It's a Toy World

Lucky

2011-09-19T08:45:00.002-04:00

Feel a reckless yearning
So I wander outside
I don't know belonging
It's something I don't hide

I want to know you
I'm hoping you could
Come to me be by me
I don't know what it will bring
Come closer talk to me
I don't know what will follow

All the streets are mine
I dance down them like a clown
Desperate for sunshine
In case you might be around

Vegetable Man

2011-09-08T13:24:00.009-04:00

Or, the positive aspect of almighty Not.
I don't really have an idea of what I'm doing yet, but I've decided to stop eating animals.

I have lots of ideas about what I'm NOT doing -

I've given up trying to follow Politics with active interest; it always was a non-satisfying pursuit - politics being by definition, the striving to get something you don't want...but in the current climate, the way the we the people, media and the politicians have allowed things to unfold, it's all gone idiotic and is the exclusive province of Corporations (great movie, The Corporation by the way). I gave up most of my hope when W was reelected, then we had a glimmer, with Obama - but the trog backlash was brutal. Ahem. Anyway. We are still allowed to vote, so - someone please wake me in October 2012.

Not much good looking for change in that direction.

Like many people, I have been getting my food more and more from the Farmers Market, and favoring the organic grocery store (horribly expensive though it be)- dismayed at the whole corporate aspect of Factory Farming - which, make no mistake, is the way 99% of our food comes to us now, labelled 'organic' 'free range' or no. This is not your uncle Ma and Pa on the farm anymore, this is Monsanto, and worse, I actively and passionately WISH THEM ILL.

And the treatment of animals is no longer just a matter of looking the other way, for me. Animals are smelly and weird, and usually out for themselves (with some notable exceptions) but the industry of raising them for food has become an insane perversion of the environment, the natural world, crowned with casually premeditated cruelty, the extent of which (genetic mutation, keeping animals sick and drugged up, mutilation, torture) boggles the mind.
Simply by drawing a line, and NOT participating in this (and, NOT doing things has always been preferable to Doing, for me), this crazy infliction of suffering on these creatures conceivably makes the world a better place, if by a miniature margin.

It's not as if we live in a situation where there are no other options, we live in total overabundance - there's plenty of healthy food sources all around. But somehow I've allowed meat to be the central component of my diet - it just seems stupid, I'm sick of it, I quit. The land animals are safe from me now, anyway.

I'm not ready to give up all seafood though - (or cheese and milk - or eggs - though you can be sure I will be mindful of the source of these dairy things) - overfishing is also something that bothers me a lot, but the cruelty aspect doesn't seem as visceral - I have actually fished and eaten my catch, whereas I have never slaughtered a lamb - so perhaps the absurdity of it isn't as obvious...anyway I need my sushi.
I'm willing to let that go (for now), with some misgivings...sorry sharks, sorry seahorses caught up in the net.
There that's my rant, for the record. I'm sure my thinking on this will become clearer in time, I'm just going with my gut...goodbye bacon, hello vegetarian chili!
I'm going to have to really learn how to cook, now.

Round Pond Relics

2011-07-04T09:40:00.015-04:00

One obsessive subject of reportage that you, the faithful "Toy World" reader, have been spared for the last two years of infrequent -ahem- posting, is my browsing through the dollar bins for vinyl treasure amongst the trash. Good quality LPs of worthwhile tunes are getting harder to find every day - apparently I'm not the only one who finds this all very good value for the entertainment dollar - it certainly helps to have bad taste in music...
Look at what I found yesterday (at Plan 9, bless 'em - my other favorite local indie vinyl spots being Deep Grooves and Steady Sounds)!

One of those local, self-produced jobs, from 1980, and made in nearby Charlottesville Va. ("Cottey Light Industries"), I normally wouldn't have bothered but the fiddle/concertina combination is a rare and wonderful thing - also the repertoire didn't look too old timey at all - all country dance tunes from the British Isles...can't be too bad, maybe I could nick a tune or two from it...

But it's not only not-bad, it's good! Wonderful lift to the music, you can tell they played for dances. The (very informative) liner notes reveal a mostly British, Morris dancing origin to most of these tunes, with a smattering of Irish and American influence. They're both wonderful traditional players, I half expect to hear Martin Carthy join in singing at any moment...this will be filed away not very far away from Carthy, Kirkpatrick, and Brass Monkey - once it has left the turntable, which won't be anytime this long holiday weekend! Inscribed "To Darthy...love Jim Morrison" - it seems Darthy didn't give this one too many spins, the vinyl is pristine!

If there's one quibble I have, it's with the totally unnecessary percussing - "bones" -ugh- sometimes sounds good in a dance setting I suppose...but Tony Morrison's fiddling and Tom Kruskal's concertina squeezing are sublime so I can easily get past the occasional clackity-clacking.

List of tunes - T'auld Wife of Coverdill/Morpeth Lasses; Money In Both Pockets; Lollypop Man; Girl I Left Behind Me/The Rose Tree; Smash the Windows/Hilly-go Filly-go/Tobin's Favorite; March Past; Mrs. Casey/Orange in Bloom; Off To California; The Young Widow; York Fusiliers; Walter's Polka/Take Me Drunk, I'm Home (aka 'Heel and Toe Polka');M.T.B. Waltz/Life in the Finnish Woods; Path to Cottey House.

I regret I don't have the techno skills to convert this to digital for your eager ears...it doesn't seem to be readily available on CD, or any format...if you like I might be able to knock out a cassette for you! (Does anyone still listen to those?) Are Morrison and Kruskal still around? Might have to do some further research.
Requests, complaints, suggestions and kind words in the 'comments' please.

Hail Susanne Lewis!

2011-06-20T15:36:00.024-04:00

Ah the obscurity factor. If there's one thing I love, which causes me joy and worry in equal measure - it's discovering a musical phenomenon that's been largely overlooked by nearly everyone (you don't have to plow too far back in this blog to find copious wordpile on the subject of Britain's mighty CARDIACS, for instance). A cause célèbre! Hail, Susanne Lewis and Hello Debris.

I think that over the years I've run across references aplenty to the Denver-based avant/prog band Thinking Plague - and was aware of the existence of Bob Drake, their bassist, at least as the engineer and knob-twiddler responsible for the recent, brilliant remastering of Henry Cow's back catalog. It was through reading online about Cardiacs/Knifeworld guitarist Kavus Torabi's recent trip to France in order to record some tunes with Drake that I was spurred to investigate - and ended up finding this curious gem on YouTube, Precarious, by a band called HAIL (Bob Drake mostly on drums and percussion, engineering, and mixing - Susanne Lewis - also ex- of Thinking Plague - wrote the songs, sang, played guitar and keyboards)...

...and on the strength of this descending windblown melody, and the interesting sleeve art, decided to check out their album Hello Debris (found used and lucky-cheap on a popular online retailer's site, somewhat shamefully, but this is how we do in today's marketplace isn't it?)

So, unfolding this music by layers - I was first entranced by the sound of it - it has the virtues of seeming living room DIY-recorded - immediate, but with the sonics brightly articulated in their roughness - chockful of experimental noise-flurries effects and ideas thrown into the mix, enough to reward many repeat listenings. Solid rock guitar strum is augmented by chunks of programmed keyboard screedle, all underpinned by a roiling, forward-moving current of bass and percussion - Susanne Lewis has a (mostly) plain, direct and unadorned way of singing that I like, reminding me of Liz Phair (without the frosting).
The 18 songs are brief (all between one and three and-a-half minutes long), built along strongly melodic lines - but with sudden shifts into strange notes and chords, sounds that keep things nicely off-kilter. There are bits of tango music, Italian film soundtracks, Ronettes, Rick Wakeman (I swear!), a Neon Boys-ish twangy-guitar instrumental (Bailey Ice Stream) in the mix. Bursts of multi-tracked vocal harmonies appear, delicate webs of guitar arpeggio, the dynamics sometimes fragile, othertimes building to symphonic proportions.

Here are links to two more tunes from Hello Debris, from Bob Drake's site:
http://www.bdrak.com/sounds/others/hello.htm

There are loads of ideas jammed into these tunes. It gives me the anything-is-possible feeling that I get too infrequently from music...

Fragments of lyrics begin to stick out:
- I want to be strong - be your shelter from this world -
- Sadness ... lingers -
- Running up and down the block screaming HELLO IT'S ME -
- LOST - EVERY DAY - got lost - every day

I waste the hours / debris piles on top of them / then the wind blows in / and everything changes
Not a concept album but a series of elegantly constructed debris-piles loosely connected by a common theme - dispatches, impressions of an individual living in the city - Hello Debris is full of interactions and attempts to connect, ranging from the most mundane of street hassles (Street Life) to cosmic reverie (Precarious, Celestial Heartbeat), with seams of frantic hilarity (Hello 2, Bridge Song) and sadness (New Skyline) running through.

I've really become obsessed with this CD, it might be one of my favorite things ever. None of my so-called friends want to know about it - hence this blog, and you the enthusiastic reader.

In order to change things up I found another Susanne Lewis project called Kissyfur, and the album Frambuesa (1994) - 13 tracks with nearly all the music coming from SL, with various drummers. At first listen it seemed very basic indie-rock bedroom stuff, all rougher edges, nothing like the sonic proggy lushness of Hello Debris - and I rather missed Mr. Drake's collaboration. Repeated listens have revealed well thought out songwriting with wicked hooks, some unabashed rocking out and ecstatic singing - songs that seem to inhabit the wilder shores, hills and valleys of new love. Well worth seeking out.

Next in the pipeline, Kirk by Hail - the album that preceded ..Debris - by 13 years; and Susanne Lewis' self-titled album from 2000.
http://http//susannelewis.com/selecteddiscography
order directly from the artist!
http://www.susannelewis.com/Ordering.html

You can find Hello Debris as well as recordings by the more overtly-prog Thinking Plague (In This Life is especially good I think) at
http://www.waysidemusic.com/
or at the usual places....
Thinking Plague "Love"

Bob Drake's website: http://www.bdrak.com/

Hello

2011-06-08T20:14:00.004-04:00

The blog is sorta back ON again, it seems.
I have happened upon some wonderful music recently, and once I collect my thoughts I am going to go on and on about it. I promise.
Hail
Susanne Lewis guitaring, singing - Bob Drake bassing -
(with Chris Cutler exuberantly percussing and Bill Gilonis, gtr)

Listen, listen, repeat

After Dinner

2010-05-27T16:36:00.003-04:00

I found this on YouTube last night - incredible, film from the 80's (I presume) of Haco and her amazing toy orchestra After Dinner. Very eccentric, whimsical yet intentional; avant garde, yet straightforward as children's songs.
Cymbals at Dawn

and my favorite, Room of the Hair-Mobiles - followed by Kitchen Life

The Curse of Netflix

2010-03-22T08:07:00.011-04:00

My city (I hate to say "my city" though I have lived and groused here now for longer than not), stodgy old Richmond Virginia, seems on the verge of losing two of its cooler retail institutions - to the rising tide of electronic mail order, thrift and convenience. As Gillian Welch sings, "someone hit the big score/ they figured it out..." - bloody hell!

Plan 9 Records is going the way of all independent music stores. They are barely staying afloat by selling used DVDs CDs and collectible vinyl albums, who knows for how much longer though - nobody seems to buy new CDs anymore, certainly not from a place with walls and a ceiling instead of only windows - unless it's stubborn old fools like me -
{The Calcination of Scout Niblett, 16.99, ouch (and I illegally immorally downloaded it first, to see if I liked it)!}

Seems like they could still stay in business by moving to a smaller store, perhaps not in the prohibitively high-rent Carytown district, and by becoming more of a boutique for collectors.
(Of course they are one of the reasons why Carytown became a highly-desirable retail area in the first place...)

A terrible development for people like me, who actually enjoy wasting their time browsing through the stacks, searching for treasure amid the trash, rather than simply searching-finding-pointing-clicking-done. Similarly terrible for everyone in Richmond, because Plan 9 in their heyday were a great asset to the community, sponsoring all sorts of cultural events and local causes, helping to raise everyone's boats - I have yet to see amazon's logo anywhere around here.

I'm not completely innocent of record store murdering - many times I've taken advantage of the quick fix of amazon, and the joy of downloading for free some rarity that I would have to wait years to run across if trusting to blind luck, even with the best stocked used bin of a bricks and mortar store.
Also, much of the music I'm interested in these days is on the fringe of what's left of the Music Industry, I will usually order a new release directly from the artist's website or private record label - Plan 9 wouldn't even be able to stock such things, or even special order them, even in their salad days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also on the ropes, my favorite funky mom'n'pop video store The Video Fan. The cause of its demise is a better business model, supposedly, called Netflix. You may have heard of it. Cheap, efficient, no late fees, huge selection. Streaming video over the internet too. The stricture of a mere two night rental just doesn't suit our schedules. And I suppose people are lazy and stressed and feel that they have no time to travel a few blocks and look around in a store, when they can just pick something online during an idle moment at work - so they have gone for this in a big way. Even my friends who love movies, and live three blocks away from the store.

Once again, I like to browse in actual shops, and I enjoy acting on whims of the moment - not ordering a film days or weeks in advance. The VFs selection while not encyclopedic, is pretty darn huge, and skewed to cult-foreign-oddball films, which is my meat. The people who work there are friendly and know their stuff, and will offer you fresh popped popcorn, opinions, jokes, doggie biscuits too. You will often run into folks you know, spontaneous conversations will crop up, you know it is just a nice place to go and be for a few minutes, a couple of times a week. It makes me feel like I live somewhere where there's a there. There.

Apparently there are only a small handful of independently owned video stores left in the entire country - in places like Portland, Seattle - where the citizens value alternative weirdness and local ownership. I'm sorry that Richmond seems inclined to lose this for the sake of a very slight convenience equation. We have became that much less cool.

If I were living in the burbs, or out in the country, I would lovingly dote on my Netflix account; and when the Video Fan finally goes under, I will no doubt be signed up and busily exploring the films of Satyajit Ray, Paul Cox, silent films, some music videos that the VF didn't have the space or budget to stock...until then I'm a refusenik.

Photos of endangered storefronts forthcoming...thought I'd post while it's hot.
(Last night rented "Citizen Ruth" on VHS - Laura Dern is great fun to watch in this - I'm on a Alexander Payne/writer-director kick since seeing "About Schmidt" recently)

joop. joop. joop. joopa- joop.

2010-03-19T15:37:00.003-04:00

"Where ya been where where ya been/you crazy girl?
I'VE! BEEN! KID! NAPPED! BY! NEP! TUNE!"
God I love this tune! Scout Niblett!

(The angle is astrological apparently)

Progging On - City In My Head

2010-03-15T09:08:00.008-04:00

Ah, Prague!
Here in dazzling technicolor maple syrupy murk is priceless footage of a great lost psych-pop-prog band, Todd Rundgren's Utopia (mk 1) - featuring three separate keyboardists, the (fretless?) rubber ball bass and giant 'fro of John Siegler, and samurai drummer Kevin Ellman. They only made one album, 1973's Todd Rundgren's Utopia - before paring down to a five, then a four piece band, then going in a more commercial power pop direction. However erratically and unprofitably!
After 1977 or so it became much more difficult to be a devotee of Todd Rundgren's - there were still great tunes, and moments of splendor, but increasingly buried under bad taste mistakes, goofy experiments, and New Age philosophy, etcetera. But everything before that is sub-lime, brothers and sisters.
Utopia Theme part one (5:30)

and Part Two (6:09) commencing with a gorgeous screaming guitar solo - (sounds way better on the album though) -

Todd has had a sandwich or two since then, worry not.
So was that tune not epic enough? Try "The Ikon" - side two of TRU - stretching the vinyl envelope at nearly thirty minutes - amid all the gurning churning Mahavishnu riff-o-rama are melodic sections of great delicacy and beauty, with massed vocal harmonies that take Brian Wilson's vision to the next level:
part one (of four)

part two - still we are here - we are still

part three - you never have to be afraid

part four: and, hoedown

I just found this today, too - the mark one band on the Midnight Special, 1974 kidz -glitter freak flags flying freely - shame about the high background vocal - but otherwise a very nice live version of "Black Maria" off Something/Anything:

Blogging On!

2010-02-19T11:38:00.003-05:00

Through the fog...I awoke in the middle of the night with all kinds of funny ideas in my head about to make everything come out right - I can't remember any of them now! But then got into the notion of reviving this here blog thing. I decided the internet really needs to have more of ME posting about Insomnia, My Favorite Spoon, or Some Thoughts About Blimps, or (of course) Photos of My Cats.
All the links on here seem to be still working (except the mp3s are being screened out by my work internet....)
So if anyone is reading this - stay tuned - hopefully soon, the Toy World blog will be issuing dispatches with a vengeance again! First order of business is to get an ISP I can live with again...I can't do this from work.

Here, have another Cardiacs video!
end bit of In a City Lining/Sleep All Eyes Open/Anything I Can't Eat

During "Anything..." there is a little "moment", at exactly 5:07 where Tim plays a noisy chord, as if he wasn't doing enough already, this makes my hairs stand up on end.

A Quick One

2009-04-15T15:32:00.001-04:00

While nobody's looking....Epic Fits is in my ears all day today, I can't stop listening to it.

PRE

Stoneage Dinosaurs

2009-01-14T13:55:00.003-05:00

Certainly not the best example of cinematography on the world wide wweb, and Tim Smith has blown the top range out of his voice but NONETHELESS this is the only YouTube video of the mighty CARDIACS performing one of their most beautiful tunes, Stoneage Dinosaurs like a church hymn, in The Garage of Islington in 2005, very lucky indeed were those who got to witness the Garage Concerts.

Stoneage Dinosaurs (7:51)

Wishing for money is a man growing old and he
Breaks our knifes edge with his care for the ordinary
Winning hand in hand Michael Miles plays a game for me
Liberace asks after me and all my family

On down the line
A soldier hides his worn uniform in an eiderdown
Says never mind the war take me home again
For the last time

Jim parades a toy that he won on a rifle range
Holds him up high, its a plaster statue of Peter Glaze
It says the strangest things
And all we feel is lonely just like stoneage dinosaurs

Wishing for money is a man growing old and he
Breaks our knifes edge with his care for the ordinary
And Mr "T" offers me and all humanity a safe place to be
And all we feel is lonely just like stoneage dinosaurs

Fanitullen

2009-01-12T10:53:00.002-05:00

a.k.a. The Devil's Tune
There's been a resurgence of enthusiasm around the cabin for Nordic fiddle music (and fiddle music in general)!
Mr. Haakon Solaas playing the Hardanger fiddle

New Music Joy

2009-01-08T14:30:00.009-05:00

A few things I've been hearing lately that were probably Best Of 2008 but I didn't get around to them until 2009.
Silvery are from London and they like a bit of Cardiacs and Sparks with their breakfast - which is what made them grow so big and strong. Their brand new album "Thunderer and Excelsior" is out now and quite reasonably priced at amazon.co.uk - ten squids with shipping to the US of A (which comes out to 15 bucks in the present state of things).

