Tag: Anna Marie Tendler

Anna Marie Tendler, I, Too, Know Something About Grief


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, way back when, I was very angry at a young woman named Annie Shapiro. This was probably mid-2007. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to going through a divorce. The expat magazine we started, ROKon, had failed and then she, in secret, brought it back.

And it was good.

It was really good.

I was working at a newspaper for children learning English called The EduTimes. I liked to tell people I had five days to do two days worth of work. So, with those three extra days, I would sit at my desk and listen to the following song on YouTube.

I’m not saying my experience with grief is special or different or that you should listen to me. But given how devastating and moving Anna Marie Tendler’s photos documenting her grief are, I thought I’d share.

But I will say, my grief about the end of my tumultuous relationship with Annie and what happened with the magazine emotionally kneecapped me for about a decade. A decade!

I’m slowly beginning to feel a lot better. I just wish Annie was still alive for us to have some sort of rapprochement. She was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met and she changed my life.

RIP, my little wood nymph.

‘All Crushed Out:’ #Pop #Rock #Ballad #Lyrics


Jesus Christ no one cares about me at the moment. But this is a pleasant way to relax this evening — trying to convey what the pictures of Anna Marie Tendler make me feel in verse. No one cares. But the titles of her photos do lend themselves to be song titles.

All Crushed Out
lyrics by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Please give credit if you produce or perform

my heart still beats
but my soul is crushed out
the blood still flows
just as fast
but my heart’s just not in it
everything is smashed
everything is
all crushed out
all crushed out

crushed, crushed

don’t know what happens next
I haven’t got a guess
when you were by my side
I would let out a sigh
but now just cry, cry, cry
if you ever return what will I do
everything is smashed
everything is
all crushed out
all crushed out

(bridge)
put it all back together
I pray to heaven above
maybe if I rub a lamp
everything will return
to the way it once was
but I know that’s just crap

everything is smashed
everything is
all crushed out
all crushed out
all crushed out
all crushed out

‘A Room That Once Was:’ #lyrics to a #pop #rock #ballad


I know something about the power of grief. What I don’t know is anything about how to put words to music. I know the words part, but how to fit words to music is something I’m oblivious about. I would buy a guitar and learn, but I’ve decided that photography will be my second creative “track.” Anyway, the photos of grief that Anna Marie Tendler is producing in despair over her recent divorce is something I can related to. The late Annie Shapiro went through something of a divorce because of ROKon Magazine and it took me – gulp — a lot longer than I would like to admit for me to get over it. Anyway, the title of these lyrics comes from the photo I’ve linked to.

A Room That Once Was
lyrics by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Please give credit if you produce or perform

this is a room that was once a home
it filled our hearts with hope
we believed it was for a dream
but it was just a nightmare
it was all a lie
you looked me in the face
told me you would never leave

I believed you I did
now I’m at a loss to what happens next
I turn the light on to this room
we christened its hardwood floor
thinking we might make a baby

a room that once was a home
but is just a hole
a hole in my heart
a room that once was (a home)
a room that once was (a home)
a room that once was (a home)

(bridge)
I try to read in the room
really I do
but dread is too powerful for me to
so I don’t know what to do
maybe you can tell me
in your new enlightment
you’re going to be a father
I hear
oh dear
all I have is

a room that once was
a room that once was
a room that once was
a room that once was

‘anne boleyn:’ #Pop #Rock #Ballad #Lyrics


The pictures like the one above that Anna Marie Tendler is producing on her Instagram account are just heart wrenching. But, also, for me, at least, inspiring. I can’t sleep at the moment, so here’s another bit of would-be music inspired by one of her grief photos caused by her divorce.

