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the inestimable t!, 27th Baron Oxblood
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 21st, 2007|01:59 am] |
The Healer leaned heavily on his walking stick and surveyed his handiwork. Eight on one side seemed aggressively unbalanced, so he transferred three to the other side of the door. Better balance, but without perfect symmetry. Satisfied, he entered the house.
It was not his usual house, with the silent man behind the counter. The Healer was uncomfortable returning to that place in his current state. His wife had given him directions to this place instead, as she had visited on more than one occasion and knew it would suit him. She understood him better than all others. She was most perceptive, and he revealed more of himself to her - there was no beginning to that circle.
Behind the counter in this place was a woman almost out of the childbearing years, a roll of flesh in her midsection roughly bisected by her apron string such that it bulged over and under, redness under her nose from rubbing, a pimple on her forehead from perspiration. Her hair was sensibly pulled away from her dry and cracked working hands by a kerchief, its once vivid colours dulled by sweat and grease. In stringy patches some of her hair had escaped captivity, and leaving aside the odd gray fleck the Healer presumed it would be called mousy brown, by those who supposed they knew more about mice than he did.
She was beautiful.
The only other person in the house was the Mage, of course, smiling his welcome to the Healer over a bottle of beer. The Healer returned the smile and walked slowly over, as his Brother greeted him:
"You made it."
"After a fashion."
The Mage made a gesture toward a wall calendar behind the counter. "And just in time."
"After a fashion." The Healer stopped walking and inhaled deeply, supporting himself on his staff.
The Mage nodded toward it. "Just one?" he asked with his sly, warm smile. "Can I read something in that?"
"I dropped one along the way."
"Of course."
"The others are outside."
"They'll be there for you when you need them."
"Assuming I remember how."
"You will."
"Optimism? From you?"
The Mage's smile grew warmer, more sly. "Hope." And he took another pull at his beer, his eyes ever on the Healer.
"What are you drinking?"
"Pragmatism."
"Ugh."
"Would you prefer Realism?"
"Hey - do I call *you* an asshole?"
The Mage chuckled. "It may not be our first choice, but it dulls the pain, just enough. Never so much that it dulls the senses."
The Mage looked at his drink as he polished it off, for which the Healer was grateful. It was the least unpleasant of the directions the Mage could have been looking after that statement. In particular, the Healer was glad the Mage had not looked directly at him, or worse, deliberately away. The Healer did not much like people looking him, at the ravages of his body, the way he had tried to hide from the pain with poisons that dulled his senses and ruined his physical self, while only making it possible for the pain to come back even stronger.
He held two fingers up to the hostess.
"Are you going to sit down?" the Mage asked him.
"As long as I'm here." He took the load off his legs. It was uncomfortable, but better than standing.
The opened bottles arrived. The Healer waved the proffered glass away with the best smile he could manage.
"What shall we drink to?"
The Healer held his bottle aloft. "To the Humanists."
"Just so."
And as their bottles clinked, they said, together, "There's damn few of us left!"
They drank at the same time, the Mage watching the Healer all the while. He took the time to experience his first taste, whereas the Mage was already over-familiar, and didn't need to.
The Healer shrugged. "I guess it's not as bad as I'd feared."
The Mage nodded once, slowly, and when his head came up his face had shifted slightly. It was his Song face. The Healer was fairly certain his was the same song.
"It's better than being alone." |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 14th, 2007|08:56 am] |
Hit a bunch of book stores yesterday. Was going to preface this with "book stores depress me," but as it turns out that's not entirely correct...
1. Melange Magique used to have a book section. Now? A couple of indifferently-filled shelves of the most bland stuff out there - actually, it looks like they haven't ordered in 18 months, and this is all that's left of the inventory.
2. What are Brian Mulroney's memoirs doing in the Non-Fiction section?
3. You know how radio makes it impossible to find a good new song, because it's buried among all the empty populist cynical product to the extent that when something good comes along you're too numb to notice? Chapters and Indigo are exactly like that. Exactly.
