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

 

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

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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My Favorite Violations

Posted on January 18, 2008 by ubu507

My Favorite Violations from

RESTAURANT INSPECTIONS 1/16/08

(All information taken from public records)

The soap dispenser at the rear hand sink was ripped off the wall, so soap was not available at the sink.

The owner’s children were in the kitchen unsupervised.

One of the urinals was stuck in the flush position.

The critical line of the fill valve was not at least one inch above the overflow pipe in the basement employee restroom toilet tank.

An employee wearing gloves was observed coming from outdoors heading to the salad prep top cooler and putting gloved hands on a box containing food (corrected).

The floor of the basement dough walk-in cooler, walk-in freezer and produce walk-in cooler, microwave oven in the basement private dining room, evaporator fan cover in the basement produce walk-in cooler, door gaskets and surface sealing area of the basement three-door work top prep cooler, storage shelves in all walk-in coolers in the basement, door gaskets and surface sealing areas of doors and interior bottoms of the main level cooler, main level cooking hood and filters were not clean.

There were flies in the bar sink areas.

Other types of seasoning were found in the sugar bulk bin container.

The meatball spoon handle was wrapped with electrical tape.

Posted in Crime Beat | Leave a comment

Poor Carl Goes to Outer Mongolia

Posted on January 16, 2008 by ubu507

BritneySpearsjpegLBushjpegPoor Carl Goes to Outer Mongolia

It sounds like a wonderful indie movie that a discerning cinema goer would really enjoy, doesn’t it? Actually this post celebrates the legendary American bookseller Poor Carl, who was invited to address the 54th Annual Congress of the Outer Mongolian People’s Booksellers. Poor, the guiding genius behind Shamm & Dumm Bookshoppe, one of the preeminent independent bookstores of Southwestern Michigan, has honored us with the text of his speech, which from beginning to end makes for supremely fascinating reading. Here are his profound words as he will deliver them:

Greetings, fellow booksellers!

I’m flattered that when the word went out that IMASNOB (the Independent Marketing Association of New and Old Booksellers) was looking for someone to send to Outer Mongolia my staff immediately suggested me, despite knowing that they would be deprived of my presence for several weeks. Similarly my fellow revered community leaders also told me that I was the person they’d most like to see sent to Outer Mongolia, though one colleague expressed that it was a shame that I couldn’t be put on a "slow boat to China," no doubt because that country’s large bookseller population could also benefit from my unique experience and startling insights.

Your leader, King Khan, has asked me to address the question of how the independent booksellers of America can balance our "noble desires for the improvement of the people with the predatory bandit culture of the capitalist west."

Let me start by telling you a few of the myriad things I’ve personally done to revolutionize the book selling universe. One of my visionary insights is this – illiteracy is a barrier to book selling. Studies have shown that if people cannot read, the probability of buying a book decreases over 99%, and even then their projected purchase will be a volume with "a lot of dirty pitchers," exactly the kind of book we refuse to sully our hands with at Shamm & Dumm Bookshoppe. To that end we received a grant for $125,000 from my personal friends at the Michigan Arts Council in order to institute a book festival in support of literacy. I am more than proud that under my compelling oversight this festival raised over $450 last year, a portion of which will eventually be donated to a local literacy group. Even more amazingly, exit surveys of the 67 people who attended the three days of events showed that not one illiterate person over the age of eighteen was present, an accomplishment that almost humbles me.

Here’s another example of my cultural advocacy. When the United States commenced military operations in Iraq, myself and twelve other booksellers got together at a long table to drink wine, break bread and discuss what we could do to make ourselves feel better about the situation. Out of that night came the Read or Else, America! program, an effort to persuade local populations to read books from other countries in order to permit them to understand where the rest of the world was coming from. Inspired by this trip, the book I last selected for the program was the fascinating non-fiction work The Nose Hairs of Genghis Khan by your own noted writer Khan Jobb. As I myself read it, I began to realize how that great leader’s exalted destiny so resembles my own. If everyone reads the book as I suggest, perhaps the next time armies from Outer Mongolia come to sack the western world we won’t judge them so harshly.

But the second part of King Khan’s question remains. In today’s competitive environment how is it possible that I can do so much selfless good and yet still direct a solvent bookshop? It’s almost paradoxical, but my subordinates tell me that the more I’m away reforming the universe, the better things run in the store. Karma at work, I guess. Another thing that inspires me is the use of technology, especially word search software. Using the program NameFind, which I’ve received a free copy of just for mentioning it in as many places as possible, I was able to discover this insightful comment from Lydia about me – "The literary conscious of the book publishing industry is alive and well and living in Ann Arbor. :)" Whether Lydia meant "conscience" or "consciousness," this is the sort of true statement that keeps me going, showing as it does how I am appreciated even by the semi-literate.

But the real secret of my success is very much along the lines of your governmental approach. Because Shamm & Dumm Bookshoppe receives exclusive, proprietary use of the booklists for many of the courses at the University, the students there can only buy their required texts from us at inflated prices, in what is, in fact, a defacto monopoly supported by the state. If bookstores in this area of the world are to prosper I recommend you remain as committed to the totalitarian model as we are at the Shamm & Dumm Bookshoppe. I mention this because I think we are at a complex and pivotal moment in world history and it is crucial that everyone knows exactly what I stand for and what I value.

I’ll close by saying that a small, superior group of bookstores in the U.S. have arranged bookseller to bookseller staff exchanges so that they may share each other’s practices. My staff and colleagues have recommended that such an exchange be instituted with Outer Mongolia as soon as possible, and that I be the first person exchanged, and have even, in the interest of world dialogue, started a fund to buy my plane ticket. I have no doubt that much of value could be gained by you in such an exchange.

I first heard the phrase "it’s a good thing" from my good friend Bjork, and I’m sure you’ll agree that listening to me has indeed been "a good thing" for you, as the nobility and importance of anyone in my position cannot be questioned.

<Pause for tumultuous applause>

You’re Welcome,

Poor Carl, Shamm & Dumm Bookshoppe, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Posted in Cosmic Verities | Leave a comment

Nothing

Posted on January 15, 2008 by ubu507
ecstasyall right, all right — I’ve got nothing again today BUT just hold on faithful reader BECAUSE I’ve got some super RAD stuff in the pipeline… 
Posted in art | Leave a comment

Picture equals thousand words

Posted on January 12, 2008 by ubu507
Posted in art | Leave a comment

Jake’s Ghost

Posted on January 11, 2008 by ubu507
The ghost of Jake
On Liberty’s sidewalk
Posted in Poetry | Leave a comment

Crime Beat: Poetic Justice

Posted on January 9, 2008 by ubu507

 

Shoplifter stabbed by hidden knives

 

GRAND RAPIDS – A man who hid hunting knives in his pants to try to steal them from a western Michigan store tripped while fleeing and stabbed himself in the abdomen, police say.

The suspect was hospitalized after Monday night’s attempted theft from a Meijer superstore in Grand Rapids and is expected to face a misdemeanor shoplifting charge.

The wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

The man had put about $300 worth of hunting knives in his waistband, police said. They said he tried to leave the store, but employees confronted him and a scuffle followed. The man then fell and was stabbed by the knives in his clothing.

 

Hunter apparently shot by his dog

 

Houston – A tracking dog apparently stepped on a loaded shotgun in the bed of his owner’s pickup truck, firing a fatal blast into the man’s thigh during a goose hunt, officials said. Perry Alvin Price III died at a hospital Saturday shortly after the southeast Texas accident.

According to Chambers County sheriff’s investigators, Price was hunting about 60 miles east of Houston when he shot down a goose.

Price, 46, then set the gun in the back of his truck and was about to open the tailgate to release his tracking dog when the shotgun fired. The blast penetrated the truck’s tailgate before hitting Price.

Paw prints were found on the muddy shotgun, Sheriff Joe La Rive said.

Posted in Crime Beat | 1 Comment