"Horrors"

In this 'vodcast' interview the band talk about their music, and how they originally wanted to call themselves "The Black and Silver Livery" but for brevity's sake.

I think it's also a reference to this tune. But it really doesn't matter, it's all Silvery.

"Offend Maggie" is the newest by Deerhoof, and it is my favorite so far. All their albums have been amazing, but the songs are particularly short sharp and sweet on this one. Like the cover graphics, black and white and shiny. Minimal keyboards but loads of great high energy, high intelligence guitar bass and drumming.
If they have a weakness it's in the singing - not that she's a bad singer, she's really great - but her voice seems a little pale and wan with the rest of what's going on around it.
See/hear how the arrangement shifts around so subtly in the following song. (The Free were all right, then)
Deerhoof "The Tears and Music of Love"

On the Irish music front, my friend Richard kindly sent me a couple of cds of amazing fancy fiddle playing, from
Athena Tergis "A Letter Home" - there's something about her triplets, rolls and ornaments that "makes my soul creak"...

and
Tony DeMarco "The Sligo Indians"

A Worm Is at Work

2008-12-29T13:30:00.005-05:00

From the joint album by Slapp Happy/Henry Cow "Desperate Straights"

Sea Nymphs Live

2008-12-05T09:40:00.003-05:00

They live.

The Sea Nymphs were a side project of Tim and Sarah Smith and William D. Drake out of Cardiacs. Out in the woods and away from the noisy psychedelic carnival theater, crashing drums and cymbals (etc) of that celebrated band, they created an equally innovative and weirdly wonderful, quieter sound world out of ancient-auld and new parts. You really should all listen to this.

From the liner notes of their first album, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Mr. Drake":
William D. Drake - piano, television organ, forks, ballroom string machine, vocals
Sarah Smith - clarinets, saxes, recorders, forks, melodica, vocals
Tim Smith - guitars, flute, trumpets, glockensput, woolworths organ, vocals

The original Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake recordings were made around the darker regions of 1983-84. At one point it was the summer, the sun shone on one of these days, but we were down in a well and could not see it. The original masters were recovered from the tin they were hidden in at the bottom of a pond (again). We tried to restore the sound a bit but the tapes and cylinders had hatched many eggs and mothered loads of creatures so all the gurgles and pops and all of the crackles are things that you are just going to have to learn to put up with.

These recordings came out on cassette and were probably sold at Cardiacs gigs and by other clandestine means. In 1992 another recording surfaced that was just called "Sea Nymphs" (though it's secretly titled Tree Tops High, I think...).
{You could still get a copy of that from http://www.cardiacs.com/ though they are having a rest at the moment, while Tim Smith gets better.}
They did some live shows around then, the following tracks are primitive recordings from one of them, Southampton 1992. Tinkling sounds and burbling laughter between the tunes add to the wonder and mystery, it's like a recording from Pepperland or somewhere beyond the Sea of Green.
Speaking of Sgt. Pepper, spot the borrowed Beatles bit in "1,000 Strokes and a Rolling Suck".

Lily White's Party
14Track14.wma

1,000 Strokes and a Rolling Suck
05Track5.wma

Little Creations
03Track3.wma

Abade
15Track15.wma

They have a MySpace too, where you can hear the unreleased "Sea Snake Beware" and download "Engleheart".

Faced

2008-11-25T21:41:00.004-05:00

Get that book outta my face

Yesterday a friend at the museum here suggested I get onto Facebook, "It's fun!" Really? "Yes. It's great, look Suzanna's on it, Lulan's on it, Celeste, Jeffrey, Courtney yadda yadda." Huh! All the cool kids. Maybe it IS fun. OK.
I 'activated' myself, to see what it looked like in there - unlike MySpace, you can't see what's going on without leaving your shoes at the door and diving in - the moment I did, the emails started flooding into my (work) inbox, this person, that person is requesting to be my friend. Some are friends, some are friends of friends, some are friends of friends of friends and I don't know who the flock they are. Accept or decline? Seems rude to decline, but...

Meanwhile, what is going on is a lot of twittering in brief sentences, 'checking in'...Suzanna or someone posts at her page that she's discovered a new kind of hot sauce, notice is automatically sent out to two hundred other friends facebook pages, twenty five people chime in that they've tried it, it's great. or else they're going to try it, thanks for the tip! ETC. Like fifty fishes chasing a crust of bread across the surface of a pond. It freaked me well OUT. I deactivated myself toot sweet - (but, I'm still getting these friend requests this morning) - too much fun for me!
Really - having a blog, and email, and a discussion forum or two keeps me addicted enough to my computer; this is near constant stimulation and I dare say it is great for people who are always working and don't have time to talk to each other much in real life, but I do, almost always, or else I'll make time, send me an email or let's go out for a beer, even call me on the phone (um, no don't) but I am not doing the Facebook.
End of rant

Reading Nabokov's 'Ada', a great book, little gems of wise humor and keen observation are scattered throughout, like this humorous description of a true artist, as a "habitually intoxicated laborer"!

My erstwhile fiddle teacher Richard stopped by the cabin last night, on his way through town and we had some tchoons together, he's learning some Irish fiddle de dee. Session at Rosie Connollys tonight, in spite of the impending holiday...

Finally! Got to see Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky" the other night, good film, not one of his best but very enjoyable indeed. If you've seen the trailer you might believe it's a vapid sort of feel-good movie. It actually has a very luminous dark streak running throughout; Manohla Dargis of the New York Times, my new favorite movie critic (along with the Boston Globe's Ty Burr), nails it.

Tom sent me a Thanksgiving pome he rote:

the bird's in the oven

all bundled and basted

the teen's in the basement

glassy and wasted

Arlo's a-singin 'bout Alice again

TV has football and cleavage for men

credit is tight, the economy sucks

The Van Buskirks went out huntin' for ducks

if I had more cash

I'd bail out the banks

'cause even for them

it's time to give thanks

Try This Mother

2008-11-16T09:26:00.006-05:00

New toy time:

A humble Hohner blues harp, key of G.
I'm always moaning about the lack of reedy things at our session (no accordionists who like playing Irish tunes exist in Richmond seemingly), we do have Stuart the uillean piper sometimes now but I thought it might amaze everyone if I pulled this out at some future time and lashed out a couple of reels with the great gusto and finesse of Rick Epping.
Amazing Everyone is one of my favorite things to do...
I got an instructional book, the only free one I could find on the subject, at the library - ROCK HARP. it's called, by Tony Glover...it features a lot of 'jive talk' ("get down, oh yeah" "try this mother") but also a lot of basic information about technique and mechanics. I will be doing some Hot Cross Bunning and Mary Had a Little Lambing later today, hopefully.

Kayo Dot

"Gemini Becoming the Tripod" (10:00)

Marina Organ of the Organ (U.K. online magazine-record label-radio show DIY empire) hipped all us kidz to this band out of NYC, Kayo Dot yesterday.
They do a sophisticated quasi-metal music with elements of nearly chamber-classical composition, featuring guitar and really fine singing by Toby Driver, with violin by Mia Matsumiya...the sound brings to mind other music (Mahavishnu-Fushitsusha-Sonic-Crimson) it really doesn't bear any sort of pigeonholing at all. They are doing something new with great passion and skill.

Here for a limited time probably, is a stream of their new album Blue Lambency Downward

I sawr a film today, oh boy, Rachel was Getting Married... Jonathan Demme directed.
Not quite as the curmudgeonly Bruce dismissed it, "The latest Westhampton wedding movie" (the neighborhood Westhampton theater has a history of getting these crowd pleasing movies into one of their their two screens and then they are in residence for weeks, if not months) it IS a wedding movie though a very emotionally resonant one, with fine acting performances and loads of interesting multi-culti people and fine music (Robyn Hitchcock makes a cameo!). Uncanny removal of the 'fourth wall' feeling, nice smooth steady use of hand held camera which makes you feel as though you are in the room.

Friend Jane observed that she wished Anne Hathaway hadn't been too pretty for her role, and that Bill Irwin did a particularly fine turn as the emotive and beleaguered father of the bride.
Bill Irwin! I hadn't thought of him in awhile...I remember he had a small part in Robert Altman's 'Popeye', and then there was this time he was on PBS's 'Alive From Off Center' ...

Birds

2008-11-14T14:34:00.008-05:00

New one from the North Sea Radio Orchestra, out December 1st.

TheirSpace

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A GROUSE

I am interrupting this otherwise joyous posting to GROUSE, or to AIR A BEEF. We the local Irish trad musicians had our regular pub session last Wednesday, at good old Rosie Connollys Pub where we have been 'in residence' for the past eight years (discounting a year in exile upstairs at the Commercial Taphouse, after Hurricane Gaston put Shockoe Bottom underwater in '04). This particular night we were rousted out of our usual place in the non smoking room, it was full of sporty revelers- and we had to hold court in the front room, where everything is louder, giant TV screens flicker silently, incessantly, and people smoke their fucking HEADS OFF.

I've become such a dainty fellow, I used to smoke a pack and a half a day for years - but now since being quit for a decade or so, it nearly kills me to be in rooms like this. I've had a nagging cough since Thursday morning.
And the Commonwealth of Virginia being the proud stubborn backwards Tobacco Town that it is, there are still many, many rooms like this. They will never legislate it away it seems. Some local bars and restaurants have recognized a 21st century trend, that a non-smoking policy can actually boost business, more power to them.
I love Rosies - you can't find anything closer to a genuine English pub in Richmond* - but I'm thinking it may be time to begin looking for a less polluted venue to make our Irish noises in.
They don't give us free beer there either.

* - Though, the Commercial Taphouse and Capital Alehouse have cask conditioned, Real Ale; when I asked Tommy (Rosies publican and born Liverpooler) about getting some in, he got really annoyed and said nobody would drink the stuff

Man Dancing

2008-11-14T09:50:00.002-05:00

Dutch free range punkers The Ex with Ethiopian saxopohonist Gétatchèw Mèkurya and this special guest, beautiful dancing! in Chicago August 2008

Not Only...But Also...

2008-11-11T19:01:00.004-05:00

Last weekend at the library sale I found an old BBC videotape of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's mid-60's TV show, "Not Only...But Also..."
Not as great as I was expecting, British comedy pre-Python was just on the cusp of greatness and I suspect these two were reined in by stodgy BBC censors. Still there are some really funny skits, like this one sending up those ridiculous children's puppet shows, such as "Thunderbirds Are Go". If you've never seen the original....

Pete and Dud in...
SUPERTHUNDERSTINGCAR

John Lennon has a cameo in "The Pipesucker Report"

Alan A Dale

Later the pair would achieve infamy as Derek and Clive. The following are not safe for work, or anywhere, unless you are working at a really terrible job pulling things out of Jayne Mansfield.
The worst job I ever had - Jayne Mansfield

The worst job I ever had - Winston's bogey

Last but not least:

Some bloke came up to me

Filth and dirt abound in every corner!

Saltyfantastic Curried Lentil Soup

2008-11-11T14:08:00.004-05:00

Big fat day off work, I cooked up some spicy soop.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled, chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
3 tablespoons curry powder *or* Pataks curry paste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
32 oz chicken broth
2 0r 3 cups water
2 cups lentils (about 12 ounces), rinsed, drained

Preparation
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and carrot and sauté. until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Mix in curry powder and cayenne and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add broth, lentils, water and bring to boil. Cover pot, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until lentils are very tender, about 45 minutes. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made up to 2 days ahead. Refrigerate until cold; cover and keep refrigerated. Before serving, rewarm soup over low heat.)

This is a great spicy soup that you can have with rice or by itself. Due to an excess of youthful high spirits I added too much salt at the end, so now instead of just fantastic soup it's saltyfantastic.
Makes your whole place smell of curry too.

I got this recipe from epicurious.com, who got it from an old Bone Apple Tit magazine; they had potatoes and canned tomatoes in there too

Musical Space Western ahoy!

2008-11-11T09:35:00.003-05:00

Cory McAbee has just hoisted the trailer for his next feature film
"STINGRAY SAM"

He created "THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT" which is one of my favorite Musical Space Westerns ever. Then he renamed his band (formerly The Billy Nayer Show) The American Astronaut.
I thought his next film was going to be from the promisingly-titled screenplay, "Werewolf Hunters of the Midwest". But anyway I am looking forward to seeing this in 2009.

Synopsis:
A dangerous mission reunites STINGRAY SAM with his long lost accomplice, The Quasar Kid. Follow these two space-convicts as they earn their freedom in exchange for the rescue of a young girl who is being held captive by the genetically designed figurehead of a very wealthy planet.

You can stay right on top of Mr. McAbee's entitlements, fresh-hatched plans and schemes at his blog.

Under the Ivy

2008-11-09T16:24:00.005-05:00

This weekend I heard a short story on NPR news about Peter Hammill and Van der Graaf Generator -! employing some tedious journalistic cliches about the alleged pomposity of 'Prog Rock' ("... Yes, Genesis and ELP" yadda yadda) but nonetheless a cheering development, some long-neglected, odd and defiantly individualistic music getting bathed for a few moments in the powerful beam of a major US cultural lighthouse.
I thought, "Can Cardiacs be far behind?"
Well, yes, probably they can - I figure another decade before this particular quality will out, and everyone will pretend they knew of it all along...

But as unjustly ignored as Cardiacs are in the wider world, even more obscure are the recordings of their ex-keyboardist and singer/writer, William D. Drake.

I've been listening to his very strange and wonderful 2003 self-titled debut lately, it goes nicely with the slanting November sunlight and soggy leaves.

This album is almost impossible to get these days, at least this side of the pond - someone correct me if I'm wrong about this - I managed to get a friend in the U.K. to make me a copy.
It was produced by Tim Smith, who also bassed and sang; Jo Spratley (of the also hopelessly underappreciated band Spratleys Japs) sang as well, and Terry Pitt played trumpet. Drake on various keyboards and singing. Here are a couple of samples to tantalize you - I've left out the irresistable pub singalong "Love In an Overcoat", and the gorgeous "Freedom and Love"..all these and thirteen other tunes crawl on their bellies in the loamish dark, under the leaves, awaiting your discovery with wincey eyes and tremulous antlers...(you could try contacting All My Eye and Betty Martin Music or Cardiacs.com)(Cardiacs are in remission at the moment)

just
listen
you dogs

"Ivy Dun"
01ivydun.wma

"Fiery Pyre"
03fierypyre.wma

No Pussy Blues & Best of 2008

2008-11-09T08:54:00.008-05:00

Scored this cd by Nick Cave's Grinderman this weekend at the library sale, 'tis brilliant....and this tune is particularly piquant:

Poor Nick - fortunately I have a pair of very nice cats at home to keep me company in difficult times!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It's a little early but about time to make a bloggy LIST (a narrow telescopic view from my vantage point at the bottom of a well) - of my favorite recordings of the 2008.

First off, nothing inspired or delighted me as much as last year's no. 1 and 2 (that was William D Drake's 'Briny Hooves' followed by Eyvind Kang's 'The Yelm Sessions'). Two albums I really dug turned out to be from '07 but were new to me; Jennifer Gentle's "The Midnight Room" and Robert Wyatt's "Comicopera".

Probably the biggest surprise of the year was the FLEET FOXES album (and the "Sun Giant" ep) - which resurrected a sixties pop sound with gorgeous vocal harmony, I always feel like I'm hearing snatches of old and well-loved, nearly forgotten things, not only musical but associated with actual primal feelings or sensations from childhood when I hear this record (CD. Digital whatzit), a deja vu feeling and not in the CSNY sense, or the crappy nostalgic sense, but real actual good stuff, like the feeling of snow in the woods, the smell of tree bark. That kind of thing. How do they do that.

In no particular order then,

Eliza Carthy - Dreams of Breathing Underwater

Queenadreena - Djin

Jennifer Gentle - Evanescent Land (e.p.)

Rachel Unthank and the Winterset - The Bairns

Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill - Welcome Here Again

(old stuff released from captivity:)

Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs

Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall 1971

(quite liked:)

Bon Iver - For Emma Forever Ago

Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight

Nick Cave - Dig! Lazarus Dig!

(have yet to hear:)

Deerhoof's newie

The Silvery album (a new English band, unabashedly taking the Cardiacs and Sparks brief and running with it)

(wanted to love them more:)

Van der Graaf Generator - Trisector

PJ Harvey - White Chalk

This Could Be the Day

2008-11-04T14:57:00.003-05:00

I had a few cans of Guinnuii last night and joyously spun my scratchy old LP of Robyn Hitchcock's "Black Snake Diamond Role", from 1984 or sometime similar; one of my favorite albums ever. I need to get the retooled fancy new cd version sometime.

Then woke up at the crack of dawn for the long awaited opportunity to go to the Democratic Citizen's Switchbox to attempt to help steer this dismal train into the chunnel marked 'Marginally Better' instead of the one with the skulls and vultures and marked "Worse and Worse".

Fingers crossed.
Look Robyn is still making great music these days too - I haven't paid sufficient attention.
(some silliness and Jon Brion then)
"I Feel Beautiful"

I feel beautiful Because you love me  
I water the tomatoes and I think of you 
No one's ever watered me the way you do 
I feel beautiful Because you love me  
I feel like a creature that is sleekly groomed 
Not some poisoned soul that is alone and doomed 
I feel beautiful Because you love me  
I see the clock in shadow and I see your face 
You and me belong in the same time and place 
People never celebrate the things they've got 
Honey without you I wouldn't have a lot 
I feel beautiful Because you love me 
Because you love me  
Yes, we're alive at the same time 
Like mayflies 
Like fireflies  
I've been hanging 'round Covent Garden for you for centuries 
I've been waiting on Festival Pier for you, honey, for decades  
I wake up in the morning and I face the East 
I am in the paws of an enormous beast 
I feel beautiful 
Because you love me 
Because you love me.

And from his fine 2006 album "Ole Tarantula":
"Adventure Rocket Ship"

RH is playing at the Birchmere in Alexandria later this month but I don't think I'll be able to go.

I'm a wastrel

2008-10-21T09:52:00.004-04:00

It has been observed that I seem to be taking a break from my bloody BLOG and it is true dear readers, I have been suffering from an attention deficit disorder of some kind. All is well though, never fear, I will probably be blogging away again someday soon reeeal soon.

Poor Tim Smith and his big heart are still ailing and would you please send him your positive thoughts and even prayers if you like.

Once he wrote this song called "There's Good Cud" about a person spilling over with lusty love for some sweet blue-eyed thing and spoiling the air with his craziness, and she only tells him to "Get someone else"! Mercy alive!
He sings the words in wrong order here but you won't mind it.

Wounded spawn from our devils open sore
Was even more bloody than before
Said "Don't you get me!
Don't you spoil the air with all your craziness!
Don't you get me!
Fuck you! You don't you get me!"