Awful. Depressing.
But hey, at least there was a prominent display of Napa Valley Butterscotch Sauce, right?
So it's not book stores that depress me.
It's those bloated bullies that pretend they're bookstores. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 17th, 2006|11:19 am] |
I am never doing another music review.
Certainly not for a third-party publication.
I was at a Pagan fair two weeks ago, speaking to an editor about the reviews I did for her magazine. One of the CDs I liked, the other... I really didn't. First, the publication is Pagan but there were no Pagan themes in the lyrics, so that made me a bit confused as to why the CD was chosen for review. Secondly, the music was of the confessionl/observational/singer-songwriter variety, a style that has difficulty moving me at its best, which this was not. The Wife suggested the music was probably much better in a live setting, so I suggested this in my review, because (rather than make the mistake just about every reviewer makes and merely present an opinion) I like to try to inform the readers enough for them to make their own decisions. So, back to the fair and the editor. It turns out:
A) the artist is Pagan. Okay, I should have guessed that.
B) the artist is great live. Works the crowd, the whole bit. Not surprising, even though the CD was a bit sterile.
The editor was disappointed that I didn't give it a better review. After talking to her, I'm disappointed I didn't give it a better review! His show sounds like something I would enjoy. But how was I to know? I hope he records his next album live; it sounds like he should have done that here (and maybe done the funky ice cream noises later as overdubs in studio). Alas, now I feel like I've been unreasonably harsh to an earnest DIY artist.
And then, about a half hour later, at the same fair, I'm talking to a local writer/musician about his band, and he describes his new recording setup, which has him fairly excited. His next recording promises to be even better than his last - not that he was disappointed with his last, not at all. Well, there was one thing. When he read the review in a local Pagan magazine, his initial reaction was "Aw, no! ... " It seems that based on the reviewer's comments, it was clear he wasn't reviewing the correct album - he had somehow gotten a copy of the rough mix, and so his lukewarm review reflected that the presentation - the Not Final Presentation - of the music was itself lukewarm, far removed from the final version, which the musician is very proud of. But what's done is done, he figures. Alas.
And who wrote that review? You guessed it... |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 27th, 2006|12:47 am] |
Okay.
Song titles consisting *only* of a female first name (if there's a bit more in parentheses, that's OK, too) - but no surnames:
1. Suzanne (Leonard Cohen)
2. Maybelline (Chuck Berry)
3. Lucretia (My reflection) (Sisters of Mercy)
4. Amanda (Boston)
5. Evelyn (Tragically Hip)
6. Mary Ann (Alice Cooper)
7. Gloria (Laura Brannigan)
8. Maggie (The Exploited)
9. Domino (Van Morrison) (Maybe. He may be speaking metaphorically.)
10. Domino (Kiss) (Not exactly masters of the metaphor.)
11. Beth (Kiss)
12. Colleen (I don't remember the band, they were on Decline II: The Metal Years)
13. Maria (Blondie)
14. Enid (Barenaked Ladies)
15. Candy (Iggy Pop)
16. Atlanta (Gore Gore Girls)
17. Laura (Fields of the Nephilim)
18. Marian (Sisters of Mercy)
19. Julia (Horrorpops)
20. Rio (Duran Duran)
21. Jenny (Steve Taylor)
22. Anna (Beatles)
23. Michelle (Beatles)
24. Diana (Paul Anka)
25. Edie (Ciao Baby) (The Cult)
26. Cassandra (The Milkshakes)
27. Cinderella (Paul Anka)
28. Cinderella (The Sonics)
Edit (possibly the first of a series):
