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"Christmas Album," Jo said, fingers spreading dramatically."Seriously?" Meg asked. "We just released the debut.""Which is gaining steam on bandcamp," said Amy, who particularly enjoyed checking Skycastle's account dashboards to see the numbers go up. "Here's hoping that's not just Mister Laurence.""Worry not: Grandfather doesn't know how to use bandcamp," Laurie said. "That's why we had to burn him a CD. But Jo's got a point. If we want to release a Christmas album on December 1 -- shouldn't go much later, considering the Christmas season gets pretty front-loaded these days -- we should start planning a set list today.""Definitely has to include 'Ding Dong Merrily on High,' right Beth?" Jo was grinning, but only until she looked to her sister and saw how weak and worried the smile was. "... Beth, what is it? You know you won't ever have to sing lead on this album either, right? You more than earn your keep on the keyboard.""...I know. I just... read a thing a while back. Garrison Keilor." Beth fidgeted."Oh, don't even give that loser any thought!" Jo said. Turning to Laurie she explained. "Garrison Keillor is of the opinion that people of our family's particular religious persuasion shouldn't be allowed to sing most Christmas carols, because we 'do it wrong,' since we don't believe in the literal Incarnation being celebrated. As if mysticism were more important to the theoretical birthday boy than morals, 'cause remember, the guy trash-talking UUs here is --""We don't need to remember about Mister Keillor's creation of a hostile workplace environment, Jo," Meg said.Jo acquiesced to avoid upsetting Beth further. "And never mind that if the literal Incarnation had happened, it wouldn't have been in literal
December anyway!""So you're sure it's not ... cultural appropriation?" Beth asked, starting to relax."Even if it were --" Laurie began."--which it isn't," Jo said."--which it isn't," Laurie conceded. "-- I, your humble guitarist, was baptized Catholic and raised Episcopalian, so Skycastle has proper High Church Christianity rep, and I can defend our honor against all the crotchety radio hosts of the world.""Not too many of those left, at least," Amy said. "Now if you tried to take on all the crotchety podcast hosts, you'd destroy yourself.""If we've addressed Beth's concerns...?" Meg said looking to her.Beth nodded."So are we all on board with the idea of a Christmas album? Show of hands."All were raised.Meg was soon scribbling notes. "Then I agree we have to have 'Ding Dong Merrily on High,' which Beth plays beautifully, but it's going to be a time adapting the other instruments for it.""Leave that to Laurie," Jo said. "Ooh, and we should have 'Here We Come A-Wassailing,' too!""And if we want to show a little representation of our own religion," Meg said. "May I remind you that 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day' was written by our own Ralph Waldo Emerson, so there's that.""Great idea!" Amy said. "I can do some bell-ringing. Ooh! For that matter, we should do 'Jingle Bells'!""You can ring Beth's old sick-bell for 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,'" Meg said. "But your tambourine's going to have be enough for the other one, because we are not buying you a jingle-bell stick."Amy pouted for exactly eight seconds before Laurie leaned over and stage-whispered, "I'll buy you a jingle-bell stick."Meg sighed and continued. "And as the actual drummer, I pre-emptively veto 'Little Drummer Boy,' because I just can't get over the idea of doing a drum solo for a newborn and a freshly postpartum mother. And why were the ox and lamb keeping time, anyway? Isn't that literally the drummer's job?""For the best," Laurie said. "I don't know if I could live up to the Blackhearts' rendition anyway.""Ooh, but I bet we could do a mean 'You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch," Jo said gleefully, steepling her fingers. "I am totally singing lead on that one.""Not in the public domain," Amy said. Jo's face -- and hands -- fell."...maybe... 'Deck the Halls?' If that's okay with everybody?" Beth offered tentatively."Absolutely," Jo said. "I will troll the heck out of that ancient Yuletide carol.""Agreed," Meg said. Then she paused. "I'm going to have to do another list, afterward, in proper set-list order, whatever that turns out to be.""'The Wassaill Song' will make a good opening track," Laurie suggested."And 'Auld Lang Syne' to finish!" Jo declared."So..." Laurie held out his hands beseechingly, and Meg handed him her pen and notepad. "Open with 'The Wassail Song,' then 'Jingle Bells,' then something seasonal but original that Jo no doubt has brewing, then 'Deck the Halls,' then 'Ding Dong Merrily on High,' then another original winter song, then 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,' then 'Auld Lang Syne.' Sound Good?"Jo crossed her arms. "Who said I had two original songs planned?""Your eyes.""Well, just because you're right doesn't mean you have to be smug about it.""Yes, it does.""Are we all agreed on the set-list order?" Meg asked. "Show of hands."All were raised.