There's good cud
There's dead good sticker sing
Mercy alive hot dog love's a-winnin'
"Don't you get me!
Don't you spoil the air
With all your craziness!
Don't get for all time
All this whole carcass of mine!"

I'm a wastrel I'm a sisters boy
Mercy alive hot dog loves in oh joy

Said "Don't you get me!
Don't you spoil the air with all your craziness!
Don't you get me!
Get someone else don't get me"

Up On the Sun

2008-09-23T10:56:00.002-04:00

Up On the Sun (song)(4:00)
Let these sounds curl and whistle through your ear caves as you read along.

Went to see the mighty Meat Puppets at the National Theater last night - they were one of my favorite bands in the 80's, I'd never seen them live before though.
This year Curt Kirkwood (guitar vocals and principal songwriter) has been rejoined by his prodigal brother Cris (bass and vocals), so while they have a new drummer this was two-thirds the classic configuration.

There was no overt drama as they wandered onstage, simply plugged in and began shredding away with "Sam" - even faster than the recorded version (see video below)!
The crowd, mostly there to see Built to Spill or else just too cool to be believed, greeted this opening blast with blank faces and polite applause. The Puppets hardly took time for a breath between songs, making the most of their hour opening slot, they soon took us to the "Plateau" and into a slightly metallic "Lake of Fire"; also visiting the shiny and psychedelic
"Touchdown King"
(live 2007) (7:04)

and "Look at the Rain". A version of "Up On the Sun" which mutated into a ten-minute long helicopter excursion through mythic desert landscapes. There were a few covers of country tunes, including one sung with every sinew visible by Cris, which may have been called "My Baby's Gone" - given his recent history it was real and true and wrenching.

There was a medley of "Tennessee Stud" going into "Tomorrow Never Knows"!
The Bros Kirkwood were in fine form, the new drummer was thunderous, and by the end of their set the reserved young Richmond hipsters were hooting and hollering with wide open mouths, like baby ravens whose eyes have just opened.

I had a sinus headache which prevented me from sticking around for Built to Spill's set. My loss probably. But a quick look around at YouTube didn't really reveal much beyond typical indie rock plank spanking, I humbly opine.

Here, look upon "Sam".

The Worst Band in the World

2008-09-18T14:04:00.005-04:00

More shocking proof:

To Go Off and Things
(4:18)

from "All That Glitters Is a Mare's Nest" 1990
Some preamble, then the most exciting two minutes on YouTube.

To Go Off And Things

Squalor is at large in tidy suburbia
Filth and dirt abound in every corner yes
Things left on the floor
Abandoned foodstuffs and things left on the floor
Piles of dirty stuff left to go off and things
To go off and things

Got to tidy up my room tidy my room
Put my things away and make it spick and span
Make things spick and span

Cast aspersions on my lifestyle
Cast aspersions on my lifestyle
Cast aspersions on my lifestyle
Cast aspersions on my lifestyle
Take it Sarah

Squalor
Is
At large
In
Tidy
Subur-bia

Squalor is at large in tidy suburbia
Filth and dirt abound in every corner yes
To go off and things

(That is "Cast aspersions on my lifestyle", and not "Seven virgins on my love pump" - a common misapprehension.)

Is This the Life

(9:09)

(same time and place, a little later)

Dreams of Breathing Underwater

2008-09-10T08:22:00.007-04:00

Oh now I remember why I have a blog!
I was just about to email all my so-called friends to tell them to go and seek out and listen to this fantastic new album I just heard this morning. But I'll post it here instead so the Whole Worldweb and its brother can see it and Devil take the hindmost.

I've always loved the music of Eliza Carthy
by herself or in the company of her parents Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy, as Waterson-Carthy (the "Royal family of British folk music"). Her double album from 2000, "Red/Rice" is one of my favorite mostly under-appreciated albums ever, a combination of the new ("Red" - all her own compositions, folk music-informed but very modern day pop)

and old ("Rice", English trad songs and fiddle tunes),all delivered with aplomb, lots of tasty fiddles and accordions and of course her fine, fine deep and soulful voice.
Now this new one is all original tunes also, but the songwriting is up to another level and the instrumental and vocal arrangements are sublimely gorgeous. I don't know what kind of music to call this, it's unpigeonholeable which is my favorite kind! Certainly folk music of the British Isles informs the whole, but it's an organic mix of all forms of pop music, from all eras. Tom Waits and his magpie appropriation of forgotten sound-worlds comes to mind, by way of comparison. It's refreshing and timelessly real, it makes me smile and think this is what music should be like.

Instead of me blathering incoherently about it, you could go to her MySpace and hear some of these tunes, the swing-ish "Oranges and Seasalt", the salty seaside shanty "Little Bigman", hooray, which contains the immortal lines,

He gave me his treasure
It was all in kisses
Said I'll love you forever
But don't tell the missus

...and the lovely "Two Tears".

And if you're all bowled over by all this and want to find out more and more, and have a rainy day with an hour to kill, here is a great BBC special about Eliza and all her specialness.
Eliza Carthy "My Music" part one (6:16)

part two (6:38)
part three (6:46)
part four (6:31)
part five (6:50)
part six (5:57)
part seven (6:08)

Telling Everyone about Tell No One

2008-09-04T19:17:00.005-04:00

The Three Curmudgeons finally shook off the summer doldrums and saw two decent movies in the last couple of weeks - Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Tell No One, a tightly plotted French murder mystery - actually a murder mystery romance - you don't see many of those anymore!

The Curmudgeons all basically agreed that Vicky Cristina Barcelona was an enjoyable bit of fluff, with lots of pretty scenery and people to look at; I thought Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem were particularly good as a couple of fiery, dysfunctional Spaniards; Rebecca Hall, whom I'd never seen before, was also delightfully fine, Scarlett Johansson's character unfortunately sort of faded from interest as the film went on.

There were many annoying Woodyisms, such as all the American actors delivering lines with his trademark kvetch, whether by his direction or osmosis I cannot say...also the presence of an omniscent narrator who never completely went away. Anyway, a pleasant sort of thing, sometimes funny and just the thing if you want to have a good think about the nature of love, fidelity, romantic attraction and repulsion in a non-trailer park setting.

Tell No One has a lot of good things going on, a terrific cast (all unknown to me, except Kristen Scott-Thomas), playing interesting characters. The Dustin Hoffman-like lead actor (Francois Cluzet) plays doctor Alex Beck, whose wife disappears during a brief, confusing and violent episode at a rural lakeside. The main action of the film happens eight years after the event; two bodies turn up near the lake, and someone sends beck an anonymous email implying that his wife still lives. Meanwhile the police reopen the investigation and Beck is a suspect, because someone has planted evidence incriminating him in an additional murder. So while he desperately tries to contact his missing wife he becomes a hunted fugitive.

Alex Beck on the run

This is one of the aspects of the film that I particularly enjoyed - the appealing humanity and hapless, non-action heroics of Beck as he evades capture - by dressing in ridiculous ghetto sportswear, getting into a pointless fistfight with a much younger street thug who insults his wife, and above all in a spectacular, realistic chase scene which for visceral excitement ranks up there above any number of boring, overblown, CGI-drenched and explosion-heavy Hollywood chase sequences.

The missus, trying to look inconspicuous

There was a particularly memorable, nasty female ninja-assassin character whose despicable methods and eventual comeuppance met with the admiring approval of all three Curmudgeons.
The plot was convoluted, a bit unlikely - but well constructed and it kept us all guessing until the end (and beyond), provoking a lively pub discussion afterward and all thumbs raised skyward. Beyond being a murder mystery potboiler it is also a very emotionally-involving romantic film and I must admit I had to restrain myself mightily from having a little blub at the ending. Oh foolish heart.

Are you the favorite person of anybody?

2008-08-20T12:53:00.001-04:00

a short film by Miranda July.

(4:03)

Do you want an orange?

Figlets

2008-08-20T12:45:00.003-04:00

...and on balmy summer evenings the figlets would sit upon their sitting stone and listen attentively to the Old Mug telling her stories.

Celery Stew and other delights

2008-08-18T09:21:00.005-04:00

Hello folks. Taking a week off work to laze around, play the fiddle, read Kafka on the Shore and while I wish I was on some shore myself, buying and selling some sea shells, this verdant front porch will do nicely enough...

I also plan to try some cooking, not one of my areas of expertise. A few months ago in a fit of pique and boredom I threw away my cookbooks, all three of them, because they were boring and outdated, decades old. Yesterday it occured to me, I have all this basil and parsley and oregano, big tomatoes* coming in soon, and the Farmer's Market is brimming with new fresh stuff every week now - I'd better get some plans and recipes and eat whereof it is my portion under the sun.

Browsing around Chop Suey Books I came across this Unplugged Kitchen, by Viana La Place. Everything in it seems appealingly minimalist, mostly Italian country cooking based on the flavors of fresh organic vegetables and spices, simply prepared. Really simply prepared - a child, or even I, could manage most of this, I think. She disapproves of electric gadgetry too - a good mortar and pestle is preferable to food processors or blenders - tea towels (she's really obsessed with tea towels) rather than paper towels. In fact it borders on something like pretentiousness sometimes, but mostly I do like this approach. There were no other cookbooks there that seemed appealing at all. I really don't want to look at giant glossy photos of Rachel Ray's toothy mouth while I'm preparing food.

So I clutched this book and carried it around the bookstore for a while, wondering if this was going to turn out to be a disappointment when I got home and started trying actual recipes...when unexpectedly I ran into Mary Margaret in the (Truth is stranger than) Fiction department.

Mary Margaret is my foodie friend, who is supposed to be in Cancale, a little fishing village in Brittany, where she lives and writes cookbooks herself, and does freelance writing and editing for the Vegetarian Times. Turns out she's in town visiting for a couple of weeks (a family emergency that turned out not-so-bad); so, I had to ask her, do you know anything about this cookbook here?

And, she sort of raved about it, and Viana La Place, saying La P had written a few other books that were not quite so great, but that Unplugged Kitchen was the best and totally worth having. Which made me very happy, both the coincidental meeting and the recommendation!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

celery stew with almonds

-1 pound small red potatoes, about 8 or 9

-6 large celery stalks, leaves reserved, largest strings removed from stalks

-2 cups spring water

-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

--fine sea salt

-1/4 cup raw, unpeeled almonds

-freshly ground black pepper

Pare away any bruises or blemishes on potatoes. Cut celery into short sections, about 1 & 1/2 inches long. Coarsely chop celery leaves.

In a medium pot, combine water, olive oil, potatoes, celery and celery leaves, and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender but still hold their shape. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast almonds. Spread unpeeled almonds on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes, or until almonds are highly fragrant. Let cool, then coarsely chop almonds.

Ladle stew into bowls, and sprinkle with almonds and crushed black pepper. If desired, place a cruet of olive oil on the table for drizzling into the soup.

* - giant tomatoes from the beastly big heirloom vine that Jane gave me in June - it was only about 6 inches tall then, I fed it on goat's milk and raw beef and it's about 4 feet now and needs to be tied to the porch with various cords and ropes to keep it from escaping.

Queen Adreena

2008-08-12T13:17:00.004-04:00

As a watchful, reverent silence continues to hover over the Cardiacs musical community, my torrid summer romance with Katie Jane Garside/Queen Adreena continues apace.
Something about this lady's voice has me totally mesmerized. And she is like the bride of Iggy Stooge - what a totally committed, passionate and unhinged live performer. I don't understand why they're not more well known.

Razorblade Sky (live Strasbourg 2005)

4:49

Here is a psychosexual disturbance, not safe for home.
"Strip baby strip while your daddy is watching/strip baby strip Jon Benet" yeah.
Fuck Me Doll

3:14

{I hate typewriting, the doing of it, and then it looks so pat and self-satisfied on the page. I might switch to handwritten posts and then scan them in. Ha probably not.}

There's Always More

2008-08-11T09:05:00.002-04:00

'International Feel' by Todd Rundgren, opening his aptly-titled 1973 psychedelic pop tour de force, A Wizard, A True Star

This song always makes me feel like I'm on a different planet - and this fan-made, time lapse video compliments the feeling very nicely.

Here we are again, the start of the end,
but there's More
I only want to see if you'll give up on me
But there's always More
There is More, International Feel
And there's More, Interplanetary Deals
But there's More, Interstellar Appeal
Still there's More, Universal Ideal
Still there's More, International Feel
I swear something lies
in your ears and your eyes
'Cause there's More
You hear and you see yet you do not believe
That there's always More
(I know)

for some reason Daft Punk use this song in a recent dvd, to bizarre effect.

A Nocturnal Visitor

2008-08-06T20:16:00.003-04:00

click

Big as my hand, had a flap around my porch light and bumped into me a few times before calming down and landing on the ceiling and showing me the giant painted face on its wings.
I've tried identifying it at various moth websites, no luck; it might be a Meadow Brown or variation thereof, though.

(later) Br'er Bruce writes to say it may be a female Antheraea polyphemus, and here's a website with pictures

And here's somebody who raises the buggers

Movies For One

2008-08-03T09:02:00.006-04:00

Most movies are best seen with a live audience in a theater; all the better to feel the tension and relief, humor and pathos, in sympathy with the twitching psychic antennae of a lot of other humans sitting in the dark, around the primordial fireside together.
Then again, there are some movies that are so transgressive and outre, to see them in this context might actually be distracting, and lead you to the wrong conclusions.
This thought occured to me a few years ago, after watching (at home, on video) David Cronenburg's Crash - adapted from J.G. Ballard's bizarre, abstract novel about people who are sexually aroused by violent car crash scenarios. I found the film to be a really poetic and moving experience, as well as being visually beautiful and artfully directed (it's probably about time to see it again). The extremity of psychosexual perversion didn't really put my solitary self off in the least - but I wondered what my reaction would have been in a theater, packed with other unsuspecting Saturday night moviegoers. Or even, with somebody else there next to me on the couch.

It might have been something more along the lines of the reception that greeted cinematic iconoclast Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny on its first screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003. Boos, heckling, mass walkouts. (That cut of the film was about 26 minutes longer than the re-edited dvd version I watched last night)

Shot in grainy, low-budget style, with long almost eventless passages of Gallo's character riding his motorcycle in circles, driving his van on the highway, broken up by occasional mumbled meetings with random females - absurd, nearly-sexual encounters that go nowhere. Not the kind of thing that drives live captive audiences wild.
When we finally get to the narrative meat of the film, pun intended, it involves a graphic sex scene, ahem, blowjob from Chloe Sevigny which I imagine wouldn't really fly at the Regal Westhampton...and therein a crucial plot twist which might add to the feelings of shock and betrayal in the viewer.
I thought it was a really good film, the barren strip-mall and desert landscapes, the broken conversations, and awkwardness perfectly evoking the loneliness and grief of Gallo's driver. It reminded me of Antonioni's existentialist excursions, but communicated more simply and directly, without the conscious artistic intention.
It is a self-indulgent sort of statement, but then again the emotions he's putting across are also self-contained, experienced in solitude.
Gallo has used unconventional music to great effect before, magically grafting Anglo 70's progressive rock (Yes, King Crimson) onto scenes of downbeat Buffalo New York in Buffalo '66; here he uses some unconventional singer songwriters of the period (Gordon Lightfoot, Jackson Frank) to illuminate the sad tunnel vision of the endless highway driving. I wondered if these musical segments weren't the genesis of the film, they seem so pitch-perfect; if the idea of the film didn't come to Gallo while driving somewhere, hearing this music.
So, anyway two thumbs up for this Bunny from the depths of squalor/my couch.
I've been trying to think of other examples of movies too weird and heinous to be experienced in theaters, but better somehow when viewed alone. All I can come up with is The Blair Witch Project, which I found terrifying and suspenseful, but which my fellow theatergoers were audibly less-than-impressed with, their hoots of derision spoiled my disbelief-suspension toward the end.

All Spectacular

2008-07-29T13:36:00.004-04:00

~Cardiacs at the Brixton Fridge in 1989~

Another song of perseverance, a sea shanty for stouthearts, open up your bloody throats and sing.

Get well Timmy

Life, everything
Dead and burying
Good man scared takes sail through his life
Let’s sing of his life
Let’s sing of his life
All his might against terror and fright
Let’s sing of his might

All spectacular
r-r-r-Ridicule and fear
Good man scared takes sail through his life
Let’s sing of his life
Let’s sing of his life
All his might against terror and fright
Let’s sing of his might

Life, everything
Dead and burying
Good man scared takes sail through his life
Let’s sing of his life
Let’s sing of his life
All his might against terror and fright
Let’s sing of his might

Good man scared takes sail through his life
Let’s sing of his life
Let’s sing of his life
All his might against terror and fright
Let’s sing of his might

If you are in any way partial to Cardiacs, you are probably aware of Gehenna the Horse and his bottomless feedbag of wonder, all archival music and video of YOUR FAVORITE BAND.

If not, go

here

Daisy Chainsaw - Eleventeen

2008-07-29T08:29:00.009-04:00

Good new thing got in my mailbox yesterday:

Great feeling, to flip over a rock and find something as colorful wet and squirmy as this underneath. A lost classic from the grungeian epoch. Listen to Katie Jane's psychedelic scream-bursts in "You Be My Friend", it's Yoko-ishly catharctic* and fiercely joyous.

Listen

02YouBeMyFriend.wma

Read

You be my friend
(repeat)
You're certain,convicted
Younger and beautiful
I am uncertain
not sure directionless
you bare your soul
and your torment convincingly
biting my nails
do I look ill at ease
You be my friend
(repeat)
You are so pretty and
witty and natural
charming engaging with it
and upto date
I fit to others
you stand heroically
you yeah why not you
I bow down not quite so well
you be my friend
(repeat)

pretty- creepy band
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(There are some videos down below if you scroll a little)

* - this isn't really a word is it. CATHARTIC and in the ARCTIC

Let's Go Slurfin' Now

2008-07-23T13:37:00.007-04:00

"Slurf Song"

Great tune written by Michael Hurley, covered with great gusto by Session Americana, of Bradford VT.

On my little wishbone I make a wish for a potato

-I make a wish!-

-for a potato!-

pickin' out the fishbones in my perch from Lake Champlain

-all them perch!-

-all them bones!-

when we make tortillas so much fun when ya got a bowl of beans

-so much fun!-

-all them beans!-

when we make spaghetti everybody gathers round

and we eat it by the pound

when we make spaghetti everybody gathers round

and we eat it by the pound

-they all gather round!-

-they eat it by the pound!-

we fill up our guts and we turn it into shit

then we get rid of it

we fill up our guts and turn it into shit

then we get rid of it

-we turn it into shit!-

-we get rid of it!-

O I see the dishes over there

they fill me with despair

O I see the dishes over there

they fill me with despair

-dishes over there!-

-they fill me with despair!-

Here's another enchanting little ditty sung from right off the (true) vine and played by the man himself.