anne boleyn
lyrics by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Please give credit if you produce or perform

off with her head
they said and then she was dead
but to any woman who loves too much
and finds herself on the block
the name Anne Boleyn resonates
as the tears become a necklace

whatever you do
whatever you say
just don’t call me
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn

women know what they know
Anne Boleyn did not know her place
and she paid a heavy price
her mind was in the right place
but her man’s hands were somewhere else
other than her body late at night
someone else got that right
much to Anne Bolyen’s fright

you could say I’m the same
nothing new, is under the sun
we thought we had something forever
it was just a fever
so whatever you do
don’t call me
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn

Holy Shit, Anna Marie Tendler, Have I Got An Album For You: Kacey Musgraves’ ‘Star-Crossed’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Despite what the hysterical haters on Twitter might think — I’m actually a very empathetic person, maybe to a fault. Something about the art that  Anna Marie Tendler is generating from her grief over divorce to John Mulaney is tearing me up big time.

So, I kind of have all of that on the brain.

I’m a big Kacey Musgraves’ fan and there I was, listening to her latest album, “star-crossed” when it occurred to me the whole thing is about her recent divorce to Ruston Kelly. Who, I just learned, at one point in 2020 when this album was likely being produced, was hanging out with Olivia Munn! This whole thing is getting kind of surreal, the more I learn about it.

I think it’s safe to say that it’s highly unlikely that Ms. Tendler is unware of Ms. Musgraves’ latest creative effort.

Ode To Anna Marie Tendler: ‘A Constant Companion’ — #Lyrics To A Breakup Song

I know absolutely nothing about music, but I can write. Or, at least, I like to think I can. So, I saw this picture of Anna Marie Tendler and was inspired to write lyrics from it. Or, at least, a poem that’s meant to be sung to music. But I only wrote this in about five minutes, so someone who actually knows what they’re doing would have to do something with it. But it’s inspired by Damien Rice’s The Blower’s Daughter. That’s the vibe I’m looking for with it.

A Constant Companion
lyrics by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Please give credit if you produce or perform

it was all an act
and that’s a fact
our love is gone
and will never come back
but for a while you were a
constant companion
constant companion
constant companion
constant companion
constant companion
constant companion

I used to adore you
now you’re gone with a roar
never to return as it is foretold
but what can I say that hasn’t been said
a thousand times in my head
you were

a constant companion
by my side
by my side
now the darkness has taken your place
I live in disgrace
with another
constant companion
constant companion
constant companion
constant companion
constant companion
constant companion

(bridge)
I’m alone with my fears
alone with my nightmares
I hold my hands late at night
thinking it’s you by my side
but my fingers I feel are my own

I can’t forget that you once were my
constant companion
constant companion
constant companion
constant companion
constant
companion
constant
companion

My Heart Breaks For Anna Marie Tendler


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Oh boy. Talk about shots fired. While I’ve made my thoughts clear that I’m Team Oulaney, I’m not a heartless monster — Anna Marie Tendler’s Instagram account is tearing me up.

I don’t know what to make of it all. A divorce is always heartbreaking and messy and this one is no different. It’s one of those things where you could pick either side and have a very valid argument, which is what makes the whole thing so rough.

But I have to give Ms. Tendler credit — she’s an amazing artist. The above photo explains all we need to know about her break up from her point of view. It’s just devastating.

So, I totally validate her grief on this issue. And I hope nothing I’ve written seems to indicate I think her ex and his new baby mamma are in the clear, they’re not. I’m more annoyed with people being way too invested in this whole messy, messy situation than the specifics of what happened.

There’s enough hurt to go around, if you will.

Anyway. In the end, I think most of the “parasocial” investment that you see on Tik-Tok comes from younger women in Brooklyn who saw John Mulaney as aspirational — he was the type of guy they wanted. When it turned out he did not fit the romantic narrative they had in their heads…they were heart broken.

And I’m not picking on them for that, either. Just describing what I think may have happened. In fact, the level of misogyny I’ve seen thrown at Olivia Munn for this particular situation is really aggravating.

I have not seen any indication that she actively broke up Mulaney’s marriage. They were already on the rocks — apparently — and Munn just took advantage of what was going on.

Anyway. What do I know.