"I have cover art ideas," Amy said.
"Of course you do," Jo said."I'm thinking a profile drawing of just the edge of a nose and mouth, with a cloud of breath coming out that shapes itself into an intricate snowflake." It was Amy's turn to gesture dramatically in front of her own face. "I'd use blues and whites and grays, obviously.""Hmm, not bad at all," Jo said. "And for an album title, how about Wassaillin' ? That's with an apostrophe and elided 'g,' like some sort of Folksmen album."It was unanimously agreed to. Only then did Beth quietly ask, "So what are the original songs going to be, Jo?""I've got one in the works called 'Oh, No, The Mistletoe,' and then I'm hoping for one called 'Make Your Own Darn Figgy Pudding.'"Beth blushed. "You're making fun of me for only being able to give you a butternut squash recipe for the All Our Daydreams album, aren't you?""I am not making fun of you. I am using your ingenuity as inspiration to produce potentially massive amounts of fun for everyone!"
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"Season's Greetings, Scholars and Gentlefolk! We are Skycastle!"Their church-basement Holiday Concert for Wassaillin' had been a lot of fun, but neither profitable nor exposing them to any potential new listeners. Their outdoor Holiday Concert had gone pretty well -- for being an outdoor concert in December in Massachusetts. It was hard to get people to take a card with the url and QR-code for their bandcamp when they were hurrying by to get indoors.Playing Mister Laurence's company party was both more comfortable and much more lucrative. Jo had kept hoping Aunt March would also hire them for a Christmas party -- she had the room for a big one -- but it had not come to pass -- in these days or any others in Jo's lifetime. But LaurCorp (it was not really called LaurCorp; Laurie had coined that as a pun on LexCorp, from the comics, even though his grandfather was not nearly so bad as Lex Luthor — corporate America had definitely done the poor man some soul-harm, but that was near-inescapable) was a good gig.One of the many perks was the food, during Skycastle's frequent refreshment breaks. Beth did, despite Mr. Laurence's offer to have the hors d'oeurves that were compatible with her food plan marked, prefer to sip her cider from the stage to avoid mingling -- though she did end up taking a few instrumental requests and wowing old administrators with 'Linus and Lucy.'Laurie, though, was a little uncomfortable at the party -- specifically, during the aforementioned refreshment breaks, when various executives mentioned looking forward to seeing him around the office more once he graduated.So Jo, of course, started stepping in. "I'm afraid he's under contract with Skycastle until his 21st Leap Day," she said grandiosely.That got several bemused smiles and one "Thinking of law school, Miss March? We could use more contract cutthroats.”To which she smilingly replied. "I fear I'm under the same indenture,” and politely dragged her guitarist off.Afterward, Laurie smiled at her, but raised an eyebrow, head canted just so. "Pirates of Penzance indenture rules, really?"“Folk-punk rockers are the modern corsairs, Teddy. Obviously.”“Obviously. There is a Black Flag joke in there somewhere, but I can’t quite catch it.”“You’re chasing the wrong quarry. Should be reflecting on how Artemisia of Caria, Zheng Yi Sao, and Anne Bonny were all very Violent Femmes.”
Laurie laughed, then paused, looking down in that way that got his silly floppy hair almost, but not quite, in his eyes. “Is it unreasonable to want to be indulged in the idea that we can do this professionally long-term?”“No.” Jo squeezed his hand — then smirked. “Certainly not unreasonable for someone who’s been indulged in so many things his whole life.”“Hey, I have learned how to do my own laundry! You can’t invoke that stuff anymore.”“But how can I stop when you learned how to do our laundry first? It’s hilarious. Being drafted into Marchdom did more than the basic course of life skills.”“Being drafted into Marchdom is what I’ve always wanted most,” he said wistfully.Jo’s heart went out to the lonely face-at-the-window that once was. But if they sat in wistful silence, too long, it might go the Wrong Way. So time to steer things back to a more natural state. “Not many are that eager to be, as it were, a Forced March.”“You can’t keep me out by simply making membership in the family painful. And yes, I mean the pun.”Jo nodded, then, as the pause seemed to try to force itself back, she looked back at the office. "Teddy..." And her eyes returned to him. "Mistakes don't
have to be handed down the generational line, you know.""I know. ...But I know all kinds of things I don't really believe."Jo pulled up into a thin smile and did her best Marmee imitation. "Well, if you can't believe, then affirm!""Oh, now we're back on your religion? Hey, with its historic roots in Transylvania, then as a folk-punk rocker, does that make you a vampire pirate? A vampirate, if you will?""I will not! There are more things in Transylvania than are dreamt of by Bram Stoker. And Dracula was Catholic! You know, like baby you! So you're the vampirate!" She shoved him gently.Things had better stay like this forever.
