#three miles with a cello

[thekimspoblog]

That brief moment of realization that, "I'm not confident she'd tell me if she was"

The moment that launched a thousand fanfics. Well okay, not a thousand... like... five fanfics.

[thekimspoblog]

@Artemis please unblock me. It's not my fault that you wrote the exact fic I had been looking for for 3 years before finally finding it.

Everytime I see posts like this I get filled with such profound sadness

Cause you know who has the same brainrot as you? The same unhinged feelings as you after you've read the fic? The person who always wants to scream about the fic with you?

THE PERSON WHO WROTE IT

I never used to leave comments but since I got into the habit of commenting on everything i enjoy it's been incredible. Especially when the author gets back to me about it and we get to have a discussion of what other ideas they had. One writer replied to my comment with a 5 paragraph essay detailing the Floorplan of the building the characters lived in and it was incredible

Anyways this is all to say that if you find a fic that just makes you want to scream from the rooftops, leave a comment saying that to the author and maybe they will join you and you can scream incoherently together

[porcupine-girl]

I realized today that I've been blaming my writing going all to hell on covid. And that's definitely part of it - wisps of brain fog always linger for several weeks afterward, and I find it significantly harder to think of the word I mean for things than it was a couple of years ago.

But I realized today that something else happened at the same time:

I got covid for the first time in July 2022.

And my kid went into 7th grade a month and a half later.

Why is this significant?

Because 7th grade meant switching from elementary to middle school. And while the elementary school had an after school program that meant he got home between 5-5:30pm, the middle school had no such program. He stayed after for clubs, but they were only twice a week for an hour, and not the entire school year. They usually didn't start til October and ended in April.

My brain does not turn on properly until 2-3pm most days. This is just how it works. When I was in grad school (before having a kid, and when my husband lived in another city), I would go to campus and work 3pm-10pm many days, it was great. That is perfect.

Having a kid fucked this up, because suddenly my most productive time of day is filled with dinner and bedtime and such. When he started elementary school with this after school program, that helped because at least I had 2-3 hours a day after my brain turned on and before he got home.

Suddenly middle school is here, and he started getting home by 3:30, 4:30 when he had clubs (which again, was not most days). So suddenly I went from 2-3 hours of work time to an hour at most, and sometimes even when I thought I'd get that hour he'd show up at 3:30 because robotics club got cancelled.

Now high school is the same way - thankfully, his bus ride takes a while (he rode his bike the half mile to the middle school), so even though they get out at 2:30 he doesn't get home until 2:55. But this means I have no work time at all before he gets home and I have to start keeping on top of him to get homework done and practice cello and etc etc etc. The one extracurricular he's done so far, film crew, hasn't even been after school! First they were meeting from 7-9fuckingPM three days a week, then the past few weekends they've been filming 8am-5pm Saturdays & Sundays. Which means I do get time without him on the weekends, but my husband is home and sometimes he's even not working and expects me to do things with him because it's the only chance we get, since he's working most evenings.

So anyhow. I knew this was annoying, but I only realized today how bad it was because I was actually up and medicated and showered and dressed before 2pm (this is a constant struggle on days I don't teach, once again I'd been getting it under control and then covid hit), but I had trouble getting anything done 2-3pm because of the whole but he'll be home in less than an hour, whatever I do I'll have to stop in less than an hour thing that you KNOW renders many of us with ADHD completely useless. And this was the first time I realized that I lost those vital 2-3 work hours every weekday at the exact same time I got covid the first time, and I think that has impacted me more than I'd even realized.

ETA: I should mention that before I got covid the first time, I was actively preparing to query agents for some picture books, as well as about halfway through a middle grades novel, and had published two articles in kids' magazines and was actively querying to get more. Aside from the way my fanfic output has slowed to a trickle, I have made almost NO progress on ANY of these professional writing attempts. What time I do manage to spend on work stuff, I have to use on teaching, because shit will actually happen if I don't get teaching stuff done while if I don't get writing done absolutely nothing happens.

