A Reminder
Remind me to live my dreams before I let routine take over. Push me to go for it before I become the average. Keep telling me all will be ok before I let details kill me. Don't forget to embrace me before I stop believing in love.
Positivity
i am positivity.
i am 6am. i am hollywood under a purple sky.
i am the sound of your silence.
i am the reflection on glass.
i am the turn on a road, i am also 120kmph.
i am the 17 seconds within a "moment"
i am the air between your head and the noose.
i am the water that falls.
i am the sound of the night. i am also the color of dew.
i am the decomposed version of your heart.
i am the curve, the line and the shape of your thoughts.
you are one of the faces in my mirror.
Misanthrope (TM)
There's blood on my hands.
Portrait: Girl
She scratched a corner
of the sky,
then a book,
then her mind's eye.
In dismay,
found nothing.
She touched a blade of grass,
It turned into a dove, flew away.
She remained.
----
Siok Tian Heng
Shadow paths
Your shadow has an unfair reputation.
It doesn't always trail.
It's not simply a negative of your former self.
It's not just a glass-jaw boxer sparring with you.
Sometimes a shadow leads.
At sunrise it points to the remaining darkness
If you turn your back on the rising sun.
At sunset it points to the remaining light
If you turn your back on the setting sun.
At high noon it points nowhere,
but there's enough light for everyone to find their way.
Each day your shadow awaits you,
like a puppy with a leash in its mouth.
That depends on how and when you choose to face the sun.
----
Richard Fein
I am a world. My hands hold plenty of secrets but my mouth is full of lies. My eyes see sunshine but my hands surround the face of a victim. My voice is loud but my face breaks into silence. My legs are plastic but my head is like a hole. My mind is a knife but my heart is clear to receive. I am a world but my sky is full of stars.
Knives
Kill me
This is your chance
I'm contained, so you can control
This is the moment
Kill me
Here is my hand
here is my throat
I'm open
Kill me
Its eight fourty eight
I'm ready
I will eat your kitchen knives.
Deathly
Funny how
things suddenly shut down
i open my eyes
and suddenly its over
a life gone
in a moment
one last breath
just 3 seconds
a page is blank
white
memories remain
the page is turned
a life gone
no ground
deathly...
...really.
tumhari adao pe mein vari vari. :)
Annihilate me, infiltrate me, incinerate me, accelerate me, mutilate me, inundate me, violate me, implicate me, vindicate me, devastate me
Love me like a parasite, love me like a dying sun
Love me like a criminal, love me like a man on the run
Radiate me, subjugate me, incubate me, recreate me, demarcate me, educate me, punctuate me, evaluate me, conjugate me, impregnate me, designate me, humiliate me, segregate me, opiate me, calibrate me, replicate me.
----
This kills me. "Inside" by Sting. Such a powerful composition of words, music and imagery. Pretty good album, this. Its got a lot of weak tracks but the few good ones make up for it. I was disappointed, tho', with Anoushka Shankars sitar playing on "Book of life". Sounded like a mother-son reunion scene from 80's Bollywood. No?
Remembering Feedback (1996)
I was practising on the piano when I broke away into "nostalgia mode" and went and cracked the chords of one of Jp 's earliest pieces "Sick Again". Its a beautiful song with a very strange chord sequence. It sounded very nice on the piano. I love minors anyway. I am biased. Sorry. The funny thing about this song is it starts of with a B minor and when it comes to the chorus it switches to B major changing the feel of the song completely. Remember Sachin singing the chorus, Jp? And our gig at St. Johns when we played this live. Aparna was in the crowds. I miss her. She was everything. Oh, those times. We were trees. So, stress-free. Someone give me a hug.
Torrential rain
I am open. My clothes stink of cigarettes. My hairs rough and tangled. My eyes are sore. The voices I hear are grinding. I am sick. I cannot think. I cannot feel. My fingers are thick. I am the victim. My eyes are sore. I am giving in. This light is not bright enough. Let there be more light. This battery is dead. I am shutting this machine down once and for all. I wish I was a warm machine. I wish my hands were branches. I wish I had feathers. My eyes are sore. I cannot see anymore. I am shutting this machine down.
The Letter
Put the pen
To the paper
Press the envelope
With my scent
Can't you see
In my handwriting
The curve Of my g?
The longing
It turns me on
To imagine
Your blue eyes
On my words
Your beautiful pen
Take the cap off
Give me a sign and I'd come running
Oh
It's you
I want you
----
Such beauty. Finally someone other than Tori. The music of my lady peace, P.J. Harvey, in my headphones. By the way, you must have realised by now that my three personal Goddesses are Tori Amos, Fiona Apple and P.J. Harvey. :)
Finally...
