Illinois Entertainer May 2023 | Page 10

her in Vegas at the very beginning , and she ’ s down on her luck . And the song that she had a hit with was a cover , but from a very iconic , beloved rock star – she had discovered this more obscure song and done a very radical revamping , or reinvention , of it and had this massive hit . But now , we cut to ten years later , and we find her down on her luck , thrown over for a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model by her longtime boyfriend . So she ’ s trying to recover from the pain of

that , living with her parents temporarily , and sheneeds to make money . You know – it ’ s every box you could tick for " Things Aren ’ t Going Well For This Person ." But her manager , who ’ s a wonderful British character , has flown in for this gig she has , and a gig is a gig – she needs the work for financial reasons . So she ends up performing at a bachelor party in Vegas , which is not the ideal show she wants . But as a musician myself , I chose to give my protagonist Jane the same line of work that I have experienced myself because I know , for instance , what the experience is like of coming down in an elevator in Vegas to play a private . It ’ s a little-known phenomenon in the music business , but private gigs are a thing – you play corporate parties or someone ’ s birthday party sometimes . There are all kinds of bizarre things , especially for musicians , but you just don ’ t hear about them . So it starts there , and the spark is lit . And then sparks fly before too long . So I don ’ t wanna give away too many spoilers , but she meets a stranger on a plane , actually , and I ’ ll let the reader have the journey of the book at their own pace and just let them enjoy it on the page .

IE : So it ’ s a story of redemption ? SH : Yeah . There is a redemption for the character , and that ’ s part of the arc of her journey . But I don ’ t wanna give too much away because I ’ ve realized that it ’ s really fun for people to discover it as they go . And it was just endlessly entertaining to write , and I really loved just being in the company of these characters . It was like , in the process of writing , I was almost imagining the movie version of it , and I just had to report what I

was seeing in my mind .

IE : There ’ s a bonus scene on the first Austin Powers Blu-ray that should have immediately followed the scene where Michael McDonald ’ s nameless henchman gets slowly flattened by Austin ’ s steamroller . It shows a suburban kid riding his bike home , then running inside to find his mom cryingon the phone , next to a framed Henchman of the Year photo of McDonald , who she ’ s just been informed has been killed . Tearfully , she looks at the camera and murmurs , “ No one ever thinks about how these things affect the poor family of a henchman …” And your husband chose not to include that in the movie . Did he give you similarly-sharp pointers on your character ’ s continuity ? SH : Ha ! That ’ s great ! I wanna check that out because we ’ re due for a re-watch of the three Austin Powers movies – I love them ! And I ’ m glad they included the outtakes – those are always so much fun . But yeah , I got great reads from Jay , great reads . Because you ’ re basically alone in the whole process – that ’ s the thing .

newreleases May 5

Atmosphere So Many Realities Exist Simultaneously Ed Sheeran [ Subtract ] Jonas Brothers The Album Rodney Crowell The Chicago Sessions The Lemon Twigs Everything Harmony Westerman An Inbuilt Fault

May 12

Alison Goldfrapp The Love Invention Kyra Cain “ Second Chances ” ( single ) Bruce Cockburn OSunOMoon Cattle Decapitation Terrasite Parker Millsap Wilderness Within You

May 19

Dave Matthews Band Walk Around The Moon Graham Nash Now Paul Simon Seven Psalms The Murlocs Calm Ya Farm Tinariwen Amatssou

May 26

Arlo Parks My Soft Machine Clark Sus Dog Incendiary Change the Way You Think About Pain Sparks The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte The Dirty Nil Free Rein To Passions

Lemon Twigs

Sparks

Continued on page 18

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