[partiallypearl]

her sense of style, it really rocks (lucy stone in the style of claudia kishi)

a/n: this, my friends is the result of a roadtrip to montana, a very bored pearl, and my slight obsession with lucy stone, early 2000s pop punk, and how female characters get mistreated in childrens tv shows. trigger warning for mention of beau being a jerk (him trying to take things too far and lucy saying no), parental neglect, and general teen angst.

taglist: @myloveforhergoeson @raging-violets @ceruleanmusings @zackmartin @fiyero3305 @icegirl2772 @selangkir @cant-get-enough-btr-forever @bishounenbtr

lucy stone finds the linda lindas when she’s 12 and has a realization of “oh. that’s what i want to be”.

she spends the next 6 years playing the dutiful daughter her parents want while listening to paramore and all time low and sleeping with sirens in between piano, violin and cello classes.

she dates beau because her mom keeps talking about how nice that lillis boy is, and how she’s so sad that lucy doesn’t have a nice sweet boyfriend like him.

the first time beau tries to take things further than lucy’s comfortable with, she goes home and listens to avril lavigne’s don’t tell me, on repeat for two hours.

she never tells her mom what happened that time. or the next.

she stays with him because honestly in their small town, he’s the only boy she really feels comfortable with, and because breaking up with a lillis boy is like dumping a kennedy - you just don’t do it.

so they play the part of the perfect couple, lucy going to all of his football games and acting like she doesn’t hate how all the cheerleaders fawn over him, and beau going to her violin concerts, acting like he actually cares and isn’t texting whitney cooper from up his block.

the night lucy turns 18, she packs everything she owns into three bags, and looks up directions for the palm woods - a hotel for up and coming stars. she has $2000 in cash, her belongings, and the guitar her wai po bought her for her 14th birthday despite her parents dislike of the instrument.

“you are music itself,” wai po had said in her soft voice. “my lucy. my musician. don’t let your parents hold you back. promise me that.”

and she did. 4 years later, she was fulfilling that promise. no matter what happened.

lucy takes one last look at her childhood and blows a silent kiss to it. she gets into her dad’s old ford F250 lariat, and plugs in a mixtape cd that she had scribbled, lucy’s getaway soundtrack, onto and as she peels out of the drive at 2:38 in the morning, collapsed by aly and aj starts blaring out of the speakers.

she gets to la, a day and a half later. she takes a pit stop at a super 8, and runs into a rite aid and gets cherry red hair dye and a bottle of root beer.

it takes two hours to dye the streaks in her hair, and to make her feel like she can actually go outside with her new look.

she looks in the mirror and sees the red in her hair and her first thought is, i look like me. and that, is what makes her break.

not the fact that she’s 2,342.0 miles from home, or that she never technically broke up with beau or that she’s trying to keep a dead woman’s promise, but that she looks and feels like herself.

she cries for what feels like forever before she shakes her head and begins to pull herself together.

“you are lucy stone.” she tells herself, “rockstar extraordinaire. you’re not lucy from laurens, south carolina anymore. this won’t break you.”

she leaves the super 8 and finds a goodwill two blocks away and spends $250 on a brand new wardrobe. she buys rock band shirts, skinny jeans, and low neck tops that would give her mother a stroke. she buys necklaces to layer, and skull rings.

an older woman, with whispy blonde hair smiles at her in the jewelry aisle. “trying out a new look?” she asks, and lucy bites her lip before nodding. “i wish i had the guts to do that. but an oldster like me? not an option.”

she pauses looking at lucy with a critical eye before she gently places her hand on lucy’s shoulder. “you’ll be okay kid. trust me on that.”

and for some reason lucy does.

[jazzandother-blog]

Ron Carter is a legend. That's right. An 87-year-old musician who has put his double bass (and also his cello) on more than 3500 records, both his own and those of others. He has worked with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Wes Montgomery, Don Ellis, George Benson, Eumir Deodato, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chet Baker, Stan Getz and many other giants of popular music. Not for nothing is he considered one of the greatest double bass players in history, along with Ray Brown, Milt Hinton and Leroy Vinnegar. With three Grammies on a resume that could take three lifetimes, the musician from Ferndale, Michigan, still proves that he has a lot to say. There is no doubt that his legend is not exhausted.

(Source: villanosdeljazz,es)

Ron Carter es una leyenda. Tal cual. Un músico de 87 años que ha puesto su contrabajo (también su chelo) en más de 3500 discos, tanto propios como ajenos. Que ha trabajado con Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Wes Montgomery, Don Ellis, George Benson, Eumir Deodato, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chet Baker, Stan Getz y muchos otros gigantes de la música popular. Por algo se le considera uno de los mejores contrabajistas de la historia, junto a Ray Brown, Milt Hinton y Leroy Vinnegar. Con tres Grammies en un currículo que daría para tres vidas, el músico de Ferndale, Michigan, aún demuestra que tiene mucho que decir. Es indudable que su leyenda no se agota.