Tea Song (6 min. and change)

November 17th, 2007 @ The First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA

Plenitude

2008-07-23T13:00:00.003-04:00

(click click click)
images from the Forest Park Farmer's Market in Richmond.

Let's Dance

2008-07-23T07:40:00.008-04:00

Summer burns up itself, what have I been doing in it? Last weekend I did swim in cool mountain streams near Charlottesville, the best possible thing to do in 90 degree heat and total humidity.

Molly's opera had a successful opening, hooray, but I will not be seeing it until later, in August.

Tom caught a crawdaddy, it gave us the stink-eye. Click for closeup, full-on terror.

People have been influencing me with their new musics, that Jane told me about M. Ward, really she sat me down and made me listen to him while hectoring me about how good his voice, and isn't it the best EVER? and she berated my weak responses until I wept and asked to go home. But he really is quite good indeed. Here's his great Bowie cover, set to the video from the original big MTV hit.

M. Ward Let's Dance (5:01)

Meanwhile the irrepressible Batesy from the other side of the big sea slyly insinuated some links into an email that led me to this place, of goth folk performed by a singularly talented and slightly unhinged (in the best possible way) young lady, just watch her go...I can't make out the words but it doesn't matter.

Ruby Throat is Katie Jane Garside and Chris Whittingham
Ghost Boy at the Cafe de la Danse, Paris (4:08)

Saving the best for last, Mr. B also told me that Katie Jane was previously in this band called Daisy Chainsaw, during that thrashy period of rock ferment the early 90's, I blinked and missed it apparently; they made one record (or possibly two), and I am hot on its trail.
Please please watch this one!
Daisy Chainsaw
Love Your Money (2:48)

Also check out this feral live version from European TV -

And see Queenadreena (video not safe for work)

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The Curmudgeons 3 felt it was safe to leave their houses again last night, to go and see Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson which was quite bracing and refreshing, great indeed to see and hear his words, fearlessly speaking truth to politicians and other scumbags, in his singular voice. I particularly enjoyed the recounting of his glorious but failed attempt to become the sherrif of Aspen, Colorado; and Johnny Depp's reading of the 'platform' he espoused, which included this modest proposal:

"Change the name 'Aspen', by public referendum, to 'Fat City'. This would prevent greedheads, land-rapers, and other human jackals from capitalizing on the name 'Aspen'.............These swine should be fucked, broken, and driven across the land."

The film wasn't perfect, there was a great deal of self-congratulatory baby-boomer hubris and 60's nostalgia and too many musical montages of the same. If this was a civilized country this would have aired on television and we could have saved nine bucks. But it made me want to read Dr. Thompson's collected letters, or re-read one of his books. Thumbs all up on this one.

Wounded Spawn

2008-07-16T06:43:00.004-04:00

Yikes, Tim is the same age as me, that is "old as the hills and not yet been born".

There now follows an announcement from THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN
As some of you have no doubt become aware, Tim Smith, the stalwart front man of your beloved CARDIACS has fallen foul of ill health.

In order to quash any rumours and idle tittle-tattle amongst the faithful we find it appropriate at this time to furnish you with the necessary information to perhaps remove the worried furrows from the brows of the more hysterical amongst you..

On 25th June Tim collapsed and found himself the unfortunate victim of, ironically, a cardiac arrest. Thanks to the skill and dedication of those heroes of the streets, the paramedic service he was speedily ensconced within the caring hands of the National Health Service where he was treated by expert medical staff and thankfully he is now making a recovery. There is no longer any danger to his life and he is improving every day though we must caution that there is a long road ahead.

Needless to say we are sure you all wish him a speedy recovery and in keeping with our reputation as the caring concern, THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN will soon be facilitating a method of sending him your personal messages of goodwill on our Web site www.cardiacs.com which is sure to cheer both him and his fellow CARDIACS no end.

Needless to say, all further information will be generously furnished by THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN as and when we see fit and we hasten to add that YOUR LOYALTY DEMANDS the utmost respect for his nearest and dearest and that no attempts to gather any more information be made of them during this most fretful of times.

With respect

THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN

Poor fella, he'll have to stop with the beer and whiskey and cigs and whatever else he has been hooking down to tamp the throbbings of his mighty heart; here's to his soon renewed health.
Of course this once again puts the brakes on the releasing of new records, DVDs, etc.

(stares into space)

Here he is in the pink, singing and making a racket with Cardiacs in 2000.

There's Good Cud

I'm a wastrel I'm a sisters boy
Mercy alive hot dog loves in oh joy

Thanks to Belscotia

Teeth

2008-07-15T18:40:00.005-04:00

My brand new friend Jane made and then gave me this beautiful and fierce vagina dentata mug. It has to be all by itself on the kitchen counter now, it was threatening to the salt and pepper and the vitamin bottle.
I drink ginger-lemon tea from it, but I think it might like to dispense stronger spirits of some kind.

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Kate Beaton's comics are ( ) as pie

3 Curmudgeons Leave the House! One Vexed

2008-07-15T08:35:00.013-04:00

Finally, finally, a brief respite from the cruel summer dearth of worthwhile movies in Richmond. Last night we merry band of three Cinematic Curmudgeons, with hopeful high hearts, made our way to the Westhampton to take in one-named director Tarsem's opulent labor of love, The Fall.

My primary aesthetic impulse in watching film is escapist; I want to be transported elsewhere, I like that 'I am elsewhere' feeling. This doesn't mean I only enjoy fantasy films - a film can be very realistic and still absorb my attention in some ways, through the acting or directing or the writing, lots and lots of ways of suspending disbelief and engaging the imagination. (I tend to not like zombie films, slasher movies, courtroom dramas and crime dramas...there are too many zombies, slashers, police and lawyers in real life)

So, this movie had much to recommend it - shot in something like 18 countries, over several years and financed by Mr. Tarsem himself (he makes a lot of money doing commercial work apparently), it is a story about telling stories and making movies. Set in a rural California hospital around 1920, a little Romanian girl with a broken arm befriends a movie stuntman with a broken back, and heart. He tells her a long story in order to bribe her to steal morphine for him, so he can end his life. There are elements of The Princess Bride and Cinema Paradiso.

Very basically, the story-within-a-story involves the quest of five bandits who have sworn to kill an evil emperor or king, named Odious. What we see on the screen is the story as imagined by the little girl (Wizard of Oz-like, based on characters in the hospital), so as it progresses and new information emerges, changes are adapted, as-above-so-below, so a character may suddenly changes accents for instance, all very ingenious... These fantasy sequences are the meat of this movie, some of the sets and images are really beautiful and epic in scale.

THE TROUBLE is...and I have found no reviews online yet that even mention this at all, the dialogue in this film is jarringly simplistic, even childish, with attempts at humor that are just peculiar and leaden. It grated on my ears something awful.

The child actor who plays the Romanian girl gets much praise from reviewers and local curmudgeons alike for her unaffected and naturalistic performance. But I found these very qualities, on the contrary, to be distracting and irritating. She delivers her lines like a bored child, lolling around, pausing at wrong places, making contradictory facial expressions - it badly affects the pace of the film. The actor narrating the story had trouble getting his lines off (such as they were), too. The direction of the (improvised?) interaction between these two central characters seemed lackadaisical and created a continual tonal nuisance.

The visuals and set pieces, impressive as they are, are also a stylistic mishmash, borrowed from various sources and seeming calculated to show off, look what I'm doing now, now look! A Balinese ketjak dance that had a whiff of the Cirque du Soleil about it, a puppetry sequence that owed Jan Svankmeyer ,big-time. At several moments it all reminded me of fancy upscale TV advertising, rather than possessing any unique sort of visionary quality - which this filmmaker seems to be getting much, much credit for (go look at the user comments at IMDB, what a load of gush!).

So, I overlooked a couple of plot points along the way, which didn't help - but I found it all a baffling mess, not funny, not touching, occasionally tedious and tone deaf in the extreme. He needs to get better help with the words next time, words are after all rather important to telling stories about people telling stories.
I did not get an 'I am elsewhere' feeling, I was just right there in an over airconditioned dark room, all vexed and not sufficiently entertained.

I am, of course, a hypocrite, and have enjoyed Hiyao Miyazaki's animated films though they possess many of the same flaws as this one!

The other two Curmudgeons were gleefully waving their thumbs about at our after-movie beer and discussion, while I furrowed my brow and sniffed my nose. It's like we were witnessing completely different movies; I must accept the possibility that I may be Wrong and/or Insane, or just 'off my feed' (I feel fine...)! Certainly it's a spectacle worth seeing. I have invited them to share any thoughts they might have on the subject...

trailer here (2 min.)

See? Perfume ads.

Ah, Polly

2008-07-11T21:12:00.001-04:00

Like Mick and Keith rolled up.
"This Is Love"
(3:46)

"Bees have thriven well this summer..."

2008-07-10T14:33:00.002-04:00

Gilbert White's home in Selborne

While browsing around the Science/Nature section at Chop Suey books this winter, I came across this beautiful big old book, The Journals of Gilbert White

- which reads more like poetry than natural science. I like to open it now and then and read a page at random, and then usually take in a few additional pages, if I'm not needed elsewhere.

From the back cover blurb:

"The eighteenth-century English countryside is as lost to us as Eden, but it can at least be vicariously revisited in these serene pages. They reveal the naturalist Gilbert White scanning his rural world with such unflagging enthusiasm over a period of 25 years that it is almost as if he were giving "names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast in the field" and to the plants, for the very first time."

and

"Gilbert White (1720-1793) studied theology at Oxford and was ordained in 1747. He devoted his life to his native parish of Selborne, in Hampshire, and to observing the natural history and antiquities of its environs. In 1789 his Natural History of Selborne, which may still be the most widely read of all nature books, was published. His writings altogether are enhanced by a delightful simplicity of style and by a precision of scientific observation. White had an eye for the minute which could also embrace the full grandeur of nature in all its ripeness. He can even restore a temporary wholeness to his readers, one of whom remarked that "to read him is to find one's own world mended. I think it is the way he steadies the mind." '

There's a website devoted to the Journals, here, from which I gratefully filched the following July ninths, wholesale:

1792: July 9, 1792 – The Provost & Lady left us. Thunder in the night, & most part of the day to the S. & S.E. Yellow evening.

1791: July 9, 1791 – A cuckoo cries in my Brors garden: some birds of that sort have frequented this place all the summer. Young swallows at Stockewell. In Mr Malcolm’s garden there is a bed of small silver firs, the tops of which are all killed by the frosts in June. The hothouses of this Gent. afford a most noble appearance; & his plantations are grand, & splendid. Passion-flower begins to blow in the open air. Cucumbers are scarce, & sell for 2 1/2 d. a piece. Crops of pease go off. Some cleri trenched out form the seedling bed.

1790: July 9, 1790 – Gathered our first beans, long pods. Planted-out annuals.

1788: July 9, 1788 – Bunches of snake’s eggs are found under some straw near the hot-beds. Several snakes haunted my out-let this summer, & cast their sloughs in the garden, & elsewhere. Cran-berries are offered at the door.

1786: July 9, 1786 – Roses, sweet-williams, pinks, white & orange lilies make a gaudy show in my garden. Annuals are stunted for want of rain. Mr White’s tank at Newton measure three feet in water.

1785: July 9, 1785 – Ants swarm on the stairs: their male-flies leave them, & fill the windows: their females do not yet appear.

1783: July 9, 1783 – Bees have thriven well this summer, being assisted by the honey-dews, which have abounded this year.

1779: July 9, 1779 – A surprizing humming of bees all over the common, tho’ none can be seen! This is frequently the case in hot weather.

1776: July 9, 1776 – Bees are very quarrelsome, and stung me.

1774: July 9, 1774 – Young swifts helpless squabs still. Young martins not out. * I procured a bricklayer to open the tiles in several places of my Bro.s brewhouse in order to examine the state of swift’s nests at that season, & the number of their young. This enquiry confirmed my suspicions that they never lay more than two eggs at a time: for in several nests which we discovered, there were only two squab young apiece. As swifts breed but once in a summer, & the other hirundines twice: the latter, who lay from four to six eggs, encrease five times as fast as the former: & therefore it is not to be wondered that swifts are very numerous.

1773: July 9, 1773 – Hay makes well. Flocks of lapwings on the common. After breeding they forsake the moory places, & take to the high grounds.

1772: July 9, 1772 – Meadow-hay begins to be cut. Some barley in ear: wheat uneven. Watered annuals. Finished cutting the tall hedges.

1768: July 9, 1768 – The capsule of the tway-blade bursts at a touch, & scatters the dust-like seed on all sides.

Molly's Lips

2008-07-10T13:29:00.001-04:00

Hooray the Vaselines!

The best YouTube music video ever?

Get Me Extra!

2008-07-09T13:18:00.002-04:00

Circus Devils
Some fine Ohio homegrown, from Robert Pollard (Guided by Voices yknow yknow) and friendlies. Has some of the spirit of Mothersbaugh around the edges..."pop princess", hyuk.

"WARNING! This video contains scenes of unusual magic which may upset some viewers. Get me Extra!, from the upcoming circus devils album Ataxia. Conceived by Todd Tobias and Steve Five. Starring Steve Five and Cory Race. Special thanks to Scott Bennett and SpinMore Records in Kent, Ohio."

Tip of the hat to Phil's ever entertaining, all-GbV-all-of-the-time blog, Pop Zeus.

Music Trance

2008-07-08T13:35:00.005-04:00

It was mostly a restless and lonely weekend at the cabin. Luckily on these occasions I have musical instruments around; nothing gets the lead out, and the endorphins back to flowing like caterwauling a fine Beatles song, remembering half the lyrics and getting the guitar chords somewhat close to right. Beer helps, but beer by itself will only turn your endorphins to filth and sludge.

I have a cheap sort of guitar, it does the job and it's not so far above me. It's autographed by Richard Thompson though, and was won in a Plan 9 promotional drawing - I didn't have to do anything but write my name down on a slip of paper and then forget about it until one day the phone rang...charmed life or what?

Then there's the fiddle, which I've written about here on a few occasions already. Lately when I've picked it up it's been with the intention of practicing the old Irish tune repertoire, I always feel slack in that regard, not carrying my weight at the Rosie's session. So playing becomes a sort of chore; not totally without joy but a chore nonetheless. If I'm not in the mood for listening to Irish music I'm not going to be in the mood to play it, though I do, anyway.
I usually attach a mute to the bridge to lessen volume, out of sympathy for my neighbors, perhaps.

Over the weekend (and last night) though, I began playing for fun again, and playing loud and intentionally sloppy and screechy, I enjoyed it and the fiddle did too. No neighbors called to complain.

Fiddles or violins or whatever you call them, have the singular virtue of enjoying being played - the more you play one, the more the wood and the varnish vibrates together and the sound opens out, transmitting louder and clearer.

I put on Sonic Youth's beautiful '86 EVOL album, I hadn't heard it for years. Giant bombed out psyche dirges and drones, corrosive shrieks, metal scrapings and funeral bells, perfect for bowed strings, perfect for playing LOUD, with sloppy precision.

Shadow of a Doubt (3:28)

After that I took the melody of an English trad tune by Martin Carthy (who took his arrangement in turn from Nic Jones), called "Rufford Park Poachers" and played it over and over, with variations, until it underwent a sea change - trad music is good for repetition, and repetition is good for attaining fiddle trance.

Also turned to an auld tune which I hadn't played in months, "Da Day Dawn", from the Shetland Island tradition and with roots on the other side of the sea, in Sweden/Norway.
My version is all craggy and scraped and falls in and out of rhythm. This lady Samantha Gillogly is playing a nice clean version which is no less effective; really good this tune is.

(2:25)

Music is a fine thing for unfurling psychic knots and exorcising gremlins.

We're having one of our sessions at Rosie's this Wednesday night, July 9th, starting around 8 pm. Attendance is a bit slack in summer but a few of us will be around.

Hollywood vs. Winnipeg

2008-07-03T13:01:00.003-04:00

Box-Office Sensation : Gary Panter

What a wretched summer for movies, worse than ever. Usually I can find a comedy or some halfway-promising genre film that will bring me out to the multiplex. I might go see that Pixar movie (by myself, sob).
If I lived in a real city, Guy Maddin's latest might be playing down at the local repertory theater, or at the film festival, or college film series (Hi VCU! Keep up the good work!). Maybe the Hunter S. Thompson documentary too.
Woe, in the weeds. Well watch this!

"My Winnipeg" trailer (2:00 and change)

Thinking about Winnipeg reminded me of an old great Neil Young tune, and lo & behold here it is
in all its spangly bell bottoms and lope-groovin' glory. There's a bit of SoCal commentary in this one.
I feel like posting three pages of Neil Young videos today, on the strength of this.

Neil Young (CSNY '74) "Don't Be Denied" (7:38)

Happy belated Canada Day!
I'm really in a much sunnier mood than this posting would indicate.

Sdrawkcab Seltaeb

2008-06-29T10:24:00.008-04:00

Beatles Backwards

Sublimer frequencies, such strange beauty...thanks again to the DJs at WFMU who continually turn over the rocks to reveal this sort of thing. Enif Leef I!

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The Billy Nayer Show is back! And are called The American Astronaut, now. Like their film. I know.

They are not happy with California.

http://www.americanastronaut.com/

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I think I'll just hide from the sun, drink fruit extracts and listen to tunes that make me feel funny, all day long. In the correct mood, Devendra Banhart sounds right as rain to me.

"I Feel Just Like A Child" from Cripple Crow

"Stinks of Eyes in Here..."

2008-06-24T08:26:00.007-04:00

I was asked to provide a report on yesterday's radio event, for Maarten's wonderful Cardiacs Museum website:

"...STINKS OF EYES IN HERE"
Cardiacs Live Session for Marc Riley's Brain Surgery, BBC6, 23.06.08

Teacups were set to rattling in their saucers all over the world Monday evening June 23rd 2008, as the mighty CARDIACS visited Marc Riley for a special live radio session. Present in the studio were Tim, Jim, Kavus, and Bob, augmented in striking fashion by Melanie Woods and Cathy Harabaras. They performed three songs (Silvery, Jibber and Twitch, and Gen) and at last, revealed their ambitious release schedule for the coming months.

At this juncture it appears that we will have a NEW SINGLE from them in August, the DVD release of the 1990 concert film "All That Glitters Is A Mare's Nest" in September, A NEW ALBUM entitled "LSD" in October, and YET ANOTHER SINGLE in November. As well as another Marc Riley session that month (Nov. 13th or 14th), and the big tour. There was mention of a further album after that (!) but I think we might safely put speculation about that on the "back burner".

The Girls with orange flags a-flying; "Put them away Cath"

There was also talk of the threatened release of the Garage Rehearsals DVD, which could happen at any time, subject to the whim of the ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN, "..if we don't get our act together" (Tim Smith).

Judging from the number of slip-ups and outbursts of foul language that peppered this live broadcast, I think we can expect that DVD sooner rather than later.

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You can go have a crafty listen at the Museum (link above)....

