Tales

Posted on February 5, 2008 by ubu507
 
 
HE STAYED IN JAPAN TOO LONG
 
THE COURT OF MIRACLES
 
TALES OF THE APSARAS
 
THE HEAD OF CELESTIAL FRAIL BEAUTY
 
I DANCE WITH THE QUEEN IN THE WOODS
 
 
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Quote Bag: Garland

Posted on February 2, 2008 by ubu507

 

There is no reason why one deaf man talking to another deaf man should ever stop.

– Victor Hugo

 

I bring the gift to my friends, but the Muses’ garland of sweet words is the common property of all the initiated.

– Meleager

 

Revolution

Put the groove on the bus

Don’t worry about me

Don’t worry about us

– Prince

 

Among ascetics he is a libertine and among libertines an ascetic. He emphasizes that aspect of himself which is unexpected and inappropriate, shattering any attempt to achieve a superficial reconciliation of the conflict through mere logical compromise.

– Wendy O’Flaherty

 

How dare they challenge me with their primitive skills!

– Mike Tyson

 

You’re a real father to me…and not only to me – to a whole generation of pathetic fuck-ups.

– Philip Roth

 

Information is in essence a theory about making the possible actual.

– Jeremy Campbell

 

By convention hot, by convention cold:

In reality atoms and void.

– Democritus

 

For whatever was is not now, and whatever is will not be, and the foam that looks so sun-bright when the wind is kicking up the breakers lies streaked on the hard sand after the tide is out and looks like scum off the dishwater. But there was something: scum left on the hard sand.

– Robert Penn Warren

 

must there

always be

these colors

without names

without sounds

– Jimi Hendrix

 

 

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Flesh

Posted on February 1, 2008 by ubu507

Flesh

 

Flesh is the apple

Consciousness is the hero

Style is the messenger

Of a chaotic universe

Making change day after day

The poem is a unit

Of your civil defense

An incommunicable message

A plausibly divine fragment

An impermanent aggregate

Setting sail on the oceans of hell

In the shadow of a god falling

Into the massive swampy wild

 

 

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Quote Bag: THROB

Posted on January 30, 2008 by ubu507

Humans have a consciousness which emphasizes sexuality, perhaps because the origins of human consciousness are related to the origins of human sexuality.
– W. I. Thompson

She is the most beautiful
Among the flowers of the field
She is the greenest of the grasses
Among the flower carriers
She carries the finest flowers
In the finest arrangements
And her hair smells of praise
– Nathaniel Tarn

Her very walk revealed the goddess.
– Virgil

The idea of a sympathetic relationship between the potency of the king and the fertility of the land is supported by Irish texts which hint that the king might be ritually married to the tutelary earth goddess of the tribe.
– J. Gantz

It is not lust but the beauty of innocence that captures lovers.
– Apuleius

Virginal they may wish to be, but the worm in the dream is always the past, the impediment to all renewal.
– Philip Roth

She was not tall, but so boldly erect was her slim figure that she looked it…She danced, she spun, she whirled on an old Persian carpet thrown carelessly down at her feet, and each time she spun and her radiant face passed in front, her great black eyes flashed lightning.
Around her, all eyes were fixed and all mouths agape; and as she danced, to the drumming of the tambourine she held above her head in her two pure, round arms, slender, pale, quick as a wasp, with her golden, unpleated bodice, her billowing, brightly colored dress, her bare shoulders, her slender legs, uncovered now and again by her skirt, her black hair, her fiery eyes, she was indeed a supernatural creature.
Truly thought Gringoire, it’s a salamander, a nymph, a goddess, a bacchante from Mount Menelaus.
At that moment, one of the salamander’s plaits of hair came down and a yellow copper coin that had been fixed to it rolled to the ground.
Ha, no it’s not,
he said, it’s a gypsy girl!
All illusion had vanished.
She began dancing again.
– Victor Hugo

For Samuel, that leg was already the object of everlasting desire. Long, slender, strong, at once both fleshy and sinewy, it had all the correctness of beauty and all the carnal allure of prettiness.
– Baudelaire

He loved
Not with apples, or roses,
Or locks of hair, but with a frenzy.
– Theokritos