(Fuente: villanosdeljazz,es) Publicado en: Pasión por el jazz y el Blues

[thekimspoblog]

there's something about having a mother when you're a girl.

black swan //Buffet Etiquette, Hieu Minh Nguyen // Nayyirah Waheed//turtles all the way down// the cradell, berthe morisot// ??// the witch// Kyung-sook Shin, Please Look After Mom// lady bird// Take Care: Mothers, Daughters, and Inheriting Self-Hatred, Ella Wilson

[thekimspoblog]

"Rhea, you're a girl. You know girl things, right? You can handle this... BYE!!!!"

Seriously though THIS IS WHERE IT ALL STARTED.

I mean a stray pregnant dog they found in the desert, and the men left Rhea holding the bag for the delivery? What a PERFECT OMEN for Season 6! The writers included Huell and Kevin Costner basically just because the fans wouldn't stop joking about it, so I was CONVINCED this was a sign they were going ahead with the unplanned pregnancy explanation for why Kim wasn't in BB.

Dec. 25, 2020 I had - well it wasn't a dream, it was a vision. I wrote everything I saw, no matter how crazy, and that's what became "Sheepdog". And the odd thing is a good deal of it did make it into Season 6: Kim with binoculars on a stakeout, the open grave being a recurring nightmare, the black and white shot looking out the plane window, the blue flowers sprouting on a grave.

But the linchpin that was supposed to hold it all together, Kim looking down at the test stick with a mixture of anxiety and curiosity, never materialized. But you know that scene exists somewhere, sitting on the cutting room floor.

I do love that at the end, Kimmel teases the idea of Kim getting a spin-off. But go even further back in the timeline? HELL NO! We go forward now. And reclaim the missed opportunity!

I want those fuckin McWexler pups more than Cruella Deville.

[dustedmagazine]

Mint Mile — Roughrider (Comedy Minus One)

Photo by Patrick Masterson

Mint Mile has been an active concern for going on a decade now, but the build has been slow: Three promising EPs were finally followed by a sweeping full-length that dropped the week after the bottom dropped out on reality and the pandemic began. Ambertron was a grand triumph in a year that did its best to stifle such art, but its casual, communal air felt out of sync in a year where easy connection was impossible. Like time and those of us that survived, however, the band has moved on. Those changes are well processed and documented on the appropriately titled Roughrider.

The best place to start with Roughrider might be right at the end with “I Hope It’s Different.” The alt-country ensemble SIlkworm’s Tim Midyett has been writing for and helming with the steady assistance of bassist Matthew Barnhart, guitarist Justin Brown and drummer Jeff Panall is here led by Nina Nastasia on vocals instead — an acclaimed songwriter in her own right whose “That’s All There Is” Silkworm covered way back in 2003. Nastasia looks optimistically to what comes next as she sings “I hope it’s different / Not just another good time / Insulated by uncomfortable lies” set to the band’s twangy slow dance and given added flourish by Poi Dog Pondering’s Susan Voelz organization of the strings. It’s like opening a window and walking outside, the promise of fresh air and a new environment before you after Midyett’s scrawling shifts and meandering moods.

That doesn’t mean “I Hope It’s Different” is the best song here, exactly. Mint Mile has taken up the mantle of the kind of unspooling Americana Jason Molina used to excel at so well, which is a funny thing to say given Roughrider’s brevity relative to Ambertron. Even so, the band is firing on all cylinders here regardless of track length; “Interpretive Outlook” does every bit as much with its sub-three-minute runtime as “Brigadier” does pushing eight. The breadth of musicianship is on full display and Midyett’s songwriting expands or contracts to fit the music as needed; his roughened, unsparing delivery had me recalling early Jets to Brazil and Lucero.