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"Hello, Jo. What are you doing?" Amy said as she came into the room.Jo's eyes stayed on her work. "It's been 30 years since Mojo Nixon and Jello Biafra modernized Phil Ochs's 'Love Me, I'm a Liberal' to fit '90s hypocrisy instead of the '60s variety. I figured it's about time it got updated again, but ... now that I'm looking at it, I'm more struck by the talking points that haven't even changed superficially. I'm not sure what that says about society, that we can barely pretend at progress.""So you're working on songs for the third album too?"Jo looked up at that. "Too? Got something in the works?" Amy's offering for the debut album had been a pretty little piece called 'Pre-Raphaelite,' but she'd ended up needing a lot of help from Jo and Laurie to make it work, which had been fine, and she hadn't said anything about wanting to do another song once Jo had stopped demanding songwriting efforts from her sisters."Well, I haven't written the song yet, but I'm thinking about writing a really serious song. I've got a topic, and I've got a title.""What's the title?""'Burning Your Child.'"Well, that also told the topic. For a moment, Jo could almost smell charred composition book. There was even a hint of the fumes of vaporized gel-tip ink.She took a breath. Then she took another breath, because sense-memory was harder to clear from a nose than it should be, and she didn't need the adrenaline of her own worst self. "... Okay, Amy, I recognize the Hedda Gabler reference, and I realize that this is your way of working through something that was really messed up between us for a while -- and I do, actually, appreciate, in multiple senses of the word, that this is something you still feel messed up about -- but let's not think of it as album material. First, the imagery is going to be bad for Beth, even if we remind her it's a metaphor. Second, if this album takes off like I hope it will, I don't want you vilified or maybe even harassed by strangers like a lousy ex of Taylor Swift. We don't need that kind of negativity in our lives. And third...""Yeah?""Don't quote Hedda Gabler in this house."Amy laughed. "Okay.""Okay. But if you want to work through anything else, or you get an idea for a song that will fit better for the album, I'm happy to listen and happy to help." Jo paused for a moment. "It's normal to feel like a villain protagonist sometimes, Amy. Well, sort of normal. To the extent that normal is anything but a laundry setting." Another laugh, which Jo took advantage of to go in for the hug. "My point is that not everyone's Meg, much less Beth." Goodness knew that Jo's particular closeness with Beth was not from sheer commonality.A slow nod. "Thanks, Jo."After Amy left, Meg soon came in. Jo hadn't even had time to figure out how to put a veiled transphobic reference into the Fictive Liberal's mealy mouth.“I’ve got a song," Meg announced plainly. "Its lyrics are written from the heart, and by heart I mean my everyday frustration.”Jo smiled. "Okay, let's take a look. " She accepted the notebook.
"...'This Jelly Isn't Vegan.'" She read a little more.
"You... Meg, you rhyme 'vegan' with 'Manchegan'?'""It makes sense! Because Don Quixote was Manchegan, and he was out of his mind, and at this point, so am I.""Right. Totally reasonable. Well, there's a good core here. Thoughts on the tune?""Something sing-songy, the way schoolyard taunts are.""Because adulting itself is bullying you?""I admit nothing. Nothing besides what I've already admitted, anyway.""Of course." Quick hug. "I'll talk to Teddy about arrangements.""Thank you, Jo.""And possibly about making use of his heirloom St. Ignatius pin 'for invocation against over-conscientiousness.' ""When has Theodore Laurence ever needed to worry about being overconscientious?""He says he mostly uses it on Mr. Brooke."Meg smiled long-sufferingly. "At least I'm in good company. Okay, back to organizing the pantry.""And to reminding yourself that there's no ethical consumption under capitalism?" Jo asked -- hypocritically, considering she also knew all about being eaten away at by barely-avoidable details, though her personal sense of wrong was more outrage than flusterment."Yeah. Thanks."It was a while after Meg left -- long enough for Jo to be trying to figure if she could make 'I would have voted for Obama for a third term if I could' fit the meter -- that Beth very slowly came in."Hey. ...Maybe this is a strange question, but I don't suppose you have a song idea?""...Is it okay if I do?""Absolutely. Turn on the keyboard."Beth took a breath as she did so.