For as the swift monster drags you deeper and deeper into the frantic shoal, you bid adieu to circumspect life and only exist in a delirious throb.
– Herman Melville

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Braids

Posted on January 29, 2008 by ubu507

 

Braids

 

Today in schizophrenia or under certain drugs

The beautiful Muse with the lovely braids

Dances out of the arrogance of memory

Smile loving vivid shifting from foot to foot

A faded variant in so many ways

Crazily spinning through the buzzing world

Laughing until she falls

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Crime Beat: Kinsey Reports Toilet Tussle

Posted on January 26, 2008 by ubu507

 

Police investigate fight over toilet

 Ann Arbor police said they are investigating an assault between roommates that stemmed from a clogged toilet.

Officers were called to the emergency room at the University of Michigan Medical Center Tuesday afternoon and encountered a 21-year-old Ann Arbor man who was being treated for a bite on his finger that drew blood, said Sgt. Richard Kinsey.

The man told police he had returned to his apartment at University Towers, 536 S. Forest Ave., Tuesday morning after being away for a few days and used the toilet, which overflowed. He left a note for his roommate to clean the mess.

When he returned later that afternoon, the roommate started an argument that led to the scuffle when he was bitten.

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Readers Write: From Stella

Posted on January 25, 2008 by ubu507

2 things-
I freaking love Angel From Montgomery.
2nd Can you possibly clarify something for me? For years I’ve been trying to get hold of a copy of the song Permafrost. But I always thought it was done by Celtic Frost. So when I would check out Celtic Frost stuff I would think "man this doesn’t sound right (genrewise) at all". So is my problem that it was done by Magazine all along? Or is theirs a cover?
There was a whole lot of drinking happening at that time in my life so I’m apparently quite confused.

PS you, me, Oliver and Nigel Patel should have a radio show.

Stella

Hey, Stella,

I have to say that back in the day I didn’t think much of Bonnie Raitt. There was that kind of Little Feat/ Dead loping shuffle beat to a lot of her stuff that I just don’t get. I remember my friends all bouncing around the room to Home Plate while I sat on the sofa saying I Can’t Dance to this Crap! I dug her undeniably fine guitar stylings but that was about it.

However, I got this old yearbook and found out that one of my Major Muses who graduated a year after me (and who is dead now, but that’s another story) had used a line from Angel From Montgomery as her quote. (Actually a misquote as she had Believe me this livin’ is just a hard way to go rather than To believe in this livin’ is just a hard way to go.) So I I-tuned it and was knocked out. My wife is a big John Prine fan while I’ve never been able to get past his annoying voice, but I have to admit this is one superbly written song. As you can see I’ve got three different versions on my UBUTUNES shuffle and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. It says something about her character that this eighteen year old girl would use such a world weary song from the point of view of an old woman as her quote, but that’s another story too, one that I’ve been writing for a while.

Being a punkster I was more into stuff like the Buzzcock’s Spiral Scratch and the myth of Howard Devoto. I remember the first Magazine LP quite well, but I guess I lost touch after I graduated. I first heard Permafrost off this weird goth/punk/alternative compilation called Echoes of Darkness that I got at the library sale about five years ago. I really dug it at the time, despite its unsettling nature, and lately it’s been going through my head as I walk to work (considering the weather there’s no mystery there), and I put it back in heavy shuffle rotation. As far as I know Devoto wrote it and a quick google shows doesn’t reveal any tune by that name on a Celtic Frost, (who I thought were Fairport Convention type group!) LP. Here’s a fine YouTube live clip of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om0jhPkOwhg

It’s funny you should mention radio shows because I was on the radio in college and it is probably the thing I miss most. I even had a dream about it last night where I was back at the station to do a show and was trying to figure out how to use CD’s on the air. I worked very closely with an English guy named Johnny Vomit (though the later to be famous Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson tried to claim he had a fake accent!) to bring Punk Rock to central Ohio every Thursday night, as well as doing a quite wasted Saturday night Rock’n’Roll show. I even did a morning wake up, but between the hangovers and the housewives calling up complaining that they couldn’t vacuum to Iggy I soon gave that up. It would be fun to do one with you guys, especially as your music knowledge, Stella, is so much broader and informed than mine – I got The Same Rope by Etta James off one of your earworms!