New York, NY – Acclaimed artist Fiona Apple has completed her highly anticipated third album Extraordinary Machine and it will be released by Epic Records on October 4, 2005. Extraordinary Machine, produced by Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem and 50 Cent) and co-produced by Brian Kehew, contains twelve new tracks from this groundbreaking artist.
"Now that my album is finally finished, I am very, very excited to have people hear what we did – I am so proud of it, and all of us who worked on it." says Fiona Apple.
On Monday, August 15, Fiona Apple’s new official web site will launch at www.Fiona-Apple.com unveiling music and album artwork from Extraordinary Machine. Fans visiting the site will be the first ones to hear two songs in their entirety from the new album: "O’ Sailor" and "Parting Gift." In addition to the launch of the site, there will be an online promotion allowing fans to enter to win the new CD and a chance to see Fiona Apple live in concert.
Also on Monday, fans will also be able to listen to the track "O’ Sailor" at online social networking destination, www.myspace.com. On the following day, Tuesday, August 16, various digital music stores will make "O’ Sailor," available for download and Apple’s iTunes Music Store will offer an exclusive bundle download of "O’ Sailor" coupled with "Parting Gift."
Fiona Apple established herself as a visionary singer/songwriter at the age of nineteen with her debut album Tidal in 1996. This stunning album went on to earn her a Grammy Award in 1998 for “Best Female Rock Vocal Performance” establishing her as an uncompromising and original artist gaining intensely loyal fans all over the world . Fiona’s second album, When the Pawn…..was released in 1999 showcasing Fiona’s edgy and elegant musical genius. Fiona Apple's highly touted albums and captivating videos have earned her numerous accolades from music fans and the music industry alike including two MTV Music Video Awards and two Grammy nominations and sales of over 5 million albums around the world.
She tells me "you open up so much and yet hide enough". Nice, no?
Seaside
Heard from the TV of the latest bombing
The girls were dancing, she was coming of age
Shells fired out
Flowers mowed down
Innocence targetted
Whose God is this?
Wish that she had one more day
There at the Seaside
5th of December
We chased the tide as her treasures were gathered
I had to laugh as she gave sand a bath
Jangle jangle jingle jangle
Jangle then circle again
----
This song kills me. Seaside by Tori Amos from "Scarlet's hidden treasures" (a CD of "Scarlets walk" b-sides). Gorgeous. I would die in her hands even if I had only one day left to live. Today.
Story
The hand holds the pen / the point distorts the page / the words pollute the space / the melancholy breaks the white / the man creates the image / the fear holds the presence / the ending controls the beginning / the hand turns the page / the hand drops the pen.
Lesser
Godless
Like a box
Faceless
Like a road
Joyless
Like my heart
I'm a tree
with no leaves,
Motionless
Like a wall.
Graphic Poetry from Wig-01
Substitute Faith
icons are not sacred or shattered
but transient decorations.
in the hands of investors
lies the strength of the body of believers.
not monogamous or promiscuous
but self-centred.
union of spirit reflected
through corporate logos made by the forgotten
viagra replaces the eucharist
as the image of communion.
Brian Burch
----
Paper Cut
Louder than
Six hundred words
This page
Blank, silent
Tells of you.
Stain your fingers
Your words
Cannot be contained
Like laughter
Or tears.
So why dont you?
Jump into
This whiteness, this river.
What, you cant swim?
Even better.
Eunice Bisabas
----
I love Wig-01.
Once the poem leaves your fingertips
it is no longer yours.
It acquires new shapes
in the eyes of others.
----
The bruise on my foot
is a hyacinth blooming
purple to blue -
or dusk
in a landscape of pain
where dark clouds
billow up
from the marrow.
----
Christina Boyka Kluge
If...
I miss If...
We were never lucky with gigs. But we did two recording sessions - Angustam Amice and Lovely dimensions of death. I recommend getting "Everyman" (Sanky's violins on this song is too too beautiful) :) The songs are available on the site for download. :)
I've got crop marks on my shoulder, and my hands are getting colder.
Tombigbee
So, looks like a marriage is on the cards. Ouch. And she's going to sing this to me
----
To you it's another day
to me it's a grim reaping
just another shooting star
strung out on your wire
prick my finger
on his virgin silver
he took me raw, Ginger -
it carmelized me
Tombigbee, Tombigbee
help me hang these bones
gotta hang these bones out to dry
he loved me, he loved me, ravishingly, low
gonna hang these bones out to dry
dry, dry, dry
What equals what
The mathematics of the suspended logistics is creating a wall of sound within the tempestuous bubble we call existential reality. The frightening debilitation of the sunburnt utopia is creating a wall of chemistry within the frail interiors of an external submethod. :)
Alt.End
Yeah I know I should care if you come with me
Yeah and I should care if you go
Really should care about your love or your hate of me
Yeah I should care... but I don't
And it's not about giving up on you
It's not a case of do or die
It's simply that it's over and out for me
There's no more room inside
And I don't want another run around - I don't want to start again
No I don't want another run around - I want this to be the end
I want this to be the end - I don't want to start again
I want this to be the last thing we do
It for me and you...
