians different from the Dutch, who were, you know, by and large, a liberal people? But nevertheless, they did things they knew were wrong because somebody told them to do it. And you ask yourself, what would it be like in the United States? Something came down from above. Turn over your neighbors, Turn over all the Muslims, Turn over all the Jews. What would Americans do?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, I think when I went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, I wondered the same thing. What would I do if I was one of these people? And I'm not Jewish.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm Christian.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Would I be the one who was hiding my neighbor in my cellar? Or would I be the one who felt compelled to turn my neighbor over

Tess Gerritsen:

and, you know, even take it a step further? Would you be the one to hide your neighbor in the cellar at risk of getting yourself executed? That was the extra step they took. To risk their own lives, their families lives, to do the right thing.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This book was so important to you, Playing with Fire, that you. You were willing to take a risk and say to your publisher, look, I know this is nothing like Die Again. It's nothing like Rizzoli and Isles. In fact, on the front page of the book, there's a note from the publisher that says, this book is nothing like Rizzoli, Isles. This book is going to be what it is. You're going to love it anyway. But it was a huge risk for you. You felt really strongly about this.

Tess Gerritsen:

You know, the books I love the most that I write are the ones that nobody actually wants. They're the books. My publisher goes, what is this? What are we gonna do with it? I remember I wrote, you know, a book called the Bone Garden, which, again, completely off topic. No, Rizzoli. Nols not. Not. Not even a contemporary novel. It was set in 1830s Boston, and I think my publisher was not quite sure what to do with it, but. But luckily, we've been working together so long that they realized, well, she wants to publish this book, and this is an important book, and even though it may not sell as well, there, it goes off to market.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You've also championed something that is maybe not as, I guess, popular as perhaps some other medical problems, and that's Alzheimer's. We have a huge, huge outpouring of support for breast cancer and breast cancer research. And Alzheimer's, which impacts so many of us, doesn't have quite the same cachet. You raised $50,000, which went directly to Alzheimer's research, in your first campaign. You're doing a second campaign, and that was important to you because your father had dementia. So you don't necessarily. When you feel strongly about something, you get behind it.

Tess Gerritsen:

Well, you know, this is. I think I'm not only behind it. I'm angry about why it is not getting more attention. And I always go back to how much money we spend on wars, how much money goes into building an aircraft carrier or some new B. Whatever. B2000 bomber. And we spend so very, very little on neuroscience research. And yet this is why is going to destroy us as a country in terms of money. By 2050, we're going to be spending a trillion dollars on taking care of Alzheimer's patients. Now, that, to me is worth saying, let's declare war on this particular disease. If we were to put a lot more resources into just the research aspect of it, basic science research, how does Alzheimer's arise and how do we treat it? We would be saving our country a lot of money. And this is the penny. You know, what is it? Penny wise and pound foolish. The way we're going about it now is ignoring the situation and letting baby boomers, who are now coming into the danger time of Alzheimer's, really suck up all the Medicare dollars and suck up a lot of our resources and families resources. Because it's not just hospitals and nursing homes, it's all the families that cannot work because they have to take care of their loved ones.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well. And you're putting your money where your mouth is. You're actively raising money for Alzheimer's research. And you also, you were talking about how much we spend on wars. You're supporting the troops. Anyway.

Tess Gerritsen:

Yeah.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You're still going out. You have a USO tour coming up with another author, Diana Gabaldo. Yes. And it's not that you're saying that we shouldn't be putting support over here. You're saying. And. And we also need to be putting support over here.

Tess Gerritsen:

Well, you know, it's that, you know, you look at what is really affecting our country and what is killing Americans right now at this moment, and I just, I'm appalled that we don't put more money into neuroscience research. So when I started this idea of, you know, raising funds, the idea was that would go straight to scientists. I wanted to go to the people who were in the labs, who were doing the basic science research. I chose the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego and Florida because I know this institute, I know the scientists, I know that it will go straight to them. But I just wish that other people step in and find and identify their own research institute that are in their states. It doesn't have to go to Scripps. If you can do your own fundraiser and identify something in your own state, that'd be great. But we really have to get down to basic science here for this.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tess, how can people find out about your fundraiser or the work that you're, the novels that you're writing?

Tess Gerritsen:

You can all go to my website@tessgarretson.com and I have that's sort of like where I put everything. I'm also on Facebook and on Twitter if anybody's interested.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it really has been a pleasure to have you come in and speak with us today. We've been speaking with international best selling author and physician Tess Garretson. I having personally read Die Again and Playing with Fire, they were page turners. I encourage people who are listening to read them and I do encourage people who are listening to consider putting some money behind Alzheimer's research because as a physician I see this on a regular basis how much it impacts patients and their families. Thanks so much for all the work that you're doing, Tess.

Tess Gerritsen:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

For more information, you have been listening to Lovemain radio show number 211 musical journeys. Our guests have included Tess Garretson and Amelia Dahlin. Follow me on Twitter as DrLisa and see my running travel, food and wellness photos as bountiful1 on Instagram. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of Love Maine Radio. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring Lovemain radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed enjoyed our Musical Journey show. If you like what you've heard, please subscribe to our podcast and take a moment to give us feedback on itunes. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.

[Unidentified voice]:

All that I have is all that I need Try to take some from me. And I still have plenty. And I can still see. Take my heart. And I can still be. Like God A phoenix rising slowly from the ashes lies my story and I begin my day and I begin. Take my time. And I can still speak. Make my love. And I can still breath. Like a phoenix rising slowly from the ashes lies my story and I begin again and I begin again. If you take it from me I will still oh I will still have plenty Try to take it if you take it from me I will still have plenty. Like a phoenix rising slowly from the ashes lies my story and I begin again and I begin looking the first bright eyes of Starry from the ashes lies my story and I begin again.

[Unidentified voice]:

SA.