 

Yr Pal,

UBU

 

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UBUTUNES

Posted on January 23, 2008 by ubu507
oh, how lucky thou art, noble mon! Here’s a unique peek inside UBUTUNES, the beloved i-pod shuffle of Mr. UBU himself:
 

In Your Room 3:28 Bangles Bangles: Greatest Hits Rock 19 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) 2:07 The Beach Boys Surfin’ Safari / Surfin’ USA Rock 5 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Nobody’s Fault But My Own 4:58 Beck Saturday Night Live: The Musical Peformances, Vol. 2 [Live] Rock 16 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Trouble in Mind 3:16 Big Bill Broonzy The Big Bill Broonzy Story Jazz 6 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Rip Her to Shreds 3:23 Blondie Blondie Rock 1 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Visions Of Johanna [Alternate Take] 6:38 Bob Dylan No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7) [Disc 2] Soundtrack 5 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Crazy Baldhead 3:14 Bob Marley Gold: Bob Marley & The Wailers Reggae 3 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

So Jah Seh 4:28 Bob Marley Natty Dread (Expanded) Reggae 1 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Bend Down Low 3:22 Bob Marley Natty Dread (Expanded) Reggae 2 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Laughs From The Past 0:21 Bob Perry The Best Of The National Lampoon Radio Hour Books & Spoken 18 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Angel from Montgomery 5:17 Bonnie Raitt Road Tested Pop 6 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Angel from Montgomery 3:59 Bonnie Raitt Streetlights Rock 7 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Angel from Montgomery 4:38 Bonnie Raitt and John Prine Tribute to Steve Goodman Rock 7 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

The Jezebel Spirit 4:57 Brian Eno & David Byrne Death Disco: Songs From Under The Dance Floor 1978-1984 Rock 5 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Barnyard 0:58 Brian Wilson Smile Pop 10 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow 2:27 Brian Wilson Smile Pop 11 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Is Your Love Strong Enough 4:55 Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music More Than This: The Best Of Bryan Ferry And Roxy Music Rock 3 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Your Painted Smile 3:19 Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music More Than This: The Best Of Bryan Ferry And Roxy Music Rock 9 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Down The Line 2:05 Buddy Holly Gold [Disc 1] Rock 2 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Why Can’t I Touch It 6:35 The Buzzcocks Death Disco: Songs From Under The Dance Floor 1978-1984 Rock 6 12/27/2007 8:19 PM

What Do I Get? 2:54 The Buzzcocks Singles Going Steady Alternative 1 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Stop The World 2:33 The Clash Super Black Market Clash Alternative & Punk 2 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Radio Clash 4:11 The Clash Super Black Market Clash Alternative & Punk 6 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Inca Queen 8:01 Crazy Horse & Neil Young Life Rock 6 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Susie Q 4:34 Creedence Clearwater Revival Chronicle: 20 Greatest Hits (24-Karat Gold Disc) Rock 5 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Green River 2:34 Creedence Clearwater Revival Chronicle: 20 Greatest Hits (24-Karat Gold Disc) Rock 4 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Prayers For Rain ( LP Version ) 6:09 The Cure Disintegration Rock 3 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

The Walk [Everything Mix] 5:28 The Cure Mixed Up Rock 8 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

A Forest [Tree Mix] 6:56 The Cure Mixed Up Rock 10 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

In Your House 4:08 The Cure Seventeen Seconds Rock 9 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

A Forest 5:55 The Cure Seventeen Seconds Rock 10 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Seventeen Seconds 4:00 The Cure Seventeen Seconds Rock 11 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Wild Is The Wind 6:23 David Bowie Bowie At Beeb: Best Of BBC Radio 68-72 (Disc 3) Rock 5 1/21/2008 10:34 PM

Tonight 3:42 David Bowie Tonight Rock 1 1/21/2008 10:18 PM

Tonight (Vocal Dance Mix) 4:29 David Bowie Tonight – EP (Remastered) Rock 2 1/21/2008 4:23 PM

