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From The Desk Of Times New Viking’s Elizabeth Murphy: The Rhyming Scheme A-Z

Times New Viking is an Ohio rock trio that delivers raw rock ‘n’ roll. Jumping from different labels over the years including Matador and Merge, the band has released five proper albums in a little more than five years. On its last album, Dance Equired (Merge), Times New Viking dropped the lo-fi fuzz in favor of more melodious songs. These art-school grads from Columbus, Ohio, are still making music, and the band’s Elizabeth Murphy will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with her.

Murphy: I want to talk about stick ummm, stick-to … (errrr) to-it … (?) … ahem, stick-to-it-vvvvvvvv fffffuuuuuuuuck.

My apologies for the crippling spelling anxiety as I question the legitimacy of the above word (“thing,” neologism, meme, whatever … ). I have a sneaky feeling a full attempt in print would cause did-I-cc-my-dad-on-that level panic. In case the above transcription of phonetic utterances didn’t translate, the closest synonym to the aforementioned word-thing is tenacity.

Sue Grafton is a bankable example of one who possesses this trait. She started her crime fiction by alphabet series in 1982 and made it to V Is For Vengeance this past year. She shows no signs of stopping, even in the face of X, a looming whodunit featuring x-rays, xylophones and Xerox machines. Similarly, Sufjan Stevens started a 50 states project, one recording per state, but left us on the side of the road in Illinois, his second stop.

It could be said that these methods are simply gimmicks (and in the case of the latter, it was). But no liberties need to be taken to compare the two. Both made a commitment to a theme and predetermined number of works. I believe the independent variable to be generational. Being nearly 30 myself, it is regretful to compare the gen-X representative’s work to the baby boomer’s commitment, which is equal to the duration of my entire life thus far. A gimmick is already inherently formulaic (re: cheap and easy) but an aborted one?

Between the first sentence and as I now type, I have learned it was Thomas Edison who coined the term ?stick-to-itiveness.” I cannot be afraid of a neologism so rooted in American history. My trust is more easily established by things that have stood the test of time, and with good reason. Let’s go back another generation from Ms. Grafton for the ultimate example of stick-to-itiveness.

Sir Harry Andrews arrived home from World War I and built a castle. During the war, he had contracted meningitis and was thought dead, misinformation that cost him his fiancee. Seeing this as his one and only chance at love, he invested the rest of his life’s worth into reversing what he saw as the downfall of modern man. He taught boys to become knights and built a castle as “an expression and reminder of the simple strength and rugged grandeur of the mighty men.”

Chateau Laroche is near Cincinnati, Ohio, along the Little Miami River. Andrews built 99{e5d2c082e45b5ce38ac2ea5f0bdedb3901cc97dfa4ea5e625fd79a7c2dc9f191} of the castle by himself with stones he brought up from the riverbed and bricks he made out of milk cartons. He designed the drainage system, planted a massive garden and paved the road that led up to the castle. It has a moat and a dungeon that is supposedly the safest bomb shelter in Ohio. He began construction in 1929 and was still making additions when he died in 1981. After surviving the war, meningitis, a broken heart and multiple castle break-ins from local “punks,” it was a freak fire accident that claimed his life at 91.

The castle is now a museum kept nicely by the Knights he mentored long ago. I would recommend a visit to anyone who needs reminded of the immeasurable capabilities of the individual human spirit, of raw stick-to-itiveness.

Another photo after the jump.