looks like i owe a few people an old apology, as the truth remains i've been listening to this new Clientele album almost every other day now. "harvest time" and "never anyone but you" are just so lovely, and fit this isolating cold weather very well. winter has begun.

Genesis 101 continues ... and i'm up to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974). Peter showed up at my desk to leave this printed off information primer for me to read on my way home. again, the bonus DVD of interviews and french tv footage is pretty great, and something about El Topo came up?! i actually think i have to watch this all over again ...

this blew my mind in all those wrong sorta ways -

Tom called it Darth Vader, and Sean mentioned Robocop. my new soundsystem also has a double tape deck, no less. i'm thrilled ::

" That is some retro futuristic shit on that ghettofabulousblaster. "

[ impressions ]

" It's all right. Don't mind not knowing. "

- Diana Athill, 91

how much did i enjoy Shelley Winters in Kubrick's Lolita -















THIS much ::::

[ impressions ]


" if a few years ago, somebody had said "you'll be spending all your days, everyday, being absorbed with a flock of birds", it would of sounded completely absurd.

when i arrived in North Beach, well, i was heading off to try and be a rock 'n roll star (laughing)... those Italian women, you know, they really kept a lot of people alive. and there was this one bakery, that if you bought anything at all, like just a french roll, if you could get enough money to buy a french roll, they'd load a bag up with pizza bread. they were really nice.

when i came down from Seattle, i wanted to make it in music. and my idea was to do it in San Fransisco. North Beach was something i had been reading about for years. the Beats ... when i was there, it was the tail end of the hippies, but there was still ... i mean, you'd see Allen Ginsberg walking up and down the streets sometimes when he was in town. Gregory Corso, he was there. Lawrence Ferlinghetti. you know, all those people. it was legendary place.

i read a lot. there is that time-honoured American tradition of going out on the road. i just wasn't out on the highway, i was on the streets.

there was this guy walking up and down the street, and said "oh, you know, you oughta go sleep on the roof of this hotel. that's where everybody else is sleeping". and there was this big rope, that went from this hook that was on top to this pole, and there were all these carpets laying around on the roof, so i threw some carpets over this rope so i had this little tent (laughing) ... i've been here for 26 years now, almost. i haven't really paid rent in 25 years.

i work, just a lot of the work i do you don't get paid for, or you don't get paid for it right away. i've done all the usual odd jobs, you know, painting rooms, cleaning houses. i've made cappuccinos which is a real survival skill in North Beach. but it was all stuff that was temporary ... i was always trying to keep my freedom at the centre; not my freedom to be a bum, or a no count or something, but my freedom to move forward to stay in this kind of spiritual place, as opposed to just a careerist path. but things weren't working 'cause i was trying to do something that i wasn't suited to do, and i knew it.

i realized that i wasn't going back to music, that that was done. but i still didn't have a forward direction. i mean, what the buddhists would call 'right livelihood' ... i didn't have that. i didn't have any way of making a living. and to make a living was to be doing something that you love, something that was creative, something that made sense.

i always assumed that the end was just around the corner, but it drug on for years and years. i just hoped and prayed that eventually it was going to lead me to where i wanted to be. and it was a long, long time ... i was on the streets for 15 years there. who am i , where am i going, what am i doing? i wanted a real transformation. "

- Mark Bittner

checking out pinkasphalt had me go to the birthday calculator page.
funny and interesting stuff like this:

As of 11/25/2009 9:02:57 PM EST
You are 36 years old.
You are 441 months old.
You are 1,920 weeks old.
You are 13,442 days old.
You are 322,629 hours old.
You are 19,357,742 minutes old.
You are 1,161,464,577 seconds old.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Parmuthy, the fourth month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

the name option near the bottom is interesting too ::::

this is very interesting news ::::

[ photograph by Manfred Rahs ]

" wanna see something funny? "

music luv ::
Jesus Lizard at le National
November 13th

the line is low and it goes straight out. i feel them in my shoulders.