Tonight (Dub Mix) 4:19 David Bowie Tonight – EP (Remastered) Rock 2 1/21/2008 4:28 PM

I Need Lunch 3:26 The Dead Boys Younger, Louder and Snottier Alternative 2 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Whispering Bells (Original artist re-recording) 2:30 The Del-Vikings Doo Wop Collection R&B/Soul 9 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Trouble in Mind (1952 Single) 2:51 Dinah Washington & Various Artists 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Dinah Washington Vocal 5 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

The Same Rope 2:42 Etta James Tell Mama – The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions Blues 4 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Criminal 5:41 Fiona Apple Tidal Rock 14 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Still A Child [Live] 5:07 Jarboe A Mystery Of Faith (Disc 1) Alternative & Punk 7 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Black Eyed Dog (live) 3:35 Jarboe A Mystery Of Faith (Disc 2) Alternative & Punk 4 12/27/2007 8:19 PM

I Put A Spell On You (live) 3:50 Jarboe A Mystery Of Faith (Disc 2) Alternative & Punk 3 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Mother Father (Studio Segments) 4:30 Jarboe A Mystery Of Faith (Disc 2) Alternative & Punk 4 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Trouble In Mind 5:48 Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis: The Complete London Sessions Rock 3 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Sugar Ray 4:42 Jesus And Mary Chain Honey’s Dead Rock 9 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Taste of Cindy 1:42 Jesus And Mary Chain Psychocandy Rock 4 12/27/2007 8:19 PM

Just Like Honey 3:02 Jesus And Mary Chain 21 Singles Rock 13 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Red House (Live At the New York Pop Festival) 8:08 Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child – The Jimi Hendrix Collection Rock 3 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Baby Is a Butterfly 3:56 Joan Osborne Breakfast In Bed Folk 12 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends 4:01 Joan Osborne Pretty Little Stranger (Bonus Track) Rock 20 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Rainy Night House 3:25 Joni Mitchell Ladies of the Canyon Rock 7 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Disorder 3:21 Joy Division Les Bains Douches: 18 December 1979 [Live] Alternative & Punk 11 12/27/2007 8:19 PM

Insight 3:26 Joy Division Les Bains Douches: 18 December 1979 [Live] Alternative & Punk 13 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Day Of The Lords 4:40 Joy Division Les Bains Douches: 18 December 1979 [Live] Alternative & Punk 11 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Wang Dang Doodle (Single Version) 3:01 Koko Taylor 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Blues Classics Blues 7 11/15/2007 11:44 AM

What is and Should Never Be 4:21 Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions [Disc 1] [Live] Rock 18 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Pineola 4:04 Lucinda Williams Live @ The Fillmore [Disc 2] Country 17 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Essence 7:17 Lucinda Williams Live @ The Fillmore [Disc 2] Country 24 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Unsuffer Me 5:40 Lucinda Williams West Country 13 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

The Glory Of Man 2:58 Minutemen Double Nickels On The Dime Alternative & Punk 7 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Three Car Jam 0:39 Minutemen Double Nickels On The Dime Alternative & Punk 5 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Gone For Good 2:53 Morphine Yes Alternative & Punk 13 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Crimson Witch 3:02 The Moving Sidewalks Chrome, Smoke & BBQ – The ZZ Top Box (Box Set) Rock 4 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Look Out For My Love 4:06 Neil Young Comes a Time Rock 18 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

King Of Carrot Flowers Part 1 2:00 Neutral Milk Hotel In The Aeroplane Over The Sea Alternative & Punk 3 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Babylon Don’T Touch My Sensi Dub 3:32 Neville Brown & The Roots Radics Trojan Ganja Box Set (Disc 3) Reggae 13 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

The Thoughts Of Mary Jane 3:22 Nick Drake Five Leaves Left Folk 12 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

These Days 3:31 Nico Chelsea Girl Rock 4 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Warm Leatherette 3:23 The Normal Death Disco: Songs From Under The Dance Floor 1978-1984 Rock 9 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

No Solution 2:27 The Only Ones Even Serpents Shine Rock 10 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Set Adrift On Memory Bliss (Radio Edit) 3:59 P.M. Dawn The Best of P.M. Dawn Hip-Hop/Rap 13 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