But perhaps even more so than Ambertron, this is a record about community. To wit: The band shines brightest when the core four are accompanied, which is almost always. The fluid grace of Brown’s pedal steel guitar and Barnhart and Panall’s anchoring rhythm section never sounds better than when there’s just a little something extra — Susan Voelz’s violin, say, or Alison Chesley’s cello. I was disappointed to discover frequent associate Howard Draper did not bring back the “magic spackling thing” as a credit from Ambertron, but nevertheless, his piano, organ and lap steel guitar frequently add a magic touch where an otherwise strong song could’ve settled. There’s Corvair’s Heather Larimer lending vocal assistance on “Empty Island.” And for Silkworm fans, “Halocline” and “S c ent” each feature Joel R.L. Phelps on saxophone. You could write out the whole list of credits for how many contributors are worth noting and for how much they add to make such a satisfying record.

As with Ambertron, though, the best songs on Roughrider happen when Mint Mile piles on the people in a gradually growing jam that stretches the band’s legs. Mirroring “The Great Combine” and “Amberline,” “S c ent” and “Brigadier” probably started as simple singer-songwriter sketches but grew into enormous, swooning spins. MIdyett appropriately struggles on “Brigadier” to hit an attempt at his highest registers as he sings “Can’t overcome the life we made” while the strings skitter and Panall’s percussion finally brings the band to a crashing finish, where Draper’s pulsing, spirit-cleansing organ takes you out. It’s a real thing of beauty.

The whole album and band — really, we should be more generous and call them a collective — is a thing of beauty. Once again, Mint Mile has delivered music with weathered emotional complexity that retains an open-ended sense of optimism that, maybe from now on, the ride won’t be so rough. How easy it is to fall for that kind of burdened but unbeaten perspective.

Patrick Masterson

[vthetease]

One that was a beautiful poem, and two sorry for your loss

Thank you! I'll take a moment to talk about a topic I'm super passionate about which is suicide prevention and mental health awareness so this is warning it's gonna get really sad

This song always makes me think of his as he was such a gifted piano player and so graceful like the song but the dissonance slowly breaks your heart

Luke was one of the most most gentle, considerate, and talented individuals I've ever had the pleasure of sharing space with. He was brilliantly smart and played piano, cello, keyboard, and clarinet. We talked often in our classes together and back stages making jokes when waited for shows to start, and bring raised religiously, he had lots of questions about the real world and my exposure to it.

Our sophomore year, on a vacation to Nashville, Luke was harassed by several boys our year for taking photos at the pool. While I don't condone taking photographs of unaware people, it should be known that same year our varsity quarterback was expelled for actually taking pictures up a teachers skirt, so when they took video cornering him in the hotel until he admitted he was gay...

He struggled with his sexuality and depression for so long, and I was just a teenage girl myself. It wasnt always easy being Luke's friend. I had my own shit to sort, and Luke sometimes felt like the little brother nagging you to be better. The day he asked me to smoke weed for the first time sent a chill down my spine. He was hurting so bad, he'd given up on his ethics and moral code to soothe the pain.

I've seen many reactions to getting stoned, but I was so hurt when he was angry with me.

" give me that shit. stupid ass drugs "

In my anger I hadn't realized how scared he must have been

I took him home to sleep it off

And he started to get much more distant, but still around like a shell of his old, bubbly self

His first attempt was in the garage; he left the car on with the garage door closed.

His little sister found him, pulled him out and called his parents

She just graduated holding his picture

His second attempt, he did at school; he took half a bottle of caffeine medication, and collapsed. He was ambulanced to the hospital and there for three weeks for treatment. Medications and therapy and isolation

When he came back, so behind on class, and unfamiliar with his pieces for band, he looked me in the eyes and said,

" i go to where I want to die and look sometimes. If I try again... I'm going to succeed."

I have never hated someone so much as that moment. To put that on my shoulders when I can barely spend a night sober. I don't want you around me so I can influence you, and now Im responsible for keeping you alive

I went to an adult at the school, one of the only ones who truly knew what was going on, and she told me,

" you hit rock bottom and came back up. Sometimes you just have to let them ride it out. "

This is the same the woman who I told I was being abused and replied, " no you and him don't have the healthiest relationship but it could be worse!!"

On Monday, November 17th, 2019, he sat down at his table of 4.0 math whizzes and said,

" what would happen if you jumped off a bridge?"

And unbeknownst to those poor boys, with their textbooks and brains, they would go through gravity and angle prospects with a boy who would jump from an interstate overpass less than a mile away in less than 12 hours.

Our last interaction, in 7th period, study hall, that day, he asked me to borrow my computer charger, and instead of coming to sit next to me, he took it back to his seat. He brought it back at the end and he stared blankly at the wall before final bell.

