Nathan A. Bucklin
Encyclopedia
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
living in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
with his wife, Louie Spooner Bucklin, and stepson James Trainor.
He was a founding member of the Minneapolis writer's group the Scribblies, and is one of the founding members of the Minnesota Science Fiction Society, better known as Minn-stf.
A long-time member of science-fiction fandom, Nate was a contributor to the amateur press association
Amateur press association
An amateur press association is a group of people who produce individual pages or magazines that are sent to a Central Mailer for collation and distribution to all members of the group.-Organisation:...
s Apa-45 and Minneapa for many years. In the early years of the Minnesota Science Fiction Society, Nate would bring his guitar and play original songs as well as his favorites by other songwriters, often in a music circle with other fans, a tradition that continues to this day.
Nate's musical career has encompassed teaching guitar, performing with a number of bands over the years, and songwriting.
Biography
Nate Bucklin was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 11, 1949. A self-described "Foreign ServiceUnited States Foreign Service
The United States Foreign Service is a component of the United States federal government under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of approximately 11,500 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S...
brat", he lived part of his childhood in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. While living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he received a guitar and music lessons for his eighth birthday. Nate made his stage debut at age 9, on February 7, 1959, at a private club in Casilda
Casilda
Casilda is a city in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It is the head town of the Caseros Department, and lies about west of Rosario and 202 km south-southwest of the provincial capital Santa Fe, on National Route 33...
, Santa Fe province, Argentina, as an intermission act for El Conjunto Folklorico Infantil Albor Gaucho. This was followed by several appearances in variety shows and at the social club Martin Fierro, named for the epic poem
Martín Fierro
Martín Fierro is a 2,316 line epic poem by the Argentine writer José Hernández. The poem was originally published in two parts, El Gaucho Martín Fierro and La Vuelta de Martín Fierro . The poem is, in part, a protest against the modernist tendencies of Argentine president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento...
by the Argentine writer José Hernández.
Nate's family moved back to the United States in 1960. He lived on Vashon Island
Vashon Island
Vashon is a census-designated place in King County, Washington, United States. It covers an island alternately called Vashon Island or Vashon-Maury Island, the largest island in Puget Sound south of Admiralty Inlet. The population was 10,624 at the 2010 census. At , it is about 60 percent larger...
, Washington, until just after his 17th birthday, when he moved to Minnesota to attend Macalester College
Macalester College
Macalester College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 as a Presbyterian-affiliated but nonsectarian college. Its first class entered September 15, 1885. The college is located on a campus in a historic residential neighborhood...
in Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
. Except for three years during which Nate lived in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, he has made his home in Minnesota ever since.
Nate spent four years as a member of the National Fantasy Fan Federation
National Fantasy Fan Federation
The National Fantasy Fan Federation is one of the world's oldest science fiction fandom organizations. The organization was founded in April 1941 when all science fiction, horror, and fantasy literature was lumped into one category called "fantasy." The group actively encourages the development of...
or N3F, a correspondence club for science fiction and fantasy fans; during this stretch, his correspondents included Greg Shaw
Greg Shaw
Greg Shaw was a Los Angeles-based fanzine publisher, music historian and record label owner. He grew up near San Francisco, California.It was as a young teenager that he started writing about rock and roll music...
, Walter Breen, and Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob is an English American writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is most famous for his long-running novel series set in the fictional realm of Xanth.Many of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best...
.
He inadvertently triggered the founding of the Minnesota Science Fiction Society (Minn-stf) in 1966. A gathering to welcome Nate to the Twin Cities was so successful that the attendees decided to repeat it in two weeks. After several such meetings, the meeting was called to order and the club was named, with regular Saturday meetings that have continued ever since.
In the early 1970s he was a key contributor to MinniAPA, a regularly published collective apazine.
Musical career
When Nate was 11, his music teacher informed him he had perfect pitch. Nonetheless, he played very little music for the following six years. While at Vashon High School in 1966, he led and performed in a folk quartet with Ted Smith, Vicki Browne, and Greg Burton.Nate worked extensively during the 1970s and 1980s as a guitar instructor, with a special interest in doing everything possible to make sure his left-handed students were able to obtain, and were taught to play on, left-handed guitars. Nate's job in 1974-75 as a guitar instructor for Anoka-Ramsey Community College
Anoka-Ramsey Community College
Anoka-Ramsey Community College, with campuses in Cambridge and Coon Rapids, has been a provider of higher education and training in the north suburban area of Minneapolis/St...
was based on this work.
Nate has maintained a moderate profile as a musician. He has performed with other musicians, including Nolan Porter, and with a number of Minneapolis-area bands including the Love Express, Circus 13, the Reflection with Bette Palmer, Caryl and Company, Alan Grant and Centre Stage, Runestone, the Calamity James Band, and David Carroll and the Wanderers. He is currently the bass player for the Time Travelers (which, despite its name, is not a science-fictional band).
Nate has co-written songs with various people, including Steven Brust
Steven Brust
Steven Karl Zoltán Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He was a member of the writers' group The Scribblies, which included Emma Bull, Pamela Dean, Will Shetterly, Nate Bucklin, Kara Dalkey, and Patricia Wrede; he also belongs to the Pre-Joycean...
; his collaborations include "If I Should Happen to Leave" and "I Was Born About Ten Million Songs Ago." The latter was recorded by Doctor Demento. Nate's song "I Pop Pills" was featured on Doctor Demento's radio show in 1997.
Nate has been filk guest of honor at five science-fiction conventions.
Albums
- "Water Over the Bridge" (2005) - CD
- "Rainbow’s Edge" (2001) - CD
- "Butter Side Down" (1992) - cassette
- "Resolutions" (1988) - cassette
- "The First Overnight Guest" (1985) - cassette (out of print)
Album descriptions are listed at Curious Manor.
Musical Honors
1967 - Appeared with The Love Express at a 57-way Battle of the Bands sponsored by Len's Guitar City of Bloomington, MinnesotaBloomington, Minnesota
Bloomington is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota in Hennepin County. Located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, Bloomington lies at the heart of the southern...
. The Love Express made the finals, and Nate was judged best lead guitarist.
1971 - Took the first five places (out of 14 entries he submitted) to a jingle-writing contest for Certs
Certs
Certs is a breath mint manufactured by Cadbury Adams, formerly the American Chicle Company.Long one of America’s most popular mints, Certs was the first breath mint to be nationally marketed in the United States, and has been a fixture at American drug stores and convenience stores since its debut...
Breath Mints. The winning entry, with Nate singing and playing Latin-style guitar, was aired on KDWB
KDWB
KDWB-FM is an American commercial radio station broadcasting in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota, the radio format was known for over fifty years as a major contemporary hit radio Top 40 pop music outlet. Its transmitter is located in Shoreview, Minnesota. It broadcasts in 5.1 cinema-quality...
and WDGY
WDGY
WREY is a Spanish-language radio station with studios located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it was licensed to Hudson, Wisconsin from 1997 to 2005. It is a full market coverage radio station of Minneapolis/St.Paul...
in the Twin Cities.
1972 - Placed second in a jingle-writing contest for County Seat Levi's. He played guitar on the demo tape for the winning entry, written by his first wife Caryl Dixon Eschweiler.
1973 - Received invitations to join the American Song Festival library for his songs "Child of the River" and "One Way Love."
1976 - Made the finals with his song "Hold On To Yourself" in "The Ode to Billy Joe Write-a-Song Contest" in Los Angeles, tied in with the release of the movie Ode to Billy Joe
Ode to Billy Joe (film)
Ode to Billy Joe is a 1976 film with a screenplay by Herman Raucher, inspired by the 1967 hit song by Bobbie Gentry, titled "Ode to Billie Joe" ....
, based on the song "Ode to Billie Joe
Ode to Billie Joe
"Ode to Billie Joe" is a 1967 song written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry , a singer-songwriter from Chickasaw County, Mississippi. The single, released in late July, was a number-one hit in the United States, and became a big international seller. The song is ranked #412 on Rolling Stones list of...
" (sic!) by Bobbie Gentry
Bobbie Gentry
Roberta Lee Streeter , professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is a former American singer-songwriter notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material...
.
1976 - Appeared on The Gong Show
The Gong Show
The Gong Show is an amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976 through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976–1980 and 1988–1989. The show was produced by Chuck Barris, who also served...
with Nolan Porter and A Touch of Spice; the band won the day's competition.
1988 - Made the finals of a "Twin Cities Best Bass Player" contest sponsored by the weekly newspaper City Pages
City Pages
City Pages is an alternative weekly newspaper serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It features news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews, and music criticism. It is printed in a tabloid format, and is available free every Wednesday...
Literary career
Nate is an alumnus of the 1990 Clarion WorkshopClarion Workshop
Clarion is a six-week workshop for new and aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers. Originally an outgrowth of Knight and Wilhelm's Milford Writers' Conference, held at their home in Milford, Pennsylvania, USA, it was founded in 1968 by Robin Scott Wilson at Clarion State College in...
for science-fiction writers.
He wrote two stories set in the Liavek
Liavek
Liavek is a shared world brought to life in a series of five fantasy anthologies edited by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly.-Contributors:Contributors include Bull, Shetterly, Gene Wolfe, Jane Yolen, John M. Ford, Kara Dalkey, Barry B. Longyear, Megan Lindholm, Nancy Kress, Patricia C. Wrede, Steven...
universe: "Dry Well" and "Strings Attached" are stories centered around a young musician.
He performed in and wrote the music for _PBS Liavek_, a Shockwave Radio Theater
Shockwave Radio Theater
Shockwave Radio Theater was broadcast for 28 years on Fresh Air Radio, the community radio station KFAI-FM, 90.3FM Minneapolis, 106.7FM St. Paul. Much of Shockwave Radio is archived on archive.org or on the audio page of Dave Romm's portal. Podcasts of some shows are available as Baron Dave...
play performed at the 1987 Minicon
Minicon
Minicon is a science fiction and fantasy convention in Minneapolis usually held on Easter weekend. Started in 1968 and running approximately annually since then, it is one of the oldest science fiction conventions in the midwest United States...
.
Fellow Scribblie Pamela Dean
Pamela Dean
Pamela Dean Dyer-Bennet is an American fantasy author whose most notable book is Tam Lin, based on the Child Ballad of the same name, in which the Scottish fairy story is set on a midwestern college campus loosely based on her alma mater, Carleton College in Minnesota.She was a member of the...
noted in an interview that Nate left the Scribblies to concentrate on song-writing.
Nate was a literary scout in the 1990s, introducing Kris Jensen
Kris Jensen
Kris Jensen is an American singer and guitarist.Jensen began his career in music cutting records for Colpix, for whom he recorded his first single in 1959. He graduated from high school in Fort Lauderdale in 1960 and then recorded with Kapp Records and its subsidiary, Leader Records...
, Katya Reimann
Katya Reimann
-The Tielmaran Chronicles :# Wind From a Foreign Sky # A Tremor in the Bitter Earth # Prince of Fire and Ashes -Rulers of Hylor:Upon the death of Cherry Wilder, Reimann completed the final book in the series:...
, and Lyda Morehouse
Lyda Morehouse
Lyda Morehouse is a science fiction and fantasy author. Her first four books, the LINK Angel series , blend cyberpunk technology with unconventional religious themes. She is the winner of multiple national awards, including the Philip K...
to editor and agent James Frenkel
James Frenkel
James Raymond Frenkel is a Senior Editor, editing science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction and other books for Tom Doherty Associates . He has edited numerous award-winning authors such as Vernor Vinge, Joan D. Vinge, and Frederik Pohl , Andre Norton, Loren D...
.
Short Stories
- "Ghost Dance" in Weird TalesWeird TalesWeird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
Winter 1985 issue (edited by Gordon M. D. Garb) - “Dry Well” in Liavek: The Players of Luck (1986, edited by Emma BullEmma BullEmma Bull is a science fiction and fantasy author whose best-known novel is War for the Oaks, one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy. She has participated in Terri Windling's Borderland shared universe, which is the setting of her 1994 novel Finder...
and Will ShetterlyWill ShetterlyWill Shetterly is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction best known for his novel Dogland . The novel is inspired by his childhood at the tourist attraction Dog Land owned by his parents...
) - "Imperfect Catch" in Tales of the UnanticipatedTales of the UnanticipatedTales of the Unanticipated, known as TOTU, is a semiprozine that was founded under the auspices of the Minnesota Science Fiction Society , and has since become independent...
Spring 1987 issue (edited by Eric M. Heideman) - “Strings Attached” in Liavek: Spells of Binding (1988, edited by Emma BullEmma BullEmma Bull is a science fiction and fantasy author whose best-known novel is War for the Oaks, one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy. She has participated in Terri Windling's Borderland shared universe, which is the setting of her 1994 novel Finder...
and Will ShetterlyWill ShetterlyWill Shetterly is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction best known for his novel Dogland . The novel is inspired by his childhood at the tourist attraction Dog Land owned by his parents...
) - "The Lifter" in Tales of the UnanticipatedTales of the UnanticipatedTales of the Unanticipated, known as TOTU, is a semiprozine that was founded under the auspices of the Minnesota Science Fiction Society , and has since become independent...
, Winter/Spring 1988 issue (edited by Eric M. Heideman)
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