The Boy In The Bubble 4:31 Patti Smith Twelve Alternative & Punk 5 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Soul Kitchen 3:46 Patti Smith Twelve Alternative & Punk 5 12/27/2007 8:19 PM

Smells Like Teen Spirit 6:32 Patti Smith Twelve Alternative & Punk 4 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Pastime Paradise 5:27 Patti Smith Twelve Alternative & Punk 4 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Trouble In Mind 4:28 Pinetop Perkins & Odetta Ladies Man Blues 2 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

The Devil 2:56 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 8 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Dear Darkness 3:09 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 6 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Grow Grow Grom 3:22 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 6 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

When Under Ether 2:22 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 10 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

White Chalk 3:08 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 8 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Broken Harp 1:57 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 6 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Silence 3:06 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 9 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

To Talk To You 4:01 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 6 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

The Piano 2:37 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 9 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Before Departure 3:46 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 4 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

The Mountain 3:11 PJ Harvey White Chalk Alternative & Punk 6 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Sister Europe 5:41 The Psychedelic Furs All of This and Nothing Rock 8 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Sister Europe (Live) 6:00 The Psychedelic Furs The Psychedelic Furs: Beautiful Chaos – Greatest Hits Live Alternative 13 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

I’ll Make You Mine 3:28 Rainer Maria Catastrophe Keeps Us Together Alternative & Punk 17 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Glad To See You Go 2:10 The Ramones Loud Fast Alternative & Punk 5 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Teenage Lobotomy 2:02 The Ramones Loud Fast Alternative & Punk 39 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Nothin’ 5:35 Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raising Sand Blues 2 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Ride On Baby 2:54 The Rolling Stones Flowers (Remastered) Rock 9 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Child of the Moon 3:12 The Rolling Stones More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) [Remastered] Rock 7 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Long Long While 3:04 The Rolling Stones More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) [Remastered] Rock 7 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Who’s Driving Your Plane? 3:14 The Rolling Stones Singles Collection: The London Years (Remastered) Rock 2 1/21/2008 10:10 PM

Dandelion 3:33 The Rolling Stones Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) [Remastered] Rock 7 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

I Mean It 5:42 Romeo Void Warm, In Your Coat Alternative & Punk 5 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

She Sells 3:39 Roxy Music Siren Rock 10 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Easy Lovin’ Girl 2:42 Roy Head & The Great Believers The Psychedelic Sixties – Volume 1 Rock 4 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Re:Evolution (Shamen Mix) 8:24 The Shamen The Shamen Collection Electronica/Dance 17 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Remember (Walking In the Sand) 2:17 The Shangri-Las Golden Legends: The Shangri-Las Pop 4 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Skin 3:50 Siouxsie & The Banshees Kaleidoscope Rock 7 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Metal Postcard (Mittageisen) 4:15 Siouxsie & the Banshees The Scream Alternative 2 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

This Time He Has Come 4:43 Skip Spence Oar Rock 5 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Shoplifting 1:40 The Slits Cut [Bonus Tracks] Alternative & Punk 20 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

The St. Valentines Day Massacre 3:17 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 5 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Clouded Staircase (Part One) 1:53 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 5 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Camp-Fire 3:19 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 4 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Black Ghost / Black Girl 2:26 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 3 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Clouded Staircase (Part Two) 3:55 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 7 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Prince of the Puff of Smoke 2:01 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 4 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Lions 2:15 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 6 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

New Era 2:08 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 5 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

All Through the Fall 2:59 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 3 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

British Boots 2:28 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 6 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

Dust Chord 2:53 Starling Electric Clouded Staircase Rock 4 1/7/2008 4:29 PM

Hail Unlikely 4:28 Steel Leg Vs. The Electric Dread Death Disco: Songs From Under The Dance Floor 1978-1984 Rock 8 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Doctor Wu 3:56 Steely Dan Katy Lied Rock 7 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Magazine / Permafrost 5:31 Various Artists Echoes Of Darkness (Disc 2) Unclassifiable 3 1/21/2008 4:17 PM

Yeah Yeah Yeah 1:19 The Vibrators Pure Mania Alternative & Punk 11 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