I bump his shoulder and ask if he's good

Luke's last words are ones I cant say alone to this day

"it's just one of those days, I guess."

He didn't not leave a note, or a text

He did not say goodbye to me

He is buried in a graveyard less than 1000 meters from my mother's house

This song is the only real memory of the time I have after; its the only thing that helped my out of body feeling

I have never been the same without him, and will always wonder if I could have done more.

I miss him and go sit with him and talk with him alot.

It was painful to write this. I am crying. But you should be too. Everyone should. Luke deserved better and my community failed him.

I would do anything in my power to ensure no one else has to experience this pain. Because it hurts today just as awful as it did years ago.

Please, if you are struggling. Think about your loved ones and those who love them. Your pain will not disappear. It will transfer to everyone around you.

I genuinely would rather hear you rant, cry or scream than hear your obituary

You are so loved, and thank you for your love as well 💕 treat eachother gently

[thekimspoblog]

Reads fanfiction -> Leave 62 comments and replies -> Author tells me I'm making them uncomfortable -> Feeling self-conscious -> Reading fanfiction to console myself.

the cycle continues :)

[burlveneer-music]

Alison Eales - Mox Nox - chamber folk/pop songs inspired by sundial mottos

Alison Eales is a long-standing member of the band Butcher Boy, playing piano, accordion and other keyboards as well as arranging for choir and brass. The band have made three studio albums: Profit in Your Poetry (2007), React or Die (2009) and Helping Hands (2011). All of these albums have been well-received, with React or Die featuring in The Times’ top 100 pop albums of the 2000s. The band have also released two EPs. A compilation album, You Had A Kind Face, was released on Needle Mythology in 2022, along with three new songs, with tracks mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road. Butcher Boy have supported bands including Belle and Sebastian, Scritti Politti and The Wedding Present. Taking inspiration from sundial mottos, Mox Nox is an album about the passing of time – most specifically, the transition from day to night. Its twelve songs explore experiences of all-nighters, anxiety, travel, frustration, and friendship. The album combines acoustic and electronic instrumentation with samples of environmental sound, resulting in an indie pop record that is by turns playful and melancholy and that is likely to appeal to fans of Saint Etienne, The Magnetic Fields, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stereolab, Jake Thackray and Kirsty MacColl. With support from Creative Scotland, the album was produced by Paul Savage at Chem 19 studios. Cover artwork was designed by Rhian Nicholas at The Passenger Press in Glasgow, using a mix of traditional printmaking techniques. The design represents a sundial and was inspired by the cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, with its stylised Doomsday Clock.

The strings on Ever Forward were arranged and recorded by Pete Harvey at Pumpkinfield and performed by the Pumpkinseeds: Simon Graham (violin), Emma Connell-Smith (viola), Harriet Davidson (cello) and Chris Sergeant (double bass). Strings on other tracks were performed by Maya Burman-Roy (cello) and Cat Robertson (violin). Guitar on The Broken Song, Shadow Blister, A Natural History of California and Goodbye was played by Basil Pieroni. Diljeet Kaur Bhachu played flute on Negligence, Through Hoops, and Mox Nox. Joanne Murtagh played glockenspiel on Rapunzel, Negligence, Fifty-Five North and Mox Nox.

[lookninjas]

Happened upon another “Top 10 Terry Hall” songs list today, and got all excited like I always do, just to find that it was mostly songs from the Specials’ first two albums that he didn’t write and one that he didn’t even sing (on the album; he sang it live, but still), so fuck it.  Here’s my personal favorite top 10 non-Specials Terry Hall songs:

10,  Goodbye Sun Valley, the Colourfield

I’ve got the devil in me, not the devil I’d be in Sun Valley

You know, it’s a weird thing.  On an album vs. album basis, I’d argue that The Colour Field beats out the wildly inconsistent Deception, hands down.  But on a song by song basis, Deception just has those few songs that are so damn good.  This, for me, is one of the standouts, a playful music hall number replete with tinkling piano, jazzy clarinet and horns, accordion, and that ba-da-da chorus.  One of his better vocals, too.