----
Mr. Robert Smith
*Beautiful as rock*
Frozen in the place I hide
Not afraid to paint my sky with
Some who say I've lost my mind
Brother try and hope to find
----
Who would've thought that Maynard James Keenan, the singer for Tool and A Perfect Circle, would have made a near perfect singer for Alice in Chains? That was one of many surprises Friday night when some of Seattle's musical stars came out for a cause at Premier nightclub.
The cause was a benefit concert for victims of last year's tsunamis, and the stars included Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, Supersuckers, Sir Mix-A-Lot, The Children of the Revolution and others. But the brightest stars were the remaining members of Alice in Chains -- drummer Sean Kinney, bassist Mike Inez and guitarist Jerry Cantrell -- who performed together for the first time in six years.
Novoselic acted as host for the show, which was put on by K-Rock (KRQI-FM/96.5). The show raised more than $100,000 for relief efforts.
The reformed Alice in Chains featured several big names filling the shoes of late vocalist Layne Staley, who died of a drug overdose in 2002. Wes Scantlin from Puddle of Mudd, Pat Lachman from metal band Damageplan, Ann Wilson and Keenan all shared microphone duties.
Each turned in remarkable performances that paid justice to the fallen singer. The band performed two sets, one acoustic the other plugged in, with Lachman taking the lion's share of the vocal duties.
The evening wasn't just about Alice in Chains. The Wilsons performed three Led Zeppelin covers along with "Barracuda" and "Crazy on You," Sir Mix-A-Lot offered up rap-metal versions of "Baby Got Back" and "My Posse's on Broadway," and Supersuckers played a blazing set.
Still, Alice in Chains owned the evening. The band's acoustic set started off with "The Killer Is Me," which was followed by "No Excuses." Later in the set, which closed with "Down in a Hole," Ann Wilson brought a soulful edge to "Brother."
For its second set of the night, Alice in Chains opened with "It Ain't Like That" from "Facelift." After the song, Cantrell introduced Scantlin, a surprise guest, who sang "Again" with Lachman and then took over vocal duties for "Would" and "Angry Chair."
But it was Keenan, another surprise performer, who proved the most natural fit at replacing Staley. He impressively nailed "Man in the Box" and "Them Bones."
For the last song, Wilson, Keenan, Lachman and Scantlin took turns trading verses and lines during "Rooster." The "We Are the World"-style rendition of the song was the perfect ending for a magical night.
The Radiohead Backlash
Some people just don’t get it. Being a Radiohead fan is the equivalent to being a rock and roll snob. Their music is a critic’s dream, with each subsequent listen bringing further analysis and dissection. Genius. Brilliance. Pioneers. These are all words that have been used to describe British rock band Radiohead and their hesitation to fit into anything deemed mainstream.
A rock and roll experiment, run amuck amidst a legion of safe, reliable and dependable artists insured to make a return for record company stock holders. Radiohead is all things scary and unadulterated. Illustrating what music should be, especially music that encourages individuality and exceptionality. But it’s not for everyone as is exemplified by radio and television’s unwillingness to play their music.
Blessed with the ability to write guitar heavy rock songs ("Creep") and mournful ballads ("Fake Plastic Trees"), Radiohead exploded onto the scene in the early and mid nineties releasing a handful of records that gained international acclaim and commercial success that would unknowingly set the blueprint for many British acts to follow over the next decade.
Bored and dissatisfied with their achievements, the band set to experiment and cover new territory with the critically hailed 1997 album OK Computer. All Music Guide calls OK Computer, “the album that establishes Radiohead as one of the most inventive and rewarding guitar rock bands of the '90s.” The record recently topped a poll in Britain that asked Channel 4 viewers what they’re all-time favorite album is. U2 came second with their 1987 effort The Joshua Tree, while Nirvana's landmark 1991 album Nevermind was third.
All these accolades are in direct contrast to the ever-growing legion of Radiohead detractors that are voicing their opinion in the media, the Internet and your local tavern. In an October 2003 edition of the New York Post, journalist Maxine Shen wrote an article titled “It’s Radiohead” reporting on the rising amount of non believers who view Radiohead as nothing more than a group of whiny, overachieving lads from across the Atlantic.
