In the Time Machine with Bryan Ferry

"...That is the germ of my great discovery. But you are wrong to say that we cannot move about in Time. For instance, if I am recalling an incident very vividly I go back to the instant of its occurrence: I become absent-minded, as you say. I jump back for a moment. Of course we have no means of staying back for any length of Time, any more than a savage or an animal has of staying six feet above the ground. But a civilized man is better off than the savage in this respect. He can go up against gravitation in a balloon, and why should he not hope that ultimately he may be able to stop or accelerate his drift along the Time-Dimension, or even turn about and travel the other way?" Thus spoke the Time Traveller in an extract from the famous H. G. Wells novella "The Time Machine" published in 1895. 

Flash forward, sometime in late spring 2012, early evening.

Mr Ferry was seen entering a telephone booth in East London smartly dressed in a 1920s style short tuxedo. He was carrying with him a black leather briefcase which contained an ebony comb, a bow tie and an extra set of gold cuff links. In a secret compartment, very few people knew that Mr Ferry was also carrying a brown envelope containing a selection of outstanding songs spanning the period from his Roxy Music days to his present solo carreer.

Flash back, early autumn 1927, late evening.
  
A smartly dressed gentleman enters the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City and introduces himself as Mr Ferry from old Albion. After the end of the show he gets to meet the musicians back stage and is last seen having a drink with Duke Ellington by the piano.   

Flash forward, late summer 1928, midday.

Mr Ferry is seen exiting the 44th Street Studio in New York carrying a heavy box with a Victor Recordings label on the cover. He steadily walks towards a particularly quiet and shady back-street and enters a telephone booth.

Flash forward, November 2012.

The album "The Jazz Age" by the Bryan Ferry Orchestra is released.

Flash back, autumn 1927, late evening.

- "Them cats in the band, like your songs Mr Ferry even if I must admit they are kind of strange compositions"
- "How do you, feel about them Mr Ellington?" 
- "Let's say that I can see real potential in quite a few of them. I just need a little more time to work them out. You see, we can arrange them in different styles. We don't have to be all Louis, King Oliver and Orleans to make a hit these days. I would like to give some of the songs a more sophisticated, velvety feeling that will make them shine and I can guarantee the audience will love them."
- " But Mr Ellington, I told you, I don't intend to release these songs once they are recorded. Not at this particular time at least. I would just like to have them recorded and keep them for my private pleasure."
- " That's a pity Mr Ferry but, then again, you are the one who is putting up the money for all this."
- " I certainly appreciate your discretion on the whole matter Mr Ellington and I am glad you don't mind if I give fictitious names to the musicians in the band."
- " Mr Ferry, these are all your songs and as far as I am concerned, our meeting never took place. See you at Victor."

So there you have it. When you play this record, please spare a thought for all the trouble that Mr Ferry has gone through to have this music recorded. One can only imagine what the audience of the 1920s whould have thought of these songs if they were released at that time. I sincerely think we should convince Mr Ferry to make a few gramophone records out of "The Jazz Age" and get in the telephone booth once again.

Listen to:

Bryan Ferry - Reason or Rhyme (2010)

The Bryan Ferry Orchestra - Reason or Rhyme (1920s) 

The mechanical world of Edouard Martinet

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) would be the perfect person to inaugurate an exhibition of Edouard Martinet's metallic sculptures. I imagine him reading the first few lines of his magnum opus "Leviathan" to an ecstatic crowd filling the gallery: 

"NATURE (the art whereby God hath made and governs the world) is by the art of man, as in many other things, so in this also imitated, that it can make an artificial animal. For seeing life is but a motion of limbs, the beginning whereof is in some principal part within, why may we not say that all automata (engines that move themselves by springs and wheels as doth a watch) have an artificial life? For what is the heart, but a spring; and the nerves, but so many strings; and the joints, but so many wheels, giving motion to the whole body, such as was intended by the Artificer? Art goes yet further, imitating that rational and most excellent work of Nature, man... "

Hobbes attempted to explain the universe as an amalgamation of mechanical processes or movements that are governed by mechanistic principles. Edouard Martinet seems to have taken the essence of mechanical philisophy quite literally.