9.  Suburban Cemetery, Terry Hall

They didn’t see the billboard that says ‘Stay away from my suburban heaven’

I’m not going to lie; there are moments on later Specials’ albums where I kind of miss Jerry Dammers’ poison pen.  Terry Hall wrote self-laceration like none other, but he sometimes pulled his punches a bit too much.  This particular nineties alt-pop confection, however, takes aim at mild-mannered middle-class bigotry and connects perfectly.  Sugary and scathing.

8.  Sugar Man, Silent Poets feat. Terry Hall

Some thought he would shine, others thought he would fade.

The thing is, there’s a reason so many dub/electronic/trip-hop artists wanted a Terry Hall feature back in the day.  It’s because it fucking works.  This gently melancholy track from Silent Poets, with its murmured spoken word verses and hypnotic chorus, is a perfect example of why.  The video somehow manages to capture the exact feelings of waiting at a bus stop, taking part in a performance art piece, and trying not to attract attention in a psychiatrist’s waiting room, which suits the song down to the ground.

7.  Life in General (Lewe in Algemeen), the Fun Boy Three

Run to where the money flows.  That’s life in general, I suppose

The Fun Boy Three is such a cohesive album that it’s difficult sometimes to pull out highlights.  This one marries a narrative of privilege, deprivation, and indifference to simple, chantlike vocals and dizzyingly complicated percussion, and the whole thing comes off perfectly. 

6.  Walk Into the Wind, Vegas

Before you taste another tear, my love, I know a place where rainbows end

Razzies, turn your location on.  I just want to talk.

Seriously, though, if it weren’t for the Showgirls connection, would anyone have anything bad to say about this song?  It’s a slice of saccharine nineties pop perfection that stands up there with the best of Savage Garden, and it’s got Siobhan Fahey.  There is nothing not to love about this song.  Unless you think it’s cool to hate.

(Sidenote:  U2 didn’t deserve the hate for “Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me” either, and I stand by that.  Their nineties glam phase is probably the most interesting thing they ever did.  Like Tom Cruise playing Lestat.)

5.  Our Lips Are Sealed, the Fun Boy Three

Pay no mind to what they say.  No one listens anyway.

A breakout hit for the Go-Gos and a UK top ten for the Fun Boy Three, this one makes all the lists for a reason.  Nicky Holland’s rearrangement on this keeps the tempo up but gentles the mood way down, taming the staccato guitar line with swirls of cello.  June Miles-Kingston’s vocals float above Terry’s in a lovely duet.  An 80s classic.

4.  The Hour of Two Lights, Terry Hall and Mushtaq

All that stands between us is the hour of two lights.

Everyone take a moment to thank Damon Albarn for introducing Terry Hall to Mushtaq.  The resulting album was absolutely nothing that anyone had planned on, with guest artists pulled in from all over the world to put their piece in, but it’s a fascinating, complicated thing.  This song is a distinct highlight -- a tangoish line for the cello and bass, floating violas and violins, intricate percussion and Terry’s vocal line, hushed almost to ghostliness.  Thanks again, Damon.

3.  A Room Full of Nothing, Terry Hall

And whoever said it was meant to be easy? Someone who knew how to cope.

Fun Boy Three’s “Well Fancy That,” saw Terry wedding lyrical devastation to a disorienting circus-like 6/8 time.  “A Room Full of Nothing” starts with a similar premise, but ratchets up the aggression with heavier organ lines and just the right amount of distorted guitar.  The vocals are smooth, confident, and mature; the lyrics are bitter and bleak.  It shouldn’t go down as easily as it does, but Terry always did wear his misery well.

2.  I Drew a Lemon, Terry Hall

I drew a lemon; I punched that gift horse in the mouth.

Terry’s wit at its absolute wickedest.  Ridiculously quotable from beginning to end, this self-deprecating ode to a divorce in progress shuffles along like its hangdog narrator, finding the funny side of all the misery.  At least he’s still got that Christmas bonus from the CIA to look forward to.

1.  Monkey in Winter, the Colourfield

We never touched.  We never kissed.  We never loved, but we thought we did.

It’s the lyrics for me on this one, honestly.  Don’t get me wrong -- this is one of the songs on Deception where the heavily 80s production really works for me.  I like how the synths sound like they were stolen from David Bowie’s spaceship.  I don’t even mind the vocal distortion.  But it’s the lyrics.  I close my eyes and I start to count the lonesome people leaving town.  It came and went the way things come and go.  What the eyes don’t see, you know the heart won’t miss.  It’s a perfect sepia-toned memory of something that might’ve been beautiful, if it’d ever been at all.  Gorgeous, gorgeous song.