(Three Cardiacs posts in a row...either my real life has gotten very very dull, or very interesting indeed.)

And I Try at My Best

2008-06-21T19:41:00.007-04:00

Sorry not much to write about here, lately.

Thank Christ for Cardiacs' beacon's beam. Don't forget they're live on the air this Monday, 7 pm in the UK, 2 pm here in the States, strong and streamin' mate on Marc Riley's Brain Surgery.

'Course, it'll be up for re-listening for about a week afterward, at the website,

No need to quit your day or night jobs

One of their finest song epics, The Everso Closely Guarded Line, with video footage of a Netherlandic tour of 1989, skillfully edited by (Ordinary Shop Girl) Bill Hiles, retrieved out from under a mattress by Gehenna

(a long'un, 8:08)

The Everso Closely Guarded Line

One day, in a different way I
Will give myself a roll
In this petrifying life
Walking and breathing water
Will never be the same

Try a new scheme
A mans machine
And I try at my best
And I try giving all I can and
Hold it to the window of the world
Closing my eyes

One day, in a definite way I
Will test the heat of the water
With everything in sight
I mean until I am full
As an egg ready to burst

So try a new scheme
With a mans machine
With an insight to try
And I try at my best
And I try and I cry as I listen
To the bustle of the day passing me by

There is life in me left
To strike a blow for effect

Still born goes the everso
Closely guarded line
Oh

One day, in a different way I
Will give myself a roll
In this petrifying life
Walking and breathing water
Will never be the same

Try a new scheme
With a mans machine
With an insight to try
And I try at my best
And I try and I try as I listen
To the bustle of the day passing me by

There is life in me left
To strike a blow for effect
Hahahahahahahahahahaha...

Still born goes the everso
Closely guarded line
Oh

Digging Nick Cave's Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! too, today.

There haven't been any adventures for the 3 Curmudgeons for bloody weeks - a particularly lousy dearth of cinematic offerings worthy of the admission charge this summer; dependable movie critics have seemingly lost all their bearings, advising us that we could do worse than see Get Smart, this week! Cuh

Thy Justice Fear Hooray

2008-06-17T08:07:00.007-04:00

Cardiacs, live in 2005 or 2006, facing a fairly laid back bunch of fanatics in Brighton, by the seaside.
Cardiacs aren't like a real rock band - they're more like characters from a Rudyard Kipling fable, or a certain William Golding novel; boys and girls washed up on a desert island with musical instruments and a wind up Victrola and some old prog rock and The Who and Gilbert & Sullivan records, and given instructions by some mysterious outside agency to form a rock band.
Sometime in the early 90's they were instructed to write a hymn in praise of their record company, and this is it.
The Alphabet Business Concern (Home of Fadeless Splendour)

(6:32)

Hail majestic corporate light
Heaven born and ever bright
How our spirit like the waves
At the breath of thine awakes
And now the night of weeping shall be
The morn of song
Ah! We are those whose thunder shakes the skies
The thin spun life

Home of fadeless splendour
Of flowers that bear no thorn
Here may the blind and hungry come
And light and food receive
Here mighty springs of consolation rise
To cheer the fainting mind
And re-creation find

So overcome thy fear
And burst into sudden blaze
Come blind fury with abhorred shears
And slit the thin spun life
Ah! Sobbing with their human sort of wail
Thy justice fear

Walk in shadow, walk in dread
Loosefish walk as like one dead
One drop in a winter sea
No more to rise forever
Anything down there down about your souls
Will smash the sun alight
Ah! Yield week in, week out from morn to night
Feelers from across the sea
Come crawling over thee

One drop in a winter sea
No more to rise forever
One drop in a winter sea
No more to rise forever
Come blind fury with abhorred shears
And slit the thin spun life
Ah! Sobbing with their human sort of wail
The thin spun life
We are those whose thunder shakes the skies
Whose eyes this atom globe surveys
Thy justice fear
Hooray!

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From the same concert, another unusual and compelling creation, it acts like Rock Music, distorted guitars roaring in your ear and tickling your spine, but it also resembles Bertholt Brecht, Broadway Musicals...something; I'll never get to the bottom of it, hopefully.
Will Bleed Amen, from the album Guns - with special guest vocals by Sharron Fortnam from the North Sea Radio Orchestra:
(5:12)

45 rpm

2008-06-16T13:08:00.000-04:00

Unapologetic 70's nostalgia:
I was so kool when I was 13 or 14 years old. Two of my earliest music purchases were 45s of the following:

Bill Withers "Use Me" (4:50)

There's not a real good video for Harry Nilsson's "Me and My Arrow" (from the soundtrack of the animated film "The Point"), so I'll de-cide to post the be-side which I liked just as well
"Are You Sleeping" (2:37)

One of the first LPs I bought was the soundtrack to "Shaft", how funky is THAT. I still get a thrill hearing the main theme today. "Damn right".
(5:29)

Lumbar Strain and Other Delights

2008-06-15T09:06:00.007-04:00

Not the name of a minor Star Wars character, or a metal band (that would be "Lümbar Strainn"), rather it is a debilitating lower-back muscle injury that afflicts you when you somehow abuse your spinal column - improper lifting is usually the cause, middle aged people in situation comedies are most often the victims.
In my case I was just sitting on the couch, and then sprang up to do something very important, when my lower back spazzed out, and stayed that way, it's been close to a week now. Tried to tough it out and go to work, but this just made it worse (lifting + carrying just inflamed it even more) - so I've spent a few days around the cabin, lounging serpentine on the bed and (fateful) couch, popping aspirin and moving gingerly. It's mostly healed up, today, fingers crossed; I have things to do!

Irritating, discovering just how absurdly easy it is to go from being healthy as two horses, to being a near-invalid. Could have been worse...

At least I've had a good book for company (like you'd understand anyway, short stories by Jim Shepard) as well as Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, yard sale scored on Saturday.
Here Today (3:07)

The fact that I cannot get these songs out of my head, or the cd off my laser box, means the end of a lifelong hatred and contempt for Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, I suppose.

For a long time I've lumped Mr. Wilson in with a lot of other musical 'artists' who are seemingly revered for their unblinkered pop genius and emotional honesty, when actually they're simply childlike and borderline mental, if not full-on clinical schizophrenic. I'm thinking about the two kingpins of Sandbox Rock, Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair; also there's Wesley Willis, Wild Man Fischer, the Shaggs, and to some extent the Langley Schools Music Project - though there's nothing mentally wrong with a junior high school choir from the 70's - their advocates seem to get the same weird condescending thrill from hearing their gormless innocence on display, more so than any actual musical excellence.
Daniel Johnston, who's appearing (heavily medicated, hopefully) in Richmond at the National this month, seems to attract a certain number of fans who are there for the possibility of witnessing an emotional trainwreck on the stage. Seeing the recent documentary about his life, "The Devil and Daniel Johnston", I was amazed at the well-wishing people acting as his friends and advocates, who have more or less assisted Daniel in going off his meds, onto psychedelics and experiencing psychotic episodes, honoring the wishes of a schizophrenic.
Some of his early music has amazing, florid imagination and manic energy going for it, and I think his artwork is fantastic. And no doubt, if any person wants to be a performing musician, he/she should be able to pursue that no matter the obstacles. It's the fans/friends of Johnston, and all these folks, that I feel most contempt for.
Jad Fair, I just don't get; did he stop developing at age 12, or is it an elaborate act? Here he is with some admiring metropolitan hipsters.
Maybe I need some stronger aspirin.

Anyway, Brian Wilson deserves his 'pop genius' tag, belated respect!

13 Friday

2008-06-13T05:32:00.001-04:00

For this day of auspiciousness, Friday the 13th, I feature a (very) small sampling from the many collections of Richmond artist Caryl Burtner.

The above, a page from her (13-page long) book of collage, The Exorcism of Page 13. It was created using 1" squares of every page no. 13 (with a small amount of text) from her library, randomly assembled in grids, to produce something like poetry from the chance juxtapositions of words and symbols.
I'm not sure if cutting page 13s out of books is, or was, a common practice, or something Caryl invented herself.
(I have one or two superstitious beliefs myself - though I take most 'belief'-based notions lightly, I take these seriously enough not to discuss them here.)
A great deal of her work involves almost monk-like devotion - the extensive documentation and archiving of the minutiae of her daily life; notebooks filled with images and data of clothing worn, when and where bought, and discarded - the same for aspirin bottles, toothbrushes, makeup...there are also special collections, also conceptual but more visually compelling, of flowers received, and of lipstick blots on tissue paper, or preserved on whatever came to hand at the moment.
All just the tip of the iceberg - there's some more to be found at her website, and at her erstwhile publishers, The Gates of Heck.

She somehow manages to balance all this obsessive-compulsive behavior with a full time job and a wide variety of activities and interests, as well as a huge raft of friends (among whom I am proud to number myself)!
Another collection that's especially pertinent, today - a diary entry for every Friday the 13th since 1970.

Above, from the Archives of Schlep, a xerox-and-sticky tape prototype for the 'Famous American Women' edition of her humorous 'Dictionary Definitions' series. The photos are from dictionary pages, coupled with the word listed at the top margin of the page.
This summer Caryl is the cover girl for Urge magazine, with a small feature about her "Missing Richmond" collection.

Happy Friday the 13th...be careful out there...

Gillian Welch with Rilo Kiley at Toad's Place

2008-06-10T20:22:00.005-04:00

Well, Sunday night (Rilo Kiley at Toad's Place) was a bit fun! I was on the fence about going, tired of being Mr. Johnny-no-mates at all these gigs...seems like all my pals are Tired/Old or Married or Broke or Don't Care for Music, ha ha - {why me laugh?} - I'm just tired old and broke...but luckily Rick and Suzanna are mostly None Of the Above and S. is a big Jenny Lewis fan. Once they decided they were up for it I happily went along.

They had a meal in the attached Highwater restaurant, which turned out to be an annoyance as the service was super-slow and the waitstaff a little confused; I just had the beer - Dogfish 60-minute IPA on tap - no complaints there! Food eventually arrived, on to the show next door.
A large crowd, not quite sold out but close - everyone seemingly in their 20's, about 60/40 female I'd say...all them girls want to be Jenny Lewis, and they know all the words to her tunes.

The opening band, Thao Nguyen and Get Down Stay Down, were nothing much to write home about I'm afraid, that girl sings and sings, to no great effect; but then when they were done they said something mysterious, about "Rilo Kiley...special surprise" and indeed, the Rilo Kiley guitar man came out a little while later and introduced an unexpected short set by some friends of theirs who were passing through town - Gillian Welch and David Rawlings! They did all new songs, played about 20 minutes - it was awesome! Though the crowd was mostly not appreciating, and took the opportunity to continue their shouty conversations. We three gigsters were pleasantly surprised to say the least; we had just been talking about them before the show too - it was a little surreal. It's been quite a few years since I'd last seen them.
I managed to capture one of their (title unknown, "paint still wet") tunes on video:

Then Rilo Kiley played, they were great, it was definitely their crowd...I liked Jenny Lewis before, but like her even better now. What a voice, and in such a nice little package.

Moneymaker (3:03)

She was playing a sort of mini bass, very cute.
I was only a little familiar with their latest, Under the Blacklight (as well as the much different, more folk-tinged Jenny Lewis solo, Rabbit Fur Coat) - it reminds me of Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty; piledriving coked-out LA poptunes, decadent and sexy, it even goes all disco on 'Breakin Up'. (The song that asks, "Are we breakin' up? ...cool!") I got a fragment of that one on camera.

Breakin' Up (2:35)

A professional performance, a good tight band (the drummer was particularly good I thought) and there were lots of fun, looser moments too, such as them having some girls come up onstage and attempt some bad Rilo Kiley karaoke, with bad dancing too. (Made you appreciate Jenny's pipes all the more...)
I'm still finding it hard to adjust to the idea of being in large, enthusiastic audiences for indie rock concerts here...are we still in Richmond?
David Rawlings came out again to jam on the encore, wearing a giant Toad's mascot head and playing electric guitar. I wish I'd snapped a picture of that, but my camera's memory ran out after getting one video of GW, and one and a half of RK.

Well I know how much memory there is in there, now...

(Some of you may be wondering, is this pop tart the same person who was writing about the joys of Dagmar Krause a while ago?)

The Little Giant Girl

2008-06-10T12:42:00.006-04:00

....and The Sultan's Elephant visited London for three days in May 2006.
A grand-scale marionette performance put on by the French troupe Royal De Luxe, prepared for with great stealth and secrecy, it all began one morning with a smoking, barrel shaped spaceship that had apparently crash-landed into Waterloo Place during the night.

I have an hour-long dvd of a BBC documentary about the whole event - (thanks again to Matt) it's very moving. this video is excerpts thereof.

Remember this was less than a year after the terrorist attacks on the London Underground of July 7, and I think this event probably helped the city to get back to living and breathing again. This is the best kind of art, in my opinion; a large-scale, public happening, full of optimism, suggestions of possibility. I get teary-eyed watching it.
My friend Mr. Dogstand was lucky enough to take his two young daughters to the park to see the giant girl that weekend - he said it was all they talked about, for weeks afterwards!
More info at wikipedia.
There are many more videos at YouTube, just search for "giant girl", "the sultan's elephant", "royal de luxe".
This is a good one.

Dr. Dog at Friday Cheers

2008-06-07T08:20:00.007-04:00

By accident, or coincidence (or nefarious synergistic marketing techniques), I ran across Philadelphia's Dr. Dog at NPR's All Songs Considered on Thursday, gave them a listen, seemed like good stuff.

(Also hear at their MySpace - truss me though, these songs are much better experienced live.)

Then yesterday, I read in the paper that they were playing a free show on Brown's Island for Friday Cheers! Even with temperatures in the upper 90's, total humidity, and Friday after-work deflation disorder, confluences like this are hard to ignore.

Since my car has no AC, it's actually more comfortable to bike the couple of miles (mostly) downhill, on days like this. It's the long climb back up afterwards that must be reckoned with! Anyway, I'm glad I did; despite their stoopid band name, and the band member's nicknames ('Tables', 'Taxi', yeah they all start with a 'T') - they are a seriously tight little live unit, and indeed they Rock Ass.

Their sound involves the better parts of The Band, with weird angles and jazz chords, good harmony singing, sometimes twin guitar leads, a tight rhythm section that allows for things to fall apart & come back together. Are you hearing it yet? Music with lift.
Actually here's a video of them last time (?) they were in Richmond, at Gallery 5 in 2006...(5:46)

They're a hard working band, too - they seem to be touring every night for the next few months, and it was no picnic playing outdoors yesterday evening; still they pounced around onstage with great aplomb, completely drenched with sweat, rising to the occasion.

Some photos:

Christ it was hot - the heatweave continues through Monday, it'll be in the 100's today...
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New additions to the front porch leaf gang (in front); a very nice lady gave me a furry little tomato pup, and a pepper sprat - transferred them to big pots Thursday and they already seemed to have grown some by Friday afternoon!

Sunday addendum: Made my first batch of basil pesto today, with a copious amount of garlic, a dollop with a bowlful of penne - my god it's the best food there is, taste the sweet leafy burn!

Found Kid Art

2008-06-04T21:12:00.002-04:00

Troubletown

2008-06-04T13:43:00.007-04:00

Forget that dweeby Tom(will learn to draw)Tomorrow, David Rees, and all those other hacks, the best political cartoonist for my money is Lloyd Dangle. The venom in his 'toons is palpable. Dangle manages to capture, with a few gnarled ink slashes and brief sound-bites, everything venal and ridiculous about these fine men and women who lead our nation. The subject matter may be utterly irrelevant two weeks from now, if it isn't already-! but the strip will still be funny.

In case you didn't know, GW Bush's cute l'il nickname for Karl Rove is 'Turd Blossom'.

(click to biggify)

Mercy Alive

2008-06-03T09:54:00.002-04:00

It's another announcement from the ABC!

LIVE BBC RADIO SESSION

Cardiacs will be performing three songs LIVE in the studio on Marc Riley’s Brain Surgery show on Monday 23rd June
between 7 and 9:30pm, On BBC 6 Music.

Tune in early. The first song will be performed at 7pm and the following two at 7:30.

THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN takes this opportunity to remind YOU that the official announcements from
THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN are the ONLY true and reliable source of information regarding the activity of CARDIACS,

YOUR favourite group.

Anything you might read or hear about through the so called grapevine is to be treated with unease, suspicion and doubt.

With respect

THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN

Fleet Foxes

2008-06-02T11:15:00.005-04:00

Wow - thanks to Batesy for telling me about these guys. The dark, allegorical goings-on in their Pieter Brueghel album cover art belies the feeling that emanates from their sundazed, pastoral 60's harmonic pop style. Unless there's sides I'm not seeing yet.
cheggitthefukoot!
White Winter Hymnal (2:15)

These wonderful tunes, and the first album by Waterson:Carthy are projecting mind-healing rays at my troubled psyche this morning. Music good.

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Attentive readers of the Toy World blog will notice that posts change, a little or a lot, in the first day or so, before I get bored of tinkering with them. Better images are found, spelling and grammatical errors are detected and corrected (or nnot!), additional thoughts are thunk. What can I say. I don't believe in drafts. This is not the New York Times. x

Catbird seats, Cardinal sins

2008-06-01T14:13:00.006-04:00

The birds have been in high dudgeon all day, one of the catbird fledglings has been flying around and its parents have been frantically defending it, as it flits from one precarious perch to another. The little twerp (below), his beak held high, giving him an anthropomorphically ridiculous, pompous appearance -

came to rest in the rose trellis, where some cardinals have their nest, and war erupted - the two adult cardinals would take turns attacking the catbird infant, which would drive the adult catbirds crazy; still the little creature wouldn't budge, by this point probably too traumatized to remember how to fly. I came out to the porch to watch this miniature drama. Unfortunately the catbirds were of the opinion that this was something for birds to work out, without other species intervening - now whenever the cardinals attacked the fledgling, the adults would come after me! Making a hideous racket and offering various threat displays. It was frightening enough to send me off on a bike ride - when I came back the squabbling had moved around to the side of the house, and the lady cardinal was once again ensconsed in her nest.

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The GWAR show at the National was great fun - wonderful (once again, non-smoking) venue! First time I'd seen them on a proper-sized stage, with copious room for the light show and props, etc. And the sound was decent; for once I could sort of hear sonic details inside the thumping roaring white noise. The crowd was into it too. Oderus Ungerous: "There is a flame in Richmond ...that cannot be extinguished....by 24 years of my urine!"
Wisht I'd tooken my camera, I was in a perfect spot for photos (however blurry and dark they would have inevitably turned out...) - a raised area behind the soundboard, perfect view of the stage and moshpit. Well, it was a beautiful warm night for biking, I decided to save myself looking for parking downtown and pedalled there, and so decided not to encumber myself with the camera.
Anyway their grand guignol was sort of disappointingly the same as last year's - O.U. said to 'The Pope", "I thought we killed you last year!" - this year one of the slaves handed Oderus a baby, which he bit in two, and then mounted, each half on the right and left shoulder spikes...nicely done...but, mostly the same whipping boys...until at the very end when the giant beaky-nosed Devil ("Jewcifer") was creating havoc onstage and GOR GOR the giant T Rex had to be summoned

to everyone's delight, he decapitated Jewcifer and then died a glorious bloody death himself, by Oderus' sword, and everybody cheered, and then came the perennial show closer, "I'm Sick of You"...if anyone posts actual good photos from the gig I'll put them up (the one above is auld).

