Today I crawled and clawed myself from my second story bed to the thick solid planks of wood that make up my bedroom floor. Wiping the sleep from my eyes and stumbling to the kitchen to release the steady flow of water from our leaky faucet to my empty jar to it’s final destination, my human body. Another day. I get the chance at another day.
How beautiful each day is when it is not taken for granted. When the new day is taken in open arms and lifted up as high as possible. And I can feel myself. I can understand that I am this living thing, this body of organic matter and water, SO MUCH WATER. There is blood pumping out oceans of life from my little human heart, the muscle king. AND oh my! I have lungs, I have lungs! My bones, gosh, I can feel them! I know they are there. Their bleachy white and I know they will become sand again; some dust in the wind. There will come a day when we ALL get to fly.
smile
you are
living.
Hello again!
I hope your week has been wonderful.
Here are some “things.”
J.MACK
The drawing pictured above is by my good friend Jessica Mack. I lived with Jessica a few years ago and must say she was one of the best roommates I’ve ever known. I looked forward to our conversations which usually lasted into the wee hours of the morning, her smile, bike rides, walks to the used book store or spikes veggie hot dog stand.
She is so darn inspiring. One of those people in the world who live their whole life like it itself is a work of art (the way we all should).
Each painting was a newborn baby she had carried inside her and birthed. The love she had for each was altogether staggering and igniting. I have been fortunate enough to see her explosive progress over the past few years and now seems a good time to share some of her work with you. I hope you enjoy what you see (keep in mind these paintings and drawings are a year old). I’ve seen some of the new works and I can’t begin to stress how amazingly far she is taking all that she creates.
TEA AND RECORDS
Almost every night for the past week I’ve been lucky enough to share many late nights with my co-worker, friend, neighbor and musical explorer/teammate, David Bohill (he was a member of Sunburned and is currently a member of See-through band). Our nights, now affectionately dubbed “tea and records,” involve the two of us discussing and tossing around many subjects such as; music, bands, artists, work gossip, dogs we love, ideal “bands, “etc. And of course, listening to a whole bunch of mind blowingly amazing music. Every night there is a new Coltrane record (it was ascension last night) and a few nights back it was TALK TALK.
I am going to focus this week on MARK HOLLIS, singer of the aforementioned band. His record (S/T), released in 1998 might be the only thing you should be listening between the hours of 2:30 and 3:30am. A time when there is no way to know if you are up late at night or if you have crossed that invisible line into the earliest of morning. It has been my soundtrack for this transitional period, which I have come face to face with on many of these winter nights. Mark helps me to come down off the mountain of the day/night I have just lived and delivers me into my warm bed, kissing each of my ears. The textures created on this album are pure. They are gentle waves lapping at the winter sand, each more beautiful than the last. Listen for yourself and be the judge.
Hello,
Thank you for looking at this right now
but
remember to embrace the “real world”
and
don’t get lost in this one please.
Enjoy.
This week I have had the opportunity to explore many different forms of media including but not limited to; records, movies, magazines and novels. Here is a list and some thoughts…
MEDULLA by Bjork
If you haven’t heard this record you should give it a listen. If you’ve heard it, give it another listen. Wintertime is the perfect time to listen to Bjork. She might just be the goddess of snow, an angel sent by jack frost to sing us to sleep on nights when we find ourselves squeezing legs to chest in bed, attempting to beat the chill of the winter wind knocking at our doors and howling through the trees at our windows. Or perhaps she is from the future. Here now, in our time to be enjoyed on public transportation, aiding us to obliterate the disconnected feeling one can get while on a bus/train full of people (all looking at their shoes). She is my warm blanket. Listen to this record on headphones and enjoy the “sphere” of sound the pure tones create around your head. Oh and by the way, this record was made only with vocals (with some computer help). Yes, it’s true.
LOOK
DEAD MAN (film) by Jim Jarmusch
I found myself get that feeling watching this movie again this past week. The feeling over takes me, rendering me speechless. This “feeling” comes when I witness something (in this case an artists piece) that is so overwhelmingly “perfect,” to me. It is everything a movie should be. I thought to myself, “this is my favorite movie I’ve ever seen.” I have a hard time describing this feeling and the way this movie makes me feel so please see it for yourself and let me know what you think. AND remember that’s Neil Young doing the soundtrack. Trust me on this one.
THE WORLD DOESN’T END by Charles Simic (poetry/prose)
My good friend Christina Spinelli gave me this collection for the holidays.
“The stone mirror which works poorly.
Nothing in it but dimness. Your dimness or it’s dim-
ness, who’s to say? In the hush your heart sounds
like a black cricket.”
POST PARTUM by The Watery Graves of Portland and/et Geneviève (song)
Listen here
AND A VIDEO
For you.
It IS sideways
So turn your computer or don’t.
(the road is Rt.44 in Mass. The song is Diane Cluck-”The turnaround road.”)
Click Click
Yours,
gb