Bonus:  The Man at C&A, the Specials

I’m just saying, if we have to put a classic Specials cut on every list, “The Man at C&A” is right there.

[mywifeleftme]

10: Godspeed You! Black Emperor // 'Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend

'Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend Godspeed You! Black Emperor 2012, Constellation Records Godspeed You! Black Emperor are famous for their elaborately packaged vinyl releases, and 2012’s excellent comeback record ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend Ascend’ is no different, including a 12” x 48” poster and a 7” single. But what many fans may’ve missed is the YouTube URL etched into the wax runoff. As we celebrate 11 years since the record’s release, I thought it would be fun to rank all of the musicians who’ve ever played in Godspeed, including frames from their appearances in this cool secret video. (Apologies for the quality, the video was uploaded in 240p!)

Members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Ranked

16. Tim Herzog (drums)

Of all the drummers GY!BE have ever had, Tim Herzog is the only one who hasn’t been trusted with percussion. I think that says it all right there.

15. Bruce Cawdron (drums, percussion) I once saw Cawdron’s main band Esmerine do a great set at the Ottawa Jazz Festival, and that’s enough for me to rank him pretty highly, relative to the hapless Tim Herzog anyway.

14. Aidan Girt (drums, percussion) I don’t really remember why I ranked Aidan Girt the highest among Godspeed’s drummers, but he’s been there the longest and you'd think he'd have learned by now.

13. David Bryant (guitar) Quick, name your favourite David Bryant guitar solo in Godspeed! Can’t think of one either eh? That’s why he’s only #13.

12. Grayson Walker (accordion) One of those instruments you'd maybe make a joke about Godspeed having had. But they did have it, for a few weeks in 1997.

11. Peter Harry Hill (bagpipes) One of those instruments you'd maybe make a joke about Godspeed having had. But they did have it, for a few weeks in 1997, on the CD version of F♯ A♯ ∞.

10. Mauro Pezzente (bass) Some might quibble about my rating Mauro Pezzente so low, given that he is one of GY!BE’s three founding members. But I ask you this: if he were that good on bass, do you think they’d have had to get a second one?

9. Thea Pratt (French horn) GY!BE’s home of Montréal is, famously, a Francophone-majority city, and Thea Pratt’s work on French horn between 1995 and 1997 was important for ensuring locals would accept the band long enough for them to complete their stated goal of transforming the Mile End into a hip Anglophone enclave.

8. Roger Tellier-Craig (guitar) Tellier-Craig only lasted six years in GY!BE, by far the least of the band’s elite division of guitar players. But he gets extra in memorium points for giving his life in Godspeed’s tragic knife fight with Sigur Rós in downtown Hafnarfjörður.

7. Thierry Amar (bass) GY!BE’s second bass player, who slotted himself into the lineup next to the unreliable Mauro Pezzente in 1995. Amar gets extra points for stabilizing Godspeed’s notoriously turbulent bass situation, as the band has not seen a need to add a third bassist during Amar’s 28-year administration. Not yet anyway.

6. Norsola Johnson (cello) In addition to having the best name of any Godspeed member (Norsola the Hidden One), Norsola also plays the cello, an instrument that seems essential to their sound but that they have apparently done without since 2003. This doesn’t sound right, and I should do more research.

5. The Mononymous Christophe (violin) Arguably the rarest Emperor, and therefore the most collectible.

4. Mike Moya (guitar) Sometimes you need to leave band the band you founded just before its period of greatest success, so they learn where they’d be without you. That’s exactly what Mike Moya did when he exited Godspeed two years before Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven! and Yanqui U.X.O. He then kinda sidled back into the back row when they took the publicity photos for this 2012 reunion. I’ve always respected that.

3. Sophie Trudeau (violin) Violin has long been known as ‘the thinking person’s guitar,’ and Sophie seems very thoughtful indeed.

2. Karl Lemieux & Philippe Léonard (projections) I call them GY!BE’s Lumiére Brothers because they are also conjoined twins who make films.

1. Efrim Manuel Menuck (guitar) Who else could it be but the Big Cheese, Mr. You! Black Emperor himself. Thanks for everything, man.

You can take a trip into the wayback machine and watch the secret video yourself here. Enjoy!