Jesus Lizard were one of the first shows having just moved to Vancouver. 1993 at the Commodore Ballroom, and it was halloween. impressions are quite strong to this day. David Yow was wearing only fishnet stockings and cowboy boots. and i remember exposed dull white skin and black leather in the crowd, and blood had started to be kind of smeared on everything around the centre. rough and awkward bodies. Duane Denison had this tall cowboy hat on, but like the one the caretaker of Curious George wears? and a buttoned up dress shirt. there was something of the surrealism of David Lynch meeting Larry Hagman of Dallas or something that night. and an expression that could cut glass. to this day, i find Denison visually very interesting.

second time was at lollapalooza. you know, there is (was?) this small Joseph Beuys room in the Pompidou Centre in Paris. and when you walk in, you are immediately altered. the space and air becomes simultaneously retracted and pressed upon you. all things stop except for this room. it was like that, except Jesus Lizard were playing at an open air stadium.

third time was in 1996 at the Starlite Room with Six Finger Satellite. i was days from leaving for my first visit to europe. for a girl from the sticks, i was excited. but i thought it good to get a dose of americana before heading out. i was one of a handful of speckled women upfront in a typically male crowd. some ubc-shit-spicolli-blonde-type got up on stage and was groping Yow ... i remember (and i'm laughing right now recalling) Yow returning the saccharine-esque gesture of male bonding ... somewhat still, arms around respective shoulders, both with their facial expressions looking out into the crowd ... as the young guy stumbled off the stage, Yow proceeded to piss on him. and i remember a stranger was pressed rather hard up against me from behind, and i didn't move.

the recently packed show at le National last week was fantastic. it was like having some kind of injection right into my heart and bones. i think i'm still there in some capacity ... and the show made me think about how sorely missed a performer like Yow is these days. his physical self-effacement, provocation, and humour. the turning display and gentle caressing of his flexed bicep (top & back) with his slightly confused but deadpan look into the front-manic crowd during the 2nd encore had me laughing. brilliant.

i have to admit that i haven't listened to Jesus Lizard for many years now.

and i haven't been able to listen to anything but Jesus Lizard all week because of this great reunion (and last) tour.

(more for hearing than maybe seeing)

(and this for some worthwhile reading)

computer e/y/e/z

having recently gotten the internet at home continues to prompt questions about "are you watching lots of porn yet?" from a handful of co-workers. nah ... you know, it's still just not my thing. i never think about it. sex scenes in films, another story -

however, early days of browsing had me chance upon this image of Chloe Sevigny. it's one of the foxiest photographs i've seen in awhile ::::

the first envelope to arrive ::::

the 'for a wall' project has officially begun -
i was blown away! looking so forward to more ::::


















( photographs sent from Chi Le )

"Sometimes our bodies are like cars ... you go out one day, and for some reason it won't start, and then the next day it does. (laughing) it's just like that, you know?"


(thanks, Vince)

gotta get this in january ::::

how did dinner become so late? with friends Deborah and Reuel. Deborah made us a delicious dinner, and how cool it was to meet Reuel and share wine & conversation. he is Deborah's new boyfriend and he is in a metal band, but we talked about Van der Graaf Generator.

outside. outside, and the night has begun. waiting for a way home in the Mile End. and to be surrounded by smiling & flirtatious faces. a staple of this fluid town. something i have come to enjoy very much. the gesture of a gaze. standing in the cold and waiting and listening to the new Warp Records 20 series ... and you are still waiting. smiling, silently through faces; you could easily be inside a cab within moments, with complete strangers, to a new destination, but you simply figure on getting home. you check out the dome of the basilica while listening to Chosen, and hearing LFO makes you privately happy crazy. and the dome kinda looks like a big butter dish against the sky. no lie. and LFO, LFO.

the kinda night where you unexpectedly hear Superchunk, and suddenly you are 19 again: Deborah puts on 'No Pocky For Kitty' and you remember second-hand corduroy pants purchased with your handsome boyfriend and time-travel starts colliding with the present. and then Yo La Tengo and 'Autumn Sweater'. i always liked that song. especially.

time goes fast.

and yet it all remains rather simple and honest. and really, these Warp comps should remind us all of something incredibly GREAT. and of our time.

one year ::

spent the afternoon walking up and around the mountain. it affords some very nice views and perspective.

made a short film within the woods. stark trees and yellow leaves making a carpet on the ground.

music, so much

can't get enough of this album. i was turned onto Eddy Current Suppression Ring by Guy of Cheap Thrills (a great record & book store here in Montreal) a couple of months ago. then this new one showed up ... 'precious rose' and 'turn your page'
"and over - and over - and over - again ..."

as part of the Pop Montreal Festival, i decided to check out Faust again. nicely staying clear of nostalgia-hour, and featuring new blood (the two latest members appear to be early to mid-40s), the band were unexpectedly relevant and contemporary-sounding. i was surprised to learn that this was Faust's first time in Montreal. it was a little disappointing the show was held at a seated venue though ... that was just kinda weird. and there was something about Alien8's new signing Black Feelings (who opened) too ... i'm not sure what exactly, but amidst all those influences running, something worthwhile is happening inside there, and possibly in a big way.

Om played La Sala Rossa the other saturday night. Lichens opened up, and perhaps it was partly due to Oliver and i entering again while Lichens was already immersed in playing, but we both fell for his performance hard. very cool. Om did what they do well, and the lock groove does start to take your mind and body elsewhere.

Broadcast is playing with Atlas Sound tonight. i think i am past excitement ... i picked up a bottle of red wine earlier today.

but can i finish thinking about Jane Birkin? she came in August as part of the Les FrancoFolies Festival and her performance was so inspired. i was completely engaged by her simple presence; that being one of experience, grace, and flourish. and somehow she is 62, though you wouldn't necessarily sense such with her sprightly, always-smiling way.

she focused primarily on Gainsbourg material, which really remains the bulk of her recording career. about 2/3 way through her set, she began 'Yesterday' to which she started to walk the aisles of the Maisonneuve Theatre completely dark and lit only with a branched umbrella of tiny lights. she proceeded to give every balcony a visit - the audience was completely mush after this point, culminating with two standing ovations resulting in Birkin beginning to tear up upon the raising of the theatre lights.

so good to remember that night.

but another whisper for how happy i feel being here, in Montreal.
things are good.

[ impressions ]

Sometimes, beside human heads, I sent for objects, trees or animals. Because I am not yet sure of the limits which the body of me, human, can finally reach. Anyways, I have definitely broken with art, with style, and with talent in all the drawings you will see here. I mean, woe to he who considers them as works of art, as works of simulation and the aesthetic of reality. None of them is, properly speaking, a work; all are sketches. I mean, they are probes, thrusts, into every channel of hazard, of possibility, of chance or destiny.

- Antonin Artaud

"i've got my tightest pants on"

music luv ::
Jimi Tenor & Tony Allen - Inspiration Information (2009)
Genesis - various studio albums

3 for 3 from Strut officially makes me a fan. featuring percussionist Tony Allen of Fela Kuti's Africa 70, Inspiration Information is keeping me warm and motivated as the weather changes here. simply, i so love afrobeat rhythm sections.

____________________________

and in some odd form of synchronization, both Tim and Peter at work have been enjoying giving me an education on Genesis. it began with me being quite taken with a still photo of Peter Gabriel - all blue concert lights and as a flower head- and Peter following up with "would you like to hear their records? album by album?".

early Genesis are quite possibly the weirdest band i have heard yet; honestly, nothing really makes any sense at any time. i can't say i really like them entirely either, but then there are these amazing moments that you wish would hang on another minute or two, only to disappear back into neverland. and wordy ...

it has been quite enjoyable to be at work, and in various areas of the warehouse to come across Peter and Tim singing lyrics to various levels of creative interpretation. clearly these records were very impressionable. Tim has regaled in telling stories about Genesis - "3 shows, back to back, sold out here in Montreal!" or was it 4?

the CDs Peter has been lending me also include interviews from 2007. i can't get enough of keyboardist Tony Banks. so articulate, and uptight, and amusing. his eyes rarely look up and at the interviewer/camera. and recently seeing a live performance from the Bataclan in Paris from 1973, and Peter Gabriel dressed like the feminine fox from the cover of Foxtrot. but then to have that visual equally rival seeing Phil Collins wearing Daisy Duke style cut-off short shorts. it's all completely over my head!

"When the bride is a widow and the groom is a widower; when the former has lived in Our Great Little Town for hardly two years, and the latter for hardly a month; when Monsieur wants to get the whole damned thing over with as quickly as possible, and Madame gives in with a tolerant smile; then, my reader, the wedding is generally a "quiet" affair."

















Vladimir Nabokov has easily and most effortlessly just become one of my favorite writers. after Lolita, i am going to devour Invitation to a Beheading. ah!

"In later months I could laugh at my inexperience when recalling the obstinate boyish way in which i had concentrated upon that particular inn with its fancy name; for all along our route countless motor courts proclaimed their vacancy in neon lights, ready to accommodate salesmen, escaped convicts, impotents, family groups, as well as the most corrupt and vigorous couples. Ah, gentle drivers gliding through summer's black nights, what frolics, what twists of lust, you might see from your impeccable highways if Kumfy Kabins were suddenly drained of their pigments and became transparent as boxes of glass!"

- from Lolita