That flat Russian “a”,
wide and flat as a steppe,
open and deep as the seas near Murmansk,
and vast and wide as the wind.
Regina Spektor, you say it in “Après Moi (2 minutes, 32 seconds)” and I want hear it on the banks of the Neva in spring. I’ve always had a bit of a thing for St. Petersburg after I read Rand’s “We The Living” ( her best or second best story in my book, like Stephen King, she does well under the 200 page mark ).
Strange, I wrote those snippets without knowing the English translation of this section. It’s apparently a poem by Pasternak:
February. Get ink, shed tears.
Write of it, sob your heart out, sing,
While torrential slush that roars
Burns in the blackness of the spring.
I guessed the right season. BTW. If you’re in a Russian sort of mood might I recommend Cronenberg’s latest “Eastern Promises” — so freaking good I can barely contain myself.
The record will show that the defendant has always much been a fan of The Ronettes and similar ( I credit it to my mom playing the Oldies station in my early years ). Well, as ever, what is old is new again and, uh, English, as the Brighton-based 60’s girl group re-hash trio The Pipettes make their way to Austin and perform on the 7th at The Parish Room on 6th street.
When I was a young fellow living in The Castilian dorm in the late 90’s, I would occasionally visit the TV lounge on my floor early in the morning and study there. Being a bit of an odd bird in that I would rather “sleep less and get up early” versus “stay up late” this would mean that the lounge was empty ( save the odd beer can and cheetos wrapper before the morning cleaning staff came through ).
The cable provider in Austin at that time carried Classic Arts Showcase which follows a roughly MTV-like format where a clip is introduced by a title-card in the lower left describing the music and the visual, and then the art plays.
It’s a very enjoyable program and far more educational than the sea of infomercials playing in the same time slots. I saw 2 things on Classic Arts showcase in those wee hours that have stuck with me all these years that I wish to possess:
“O Fortūna” from Orff’s Carmina Burana with this amazing Tarot-esque stage setup with plague carts and overdone European motley references
A video of bowler-clad, Edwardian English society types each walking up to a keyboard to play the progressive downbeat note to something of Chopin’s that I surely saw on “Looney Tunes”. I think it must have been a Hungarian Raphsody, but I failed to make a note of the name…
{I didn’t see this at that time, but in a similar vein…} Anna Netrebko singing the same famous opera song ( I think I translated it as “Oh what am I pretty!”, something along the lines of “Wat bin ich schön”) in a variety of settings, but with the video stitched together
Well thanks to the video revolution of the internet, I’ve found the first of these lost treasures.
It’s Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s réalisation of “O, Fortūna” that so struck me lo those years ago.
While the film quality shows its age ( 30+ years ), the scope and subtext of a devil and an angel turning the rotam fortuna as begging kings, dwarves, whores, and clergy beg for the coins of its favors was something that would really sear your gray matter at 3 in the morning as you worked memorizing logic formulae for your test later that morning. It features a certain sensibility in European theatre of the time that recalls the work of Werner Hertzog, the Italian Sci-Fi epics ( “Dune” / “Flash Gordon”), and Carnivale.
Death reigns resplendent as the tool of of the blind, turning, dog-faced bitch, Fortune in the misty vale on the other side of the wheel-structure as the archetypes dance ( Major Arcana, no? ).
This is a video that hits the collective unconscious tuning fork deep inside my skull with a chi-punch.
Today as I was getting ready for class I heard Gwen Stefani’s “The Sweet Escape”, a synth-y, 80’s reminiscent sugary sweet song that is absolutely indelible once it hits your brain.
And then I remembered today is Valentine’s Day.
And then I remembered that, like it or no, the solo music of La Gwen seems to be the soundtrack of my life with my wonderful, funny, smart and beautiful, Valentine (who, like Mrs. Rossdale, is a product of the sunny county along “the” 405).
And so, to you, my Valentine, whom I shan’t see today, here’s a bit of a song by the artist that we seem to have unwittingly been meant to use as backing music for our life together.
If I could escape
And re-create a place as my own world
And I could be your favorite girl
Forever, perfectly together
Tell me boy, now wouldn’t that be sweet?
Khoi Vinh, a talented typographer, designer, and the man in change of the NYTimes’ digital layout will be holding a masters class about gridded design.
Rodrigo y Gabriela will be bringing their Meh-ee-cano Meh-Tal Acoustico magnifico sound.
I’ve not had a chance to post properly about the amazing work that RodGab do, but the music is powerful, driving, thrumming, passionate and exiciting: pretty much everything that the current moribund state of heavy metal is not. On the album they do a cover of my and The Social Bobcat’s favorite (once-mighty) Met instrumental “Orion”.
The icing on the cake is that they learned their English in Ireland which means that their hesitant English is colored with some Irish-as-Yeats words of vocabulary like : “fookin’”. I guess they must practice that one a lot.
Texan Guy Clark ( Guy was born in Monahans, you don’t get more dried up and dusty Texas than that! ) is up for a Grammy for his album “Workbench Songs” in the Americana / Folk category.
I hope he gets it. He writes such sparse, well-crafted, disciplined, ditties he deserve to be recognized.
Saturday night Lauren and I went to see the fabulous Ladytron at Stubb’s.
It was a really great show, with really great sound work. I’ve posted some pictures on Flickr. We had a really good spot in the 2nd row which afforded me the opportunity to grab some very good pictures of Mira Aroyo.
I thought it was pretty funny to think that only in Austin one could see the very ‘antiseptic’ band Ladytron whilst munching on a chopped brisket sandwich ( Stubb’s BBQ is not to be doubted ).
Today I went over to The League of Melbotis’ new home where I occasioned to meet Melbotis himself, ate a hamburger, read the League’s copy of 300, and then came home to meet up with my girl.
We had Rounder’s Pizza for dinner and I then picked up some new music: New Brazilian Girls, Regina Spektor, and the new Cardigans record. I also grabbed Running With Scissors in anticipation of the theatrical release.
Right now the Rolling Stones are playing in Zilker park. Their lights show and sound system are bellowing with enough ferocity to clear the highway sounds and reverberate into my den.
As anyone whose known me for the last decade knows that I loveThe Cardigans: since 1995, always will. I think they’re such consumately talented artists and I love each and every one of their records: including the difficult ones that aren’t so easy to love.
Entertainment Weekly seems to have found occasion to remind the world of The Cardigans as their song “Lovefool” was referenced on a recent episode of “The Office”. Here’s a link to Entertainment Weekly’s refresher on The Cardigans.