10/365

[thekimspoblog]

We like other colors but pink just symbolizes how we have been emotionally frozen at 14 because of an inability to trust other people.

Kim + Pink

[museograph]

An Atlas of Es Devlin, exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, from November 18, 2023, through August 11, 2024.

It is an understatement to say that the extent of Es Devlin's work is impressive. Some say she might be one of the best Spatial Experience designers in the world, although she goes by the official title of British artist and stage designer.

From top to bottom, left to right: Opening film installation. Exhibition gallery. Model of the Seed, a 15-meter sculpture at the Jubail Mangrove Park, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2020. Model of the stage for Atlas, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2019. Video of three scale models with projection mapping: Stage for Carmen, Bregenz Festival, Lake Constance, Austria, 2017; Stage for Miley Cyrus World Arena Tour, 2014; Stage for Hello, Adele World Arena and Stadium Tour, 2016-17.

Es Devlin's work is best described in her own words in the exhibition's overture:

Es Devlin's Voice: I've always drawn on my books. I write in their margins, Underline the phrases that resonate,

The play scripts, opera, pop music scores and lyrics, poems, research texts, lists of endangered species and languages.

My markings are a map So I can find my way, Pick up my train of thought Next time I visit.

I've always loved books with printed dashed lines and scissors, Books that invite you to cut and fold, paste their pages - to transform printed text and music into sculpture, To translate Ideas into forms And action.

When I was about 11 years old, I remember walking down a music school corridor. Light and sound emanated through the glass windows of each practice room. I could hear someone playing a Bach cello suite through one window, a Miles Davis trumpet piece through another, a soprano singing Mozart, someone was reciting a Shakespeare text, a guitarist was playing Led Zeppelin.

I observed a shaft of light in the corridor illuminating dust particles in the air, and I thought:

Being here, in the space in between, between music, light and architecture - this is also a kind of practice.

I'm still walking down this corridor now - sometimes alone, often holding hands, running at speed, with choreographers, composers, directors, writers, activists, engineers, and dancers.

We read and draw alone and together, imagining worlds that don't yet exist.

All of the ideas start on a piece of paper like the ones in front of you, in a room like this. We cut and glue pieces of cardboard into sculptures that will be translated into spaces much bigger than this. Sometimes in front of audiences of hundreds, sometimes thousands, or hundreds of thousands.

Every audience is a temporary society, A rehearsal community.

We arrive in one state, Sit or stand close together in the dark for a few hours, Collectively imagining our way into experimental perspectives, Collectively imagining our way into a new world.

We depart in an altered state, the architecture of our minds redrawn by new thoughts and feelings.

Sometimes we use magic and illusion. If we can destabilize our own expectations about how objects behave in a theatre, Then maybe we can start to question our other fixed beliefs. Here, we can rewrite the rules. We can decide together, right now, that this studio wall is not really a wall, but a piece of paper - which we can tear open and walk through together.

[lboogie1906]

Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is a jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy awards and is a cellist who has recorded numerous times on that instrument.

Some of his studio albums as a leader include: Blues Farm (1973), All Blues (1973), Spanish Blue (1974), Anything Goes (1975), Yellow & Green (1976), Pastels (1976), Piccolo (1977), Third Plane (1977), Peg Leg (1978), A Song for You (1978), Etudes (1982), The Golden Striker (2003), Dear Miles (2006), and Ron Carter’s Great Big Band (2011).

He was born in Ferndale, Michigan. He started playing the cello at the age of 10 and switched to bass while at Cass Tech High School. He earned a BA in Music from the Eastman School of Music and a MA in Music from the Manhattan School of Music.

His first job as a jazz musician was playing bass with Chico Hamilton in 1959, followed by freelance work with Jaki Byard, Cannonball Adderley, Randy Weston, Bobby Timmons, and Thelonious Monk. One of his first recorded appearances was on Hamilton alumnus Eric Dolphy’s Out There, recorded on August 15, 1960, and featuring George Duvivier on bass, Roy Haynes on drums, and Carter on cello. In early October 1960, he recorded How Time Passes with Don Ellis, and in 1961, he recorded Where?, his first album as a leader, featuring Dolphy on alto sax, flute, and bass clarinet; Mal Waldron on piano; Charlie Persip on drums; and Duvivier playing basslines on tracks where he played cello. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence