Back Stoop — Pocket Changes
I placed the setting of Pocket Changes in Philadelphia because of its vast musical history. Philly is also where I was born and the city I know best. Besides the history, the grittiness and the mood the story needed to convey was a ringer for The City of Brotherly Love, as well. I wrote Pocket Changes as my humble attempt at paying homage to a couple of my favorite writers: H.P. Lovecraft and Jorge Luis Borges. The themes of the story are very much in line with their signature themes of secret knowledge, realms of the divine, and cosmic horror. Thanks for all the rides, boys…
LET’S TALK TITLE
“Pocket Changes” was chosen as the title of this story for several reasons, some may be obvious while others might not be.
First off, (1) it’s fairly explicitly stated within the story that playing music well was and is often referred to as playing “in the pocket”, saying “The Flagship” was considered the “deepest pocket of the Philly jazz scene”. So “Pocket” could be viewed as synonymous with “The Flagship”. In other words, the title might be read as “Flagship Changes”, referring to the lost careers of those five musicians, along with all others in attendance.
And, (2) “Pocket Changes” is also an obvious play on the phrase “pocket change”, meaning a small amount of cash or coins. Those musicians chosen for “The Flagship” enjoyed the substantial financial gains that came along with those “coveted gigs”. Amid a tough and competitive professional climate, the lucky players chosen for “The Flagship” finally secured some “pocket change”. Yet, once Relic unleashed the “audible evil”, the entire makeup of “The Flagship” changed. Philly’s deepest “pocket”, and the whole system changed permanently.
The final buried title allusions (3a) come from the fact that musicians often refer to the chord progression comprising a tune simply as the “changes”. And, (3b) if someone happens by while hiding something from plain sight, it may be said that they are “pocketing” the concealed object. In this way, the title can be read as “Pocketed/Concealed/Secret — Changes/Chord Progression/Music”. This serves as an allusion to the musical piece within the narrative, O Time Thy Pyramids (this title, itself, being an allusion to the short story “The Library of Babel” by Borges), which was the secret and mystical sheet music passed down within Ellis Relic’s lineage for millennia.
Mostly these last concepts were what the main theme of the story ultimately reshaped itself into—
