Remembering Pollyanna Loves Cassandra - 20 years later

I experienced one of my most prolific songwriting stretches. I was in my mid-30’s, enjoying a confluence of skill, passion, and discipline. (Such is common for people at that age. The New-Agers, mystics, and other knowers-of-things call it “Saturn-Returning.”) …The only unusual thing about these songs is that there are 31 of them in the same package.

John ShipeDecember 28, 2023singer songwriter, independent music, Double Album, Pollyanna, Cassandra, double album

Courtship of Pollyanna and Cassandra (2003)

Bringing Pollyanna and Cassandra together has not been easy. This is not a match made in Heaven. Limited time, limited resources, limited equipment, and unlimited naiveté. But true love is stubborn.

John ShipeDecember 20, 2023singer songwriter, independent music, Double Album, Pollyanna, Cassandra

Pollyanna and Cassandra Love Claire Flint

“Pollyanna,” the derogatory nickname for a person who is optimistic so far beyond realism, that such optimism ceases to be a virtue. “Cassandra,” the Trojan prophetess of doom. I take to be some sort of archetype for a personality that is peculiarly intelligent, sensitive, but self-fulfillingly tragic.