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EARLY the next morning (9 am) a couple of us were engaged to do Irish folk noisemaking at the Forest Hill Park farmer's market - it was a great sunny day for it, and after some kerfuffle about where best to set up, my fellow session vet Tomo and myself sat down and knocked out a pretty good two hours of tuneage for a curious, friendly crowd. We were augmented by Kevin on fiddle for a while, too. We rocked out I'd say! And people gave us money! (not too much though)

I like the farmer's market scene, it seems as appropriate a venue for the diddley-diddley as a smoky pub. I think I much prefer playing in a duo or small group, compared to the sometimes raucous pub session, where everyone can seem to have differing ideas of what rhythm is supposed to be. And as opposed to lone busking, which is just exhausting. So, change is good.

Begonias

2008-05-30T08:43:00.005-04:00

I'll go on the record as not particularly caring for Country Music in most of its myriad forms - Johnny Cash bores me to tears...though every once in a while - something with cowboy boots and hat gets in under my persnickety radar; I like some Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris ("Love Hurts", hmmm yeah), Gillian Welsh and David Rawlings are great, the Carter family and weird old stringband music of the 20's and 30's, I once heard a busker singing Hank Williams in the subway and would have sworn at that moment that it was the best music ever made...

One night a few years ago my friend Elizabeth prevailed upon me to accompany her to Ashland Coffee & Tea to hear Tres Chicas, a neo-country/folk trio with Caitlin Cary from Whiskytown - if you knew Elizabeth, you'd know it was an offer I couldn't refuse! A nice show it was too, great three part harmony singing. The real standout was Ms. Cary for me, it was the first I'd heard of her singing her songs, she's a fine fiddle player too.

Apparently, they were all wearing outfits they had purchased that afternoon from the Ashland Goodwill - thrift store shopping being a common tour activity for the Tres Chicas...Ms. Cary made a crack about securing their 'corporate sponsorship', heh.
I didn't think of her too much after that night, until one day when I happened to hear some excerpts from this duo album she did with Thad Cockrell, 'Begonias'. Good stuff! It reminded me of Richard and Linda Thompson as well as of Gram and Emmylou. This song tipped me over:
Second Option (pardon the sound quality)

I've kept on listening to Begonias, perversely trying to find reasons to dislike it-! With no success. Little details keep turning up - the 'Ah-hunhs' at the end of "Two Different Things", a nice key change here, great solo there. I give up - it's a stone classic folks. Please check them out if your tastes run to Alt Country and Folk, or even if they don't! You may be surprised.
Please Break My Heart

While I'm in the area, here's a bonus, T-Bone Burnett's "River of Love", from his fine self-titled album on Dot records (sometime in the early 90's? I'm too lazy to look it up)

Wind and Rains is Cold

2008-05-27T17:22:00.003-04:00

Wimping out for baby god.
No grudge, nothing, not even fear
Only he was a lamb
(Nurse his hate hand, he cut it on a jag)

Oh spotty Sallys army
All win (they dared) all sayed 'yeah'
Dashed back calling out alarms
Loud enough to wake the dead Freds.
Dead Freds
With their hair waving all lazy and soft
Like meadow grass under the flood.

Rains cold and the wind blows,
All the rains is cold.
All the rains is cold.

Best thing gone did ever have
It was a good boy, not bad
With whole body just a-quivering
With cleanthiness.
Hate hand take the soul through drizzle ditch
And the wormy vegetable garden bitch.

Hide your hate hand in your secret place
Your hate hand, hide your hand.

Now you remember children
How blessed are the pure in heart.
Want me to take 'em up and wash 'em good?
Them dead good?
Like the only fish in the river?
Not safe 'cos they all had stones...
All had stones.

With rains cold and the wind blows
All the rains is cold.
Wind and rains is cold.

Hide your hair, it's waving all lazy and soft
Like meadow grass under the flood

Rains cold and the wind blows,
All the rains is cold.
WIND AND RAINS IS COLD.

Many lines of dialogue, and images from Charles Laughton's remarkable 1955 film Night of the Hunter were appropriated by Tim Smith for use over several songs on Cardiacs equally beautiful and spooky studio album, Guns. None more so than the one YouTubed, above. One of the best and favorite Cardiacs tunes it is, too.

Blessings on Phil a.k.a. Pheeel, for editing this together, he is worthy of laudation.
He has also made huge inroads in the effort to transcribe Cardiacs (and associates) lyrics, not ever an easy thing to do, at this website.

Fergus

2008-05-26T13:54:00.002-04:00

Fergus (in front) is a crap cat. His main traits are insatiable hunger, obesity, smelliness, whining, and getting poop stuck to his trousers.

Still, I love the little pest.

The Toogie

2008-05-26T10:52:00.003-04:00

That cat's something I can't explain/

It was 10 years ago this month that I adopted this strange, fascinating creature. An adoption shelter had cats and dogs in cages out on the Cary St. sidewalk - this one was standing on her hind legs, trying to work out how to undo the lock with her crafty paw.
She seemed like she could be a Maine Coon cat, not fully grown. I've since decided she is probably a Norwegian Forest cat (or, skogkatt). I named her 'Sheba' since she had a regal bearing, only later to find that there's a brand of cat food called that. D'oh! One day my daughter was playing a game with Sheba, and in sham exasperation, spontaneously came out with, "You...you...TOOGIE!"
Which made me laugh for the rest of the day. Since then, her unofficial name has been The Toogie.
When she was young and full of fun, she and I would play elaborate chasing games with balled-up paper projectiles - she would roar up and down stairs, make amazing leaps, horizontal and vertical; one of her favorite (sort of annoying) games was to jump up onto the back of an old rocking chair, and ride it to earth as it tipped over backwards.
One time, as she was looking up at me (as in the photo above), I bent slightly and was talking to her when, much to my surprise, she leapt up into my arms! I got her to repeat that trick only once after. Quite extraordinary, since she's not given to displays of affection and doesn't like to be picked up, at all.
Her way of being affectionate is by her constant observation, following me around and watching what I'm doing. This is a common trait among Maine Coons and skogkatts. She has developed several ways of communicating with me, though I can't always guess what she's saying; with her eyes and with gestures, such as stamping her feet. I'm not going to go into detail here - but other cat owners may know whereof I speak.
She's still fairly playful for a middle-aged cat; over the years though, she has become very territorial and possessive of the cabin, and myself. An excellent watch-cat. She has no opinion of dogs whatsoever - on two occasions people have brought dogs onto the porch, and both times The raging Toogie nearly burst through the screen door to get at them.

THE EVIL EYE

Petsitters have regularly been rewarded for their trouble with swats and growls from her.
Women, in particular, have been made to feel EXTREMELY unwelcome by intruding on her domain. She will sit upright in front of them and glare, occasionally looking over to me as if to ask, "Are you seeing this shit?". And then she'll wince her eyes, as if there's a bad smell in the room. Very nice! Men, she's easier with - sometimes.
My poor friend Candace, who is inordinately fond of felines, could never get a smidgen of affection from The Toogie, much to her frustration - once hilariously referring to the tempestuous beastie as "(my) cat-wife", heh.

I could go on with more anecdotal evidence of bizarre, interesting Toogie behaviors, but it's already gotten a bit weird in here. And she's telling me not to. (Ouch. I didn't, see?)

New Love

2008-05-22T16:43:00.005-04:00

Ingredients: select Russet potatoes, expeller pressed high monounsaturated safflower and/or sunflower oil, honey powder, (evaporated cane syrup, honey) salt, garlic powder, jalapeno pepper, ground ginger, onion powder, habanero pepper, dried parsley, citric acid, cilantro extract, ginger oil, cayenne pepper, white pepper, lime oil

If loving you is wrong, I don't wanna be right. These'll do until the real thing comes along, or someone invents curry-flavored chips.

Prog Epics Part IV: Magma

2008-05-21T21:19:00.003-04:00

Started in 1969, Magma is the ongoing band/project and fantastic mythic vision of drummer Christian Vander, with an ever-evolving cast of musicians surrounding him.
Inspired initially by John Coltrane, Vander has created his own genre of music, I don't know if you can call it 'prog' - in fact it's known as Zeuhl, Magma has spawned other practitioners (see also the great Japanese band Koenjihyakkei). Um, 'Zuehl', that's Kobaian.
Over the course of their many albums, Magma has articulated a grand sci-fi epic, about a future scenario wherein people have fled the dying Earth and settled on a distant planet, Kobaia, to establish a saner, peaceful civilization - and then of the contacts and conflicts between Earth and this space colony. Vander invented an entire language (Kobaian) to sing these stories.

I know very little about all this - I have to admit, it's taken me ages to begin to appreciate Magma. Maybe it helps to start young, like Jade here. It's not easy listening! - the relentless intensity of these sonic tapestries requires concentration, and repeated listens. The music seems to mostly center around the massive bass and drums, along with the energetic singing and chanting. Guitars and keyboards seem to provide filigree and shadings for the most part.
This epic - some 25 minutes or so!- is from a French TV broadcast, the sound is a bit muffled, the bass is almost lost - but, it is something other.
MEKANIK DESTRUKTIW KOMMANDOH
(Hippodrome du Pantin, Paris) May 14, 1977

Part one (8:22)

Part two (9:17)

Part three (7:47)

Howzat? Back here in the future, they still deliver - here's the last part of MDK, another Paris concert, 2006 - with bass levels properly UP. In fact, if you can't stick the three-parter I would suggest starting here...
Pity about Christian's hair. Respect for not resorting to the shaven head!

Wild Wondermarsh

2008-05-21T12:19:00.007-04:00

Rats, my most anticipated film of 2008 has been pushed back to October 2009, now. Fuh.

Let the wild rumpus begin already!

Another very nice blast of music and visuals by Jennifer Gentle.
"Wondermarsh"

Earlier back there I said they got their name from a Syd Barrett lyric - and that may be, but Syd got it from a folk song by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

The other hotly anticipated film in my little corner of the scrapyard is Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky. All his films are worth seeing, and some, like "Secrets and Lies" and "Topsy Turvy" are just as good as movies get. Showing in England but not out over here until cinematic silly season is over, September.
Here's nine minutes of interview with Leigh and Sally Hawkins:

Sposa Son Disprezzata

2008-05-20T20:46:00.003-04:00

La Molly in Studio Class

"Formerly attributed to Vivaldi", hm. Obligatory Wikipedia link (with lyric).
Very blurry picture and sound - still, her parents must be proud...

Everything Turns Out Nicely In the Summertime

2008-05-18T09:51:00.006-04:00

If You Really Must Know... Dept.

Among other Cardiacs activities upcoming - forewarned is four-armed, my forceps babies - will be a live radio session sometime ("last week") in June, on Marc Riley's Brain Surgery, BBC 6. Watch this space for details - thanks to this interweb marvel everyone all over the world can listen in, real time, if they or YOU so choose.

Here is (most of*) their first session with Riley & co., from 2005 when they had a tour and the newly released Garage Concerts album(s) to flog.
As well as the blindingly brilliant performances you would expect, are flashes of Cardiacs humor and mythos in the in-between chats; Tim refusing to introduce the band members, telling Kavus to 'shut up' when K is talking about his fancy guitar, the usual Jim-abuse, etc.
(About a half-hour, all together)
Intro: 01intro.wma
Hope Day: 02hopeday.wma
As Cold As can Be In an English Sea: 03ascoldascanbe.wma
Will Bleed Amen: 04willbleedamen_1.wma

(* - I left off the last song, Stoneage Dinosaurs, a rare instance of Cardiacs making mistakes - in this case poor Kavus seemingly got lost and made a complete pig of the guitar solo, and I imagine he was severely punished for it subsequently; best to leave it alone)

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Look what I got!

Heee

FOR FUN

2008-05-12T22:48:00.007-04:00

Some music du jour - Meat Puppets live at KCRW, 1986, covering Elvis:
It's called Rubberneckin' baybaow
04Track4.wma

I can't believe I've been blogging about obsessions, enthusiasms and momentary distractions for all this time without once mentioning comix books at all. To be honest I don't keep up too well these days, but there are several artists who I like to keep an eye or two on, and foremost among these is the French Canadienne Julie Doucet.

I just discovered (thanks to the Fantagraphics blog "Flog") that Ms. Doucet has her own website now, Julie Doucet FOR FUN
and the 'entry' page cracks me up...go there and rub your cursor around on the bathing beauty, I dare you.

Julie did a grreat comic in the late 80's/90's called Dirty Plotte, in which she fearlessly raised a lot of 'lady issues', exploring her dreams and desires and expressing her (many) frustrations, in French/English (or Frenglish) with sweet but ferocious riot grrrl perspective, and above all with hilarious, seething, densely detailed and gorgeous graphic style. I can sit and stare at her panels forever.
Among her best comix was her New York Diary, about her moving in with a lover in big scary exciting NYC, how things went good to bad to I'm Out Of Here.

She seems to be gravitating to fine art and design (and, poesie) these days, she recently published a diary called 365 Days which is a year in the life, made of words drawings and collage,
I haven't read it yet but it looks fantastic.
Below, a front/back self portrait cover of Dirty Plotte:

Here is one of her collage-poems (click to enlarge)

And finally, a declaration!

CARDIACS TOUR

2008-05-12T16:12:00.007-04:00

Christ, it's happening again

There now follows an announcement from THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN.

THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN, as a trusty conduit to keep YOU abreast of developments, can report that CARDIACS have once again deigned to raise their sour heads over the parapet and perform a series of shows in the UK later this year.
The tour dates follow this announcement.

The eagle-eyed among the loyal may care to note that the first show is in the city of Glasgow.

Glasgow is in Scotland.

THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN has always kept CARDIACS in check with a tried and tested punishment / reward system.
THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN sees no reason to change that.
CARDIACS have, as per usual, been asked to perform certain tasks recently.
Your favourite group’s lack of communication does little to encourage THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN.
Members of CARDIACS have been sighted publicly carrying themselves in such a way as to tarnish the reputation of THE ALPHABET BUSINESS CONCERN.

Punishments will be swift and fair.

CARDIACS TOUR
NOVEMBER 2008
14 NOVEMBER GLASGOW The Garage, 490 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow, G2.

15 NOVEMBER SHEFFIELD BOARDWALK0871 230 1095 Snig Hill, Sheffield

16 NOVEMBER LEEDS COCKPIT Swinegate, Leeds

17 NOVEMBER BRIGHTON KOMEDIA44-47 Gardner Street, Brighton,

18 NOVEMBER CARDIFF CLWB IFOR BACH Womanby Street, Cardiff,
19 NOVEMBER BRISTOL THEKLA SOCIAL East Mud Dock, the Grove, Bristol

20 NOVEMBER MANCHESTER ACADEMY Manchester University

21 NOVEMBER LONDON ASTORIA Charing Cross Rd, London

"Release news and more very soon...."

Here's what London looks like at night, from the International Space Station, which I might as well be on in November :

Closer to earth, a very primitive video that was filmed by a rat, perched high in the rafters of the London Astoria last November - I was directly in front of Tim Smith way down there below, steaming and writhing in the very vibrating belly of the beast. I don't think it will be possible for me to make that leap over the pond again this year, though. It makes my teeth to grind and my brow to furrow.

If you live in England, and even Scotland - now be thankful!

'Icing on the World'

Jennifer Gentle

2008-05-09T08:39:00.007-04:00

The other day I happened upon a reference to my beloved Cardiacs in the blogfield, by an irritating English rock journalist (is there any other kind?) called Everett True.

" Jennifer Gentle, “Evanescent Land” EP (Heron)
The amount of shit I get for hating The Cardiacs from Plan B forum users, I can’t believe. They were shit. This, on the other hand, is equally as unhinged, psychedelic, wonky and fast…but good."

( Cardiacs were shit! Hey, they still are!)

Brushing past his misguided impudence, I went over to YouTube to scope out this band, as some other people at the Mare's Nest had been speaking about them too...and lo, behold, these youngsters from Italia are in fact good or should I say REALLY GOOD, melodic loosey goosey psychedelic pop with all feet firmly planted in Syd Barrett's early Pink Floyd windowbox. In fact their name is taken from a line in "Lucifer Sam".
They did a tour of China, of all places, last year! There are several videos documenting this, too. I hope they get to touring over here again soon.

Take My Hand -and- I Do Dream You (6:14) Italian TV promo

I found a cd by them at Plan 9 which is a whole 'nother kettle of fish, it's called "The Wrong Cage" and is made up of of some really sharp live improv performances with string-melting guitar by Kawabata Makoto (of Acid Mother's Temple) . There are some noises there that, well, I don't know who or what's making them! At sufficient volume, they bounce off the walls at strange angles, and seem to be coming from outdoors.
Similarly experimental, mostly instrumental in shorter, sweeter bursts is "A New Astronomy" (which I found at emusic.com) .
They have two albums out on the SubPop label in the U.S. too.
Have another song:
Liquid Coffee (7:17) Live @ Magazzini Generali Milano 2007

More songs, info at their MySpace

Liner notes for A New Astronomy:
Dedicated to Giovanni Paneroni, amateur astronomer and misunderstood genius. He was born in 1871 and made a living out of peddling sweets and ice-creams around Northern Italy's towns and villages. In his free time, he developed his own, revolutionary astronomical theories: the Earth is flat, surrounded on every corner by perennial glaciers; the sun is nothing more than a small silver ball with a 2 meter diameter and a weight of approximately 14 kilos; Copernicus was wrong: the entire official astronomical science is just a bunch of lies; planets don't move, stars are just little fires hung in the sky, the universe doesn't exist . He also invented a new solar compass based on his “extraordinary discoveries”. In his unstoppable attempts to promote the truth, Paneroni tried everything and suffered countless humiliations: he stalked professors, was arrested and became a well known character in many Italian universities. After some years spent in a mental institution, he died in 1950. Thousands of people from all over the country attended his funeral.

Björked!

2008-05-07T16:01:00.004-04:00

What? You don't like Björk?!
Well maybe you're more the Pölly Harvey type.
A Place Called Home (live '03)

There was an even better version on YouTube but the sound's too glitchy for the high high standards of the Toy World blog. Check it out yourself...