No Heart 1:50 The Vibrators Pure Mania Alternative & Punk 14 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Highly Evolved 1:34 The Vines Highly Evolved Rock 11 1/23/2008 8:58 AM

Ex Lion Tamer 2:21 Wire Rough Trade Shops: Post Punk Vol 01 Alternative & Punk 21 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Modern Things 2:57 Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fields and Streams Alternative 1 5/14/2007 3:57 PM

Date With the Night (Live Version) 3:03 Yeah Yeah Yeahs Future Soundtrack for America Alternative 10 12/27/2007 8:19 PM

Bang 3:09 Yeah Yeah Yeahs Yeah Yeah Yeahs Alternative & Punk 20 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Art Star 2:01 Yeah Yeah Yeahs Yeah Yeah Yeahs Alternative & Punk 16 1/17/2008 9:56 AM

She Lives In A Time Of Her Own 3:10 13th Floor Elevators Live Rock 11 12/17/2007 6:54 PM

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

The Created Legend by Fyodor Sologub

Posted on January 22, 2008 by ubu507

My pursuit of the decadent movement around the globe has led me to the Russian variety, and one of its foremost practitioners Fyodor Sologub. I started to read his best known work The Petty Demon again, and, although it’s very good and acute, and I remember digging it when I first read it twenty odd years ago, it’s more a satiric work in the vein of Gogol and it just didn’t have the esoteric level that I’m enjoying from the decadents. Instead I got a copy of The Created Legend from a remarkable English print on demand outfit called The Echo Library ( www.echo-library.com ) created by a noble bookseller (aren’t they all – hahhah) dedicated to reprinting a lot of the classic literature our present materialistic literary world refuses to keep in print. And it is a remarkable work which reminded me quite a bit of Meyrink in its intermingling of contemporary political anxiety and eternal occult truths. In this case the anxiety is in the aftermath of the abortive Russian uprising of 1905 and the occultist is the mystery man Trirodov who is committed in the great tradition to finding his own immortality through knowledge and experiment rather than the grace of some overbearing deity. There are some thoroughly remarkable passages and effects in the book, but it really doesn’t hang together as a novel, perhaps because what is here published as The Created Legend is, in fact, just Drops of Blood, the first part of a trilogy by that name. But until that day that the other two parts are available, it’ll have to do.

One thing that occurred to me as I read was that all the appurtenances of the police state that we associated with Communist Russia, like secret police and informers denouncing people and sending them to Siberia, or even corrupt and brutal minor functionaries, were already firmly in place under the Czar, reminding us that these things did not exist because of Communism, but were part of the extant system. Similarly freedom was already being legislated away in Weimar Germany before the Fascists gained power. We are told because we’re not a totalitarian state that such things can’t be possible in our country as “Patriot” acts are passed, more autocratic power is afforded the President and organizations without oversight like Homeland Security fester, but clearly once Bush has put the mechanisms in place, even though he won’t be able to use them as he wishes, the precedent is now there and future presidents will have all the buttons at their fingertips.

I’ll begin with an interesting snippet from the introduction written in 1916 by one John Cournos (who, I’m shocked to learn, is most famous for his unhappy love affair with Dorothy L. Sayers!). The reference to Botticelli is especially interesting in light of my last blog entry:

Being an antithesis to the analytical novel, this novel treats sex, not as a psychology but as a philosophy; nuances are avoided, the feminine figure becomes a symbol, drawn, not photographically but broadly, in fluent, even exaggerated Botticellian outlines. The feminine figure, nude or thinly draped, has been used as symbol for ideas in the plastic arts ever since art was born; our puritans have never been faced with the problem of what some of the mythological divinities in stone would do if they should suddenly come to life, become human.

O.K., while I’m getting the image of a thinly draped Dorothy L. Sayers out of my mind, here’s some bits from the novel itself:

She gracefully threw off her clothes and stood before Tirodov with uplifted arms. She was sinuously slender, like a white serpent. Crossing the fingers of her upraised hands, she bent her whole body forward, so that she appeared more sinuously slender than ever, and the curve of her body almost resembled a white ring. Then she relaxed her arms, stood up erect, all tranquil and self-possessed, and said: I want you to take a good look at me.

