In my opinion, there isn’t an art more underappreciated than writing. Sure, anyone can write, but to do it well – now that’s definitely an art.
In the last episode, we talked to Sara Absher -- and while I was there at her home, I was fortunate enough to squeeze in an interview with her boyfriend, Tim Allwein. He’s going to school to become screenwriter and his work is pretty damn good so far.
The thing is, I found out that he’s already an accomplished writer.
In the 1980’s he was the lead singer and songwriter for a band called ’St. Elmo’s Fire’. You may have heard of it. If you haven’t, you should check them out. They’ve got some really catchy tunes. They've been stuck in my head all week. Thanks, Tim.
They were pretty popular California, and they toured around the state and were invited to tour Canada for a couple years all before they published their first album. St. Elmo’s Fire even had some song’s hit the top 40 charts.
I was pretty shocked (and pleasantly surprised) when he told me all of this. When I had sat down with him, I had my mind set around asking questions about writing for film, and it threw me off a bit. I love music myself, so I had no problem deviating from the course.
Tim had a specific formula for writing a good song and it worked. Actually, it was the formula made popular by The Beatles.
Hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Right? In the following video he explains that formula for writing great music.
What's he up to now?
Tim left the band after a couple of years to raise a family, but they’re still around today with only one of the original members left.
A few times a month, Tim heads down to Coast Radio in Astoria, Oregon to volunteer his time hosting a rock music radio show there, Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.
I know he’s trying to concentrate on screen writing – something he’s very good at (like I mentioned) – but it’s hard not to notice that twinkle in his eye when talks about music. You can certainly tell that it's his first love.
Here’s some places on the web you can find Tim:
www.TimAllwein.com
https://twitter.com/reverendtim80
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-allwein-803709b2/
Want to hear some music by St. Elmo’s Fire with Tim singing? Hope you got your tapping shoes on...
https://amzn.to/2HJjC9
http://www.xxxrecords.com/artists/st-elmos-fire/
*Just FYI – There are affiliate links in this article where any product sales pay me a small commission.