“I … I don’t want to sing lead.”“I know. You don’t have to, Beth. No one’s going to make you.”“But I gotta sing it to you — well, talk-sing it, anyway — to show you how it goes, and if you decide it’s worth telling the others about, we could show them together, in unison? And if somehow everyone ends up agreeing to record it, I think it actually works best for the song to be everybody doing it in unison.”“Then that’s how it’ll be.”“Okay… okay.” And Beth’s hands went to work on the keyboard, and it sounded more like a sonata than a song song at all. Then she began to sing — well, honestly, to chant — over the grounding melody. It took a moment for Jo to process the words, because once more, Beth hadn’t written lyrics. She was chanting, verbatim, the prescription, instruction, and warning labels from her medication bottles. The first verse was for her gabapentin, the second for her methotrexate, the third for her B-vitamin supplement, and so on. The chorus was the warning against combining with alcohol.
There was a brief bridge after the methotrexate verse and its chorus-iteration. The sonata-like playing fell away for a more stoccato pecking of the keys, and Beth’s voice was even softer as she chanted the injunction against use by patients who were ‘pregnant or planning to become pregnant.’Eventually, Beth stopped. “I know it’s weird and silly, but…”Okay. It was hugs time now. Again. “It’s not silly, Beth. It works. It really works. And yeah, unison seems like a good idea.”And then Beth needed to lie down for a while, and Jo went outside with her phone."Hey, McCartney," Laurie answered."Hello, Lennon. Ironically, Harrison, Starkey, and Sutcliffe, irrespectively, all brought up contributions today.""This I have got to hear."
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"All right, practice time," Meg said. "Now, Laurie's the only one of us who doesn't know 'Which Side Are You On?'"Laurie looked down melodramatically. "Truly, I am folk impaired.""Ironically, since the only instrument it actually requires is the guitar, and since you should also sing lead."Jo frowned. "Why should he sing lead on that particular protest classic, Meg?"Meg sighed. "Because the lyrics include the line, 'And I'm a miner's son,' Jo. And you're a girl.""And now you're suggesting that I should be a coward about it.""You'll sound silly.""Sillier than it'll sound if this trust fund son, who spent junior high in a Swiss boarding school, tries to sing it?""Well, now you'll have to forgive me, Meg," Laurie said. "I can't sing lead for this one, or a very specific social worker's daughter is going to murder me with her eyes.""You must be calling Marmee a very specific social worker," Amy piped up, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. "Because more than one of her daughters has that skill. Jo's not that specific.""This is all being funny, right?" Beth asked. "Nobody's fighting?""Nobody's fighting, Beth," Jo assured her. "Which is good, because if we were, I'd be fighting dirty. And then I wouldn't have time to be showing Teddy the blasted guitar chords for the song on which I am totally going to sing lead."Meg sighed again, but Amy wasn't done either. "Will I be doing anything with my hands for this one, or just backing vocals? Sure, it only technically needs a guitar, but Jo and Beth have done the arraignment for bass and piano before.""Arrangement," Jo said. "We didn't haul our instruments before a grand jury."Amy crossed her arms again, clearly trying to do so more firmly. "You knew what I meant, so address my point." She might have accidentally put the stress on the first syllable of address. "What about other instruments?""I've seen the song done with trombone added," Beth said."Trombones are gross," Amy said. "And anyway, we don't have one.""I love the implication that if someone handed you one, and you didn't find it gross, you'd suddenly be able to play it right away," Jo said, smirking."I didn't say anything that wasn't true; what you confer about it is your problem.""Infer. Anyway, you're going to be doing plenty with your hands on album art and web design. And certainly you and Teddy will have to share the lead vocals on your whole 'describing a French painting' song. I don't want to have to deal with French pronunciation in the middle of performing." Jo didn't want to talk about the other reason she didn't want to sing Amy's song: this one, too -- albeit in a much, much more subtle way -- touched on bad memories that Jo and Amy had created together. Jo much preferred their bickering the way it currently was, wherein nobody got hurt."Speaking of showing me some guitar chords, Jo, I did need to check on whether you've made up your mind about a solo during that Judith Butler-type song of yours? The one we were discussing right around the 'It's performative, / but so are promises' point?""Oh yes. I decided you should go wild. Worrying if a song is too long is for record executives and cowards, but I repeat myself.""Are we going to be testing out this set list in the church basement?" Meg asked."The people in our church basement are not really that useful in terms of gauging the reactions of a mainstream audience," Amy pointed out."We never had a hope with mainstream." Jo grinned. "We should definitely do it, if for no other reason than to shout 'We are Skycastle' and immediately get a dozen people shouting back 'We know!' But truly, the church basement is our vaudeville, our place in which to be safely lousy.""Most people use the internet for that," Laurie said.Meg shook her head worriedly. "Laurie, the internet is forever.""Except when one is trying to keep the web site up," Amy sighed."Next issue," Meg said. "Beth, are you comfortable with practicing 'What's Stopping People?'