Kunstformen der Natur

2008-05-06T08:40:00.004-04:00

from 'Artforms in Nature' - Ernst Haeckel

Björk Gottmundsdottir has been responsible for a lot of gorgeous music, over the years; I always had a thing for Sugarcubes since their 1988 appearance on SNL, singing 'Birthday' Björk's voice gave me actual goosebumps....and her first solo album Debut is one of my all-time favorite albums.
Lately I've been listening to Vespertine Live, from 2001. I never rated the Vespertine songs all that highly, when it came out - too languid, and all that skittery techno percussing, tsk - but, now hearing the songs in this lush, live context, I've gone back and turned it up loud and discovered it's actually brain-hemorragingly fabulastic.
Prrroof:
Björk - It's Not Up To You (Vespertine live, Royal Opera House, 2001)

Zeena Parkins on harp, there.
I notice in this video, the backdrop is from a painting by
Ernst Haeckel
Visionary artist and scientist, his wikipedia entry is here

Prog Epics Part III - Gentle Giant

2008-05-05T20:16:00.004-04:00

Gentle Giant were amazing, versatile musicians* - their arrangements are fiendishly complex, made up of interlocking "cogs in cogs"; but still they could stop on a dime and rock your face off.
They didn't do any album-side long 20 minute epics, but these two tunes cover a lot of ground in under 10 each.
The first is Giant Unplugged - with violin and dig that crazy vibraphone solo!
From a Belgian TV show, 1974
Funny Ways (8:45)

The next one features elements of Renaissance music - multiple recorders.
The Advent of Panurge (6:54)

*- probably still ARE, but thankfully this is one band from the 70's who have categorically rejected the notion of reforming.

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Last night two of the Three Curmudgeons went to check out the German film "The Counterfeiters".

An interesting character study, of a Jewish man, a master counterfeiter named Salomon Sorowitsch who has chosen the criminal life because he's too artistically ambitious for the straight and narrow; he manages to avoid the rising tide of Nazi anti-Semitism in Berlin for only so long, before he's informed on and sent to a concentration camp. The first camp he's sent to is horrifying - he survives by relying on his survival skills and criminal's code of ethics. Later he is transferred with a small group of other Jewish craftsmen, printers, engravers etc., to a much nicer enclave within another camp - they're given soft beds, decent food, cigarettes, music - as motivation to operate a huge counterfeit operation for the Reich; first successfully duplicating the British pound, then attempting the much trickier American dollar - in order to flood those countries and wreck their economies. A true story.
While Sorowitsch appears to be content to make this deal with the devil, and pursue his craft with state of the art equipment in exchange for surviving another day - one of his colleagues becomes intent on sabotaging the operation from within, on moral grounds. So several opposing forces and moral systems are brought into play, as the war and the brutality in the camp outside their safe house is raging and moving to endgame.
So, a lot of skullduggery and suspense, the story is well told with great subtlety, (in fact too subtle for me, I was confused at a couple of junctures). A fine understated performance by Karl Markovics as Sorowitsch - communicating with quick eyebrow twitches, squints as the way to survive under these conditions is above all, never to attract notice.
Even their privileged status in the camp does not keep them safe from the occasional unrestrained brutalities of one prison guard. The fact that the movie does not give the audience the rote satisfaction of seeing him punished in kind at the end, tells you this is not Hollywood, no lollipop for you!
So we gave it thumbs up, a good film, a grim story well told. Trailer here.

Strung Out

2008-05-04T13:32:00.002-04:00

It's been months since we had a dry, sunny weekend. So this morning with the sunlight all around I decided it was high time to get back on the busking horse.
Headed over to Strawberry Street around noon with fiddle case and flagon of tea, and indeed the place is crammed with people shopping and waiting to get a table at the cafe. Young women in sundresses as far as the eye can see; other than the bicycle, I think the sundress may be the best invention ever!
So, got all rosined up, the guy at the market even gave me a stool to sit on-! and started to play, and - er - ooh - the bowing arm is stiff, it's sounding pretty bad to start. I soldier on, forget how the second part of a jig goes (one that I know by heart, for some eight years now), make something up, go to the next tune, mess that up too-!
Usually I get into something good after the first few tunes, which are always a bit creaky. I'm not a brave person, playing the fiddle in public is a huge affront and a challenge to my normally very guarded person.
But the whole hour was one long slow motion debacle. I sort of hit my stride on a pair of hornpipes at one point but it was small compensation.
Sometimes you just suck!
People were very kind, though, and I made ten dollars. Ill-gotten gains.

Morrising On

2008-05-01T06:15:00.012-04:00

It's May Day, or Morris Dancer's Full Employment Day in England, anyway.

And now, the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance!

Terrific triangle playing! (1:23)
"The official records of the dance go back to at least the time of Henry the Third, who in 1226 granted that the dance be performed to the Abbots of Burton at the Barthelmy Fair celebrating St Bartholomew's Day August 24th.
Although this shows the dance has been performed for over 800 years, carbon dating on the horns used in the dance shows that they are actually over a thousand years old! This means that the dance was most likely a very ancient tradition going far further back than 1226, and, given its strong symbolism and time of the year, could well be a very ancient, possibly even Paleolithic or Neolithic ceremony to celebrate the start of the hunting season in that area.
In any event, it is certainly the oldest traditional dance in all of Britain, and possibly the oldest tradition in the country, being performed faithfully each year for hundreds, if not thousands of years."
(from the blurb accompanying video on YouTube)

In 1972, some members of Fairport Convention (the illustrious R. Thompson, Ashley Hutchings, Dave Mattacks) and fellow travellers (John Kirkpatrick on squeezeboxes, Barry Dransfield fiddling and singing, Shirley Collins also singing - in her wan, annoying way that a lot of folks happen to really like...) got together to record an album of rocked out Morris Dancing tunes. It's got great lift, here you can listen to an excerpt while practicing your pole dancing: 10-princessroyal.mp3

We have at least one Morris dancing outfit here in Richmond, More or Less Morris. They don't have a schedule, or anything helpful like that at their website! I recognize that fiddler, it's that nice Don Leister who makes and repairs fiddles locally, he's given the Black and Tan a fix before.

Finally, Monty Python have their way with May Day celebrations:

(8:39)
Apparently this footage was shot for the show in the early 70's, mostly shelved, for some reason, until Ken Shabby here found it in the BBC dumpster in '99.

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More traditional goings on....I've been after the fiddle and mando a lot this week, learning some new Irish tunes from recordings by the celebrated fiddling siblings - of the Sliabh Luachra area of Co. Kerry - Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford; their album "The Star Above the Garter", while sporting the crappiest sleeve art of any trad music album in history (and that's saying something!) is essential listening for any Irish fiddle player.
Two polkas, "The Knocknaboul no. 1 & 2", and a fantastic reel called "Johnny When You Die", aka "Paddy's Trip to France", aka a few other titles....

-In case anyone saw the "Hillary Death Watch" widget in the right hand column, and are missing it terribly - it was causing me a technical problem so you'll have to go to Slate.com to keep up with what will *hopefully* be a short-lived feature...

-(100th post joy)

Leader of the Starry Skys

2008-04-27T15:45:00.003-04:00

(8:01)
Another bit of Cardiacs mayhem from the magnificent 1990 live concert film, "All That Glitters Is a Mare's Nest" - soon to be re-released on shiny new dvd, soon, wink* wink* verrry sooon....
Actually this is preceded by 'Bic's Bit' a chance for Christian 'Bic' Hayes to play on his guitar. So good. Every day I find it difficult to believe this band ever actually existed, and still exist - evidently so does the girl screaming at (7:37)!

Gehenna the Horse is fond of this little tune also - he's posted two more live versions from 1989, recently - he's here and, now

The Leader Of The Starry Skys (sic)

He shone down the stairs
Careful sun day when he can
Move anything with his eyes
He wants to be the leader of the skies

Aims to see the starry sky with his own eyes
Wants to be the leader of the starry skies
All the people make signs
Sparse, as nothing if at all
Commiseration in a generous new size
Appealing to us all
Wins some, craves fun, keeps the world as his disguise
Stays young, brave sun, he aimed his cannon to the skies

Oh, must've been zero phiz
Caused our lantern to depart, and now
Best not be moved because it's sad to trust a broken heart

Crave fun, brave sun, he aimed his cannon to the skies
Slave hung, brave sun, he moved the turret with his eyes
And he can't shut up light
Without thinking, but what can I do?

Zealous antics puzzled lazy boy
Gazing at him in the zoo
Makes a vow to quench all fury
And rid the air of me and rid of you

Brave sun, brave sun, he points the barrel to the sky
Climbs in, brave sun, and then out of the cannon he flies
And he met another guy
The leader of the starry skies, he's here
But burning at such speed that no good dog can obey

Crave fun, brave sun, he keeps the world as his disguise
Slave hung, brave sun, the leader of the starry skies
From the tops of the trees
To the bowels of the Earth
Swings from pillar to post
'Cos he's here
And now
And now
He's here

What are Cardiacs songs 'about', you may well ask...very few of them seem to tell a straightforward story, or impart a clear message. But the words exist on their own terms, lighting up their corners of the music, or remaining dark, for no reason.

I See the Nightbirds

2008-04-27T10:29:00.008-04:00

Yesterday morning while dithering at Plan 9 I noticed a large hoard of opera cd sets in the much-neglected 'used classical' section; so I jotted down a list to email to the Young One in college who fancies this sort of thing. Sure enough, there were a few titles she wouldn't mind having around, so back I went that afternoon, with this mission...
Just in time, as it happens, to catch the final two or three minutes of an in-store performance by A New Dawn Fades , in this incarnation as an electric guitar - violin duo, and hey I know that violinist! It's Melissa Sunderland, Brian's friend, she's visited our Irish session before. And P.J. Sykes on guitar and electronics.

{They provided the soundtrack to my anxious little movie, as I discovered another Opera Freak there at the classical bin, making a filthy little pile of box sets - the horror! But after he moved off, I ceased fidgeting and saw that he had left the ones La Molly was interested in anyway.}

Nice stuff, ANDF - fitting into a solid guitar-violin improv tradition on the fringes of Rock which I appreciate and can listen to, anytime - a very short list would include The Dirty Three, The Velvet Underground (I know, it's a viola), Fairport Convention.
But, they stopped playing soon after I arrived, and announced that that very night would be the final A New Dawn Fades gig, with drummer - at the Toad's Place.
So, great! I was looking for something to do, and this was an auspicious occasion. I managed to get my pal and veteran gigster pardner Jimmy involved too...
So, Toad's Place or actually the Highwater Restaurant is a strange place to see bands - the stage is set off in a sort of inaccessible corner of the room, and the sound isn't so great. But they have good bevvies and it is non smoking, I know it's not very Keith Richards of me but I do love a non-smoking music venue, these days.
(And Erin, who used to work at the Taphouse aeons ago, is the manager, nice to see her again!)
New Dawn Fades were slotted in between two other bands, I didn't even catch their names...the first were a trio of feral tribal freak-folksters, one acoustic guitar + two guys on one deconstructed drum kit, doing fifteen minute tunes with much bearded screaming, quite thunderous at times, they were pretty enjoyable.
So, the main attraction next, with their drummer all the way from Lynchburg - a much different equation from the simpler guitar-violin edition I'd witnessed earlier - much thrashier and math-rockish, with quieter interludes that evoked the outback spaghetti western soundtrack stylings of The Dirty Three, once again. Quite wonderful. Goodly sympathetic dynamic between the three of them, you can tell they've been playing together a while - I believe Melissa was added to the group later, but the drummer (Nathan McGlothlin) and P.J. have been together six years apparently.
There was some great sonic anarchy as pots and pans etc. were passed out to the crowd, who were encouraged to percuss, which we did in various rhythms, and tempos; it felt like a good old drunken primate's reel around the campfire at midnight...
At the set's end, one by one the band members left the stage, leaving electronic noises floating in the air behind them, along with the clattering of audience percussion. And so faded A New Dawn Fades....well, we have heard the chimes at midnight.
The last band (something- Sophia?) were a more conventional indie sick guitar thing, it took me several moments to identify who precisely they reminded me of - ach, aha it's the fucking Pavement! I liked 'Slanted and Enchanted' for a few months, then later concluded that their existence was symptomatic of the death-by-watering-down-of-Rock.
Anyway Jimmy and I had reached the end of our respective tethers, we left them at it. A good night out though!
(sorry no photos - I haven't yet figured a way to take good performance photos in dim lighting, with my digital jobbie - there may not be a way-?)
Check out the MySpace, to hear tracks from "I See the Night Birds". When I get a copy I might put up a sound file for your edifications.

Kazuo Ishiguro

2008-04-23T14:48:00.011-04:00

Kazuo Ishiguro's novel The Unconsoled was one of my favorite books read, recently - about a concert pianist who arrives in an unspecified European city for a performance, which is forever being put off by a series of surreal, Kafkaesque episodes - humorous and disturbing encounters with locals and the protagonist's estranged family, all of whom are needing his assistance, expecting his support, craving his opinion of this and that; describing a fitful and anxious waking dream of obligations temporarily forgotten, or evaded. The amnesiac mysteries unfold as the narrator proceeds to his climactic concert. Actually "Mysteries" is a good word, as this reminded me of the so-named Knut Hamsun novel, and also of "Hunger".
New vocabulary phrase - mono no aware
Highly recommended, as are The Remains of the Day, and Never Let Me Go.

Ishiguro recently wrote the original screenplay for a Guy Maddin feature film, The Saddest Music in the World - which was then adapted and written by Maddin and his frequent co-conspirator George Toles; not the most successful collaboration, but an amusing and interesting one!
An excerpt from a recent interview with Ishiguro, from The Paris Review, (slightly) more here
Butlers are sort of intrinsically comical figures.

INTERVIEWER
How did the English setting come about for The Remains of the Day?

ISHIGURO
It started with a joke that my wife made. There was a journalist coming to interview me for my first novel. And my wife said, Wouldn’t it be funny if this person came in to ask you these serious, solemn questions about your novel and you pretended that you were my butler? We thought this was a very amusing idea. From then on I became obsessed with the butler as a metaphor.

INTERVIEWER
As a metaphor for what?

ISHIGURO
Two things. One is a certain kind of emotional frostiness. The English butler has to be terribly reserved and not have any personal reaction to anything that happens around him. It seemed to be a good way of getting into not just Englishness but the universal part of us that is afraid of getting involved emotionally. The other is the butler as an emblem of someone who leaves the big political decisions to somebody else. He says, I’m just going to do my best to serve this person, and by proxy I’ll be contributing to society, but I myself will not make the big decisions. Many of us are in that position, whether we live in democracies or not. Most of us aren’t where the big decisions are made. We do our jobs, and we take pride in them, and we hope that our little contribution is going to be used well.

INTERVIEWER
Were you a fan of Jeeves?

ISHIGURO
Jeeves was a big influence. Not just Jeeves, but all butler figures that walked on in the backgrounds of films. They were amusing in a subtle way. It wasn’t slapstick humor. There was some pathos in the way they would come out with a dry line for something that would normally require a more frantic expression. And Jeeves is the pinnacle of that.
By then I was very consciously trying to write for an international audience. It was a reaction, I think, against a perceived parochialism in British fiction of the generation that preceded mine. Looking back now I don’t know if that was a just charge or not. But there was a conscious feeling among my peers that we had to address an international audience and not just a British one. One of the ways I thought I could do this was to take a myth of England that was known internationally—in this case, the English butler.

INTERVIEWER
Did you do a lot of research?

ISHIGURO
Yes, but I was surprised to find how little there was about servants written by servants, given that a sizable proportion of people in this country were employed in service right up until the Second World War. It was amazing that so few of them had thought their lives worth writing about. So most of the stuff in The Remains of the Day about the rituals of being a servant was made up. When Stevens talks of the “staff plan,” that’s made up.

INTERVIEWER
In that book, and in so many of your novels, the main character seems tragically to miss his or her chance at love by seconds.

ISHIGURO
I don’t know if they miss it by seconds. In a way they’ve missed it by miles. They might look back and think, There was this moment when it could have all been different. It’s tempting for them to think, Oh, it was just a little twist of fate. But in fact, there are colossal things that make them miss not just love but something essential in life.

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Also recently read, Aline Kominsky-Crumb's graphic memoir, Need More Love.

(That's R.'s better half, and a talented cartoonist and storyteller in her own write, right?) Story at 11.

Got for a song at Chop Suey Tuey.

Last night's Irish music session was a really good 'un - we had our uillean bagpipes player, percussion flutes and whistles along with our usual Hooterville Ladies' Auxiliary Orchestra string brigade, combining to make a large and joyous noise. We all played well, it sounded like the Chieftains or something! I couldn't stop grinning. Nights like this are what keep me coming back for more.

Lordy, new life at the shed.... these basil brats have doubled in size since Saturday.

Might go see local bluegrass urchins Special Ed & the Shortbus tonight...their fiddle player, Aaron Lewis, won the Galax Fiddler's Contest last year. And, he participated in the World Beard and Mustache Championships in Brighton, England...a well rounded individual!

(interlude)

2008-04-22T09:44:00.000-04:00

shhhh....

Vine

2008-04-18T22:14:00.003-04:00

(click)

vine.mp3

by Spratleys Japs

Richmond....rocks?

2008-04-17T08:06:00.003-04:00

If you build it, they will come, apparently.
Last night went to see Okkervil River/The New Pornographers w/ Neko Case at Toad's Place, and was most pleasantly surprised to see the place *packed* - - on a Wednesday night! To see an indie rock show! And there was another one going on at the (other brand new rock venue) National Theater a few blocks away, no less - Iron and Wine. I wonder how many were there.
The show was pretty enjoyable - I went in knowing nearly nothing about either band, having only heard Neko Case's solo stuff.
Okkervil River I took an almost immediate dislike to - the singer is a bit twatty, tossing his coiffure around and rolling his eyes, reeling around the stage with faux-reckless abandon; but, I have to admit, they have the tunes. An exciting, engaging and sharp-dressed live band, a good lead guitarist - who looked like an insurance salesman. They opened with a sunny sentiment, "The President's Dead", and toward the end of their set did a great rave-up of "Sloop John B". They won me over, yes they did! Here's a quick video sketch showing what they're about.
Okkervil River (1:34)

Dogfish IPA on tap, a bit pricey at $6 of course. And Toad's needs to take down that portrait of Dorian Gray in the gents. But otherwise, as reported elsewhere, a nice venue indeed.
Next the New Pornographers - Neko Case came hobbling out on crutches and performed sitting down (looking a bit uncomfortable) for their set, - some mishap from the day before, I didn't catch the nature of it. Good sturdy power pop, their tunes all thumped along nicely enough, but it all seemed a bit samey to me. A full band, two keyboards, two guitars, and mass vocals plus rhythm section, and amps at 10 or 11, the sound and dynamic range of the tunes was thicker than Okkervil's. When Neko sang lead, her powerful voice managed to cut through the murk. Super adorable keyboard and vocalist, I couldn't find an adequate photo or video to convey the scrumptiousness of her, unfortunately. (ah, here's one)

Kathryn Calder
(I have a well known weakness for women with accordions!)
So, a good night out, and a good bike ride home to snatch a few hours of sleep, with ear buzz.