Starting in the early 1990s, his powerfull imagination and artistic skill (he is a teacher of graphic design), combined with a childhood passion for insects and an uncompromising attention to detail, made him able to visualise a discarded piece of junk metal as the missing part of a larger than life mechanically assembled grasshopper or praying mantis.

Using old rusty bicycle parts, tins or whatever other scrap metal or disused object he could find in junkyards, boot sales or second hand shops and antique fairs, Martinet has managed to recreate in extraordinary detail the anatomy of diverse creatures from insects to fish, amphibians and birds.

What makes these sculptures so unique is the feeling that one gets when carefully observing these objects. There is a kind of authority of creation guaranteeing that these mechanical creatures are complete and capable of actually flying, walking, swimming or hopping around based purely on mechanical means. This feeling is probably due to Martinet preferring to use screws, nuts and bolts to join existing original pieces together rather than use welding to intervene and change the actual form of a given object to suit his needs.

Edouard Martinet lives and works in Rennes, France. 

Visit his site here:

Edouard Martinet's site

Can: The Lost Tapes

18 of October 1970. The country is West Germany. You switch on the television and as you wait for it to warm up, the faint humming noise of the tube starts to transform into distant drumming that becomes louder and louder and just as the colourful small yellow and black rhombus patterns fill the screen, a frantic splash of musical beat anounces TETV präsentiert: DAS MILLIONEN SPIEL. It's a film made for the WDR television channel, based on Robert Sheckley's short story "The Prize of Peril". The protagonist of the story takes part in a television reality show where he has to survive being hunted down by a killing squad. If he manages to survive, he can take away one million deutsche mark. If he loses, well, he loses his life. The very distinctive music of the opening titles for this film was created by "Innerspace Productions". Another name for Germany's foremost experimental krautrock band, CAN. 

 

Revisiting these "lost" music fragments of a bygone era in CAN's "The Lost Tapes" 3 LP box, is a treat. Containing recordings spanning probably the most creative period of the band from 1968 to 1973, this archive material manages to convey the whole palette of CAN's music and sound experimentation from ambient textures to 15 minute wild live rock and fusion excursions. Studio doodles and moments of genius, contrasting moments of loose improvisation and tightly controlled segments of lucidity that have even commercial appeal, it's all there.

Czukay's loops in millionenspiel gets the adrenalin flowing as you follow the frantic efforts of the protagonist running for his life. One year after this recording, CAN would also frantically escape the hired killers of commercial aspirations, producing the holy trinity of albums in their catalogue ("Tago Mago" in 1971 broke all barriers of structure, content and feel in music. It was followed in 1972 by "Ege Bamyasi" redefining the word psychedelic and then "Future Days" in 1973 stepping into distorted, avant garde ambient territory). Now, I am not very sure CAN got their reward of one million deutsche mark but they certainly deserved it. They survived and their music sounds as fresh and mind blowing today as it did in the early 70s.   


Listen to:

Can - Millionenspiel

"Casus Belli" (2010) A short film by Yorgos Zois

James Fenton, Two Poems

James Fenton was born in 1949. He is an English contemporary poet who seems to have taken the relay baton from the hands of W.H.Auden himself without slackening the pace. Some people even believe that he is just hitting his stride. But there are quite a few laps to go 'til the finishing line and Fenton's run is likely to provide many more gasps and cries of excitement from the madding crowds. A recent collection of his poems has just been published called "Yellow Tulips". He is credited with saying: "The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation."

God, A Poem (1983)

A nasty surprise in a sandwich,
A drawing-pin caught in your sock,
The limpest of shakes from a hand which
You'd thought would be firm as a rock,

A serious mistake in a nightie,
A grave disappointment all round
Is all that you'll get from th'Almighty,
Is all that you'll get underground.