I know Jo put a little bit of violent imagery into it, much as the message is good."Beth nodded. "Not more than I can handle." A small smile. "Jo's really good at knowing my limits."Meg sighed yet again. "And testing everyone else's. Next issue. If we're going to consider 'The Temperatures, They Are A-Changing' to sort of be a single, do we need to worry about the fact that it's referencing a Bob Dylan song even though it doesn't actually sound anything like the Bob Dylan song?""No, that's the perfect combination," Jo said. "The title strikes a familiar countercultural chord --""-- Pun totally intended --" Laurie interjected."-- while not opening up any possibility of legal claims for anyone to feel paranoid about. Best of both worlds.""And yet we're opening the album with your own re-arrangement of an existing tune.""Nobody's going to sue over a reworking of a reworking of a Phil Ochs song," Jo insisted. "Not even you can be paranoid about that. Way more reliable thought than covering movie-licensed songs or reworking Dylan.""I hate to interrupt anyone's paranoia about when to be paranoid," Laurie said. "But I still don't know how to play 'Which Side Are You On?' Can some big strong folk-music-credentialed ladies help this poor trust fund brat?""Always," Jo said.
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Amy had painted a mountain path in dark grays and browns, over which she'd imposed 'Skycastle' in an azure script and the album title, 'Progressive Pilgrimage,' in a tan vintage font.Jo smiled at the track list and liner notes of their third album..
Love Me, I'm a Liberal
Kiss Me; I'm Italian
What's Stopping People?
Floating Ice Near Vetheuil
The Temperatures, They are A-Changing
Hearts and Minds Delight
Bread and Roses
This Jelly Isn't Vegan
Gender Query
We Are Trying To Have a Society Here (So Social Constructs Are Going to Happen)
Side Effects Include
In Peace
Which Side Are You On?
Visit our primary web site at www.skycastleconcord.com
Skycastle is based in Concord, MA. 10% of all profits from the sale of this music will go to Concord's very own Open Table Food Pantry.
Personnel:
T. Laurence: Guitar, vocals, production
A. March: Percussion (tambourine, spoons, glockenspiel, bell, etc.), vocals
E. March: Keyboards, backing vocals, metaphysical glue
J. March: Bass guitar, vocals, production
M. March: Drums, vocals
Special Thanks to the following for their support:
J. Laurence, R. March, M. March (Sr.), J. March (Extremely Sr.), H. Mullet, J. Brooke
And to all our fans for joining us on this journey.
Jo knew she had only gotten away with calling Aunt March that because even Marmee and Father knew Aunt March would never read the album's liner notes. She also was still amused with herself at leaving the cover song title less grammatically punctuated while using a proper semicolon for Laurie's unrelated original song that might or might not have something to do with his emotional baggage regarding his mother.And then there was the other thing to read: the sales spreadsheets that Amy had printed out to hang on the wall beside her posters of Chrises.Skycastle was doing well.Skycastle was doing really, really well.They were playing a lot on college radio. There had already been some jokes about how bands with drummers named Meg make it big on their third album.It was about time they figured out how to make music videos without giving Beth an anxiety attack.
