I recently became enamored of the character of Red Molly from Richard Thompson's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning.  The song is about a young outlaw who robbed enough to buy the mentioned motorcycle and then fell in love with a fire-haired woman in black leather.

Here's a webpage with a video of Thompson singing the song.

In any case, after I heard the song on the radio, I began thinking of Red Molly as a pooka, fond of leading bikers on wild rides.  I sent him an email the other day, asking him if I could use his character in a story.  He wrote back and said:

Hello Tom,

Thanks for writing. You are welcome to use the character's name and/
or likeness in the story without permission (from the record company), as long as you're not
quoting directly from (the) lyrics...

Best regards,

The Beekeeper

Wow, just wow.  I mean, like, this guy sang with Sandy Dennis in Freeport Convention.  He's one of the greatest (and most underappreciated) folk-rockers of all time.  He's a British Dylan.

Goddamn.  In any case, the story will come out in the next couple months.  I didn't really expect permission, so I haven't plotted much of it yet.  Way too late to put it in the book, even though it is a sequel to one of the Margee and Jerry stories--Maxwell's Gremlin.

TC 

Tags: folk music, woo-hoo, writing mechanics
Current Location: ManCave
Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Music: 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, Richard Thompson