Oh he said: 'If you lay off the crumpet
I'll see you alright in the end.
Just hang on until the last trumpet.
Have faith in me, chum-I'm your friend.'

But if you remind him, he'll tell you:
'I'm sorry, I must have been pissed-
Though your name rings a sort of a bell. You
Should have guessed that I do not exist.

'I didn't exist at Creation,
I didn't exist at the Flood,
And I won't be around for Salvation
To sort out the sheep from the cud-

'Or whatever the phrase is. The fact is
In soteriological terms
I'm a crude existential malpractice
And you are a diet of worms.

'You're a nasty surprise in a sandwich.
You're a drawing-pin caught in my sock.
You're the limpest of shakes from a hand which
I'd have thought would be firm as a rock,

'You're a serious mistake in a nightie,
You're a grave disappointment all round-
That's all you are, ' says th'Almighty,
'And that's all that you'll be underground.'


In Paris With You

Don't talk to me of love. I've had an earful
And I get tearful when I've downed a drink or two.
I'm one of your talking wounded.
I'm a hostage. I'm maroonded.
But I'm in Paris with you.

Yes I'm angry at the way I've been bamboozled
And resentful at the mess I've been through.
I admit I'm on the rebound
And I don't care where are we bound.
I'm in Paris with you.

Do you mind if we do not go to the Louvre
If we say sod off to sodding Notre Dame,
If we skip the Champs Elysées
And remain here in this sleazy

Old hotel room
Doing this and that
To what and whom
Learning who you are,
Learning what I am.

Don't talk to me of love. Let's talk of Paris,
The little bit of Paris in our view.
There's that crack across the ceiling
And the hotel walls are peeling
And I'm in Paris with you.

Don't talk to me of love. Let's talk of Paris.
I'm in Paris with the slightest thing you do.
I'm in Paris with your eyes, your mouth,
I'm in Paris with... all points south.
Am I embarrassing you?
I'm in Paris with you.

"Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night (1951)

Do not go gentle into that good night
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.  

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Listen to:
Dylan Thomas reciting "Do not go gently into that good night"

"Daytripper" by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá

How do you make sense of life? Is it by examining carefully this journey from infancy until old age looking for common themes or repetitive patterns? Is it by coming to terms with death? Is it by not even thinking about it, just being there, playing the part until the curtain falls? What do you choose to remember and what do you leave behind? What is valuable for you? These are some of the fundamental questions that "Daytripper" tries to tackle. By adopting a unique format of tightly scripted stories of an imaginary life that ends in a different way in each episode, twin brothers Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá have exploited the comic book medium to perfection.

"Daytripper" was initially presented in instalments of individual, independent stories or alternative versions of the life of the main character Bras. This is the first time these stories are collected in one comic book volume and suddenly the whole thing looks like a completed puzzle. We are now able to see for the first time the big picture.

Through these stories we get to meet all the people that are important and play a role in the life of Bras and each one is given a subtle shading of essential everyday behaviour that rings true. And this focus on the everyday, the mundane, the small gestures that we perform unconsciously most of the time, serves a dual purpose. Apart from establishing a connection with the reader who identifies with the narrative situations, it helps unravel the complexity of the questions asked by simplifying the framework and giving value to a distilled essence of the proceedings. 

In a 2010 interview to Zona Negativa, Gabriel Bá said: "- We like to tell stories that would stick with the reader, that would make something click on their heads and not leave instantly after they close the books. This idea of paying attention on what really matters in life has always surrounded our stories, so when we had to come up with a story to propose to Vertigo, this was the one we had more stuff to talk about. We were actually surprised with how personal and deep the story ended up, like we have been thinking about it all our lives, preparing ourselves to tell it."

John Lennon once said that "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" and to manage to put this in a comic book format is quite an achievement.