According to the article, a study was conducted in San Lleandro, California, where fifth graders were exposed to Radiohead and were asked to draw their reactions to the music. One child drew a graveyard scene with tombstones, a man who hanged himself and a booth offering “Free Suicides.” Another drew a picture of a child standing on the mountain saying, ‘I hate my life.” Shocking? Yes. It’s kind of unbelievable when a rock band is credited in stirring all these emotions with a bunch of ten year olds.
Some blame the band themselves for the backlash while others direct their detestation to the music industry and the imitators for ruining their Radiohead experience. “After the release of the Bends (Radiohead’s 1995 album), there started a flood of Radiohead type bands into the music world with the same type of sound, same tone of vocals, same mixtures of sound,” said fan Darren Nobrega of Edmonton, Canada. “I lost interest in Radiohead due to the music industries saturation of their sound. Too many followers making music that sounded just like Radiohead. Leave it to the music industry to exploit a popular sound to the point of destroying its effect, “Nobrega explained.
The public is not alone in their distaste for Radiohead. Some musicians share the same feelings asking what all the fuss is about. In a 2003 issue of Q Magazine, Kid Rock was quoted as saying, “I don't hate them, I just don't understand them. I've listened to their music and it does nothing for me. If I have a party on tour I'm not going to grab for the Radiohead CD to get the party started.” Kid Rock than joked it might be funny to tour together saying, “They can go out and be sad and I'll pick ‘em up.”
But for every detractor of Radiohead, there are five supporters. Jason Manning, Music Director for Edmonton’s modern rock radio station Sonic 102.9 FM proclaimed, “Radiohead are one of the most talented groups in the world right now. They are creative and cool. And they have put out some of the coolest albums out in the last few years.”
Fellow musicians, who long to emulate Radiohead but know they cannot match their ambition and originality, look to Radiohead as beacons of inspiration. In the recent “Immortals” edition of Rolling Stone, Dave Matthews said, “Every time I buy a Radiohead album, I have a moment where I say to myself, maybe this is the one that will suck. But it never does, “ Matthews says. “ I wonder if it's even possible for them to be bad on record.”
In a recent Newsweek article, Coldplay front man Chris Martin explained his inferiority complex to label mates Radiohead. “We’re like an eager dog just yapping around their heels, and they're trying to kick us away,” he joked. “It's like unrequited love. I'm in love with a lot of things. Some of those things love me back. And some of them don't -- and one of them is Radiohead.”
As time passes and Radiohead sinks evermore into their own musical cocoon, the divisiveness grows. A recent report surfaced on Radiohead fan site www.greenplastic.com adding to the rumours that the band was back in the studio record the follow-up to 2003’s Hail to the Thief. The record is expected to be released by February or March of next year.
This is little consolation to many fans weaned on their 90’s work. A new album offers little hope to a return of the Radiohead of old. “Within soft acoustic guitar melodies, Radiohead would mix heavy electric riffs lead by a very distinct voice,” said fan Darren Nobrega. “Combined, these sounds created a powerful effect of mood. Music that gave you no choice but to get ‘into it’. The type of music that certain sounds, smells and moments would trigger the memory of the exact moment you were listening to those albums.”
“I appreciate Radiohead, for the albums in which I first fell in love with, and for their ability to be pioneers in what could be classed as new genres of music,” said Nobrega. "But I like rock and I like music belted out by well skilled musicians. The potential of the guitar, and the person behind it can never be replaced by the hard drive of a computer.”
Trent McMartin.
30 in Marrakesh
I open my eyes. There are so many people in the room. The walls are hospital green. Everyone comes close to me. I dont recognise any of these people. Who are they and why are they so happy? Is this really happening? Is this the perfect circle? So many suns, so many trees, its so green outside. Everyone is in white. I can hear the sound of wheelchairs on a shiny white marble floor. Its all so new. Its a bright, bright day. Its November, 1975. And in November, 2005, I will be 30. This time I hope I open my eyes in Marrakesh.
The atmosphere breathes, the metamechanical hand contorts, the disconnection sustains, the filter reconstructs, the mountain absorbs, the fragment deconstructs, the tooth solidifies . . .
. . . all the pearls within my method.
Got all this yesterday from Amazon:
Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk (piano transcription) (Book)
Tori Amos - To Venus & Back (piano transcription) (Book)
Tori Amos - For Easy Piano (piano transcription) (Book)
The Bad Plus - These Are the Vistas (CD)
Hold Me to This: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead (CD)
True Love Waits: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead (CD)
Gomez - Out West [LIVE] (CD)
Tori Amos - Welcome to Sunny Florida (DVD with Bonus CD in Amray Case)
Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love" - Criterion Collection (DVD)
Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu's "Amores Perros" (DVD)
As Balzac said, "There goes another novel". :)