Paintwork

2008-04-15T19:18:00.006-04:00

First, a YouTube non-video of the song/experiment with tapes 'Paintwork' by the Fall, circa '85 ~
Sounds good at high volume (6:39)

Sometime in the mid-90's I bought some tubes of acrylic paint and brushes, intending to teach myself to paint. It was enjoyable, all-absorbing; hours and packs of cigarettes would burn themselves up, as I slapped layers of gunk onto little blocks of reinforced plywood. In the end, I never really understood the techniques, and I still have no sense about color; the results were none too eye-pleasing.
But there was a project I remember fondly, as I just found a surviving scrap of photographic evidence in the Archives of Schlep...it was to be a series of portraits painted on junk guitars, of my favorite underground musicians at the time - ones who I felt were unjustly neglected and therefore worthy of Andrei Rublev-like iconic treatment, in my house at least!
I had three in various stages of completion, for Daevid Allen, Fred Frith, and Mark E. Smith (pictured).

By now, Mark E. at least, has attained notoriety; something like living legend status in his native land, and worldwide in the alternative music scene. I used some words from his tunes to embellish the margins, from 'Hip Priest' - he is not appreciated . And also, for some reason, In the neighborhood of infinity . I thought the two ravens at the top were good, something archetypical and eternal about the British Empire, about Smith's noisy scorn for the pop music aviary, and about everything basically. The two sides of his face seem askew, I think that's a fairly accurate detail though.
(see) (a more recent photo)

There were supposed to be more words going up the neck probably. Anyway I gave up painting, the guitars sat around gathering dust for awhile and eventually got unceremoniously dumped during a pre-moving pogrom.

If I was still doing this, Tim Smith of Cardiacs would be an obvious choice for enshrinement...back then I didn't know there were Cardiacs.

(M.E.S's autobiographical thing, Renegade is published later this month, there's an excerpt here in the Guardian newspaper. And the Fall's new album "Imperial Wax Solvent", pretty good supposedly, appears at the same time)

Common Talk.

2008-04-15T12:43:00.005-04:00

Quiet around here...

I got my bike back from the clutches of the jammed kryptonite U-lock this weekend, after several fruitless sawing sessions. A further application of chain oil to the cylinder, and more probing with a pen-knife finally did the trick, and the key twisted around and unlocked it, slick as snails! (Alert Toy World readers will recall, a piece of the key had broken off inside the lock, last November)

Now after four-five months of hoofing it or driving, I've partially lost my biker's sixth sense - that is, the peripheral vision - the ability to see and hear the traffic before and behind, as well as bumps/holes in the roadway, and of course the ever-present danger of idiots opening their car doors into you....but it's all coming back.
There's also the thing of getting my legs and lungs back with the program. Anyway 'everything turns out nicely in the summertime', doesn't it?

Suffered a bit, reading some accounts of William Drake and his So-Called Friends doing yet another gig in faraway Anglaterre, last Friday. They played the Briny Hooves album in its entirety.
This concert was supposedly filmed, so maybe there will be some evidence coming out later. Meanwhile Mr. Crayola Lectern was there, and wrote a review, and also craftily captured a new song on his mechanical recording device, hear here:
(I bet Melanie the harmony singer wouldn't mind having that last high note back, heh)

That same night by contrast, I went to the lowly Canal Club, clutching my free ticket to see Zo$0, the Led Zep tribute band. I thought it might be fun, if there was a big crowd, who were really into it; but, No and No.
The lead singer did a fairly creditable job of Plant-like singing and flouncing, the rest of 'em were a bit stiff...'Jimmy Page' looked more like 'Otto' from the Simps, and the drummer was no Bonzo.
They did a fairly good 'Ramble On', but after five tunes I did just that.

Bodega Food Pyramid

2008-04-11T07:36:00.002-04:00

My personal favorite at last night's film fest, conveniently YouTubed for your cheap and easy consumption (burp)- 'Bodega':
(Explicit in Bronxese...)

Just remembered another good one from '07, Coleman Miller's 'Uso Justo'
(about 22 min.)

Brown Paths and Openings

2008-04-10T07:30:00.007-04:00

A Beginning of Brown Paths and Openings

Wincing in the bright daylight (sun, at last) after another equal parts -rewarding and -debilitating Wednesday night music session at the pub...

I'm indebted to my friend Colin/Dogsetc. for alerting me to this artist's blog the other day, called Airform Archives

it's my new favorite place to click to; an ever convulsing synasthaesia salad of music poetry and imagery, updated fairly regularly by Pasadena sound artist Steve Roden .
My artist friend Suzanna reckons he's a really good painter too (evidence above and at his website)...

I didn't realize, he's also one of the people behind one of my favorite world music blogs!

Magic of Juju that is.

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Tonight, looking forward to the annual Richmond stopover of the Black Maria Film Festival.

An annual selection of the best-judged short films, of all types. There are usually two or three revelatory films, several highly entertaining ones, and maybe one or two that rub me the wrong way; all in all a great way to spend the evening, only $ 5.00 too.

from 'Phantom Canyon'

Last year's highlights included this AMAZING work of animation, created using over 4,000 individual collages made from clip art of Victorian engravings, and photographs byEadweard Muybridge

The film is ten minutes long, I was able to find only a short clip of it online, at Steers' website:

Phantom Canyon
Stacey Steers

Here's another great, funny short piece of animation
A Painful Glimpse into My Writing Process (in less than 60 seconds)
Chel White

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Whoo hoo! Just got notice of free tix won, from the Weekly Rant to see ZoSo - "The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience" on Friday; should be a hoot! I was hoping for tickets to the Virginia Opera's 'Lucia di Lammermoor' but am pretty well pleased to win anything....

Also pretty sure I'm going to see the New Pornographers (with Neko Case) & Okkervil River at Toad's Place next Wednesday; return of the intrepid gigster.

Gamelan Raga Kusuma

2008-04-08T07:39:00.003-04:00

gender

Last night I went to a free performance by the University of Richmond's gamelan orchestra, Gamelan Raga Kusuma, augmented by a small ensemble of Indian singers and dancers.
The orchestra is made up of people from the local community and students, and is led by Dr. Andy McGraw - my pal Brian the bodhran banger at our Irish session plays with them. They have a large set of gorgeous handmade and hand-painted instruments, imported from Indonesia.*
Lately they seem to have acquired a rebab (a sort of Indonesian fiddle) and a vocalist or two. Fantastic sound, metal gongs and xylophones playing simple scales, but in complex interlocking patterns that regularly shift in tempo; the overtones float, wowing and fluttering in the air. All very strange and beautiful.

Video! from 2007, with dancers - at the same place (Camp Concert Hall) as last night's concert:

Panyembrama (about 7 min.)

They're playing again at the Asian Cultural Festival, Saturday May 3rd, downtown at the Convention Center, noon.

* - Once again, I neglected to bring my camera along! I have the worst instincts for photography; my main rules seem to be - 1. Do not bring a camera to something interesting, and 2. If you do, Take a picture when nothing interesting is happening.

Did you know that the three words in English that come directly from Indonesian are 'gong', 'orangutang', and ...'ketchup'.

The Curmudgeons Have Left the Building

2008-04-07T07:17:00.014-04:00

The annual, weeklong James River Film Festival wrapped up this weekend; this year there wasn't much to get me out of the house, but the Curmudgeons 3 decided to check out Sunday's matinee at the Byrd Theater, the Richmond premiere of Southland Tales, a new movie by local boy-made-good Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko). In the festival literature, compared to David Lynch's Inland Empire, and Amy Taubin of the Village Voice hopefully called it "a new form of cinema"; An 'apocalyptic sci-fi war story' - hooray, sounds promising!

Except, it's not very good at all, it may be the worst movie I've ever seen (the first third of), a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, etc.

A bit like 'Darko', this involves a quasi-mystical conspiracy of fated characters all beavering away at ending the world, somehow. The narrator even reedily intones at the beginning of the movie, "This is how the world ends....this is how the world ends..." Whoa dude!

The characters are one-dimensional and utter lines of inane dialogue, a lot of it is played as if it's meant to be funny - the timing and facial expressions would indicate so, anyway. And the cast is half-made up of current and former members of Saturday Night Live, and Mad TV, mugging away like crazy. But, nobody in the theater laughs.

There's also 'The Rock', in what may be the most wooden acting performance in recent history, now trading under his own name (which will soon be forgotten); and Sarah Michelle Gellar ("Buffy"), and Justin Timberlake, I don't know who did the casting but a lot of bong hitting and television-watching were involved, I bet.
What a mess. It actually hurt my brain to watch this. After about a half an hour Bruce leaned over and whispered, 'you wanna go get a beer?' - Bruce! - who can sit through, and find reasons to appreciate, even enjoy the most unpleasant of cinematic abberations...("Planet Terror", Lars von Trier's "Dogville" for fuck's sake! But that's another rant, for another time)

At first I resisted, thinking it would be very rude to walk out, with the filmmaker present and all. Hate to be the buzzkill who walks out. But then after ten more minutes, Bruce gave up and bolted, and Cathy and I were right behind him - looking for a place to soak our traumatized nerve endings in vodka and beer.

God knows what we missed, but I would guess at least one big music video-style scene.

Needless to say, all fingers and toes down on this one - though we had a good laugh comparing impressions of it afterward. I was going to put some YouTube excerpts in here for the curious, but I won't sully my blog with it...trust me, it's really, really not worth it.

A lot of people will say, "But, I liked Donnie Darko". Well, I didn't, but I'm in the minority there.

Donnie Darko is like bloody Citizen Kane compared to this.

Later that afternoon, the old school version of Great Expectations was on TV - a good antidote.

Your blog's not so great neither

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A drizzly sunless weekend, good for quiet indoor pursuits...did a hell of a lot of reading for a change, having discovered this marvellous writer Jim Shepard (he's up for a National Book Award this year, 'discovered' might not be the best word); plowed through not one but *two* of his novels, in four days - Lights Out in the Reptile House, and Project X.

I particularly enjoyed Reptile House, which is set in some undefined time and place, in a country that has just been taken over by a totalitarian regime. There's a feeling on unreality to it - though the radio and media are blaring nonstop propaganda, organizations with compulsory membership are holding large meetings in the town square, people who dissent are disappearing in the night along with their entire families - most citizens go along, hopeful that this is just a temporary state of affairs. Or else, enthusiastically join The Party.
The protagonist, an introverted teenage boy named Karel, just wants to be left alone with his rather pathetic and unemployable father, his job assisting at the reptile house of the local zoo, and his love for Leda, an enigmatic girl who lives down the street.
Leda's a bit of a firebrand, with a fierce sense of the new regime's injustices, which will lead to complications, choices - as will Karel's job. Worse yet, something about Karel has attracted the wide-ranging and seemingly-sympathetic attentions of a local security operative, a diabolical character if there ever was one.

In a way this seems like a work of Young Adult fiction, only darker.
Shepard writes like an angel. The passages describing Karel's silent, tender adoration of Leda as he follows her around the neighborhood are really moving, as are the frustrated, stilted and helpless exchanges with his father. Above all it's a suspense story which keeps you riveted as the inevitable conclusion unfolds.
Look, you can buy a used copy at Amazon for a penny (at the moment)! Or find it, as I did at the local library.

Project X is also a psychology-driven story of two teenage loser/outsiders, set in present day, with the all-too-familiar intention to wreak bloody revenge on their school chums. Also a great read, highly recommended.

Now starting in on William T. Vollmann's first novel, You Bright and Risen Angels, a different proposition altogether, a dizzyingly poetical, hallucinatory fever dream of the origins of electricity, and an insurgency of insects against the forces of civilization - like "There Will Be Light" rather than "-Blood". Told with Vollmann's usual excess of wordy exuberance, this one's a mere 630-odd pages!

Here's a better summary - NYT review.

Olivier Messiaen organ improvisation

2008-04-03T14:45:00.004-04:00

This is lovely.
I don't like seeing the inside of a church normally but I'll make an exception in this instance. Messiaen was organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris for over 60 years.

The suspense....

("selecting registration")

...and then, a nine minute improvisation.

"And the three kings had seen the Star of the Christ in the East and headed towards Nazareth."

From a dvd, "Quartet for the End of Time", which sadly is now out of print.

) ) < > ( (

2008-04-02T10:36:00.009-04:00

Just dithering around finding things on the web today, passing the poop back and forth...

Here is Miranda July, if you've seen her film, or read her book, or watched one of her performance pieces, oh yeah or heard one of her cds - you know that she usually mixes a certain amount of cuteness with sharply observed truths, warmth, razor sadness and some creepiness - but in this short video piece she's just being silly.

How To Make a Button

This reminds me of the "Mr Rogers Neighborhood" segments where he would go, for instance, to a suitcase factory to find out where suitcases come from. I'm not sure if there's a better use for television than that!

About six years ago, before she became world famous, Ms July came to the museum for a performance of The Swan Tool (as part of our late, lamented music and performance series) and I volunteered to drive her and her musical partner Zak Love back and forth from the museum to the hotel downtown, etc. - which was fun and interesting, for me.

I drove them to the party after the performance, which was in a strange section of town, and we were circling around completely lost, in very sketchy neighborhoods at night, for longer than was very funny - before finding that street and house. They got to see some parts of Richmond that tourists don't generally see.

Anyway, she is a sweet and unpretentious person, those big blue eyes - I was a little in love with her. The only time I think she became very interested in something I had to say was when I was describing going to my daughter's middle-school basketball games. I guess the idea of kids in the arena of competition, is an interesting thing to contemplate. Her short film 'Atlanta' is about that, and also about chilly suburban mother-daughter relationships.

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At the Perfect Sound Forever website, I found some resonant words from original Euro-hippie jazz rock beatnik Kevin Ayers, co-founder of the great band Soft Machine back in them 60's - who has just recently come out of the wilderness with his first album in fifteen years, it's very good too - called "The Unfairground".

PSF: What are you looking forward to? What would you still like to accomplish?

KA: I'd like to make some money! (laughs) That would be good. That would be something new... I would like to own a small sailing boat and putter around the Mediterranean. That's about it- I don't really have... I'm not big on material things.

PSF: What about non-material things that you'd like to do?

KA: I'd like to feel less stressed. I get very, very easily stressed, which makes me into something of a hermit. The world outside, you know? Apart from getting older and feeling all the pains of getting old, OLDER. Just like anybody else, I would like to be able to feel more peaceful and less worried about everything. But I don't have any particular goal.

I like the cut of his gib. The whole interview is here

Isolation Goes On...

2008-04-01T12:42:00.007-04:00

...Happy as the Day is Long.
This little animated marvel was made by a person named Nick Goodman in 1989, bless him.

With thanks to Gehenna the Horse for foisting it onto the internet.

CARDIACS
Mare's Nest

In my home my daddy TV brings in all mother world
And she sings so fine springs hope & fears all on the world

We must with a tombstone brave
Shut the shark out from this grave
Wash him bloodless smooth him fair
Stretch his limbs sleek his hair

Home this my own recepticle
Which has seen better days
And a capfull of wind for assistance
Moves my sea
When pace is easy under sail
Though its taking a while
Better watch better watch I don't blink and

Blink!

Isolation goes on, happy as the day is long
And it drag its slow length along

Blink!

Isolation goes on, happy as the day is long
And it drag its slow length along

Pain, penalties his gain? He's dead
Lying stiff the arms of assistance

Bringing in life from all around daddy TV
Brings in all mother world

Blink!

Isolation comes again, in the shape of a child
Made of plastic, put tears on its stupid face

Isolation comes again, in the shape of a child
Made of plastic, put tears on its stupid face

Blink!

And isolation goes on, happy as the day is long
Bringing in life from all around daddy TV
Brings in all mother world

Home this my own recepticle
Which has seen better days
And a capfull of wind for assistance
Moves my sea
When pace is easy under sail
Though its taking a while
Better watch better watch I don't blink

From my country spring hope & fears for all mother world
Saying "we must with a tombstone brave shut the shark out from this grave"

Wash him bloodless smooth him fair
Stretch his limbs sleek his hair

Blink!

Isolation goes on, happy as the day is long
And it drag its slow length along
All over the world
And she sings so fine springs hope & fears

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Later that evening; just saw 'La Vie en Rose' at the second-run Byrd Theater, and though generally je déteste les bio-peeks, this one is not the Hollywood kind; it has real guts and soul, and the singer's extraordinary life story is told in such an unconventional way - non-linear, jumping around in time - that it avoids the usual manipulative, clichéd bio-pic narrative moves. Fascinating characters are introduced and disappear, to reappear later - or not.

You wonder, what became of Titine? Some people just disappear forever. (I have no idea how the film corresponds to then actual facts of Piaf's life.)

The art direction was superb, there were many totally convincing set pieces which really brought these lost times and places to vivid life - a really breathtaking evocation of a boxing arena in the 40's, various types of Parisian cafes, a small town brothel.

Marion Cotillard is extraordinary, I was going to say if she didn't get an Oscar for this she fucking well should have - but I had to check IMDB to make sure to spell her name correctly and I see, yeah she did! Well formidable!

In fact all the actresses who played Piaf, at all stages of life, were great; there were at least three I think.

It seemed to be over two hours long, and was starting to feel like it toward the end...but the positives outweighs the negative, I was pleasantly surprised; a damp hankie and two thumbs up, je ne régrette rien....

New Urban Plague!

2008-03-29T23:54:00.010-04:00

It's not crack, it's not drive-by shootings, it's not even dog poo on the sidewalks; it's... Moped Boys.

Instead of punk rock anthem soundtrack about being 'in' a 'war', imagine the whine and stench of go-cart engines. I've seen multiple examples of these guys tooling around the Fan, not paying attention to automobile traffic and narrowly avoiding accidents, seemingly confused about whether they're supposed to be in the middle of the road, or at the margin. And there seems to be more of them every year. Get a real bicycle, paunchy slackers.

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On a less cranky tip, watched a dvd of "The Forbidden Zone" today - twice (once with the director, Richard Elfman's commentary)!

Great, funny anarchic midnight movie from 1980, with music by Danny Elfman and 'acting' by various freaks from Venice Beach and members of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. Also, Herve Villanchez. Also also, starring Richard's then-wife, the adorable Marie-Pascale Elfman, as "Frenchie" - who also did all the sets, with a crayon and a magic marker, it looks like. There's lots of crude humor, nice animated segments, half-naked women, talking chickens, endearing 'let's put on a show' amateurism, all in glorious black and white. It's like Rocky Horror meets Mad magazine meets Betty Boop.
I don't how I've managed to miss seeing this all these years.
The image on the cover makes it look like some sort of second-rate homage to John Waters, maybe that's why.

A video clip, of Frenchie entering the F.Z. with great joie de vivre. fleetingly, NSFW. Featuring The Kipper Kids as singing boxers.