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"I ... I don't think I can play with a camera on me," Beth said.
"It won't be on you," Amy said. "It'll be on Jo and Laurie, and when it isn't, Meg'll be right there, ready for her close-up.""Meg gives good close-up," Jo concurred."Don't say it like that!" Meg said."But even... I mean, what if people end up looking at my corner of the screen anyway?" Beth asked quietly, eyes starting to look distant. "It'll throw everything off. There'll be everyone looking confident and probably glamorous and then there'll be me...""Well, for one thing, you're wonderful," Jo insisted. Everyone made affirming noises in agreement.Everyone but Beth. "But how can I play when people will be looking and ... and figuring things out about me? But... I don't like holding you all back, either. I know I'm the reason we can't tour. Maybe..." Something started to tremble in her voice. "Maybe you should see about getting a new keyboardist."The "No" came in the most solemn of four-part harmonies."We're in this together," Meg said. "Unless you actually want to not be in the band anymore, you're not quitting. We work with what we have; we always do.""And we're hardly going to dim our musical glory for promotional reasons," Laurie said."Right," Jo said. "But Beth... you're braver than you're giving yourself credit for."Beth took a deep breath and nodded -- then looked at Laurie's video camera, which wasn't even on, like a deer in headlights."Beth," Amy said, putting a foot down intently to get her attention, her bratty flair fulfilling its function. "If it'll make you feel better, I promise that even in the group shots, there'll be vivid thematic illustrations that'll cover you up with smokescreens like tulle and snowflakes like lace, so nobody can try to deduce anything about you. I've got art animation all ready to superimpose. And it won't even be obvious about your anxiety, because they'll be moving around a lot, passing over and around the rest of us, just happening to mostly keep you covered."And there was Beth's smile back. "Thank you, Amy." She looked around. "Thank all of you.""Show of hands to make a music video of 'The Temperatures, They Are A-Changing'?" Meg asked.It was unanimous. So they went to work with lights and camera and makeup and tablet-stylus. There were several days of prep, then a long day and late night of work with lots of aftercare for Beth -- though Meg, of course, said not to say it like that -- and then days of post-production before uploading it to Youtube with a link to their bandcamp. And then there was a new set of numbers for Amy to gleefully watch climb.There were more promotions to do, but the music video soon paid for itself, between Youtube monetization and the notable surge in sales. The video was linked over and over in the shifting online discussion of environmental issues."We're not ... greenwashing, are we?" Beth asked. "By making money from raising awareness?""Beth, please don't make me break out St. Ignatius," Laurie said. "You are not required to starve for our art or for activism."But fortunately, Beth's anxiety regarding band issues wasn't getting any harder to assuage as their popularity increased. They were still too indie for gossip sites, at least, aside from the occasional 'Laurence Heir Slumming It With Garage Band.'And then the calls came about licensing for their music. Mr. Laurence's 'people' would handle the legal documentation, but the band still insisted on reviewing the request. "To protect our consciences, our dignity, and our brand," as Amy put it."Although really," Meg said. "Our music is blatant enough, it seems unlikely anyone trying to promote a harmful agenda would want to use it."Jo gently took Meg's wrist and had her knock on wood. "'Born in the USA,' Meg. 'Fortunate Son,' Meg," she said."Never underestimate people's ability to misunderstand the arts," Laurie said, then smirked. "Trust me, I'm rich. We've built a vast interconnected money laundering industry on the fact that people don't really understand art.""'We,' Jo said. "Like you were personally involved.""Sins of the second cousins once removed," Laurie said."Speaking of rich," Amy said. "Let's check the numbers again."
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Skycastle was paying the March family's mortgage.It was covering all of the college fees that were not covered by scholarship and all the medical bills -- both Beth's and Father's -- that were not covered by insurance.
It gave them opportunities to speak out about important issues, even while they all guarded Beth's privacy like watchdogs (or watch-geese; Jo insisted those were scarier). It gave Laurie a jumping-off point for talks with his grandfather, both political and personal, that didn't end in tense silence or in disaster.Their modest success gave them the chance to show those who'd loved and supported them -- through both their little career and their lives -- how much they had noticed and how much they returned those feelings.Skycastle was making a living -- and it was fun -- all while being intellectually and spiritually fulfilling -- and all done together.