 

A temporary graffiti invasion in Luxembourg

On John Barrymore's Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde (1921)

“His imagination afire with this new idea, and his whole being mastered by the exploring passion of the scientist, Jekyll spent days and nights in his laboratory.”

The scene is set for the transformation of John Barrymore from the kind and considerate Dr Jekyll to the ghastly and bestial Mr Hyde. In 1921, when the film was shot at Paramount's Long Island studio in New York, Barrymore was also appearing on stage in the evenings as Shakespeare’s Richard III. One can only imagine Barrymore's King Richard with a slight explosive pinch of Mr Hyde in the mix. No wonder Barrymore collapsed from nervous exhaustion at the time and was taken to the White Plains sanatorium.

So when Dr Jekyll pours the last ingredient into the glass, there is apprehension and a moment of fear. The doctor has second thoughts. He leaves the glass on the table and steps back. But like a magnet, the glass is drawing him back. He wants to know. He wants to prove them wrong. The scientist takes over and clenching his fist he drinks the potion in one go. The effects are immediate. The liquid burns through his throat and he starts to twist and shake from violent convulsions and spasms. His face, up to now hidden in his hands, slowly emerges and you see the change. The whiteness, the stare, the rigidity. His face is turning into a japanese demon mask. The eyes seem frozen on something beyond and the hands are twisted. Then the camera zooms into one hand resting on a book. We witness its gradual transformation into an elongated skeletal hand with nails like claws. Dr Jekyll, or the creature he has become, looks at this hand and at that point there is a moment of reflection. It's a moment that fills him with horror followed by a feeling of power and elation in view of the absolute freedom to indulge in every imaginable vice and crime with no regard for the consequences. He heads for the door unlocking this new world of forbidden experience. A kind of "Zone Libre". The dark world of Mr Hyde.     

Now Robert Louis Stevenson mentioned the first name of Mr Hyde as being Edward in his 1886 novella "Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde". But some pertain that "Jack" would be a more suitable name. Not least because two years later some strange chap started committing hideous murders in London and called himself Jack the Ripper. Jack the Ripper seemed also to have an alter ego and most agree that he could have been a doctor.  

So from the dark Whitechapel alleys of 1888 to Paramount's Long Island Studio in 1921 where John Barrymore is having a well needed rest in between takes for the new silent film "Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde". He sits reading what he has to do for the next scene. From where he will enter, where the camera will be standing, when to look into the light and so on. But he has trouble concentrating. King Richard the III's words are still buzzing in his head: 

"I cannot tell: the world is grown so bad,
That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch:
Since every Jack became a gentleman,
There's many a gentle person made a Jack."

It's suddenly all too much for him and exhausted he sees the lights go out one by one. He cannot resist this welcoming, irresistible darkness and faints. Cut.

Ένας δίκαιος μέσα στις πόλεις του χαμού

Ένα απόσπασμα από το βιβλίο του Χρήστου Μαλεβίτση “Οι Παράκτιοι άνθρωποι”, εκδόσεις Ευθύνη, 2002:

"... Τώρα κλαίνε μόνο τα παιδιά. Άλλοτε κλαίγανε και οι ομηρικοί ήρωες. Αλήθεια, πότε κλαίει κανείς; Κλαίει όταν υπάρχει ένα μέγα κέρδος ή μια μεγάλη απώλεια. Και τι θα πει μεγάλο κέρδος ή μεγάλη απώλεια; Θα πει πως δίνεις υπέρτατη αξία σε ορισμένα συμβάντα. Και τι θα πει δίνεις υπέρτατη αξία; Θα πει πως από αυτά εξαρτάς τη μοίρα σου, την ίδια σου την αξία, που κινδυνεύει να εκπέσει σε απαξία, σε τίποτα. Άρα για να δώσεις αξία σε ορισμένα συμβάντα, πρέπει να νιώθεις σίγουρος. Και δεν νιώθεις σίγουρος, μόνο όταν βρίσκεσαι στην ακρογιαλιά. Όταν αντιμετωπίζεις τον επίφοβο ωκεανό. Κλαίνε οι παράκτιοι. Οι ηπειρωτικοί δεν κλαίνε. Αλλά αυτό θα πει πως ο ηπειρωτικός κόσμος, ο κόσμος της σιγουριάς δεν έχει αξίες. Τις αξίες της ζωής τις τρυγάς από τις ακρώρειες των αβύσσων. Με τον έσχατο κίνδυνο. Είναι το κέρδος από τον κίνδυνο της έσχατης απώλειας. Μόνο άνθρωποι που κινδύνεψαν έδωσαν αξίες στον κόσμο. Αξία είναι η κερδισμένη απώλεια, τη στιγμή του κέρδους, όχι κατόπιν. Η ελευθερία, π.χ. είναι αξία τη στιγμή που την αποκτάς από τον θάνατο. Η ελευθερία υπάρχει μόνο ως ¨Ελευθερία ή Θάνατος¨. Μόνη ελευθερία δεν νοήται. Γι΄αυτό και η ελευθερία στις σύγχρονες κοινωνίες κινδυνεύει, διότι είναι ελευθερία κληρονομημένη, είναι ελευθερία της σιγουριάς, της ενδοχώρας. Της χώρας όπου εξέλειψαν οι αξίες. Οι αξίες ανταλάσσονται με την απώλεια. Στην ενδοχώρα οι αξίες ανταλλάσσονται πάλι με αξίες. Αλλά αυτό μπορεί να συμβεί μόνο με οικονομικές αξίες. Δηλαδή οι αξίες της ενδοχώρας ανταλλάσσονται με χρήμα. Και ο έρωτας. Και όλοι οι έρωτες. Υπαρχει μια γενική εξίσωση. Όλα ανταλλάσσονται. Δεν νοήται απώλεια. Αλλά ούτε και κέρδος. Οι σύγχρονοι ηπειρώτες ανταλλάσσουν ασμένως την ελευθερία τους με υλικά αγαθά. Εξισώνουν την ελευθερία τους με τόσο τοις εκατό αύξηση του βιοτικού επιπέδου τους. Το συμβόλαιο της ανταλλαγής λέγεται “σκοπιμότητα”. Σκοπιμότητα δε θα πει σκοπός. Θα πει μετάθεση του σκοπού στο μέλλον. Θα πει δρόμος προς έναν μελλοντικό σκοπό. Τούτο θα πει πως οι άνθρωποι δεν ζουν άμεσα αλλά έμμεσα. Το παρόν είναι το μέσον. Δηλαδή ζουν το εκάστοτε παρόν προσωρινά. Αυτή η “προσωρινοποίηση” της ζωής, είναι ο μέγιστος ευνουχισμός της. Σημάινει πως η ζωή απεκδύθη την αμεσότητα της, και συμμορφώθηκε με τον εξωτερικό φυσικό χρόνο, τον μαθηματικά ισομερή, ομοιόμορφο και γραμμικό χρόνο. Δεν ζει το έσχατο κάθε στιγμή, αλλά έθεσε το έσχατο στην εσχατιά του φυσικού χρόνου, που ποτέ δεν έρχεται. Και η πλήρωση έγινε οριστικά ανεκπλήρωτη. Διότι ο φυσικός χρόνος δεν έχει πλήρωση, δεν έχει τέρμα. Η πλήρωση, που είναι η ύψιστη ολοκλήρωση, η ύψιστη αλήθεια, αφ΄ης έγινε ανεκπλήρωτη, μετατράπη σε ψεύδος. Αυτή είναι η ολοκληρωτική παράδοση στην επιπέδωση της ενδοχώρας, η πλήρης εξωτερικοποίηση...” 

Δημοσιεύτηκε για πρώτη φορά στο τεύχος 339 του περιοδικού “Ευθύνη”