Our dark, earthly nature is suffused with a cruel voluptuousness. Such is the imperfection of the human breed that a single human vessel contains all the deepest ecstasies of love and all the lowest delights of lust, and the mixture is poisoned with shame and with pain – and with the desire for shame and pain. From one fountain come both the gladdening raptures and the gladdening lusts of the passions.

Even in the tale of a poet in love with beauty, the nudity of a chaste body calls out the judgement of hypocrites and the rage of people with perverted imaginations, as if it were the arrogant nudity of a prostitute. The austere virtue of these people is attached to them externally. It cannot withstand any kind of temptation or enticement. They know this and cautiously guard themselves from seduction.

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Botticelli in Guide Books

Posted on January 19, 2008 by ubu507

O.K., I know to the art snobs it’s kind of banal, but I am a devotee of Botticelli. To me there’s something absolutely supernatural about his masterpieces, a neo-Platonic contemplation of beauty that produces the purest kind of aesthetic experience, one that both partakes of and transcends this world. Because of my love for Botticelli and his world I can’t resist picking up guidebooks to Florence and the Uffizi gallery when I see them, and have built up quite a collection. There are many, many of them, and everyone seems to inevitably buy one when they go there and just as inevitably get rid of it when they come back.

To me it’s evidence of the unearthly power of Botticelli that even in these ephemeral, sometimes anonymous works, the task of describing his paintings, especially Spring and Birth of Venus, seems to inspire a rare poetic eloquence as the indifferently translated author grasps at the ineffable.

Here’s some examples from guidebooks I’ve picked up recently:

Florence: Cradle of the Italian Art by Loretta Santini

Sandro Botticelli – Artist with an exquisitely delicate style and refined taste. In his compositions, animated by a melancholy and musical rhythm, relive the classical myths of Spring, Venus, Zephyr and Flora.

The UFFIZI: All paintings in 696 illustrations and the Vasari Corridor by Luciano Berti

Botticelli soon, however, developed a poetic style all his own, in which movement has a sense of musical continuity, the sinuous line refines the forms almost as in Gothic painting, and the decorative effects remove his vision even further from any connection with common reality. Botticelli, as G. C. Argan has recently said, expresses the spirit of contemporary Florentine Neo-Platonic philosophy "generated by the aspiration to something which one has not, or by nostalgia for something one has lost."

Against the dark background of the flowery meadow and the orange grove, in an almost watery light, the action of Primavera is flowing and rhythmical. In the center attention is concentrated on Venus: and the group of the three Graces, whose nakedness is made chaste by veils of incredible delicacy, is musical in its movement. The figures may be inspired by a pagan myth, but they have none of the coldness of borrowing from archaeology, but rather a nervous vitality which is entirely modern in spirit.

Some critics interpret Birth of Venus as Beauty being born of the union of Spirit with Matter, or Idea with Nature. And we can certainly see as an incarnation of pure beauty the figure in the midst of the wide and luminous seascape, even if her loveliness, for all its freshness, has overtones of subtle melancholy.

The Uffizi: New Complete Guide by Claudio Pescio

Despite the fact that it was painted eight years after Primavera, Birth of Venus reveals the same melancholy, nostalgic spirit, the same delicately modeled figures, here culminating in the ethereal naked Venus rising out of the sea, and the same wealth of symbolic meaning derived from neo-Platonic thought. Once more Venus is at the centre of a complex, extraordinarily densely significant work. According to neo-Platonic thought, Man communicates with the Divine through Love; the central position of the erotic element underlies the central position of the Goddess of Love in all of the mythological representations of the period.

The Venus of the Birth is a Venus Pudica and the double nature of Love (chastity and sensuality) is wholly expressed in the simple gesture of the goddess, that unites the two aspects symbolizing the way humanity has to take in order to overcome its earthly confines to achieve the divine. Upon closer examination the classical, harmonious symmetry of the picture is disrupted by indefinably dissonant elements such as Venus’s "excessively" long neck, the oddly jointed left arm, the conventionally rendered waves, all of which are obscurely disquieting.

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