29. Lola (The Kinks) (thanks to anonymous!)
30. Lola (The Box)
31. Billie Jean (Michael Jackson) (anonymous)
32. Rosanna (Toto) (thanks to Rosy!)
33. Roxanne (The Police)
34. Sara (Starship) ("thanks" to RDansky!)
35. Joanna (Kool and the Gang) (ibid)
36. Cecilia (Simon and Garfunkel)
37. Angie (Rolling Stones)
38. Barbra Anne (thanks to Elanya!)
39. Jezebel (Mummies, Phantom Chords - original artist unknown to me)
40. Delilah (Tom Jones) (Elanya)
41. Alice (Sisters of Mercy) (Elanya)
42. Mandy (Barry Manilow) (thanks to Theo!)
43. Annie (Elastica)
44. Carrie (Europe)
45. Polly (Nirvana) (might be about a parrot, though - who can tell?)
46. Nikita (Elton John)
47. Melody (this was an 80s Lou Reed-like piece, "danced her way/right into my heart... ")
48. Valerie (Steve Winwood)
49. Doreen (Frank Zappa)
50. Deseri (Frank Zappa)
51. Sharleena (Frank Zappa)
52. Jane (Barenaked Ladies)
53. Cadalina (The Milkshakes)
54. Nona (Motley Crue)
55. Nettie (Type O Negative)
Thanks to all contributors! But alas, if I have not heard of it, it didn't make the list, because the goal is to name the Baby.
There must be more... |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 26th, 2006|10:50 pm] |
I have a new baby.
I might name her Baby.
After Baby. |
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| Tarasmas 2006 |
[Oct. 29th, 2006|06:36 am] |
1. Next year I'll bring forks and plates. Somebody always brings food that requires it, even when there isn't cake.
Inventory indicates that 35% of the beverages purchased were consumed. Next year I'm going to put I PROVIDE THE BEER somewhere more prominent in the email, and also caps it. I should also invite people to make requests, so they don't assume I won't have what they want (unless it's an import).
2. The biggest drawback to what I do for Tarasmas is that it keeps me running around. I never get enough time to talk to everyone, thank them for coming, and simply enjoy their company. Even when I do get to talk to someone, I have to keep my mind on the clock.
Which ties into awkwardness of receiving gifts. When I give someone a gift, I like to see it opened, to watch the light of appreciation dance in the eyes of the recipient. But at Tarasmas, the person giving me a gift is denied my full attention for that, which kinda makes me feel a bit bad. The gifts, although unnecessary, are appreciated - thanks again, everyone - but only fully appreciated the following day.
3. And speaking of the clock, I really must make a point to stress next year that the event goes until midnight. If people need to leave early, I can put their character in an early piece.
4. I cannot stress enough how much I love the audience. Audiences get the performances they deserve, and the open-hearted receptiveness of the Tarasmas audience means everything is that much better. That the audience doesn't give a fig for missed cues makes this otherwise-awkward phenomenon just part of the fun.
5. The ambition of some of the writing this year made me wonder afterward if maybe next year some scenes should be rehearsed beforehand. I decided against it finally, because I think that rehearsal breeds Expectation in the performers and audience. It's spontaneity that creates the madcap energy which makes Tarasmas what it is.
6. I love that people enjoy my writing. I'm awfully proud of it, usually, and compliments are always nice anyway. But the thing is I get all the compliments I need when I hear the audience react, so afterward, when someone is telling me that my writing is everything I hoped it would be, I get uncomfortable because A)I want to demonstrate the compliment is appreciated, but B)because I heard the laughter and silence in the right places the compliment is redundant, while C)I abhor false modesty, and D)this happens several times in the night, yet E)let me reiterate the compliment is very much appreciated and I don't want to let down the person giving it to me. Egad, I'm complex.
7. I don't give myself the over-the-top roles because I don't want to be accused of grandstanding. Which is crap, because I am both talented and versatile as an actor. But this year and last year I felt I was delivering the lines with less gusto than I should have been, because I was afraid my performance would wink at "look how clever this line is." Which is also crap. I'm good enough to rein that in, and if I cross the line a bit, I think I'm entitled. Bugrit - next year I'm writing something insanely over-the-top for myself; see if I don't.
(By the way, anyone who thinks Anthony DP Mann is an egomaniac for writing and directing parts for himself - and I know you're out there - has a shitty attitude. Who else is going to write the parts he wants to play? Nobody. So not only *must* he write them himself, but he *should* - to get them right. Who coined the term Vanity Project, anyway? Critics, the nonpareils of childish jealousy. I'm glad Anthony is above being affected by such nonsense. I wish I were more like him in that regard.)
8. Many reviewers this year mentioned in-jokes, which is noteworthy because there were few if any of those this year, unless I don't use the term the way others understand it. Garkon's appearance was certainly funnier if you knew him, but funny enough on its own I think, and he did mention his name once before correcting the method actor's pronunciation, so at no point with Garkon do I think there was a joke you could only get if you were in on it. I can't think of any other examples - so why the general agreement that there were in-jokes?
(I wanted to have MLG's villain character say, "I must have missed 60 Minutes," but there was no way to shoehorn it in.)
There was one I will admit to that was not really a joke because it was impossible to get. I needed a pass number for the lab, and chose 7969, telephone code for SYNW. This stands for See You Next Wednesday - because it was a werewolf story. Get it? No?
9. For the many who were wondering, yes, "Boom" was written into the script. Not to be funny, but because I needed a way to make the audience understand he wasn't just talking about it, but also doing it. Ultimately, it proved to be very funny as well - but that was all Scott. |
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| Pestilence Radio, Vol. 004 |
[Oct. 25th, 2006|01:00 pm] |
Last night, for the first time, I dreamed I was playing on stage with Invisible. We were great.
Also, last night I saw the Tour De Frank, aka Zappa Plays Zappa.
(And may I say again there ain't no crowd like a Montreal crowd - as Loreena McKennit learned 10 years ago.)
It was great. The sound was under satisfactory, but the performances made up for it all.
And there was something else, right there in the second song.
Something that was a motto of mine for a while. Something I was feeling when I formed Invisible. Something I was *living* at the time of the first Tarasmas. Something I somehow forgot, but have been very recently getting back.
"It's so FUCKING GREAT to be alive is what the theme of our show is tonight, boys and girls!"
And we are.
Here on Pestielnce Radio. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 20th, 2006|05:20 pm] |
I'm...
dream-ing of a whiiiite... |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 19th, 2006|12:37 pm] |
Eep.
October 16th to 31st.
Sixteen days.
Sixteen days to find my notes for November.
Sixteen days to finish the Wedding ThankYous before November.
Except...
Twelve of those days I'm busy. Three-quarters.
Leaving four days to do... everything.
I say again, Eep. |
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| Pestilence Radio, Vol. 003 |
[Oct. 9th, 2006|01:03 pm] |
I would just like to say this:
John Densmore is right.
Back on October 5, 2005, I grabbed the Los Angeles Times off a table because I was interested in a column by Geoff Boucher which pertained to John Densmore refusing to allow The Doors' music to be used in advertising. Boucher does a fairly good job of staying neutral, but I liked these two extracts:
- "the old counterculture heroes of classic rock are now firmly entrenched as the house band of corporate America"
- "once, back when rock 'n' roll still seemed dangerous"
The column lists several acts who have allowed their songs to be used to shill, and presents quotes from both sides.
Tom Waits:
"Eventually, artists will be going onstage like racecar drivers covered in hudreds of logos."
Waits may not have noticed, but most shows have so many ads ringing the stage that the performance area is the only place you don't see a logo.
Slash's Jack Daniels shirts notwithstanding.
Unsurprisingly, I side with Densmore and Waits on this one, not because advertising is an attack with malicious intent (and if you haven't realised that, then pay some bloody attention) but because - well, Waits put it nicely:
"[corporations] suck the life and meaning from the songs and impregnate them with promises of a better life with their product."
Basically a creative entity's role is made subservient to and identified with a snake oil message. But you wouldn't expect a soulless marketing exec to understand that, would you? Amy Kavanaugh, executive veep of a PR & marketing firm:
"Using your music in the modern landscape is not selling out; if it's done right, it's giving it new life"
Demonstrating a failure to distinguish between living and being a re-animated corpse. Perhaps she herself has become zombified through repeated usage of Newspeak terms like "the modern landscape."
Pete Howard, editor-in-chief of Ice magazine:
"Advertising is no longer a dirty word to the Woodstock generation,
- If we're going to talk sweeping generalisations, then neither are Murder, Pollution, and Negligence, apparently. Note his implication that artists who protect their music are only doing so out of fear of other people's opinions. That's an hell of an assumption - egocentrism, perhaps?
"and in fact, in this landscape,"
- There's that word again. Hive mind?
"the band will find that if it relies on people who hear the music in films, on radio in prerecorded formats,"
- Films before radio, hmm...
"that with each decade their niche among music fans will narrow. It's advertising - with its broad audience and ubiquity - that gets new ears."
What's amazing to me is that this guy's magazine is for music collectors and yet he hasn't given any consideration to word of mouth. And he's talking about The Doors. Is there any chance that word of mouth won't keep this band alive in the New Millennial Landscape?
Music lives.
And let's have the final quote be from Densmore, explaining why he can't let the marketers have his songs: "On stage, when we played these songs, they felt mysterious and magic."
Le mot juste. Thank you, John. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 27th, 2006|12:54 pm] |
There is a Pointe-St-Charles community theatre group.
They perform at Paradoxe, naturally.
Proceeds go to the startup of a children's theatre program in the area.
Next show, their second, is in rehearsal, performances begin first week of December.
And I have just been informed that one of their male actors has pulled out. By another cast member. Who was wondering if I'd be interested.
Sounds exciting. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 24th, 2006|07:23 pm] |
So.
WHO did Stan Lee call "The Greatest Hero Of The Nineties"?
The man is such a charlatan. Utterly useless at anything but hyperbole, and so good at that people still defend him.
Don't mind me; I spent my entire afternoon going through my comics, and it's only Phase One.
Word of advice: Never put money in something I've just invested in. Three weeks after I invested in tech stocks, Boom. And before that, the comics bubble. Fifteen years down the road - do you remember Darkhawk?
(Even if these comics were worth anything, they smell like my parents' cigarettes and they bent in the box and the boards bled the colour out of the back covers, can you believe it, so I guess I have to write it all off as keeping my local retailer in business.)
Scarlett. What is this? I don't remember - oh, yeah, the cover of issue #1 looks familiar - I recognise the ape with the machine gun, anyway.
So I'm going through my comics. It's not all bad (praise Daniel Cassidy!), but I'll be chucking most of it. Anybody have any use for a piece of asswipe called The History Of The DC Universe? |
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| notes... |
[Sep. 17th, 2006|02:24 pm] |
1. The movie "Akeelah and the Bee," about a girl who wins the National Spelling Bee, includes a song called - in the spirit of the importance of spelling - "All My Girlz." le sigh
2. My French Toast recipe includes Goldschlager. It's awesome. It adds cinammon flavour, the sweet makes the texture a bit more brown and crispy, and the little gold pieces dance on the electric frying pan.
3. I have heard two filks over the course of the last week. One was a bunch of rock songs with Star Trek (TOS-only) lyrics, the other "Jack and Diane" with "24" lyrics. I hope the guys who sent them weren't upset by my lukewarm response, but honestly, my friends can do a better job than these - and already have. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|05:13 pm] |
Seems weird to think it's been ten years already.
Ten years since the car accident that scalped me and landed me in the hospital for a month.
The head still itches, sometimes. But I no longer worry about infection, and it's almost as difficult to break the skin there as it is anywhere else, now. |
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