When Frederick Exley met the parents

Frederick Exley's best known book is called "A Fan's Notes" and it was first published in 1968. It's a singular book mostly about Exley's own experiences and failures from asylums to YMCAs, to failed relationships, to alcohol addictions and American football. Exley's writing is at it's best, when in a dramatic context, with a few words he turns the situation on it's head and makes the whole thing sound hilarious. Take for example this excerpt from the book when he is somehow forced to meet the parents of his girlfriend.   

"... In the end Bunny even insisted that I make the trip to the suburbs to face her parents. It was this meeting that ended everything.
   The Allorgees lived in a suburb of a suburb, their particular little suburb being Heritage Heights. It was a suburb that had apparently never caught on. The streets were all there, but there was only one house, Allorgees' Acres, a great, white, one-storied, rambling ranch-type place in which everything from garage to game room to hot-water heater was found on the single story that shot out in all sorts of clapboard arms, like the spokes of a wagon wheel. "The Heights" was not on any height at all; this was the American Midwest at its most grotesque, treeless and cold-looking as far as the eye could see, so that it only seemed set on high ground. There was only one thing that broke the endless blue monotony of the heavens - a television aerial that rose so high that it dizzied one to look up at it, an aerial which, I was proudly informed, put the Allorgees on certain clear days in contact with all parts of the Republic. It was a touching monument to their isolation. In answer to my question about its astounding height, Chuck (or Poppy) - as the father was interchangeably designated - said only that he liked "good reception".
  That was the only thing I remember Chuck, or Poppy, saying for the entire weekend. The rest of his communication with me consisted of an outrageous wink, a wink that distressed me so much that after a time I began to wonder if I ought not to pop Chuckie, or Chuck Poppy..."

"Duel" - A song by Brigitte Fontaine (feat. Jacques Higelin)

Brigitte Fontaine has been at the forefront of the french avant-garde from the early 1960s until today. During her long career she has mostly divided her talent between theatre and music. Her latest album (dating March 2011) consists mainly of duets. It is entitled "L'un n'empêche pas l'autre". From that album allow me to propose an extraordinary track which she sings with her old pal Jacques Higelin. The name of the song is "Duel".

When I first listened to this song I was captivated by the very theatrical atmosphere that slowly builds into the theme. From the lyrics, one understands that this song is about a duel. The two duelists, a man and a woman, meet under the orange tree blossoms and cautiously measure each other whilst at the same time trying to intimidate and destabilize their opponent. Almost at once, I had this image of samurai warriors circling each other while orange blossoms are falling all around them. It could very well have been a scene by the famous Japanese director Kurosawa. Then, you realise that it's not samurai warriors but a magician and a witch locked in mortal combat. A Merlin against a Morgana duel to the death, bronze against steel. The fight begins and the duelists change forms and exchange insults and threats. But soon we discover that there is an admiration and even a secret love between these two, for when the battle reaches its peak, the insults are transformed into erotic words and the two warriors are consumed not by their weapons or their magic tricks but by their passion for one another. So after all, not samurai warriors, not witches and magicians, but just a man and a woman and their erotic passion. In eight minutes, Brigitte Fontaine manages to combine music and theatre in one truly beautiful song.              

Listen to:

Brigitte Fontaine (featuring Jacques Higelin) - Duel

Django Reinhardt: Three-Fingered Lightning

"The Balloon" A short story by Donald Barthelme

This particular story by Donald Barthelme is a perfect example of the power of the written word. How a writer, in just a few pages, can provide a completely fantastic setting, make it sound true, leave you guessing until the end, play games with your mind. From the first sentence, you are presented with an absurd situation. A balloon is expanding in fairytale proportions covering a whole city under it. The writer seems to be in control of this balloon "installation" as much as he is in control of this short story. We are left in the dark as to the meaning of this phenomenon. What we have throughout the story are the technicalities and the reactions of the people of the city to the balloon. The idea brings to my mind the art installations of Christo and Jeanne-Claude where whole buildings are wrapped and presented in their naked form or mass as a pure object. In the story, the writer is very careful not to say more than is needed and you are left wondering, as the story goes on, where and especially how it will all end. I will not spoil the story by giving its conclusion. Suffice it to say that the writing of Donald Barthelme, this master of the short story, should be rediscovered and reassessed.    

Read the story here... (pdf link)

David Uzochukwu: The coming of age of a talented photographer

Some say that ever since photography became digital, it has lost a lot of its magic. When something becomes easy, it starts to slip into the mundane, it becomes repetitive and loses slowly its power as a creative tool. And then, one day, someone comes and rediscovers the hidden potential and the endless possibilities. Someone comes and makes photography difficult again by making it seem effortless. I think it's time I introduced you to David.   

David Ejikeme Uzochukwu is a clever kid.

David Ejikeme Uzochukwu is good at school.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu reads a lot.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu shows signs of maturity way beyond his age.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu has an imagination that knows no bounds. 
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu has a curious spirit.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu looks for ways to express his sensitivity.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu starts to observe carefully.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu discovers photography.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu understands the rules and wants to break them.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu begins to experiment.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu learns the tricks of the trade. 
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu possesses a natural sense of frame and composition.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu decides to re-invent color.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu works equally well with black and white.  
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu discovers the power of the portrait.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu starts to unravel the poetry of the lens.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu begins to understand texture.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu is now taking his first steps into Photography.
David Ejikeme Uzochukwu is just 14 years old. 

And the world should now take note of this boy with the strange name. This is only the beginning...
  

To find the work and follow the progress of David Uzochukwu, please visit one of the following links:

David's site

Flickr

Tumbir

The Tiger Lillies perform "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

This is a match made in heaven, or rather... hell for that matter. The Tiger Lillies performing "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This dark, epic poem of the 18th century has been brought to life through the perverted aural delicacies of Martyn Jacques and Co. and the stunning virtual world of photographer and cinema artist Mark Holthusen. For an hour and a half you follow this dark story from the icy cold waters of the Antarctic to the burning flames of hell. After having killed an albatros that had safely guided the ship in the treacherous southern waters, the mariner suffers the revenge of the spirit world who unleash their wrath on the ship. Death comes for the mariner's companions as one by one they perish from thirst and exhaustion. The irony is not lost to Coleridge who writes:


"Water, water, everywhere
And all the boards did shrink 
Water, water, everywhere 
Not any drop to drink". 




By projecting filmed segments on a transparent screen, Mark Holthusen creates a magical, fairytale world that can quickly turn into a nightmare that brings to life the famous wood engravings of Gustave Doré. Sublime creatures can be seen floating around the Tiger Lillies whose decadent and macabre delivery is often interlaced with black humor and existentialist reverie. 




Adrian Stout does not limit himself to playing the double bass. He produces the strangest of sounds on the musical saw and the theremin, creating an ever shifting background on which the inventive percussion effects of Mike Pickering and the piano and bandoneon of Martyn Jacques can bring out the full glory of this, Soho with a litle pinch of pre-war Berlin, dark cabaret act. Coleridge, who fostered a lifelong addiction to opium would certainly have approved of this at times surreal, provocative and avant-garde rendition of his all time classic of romantic literature.

A special version of "Berlin" by Lou Reed

In 2001, the release of the initially bootlegged album "Lou Reed: An American Poet", captured Lou Reed live at the Hempstead Theatre, New York on Boxing Day 26 December 1972. Hidden in the setlist there is a jewel version of the song "Berlin" from his first self titled album. Lou Reed went on to re-record the song with a different arrangement, one year later, for his 1973 album "Berlin". But this version, the live one, the badly recorded one, is for me one of the best that he ever recorded. The lyrics of the song say at one point "...you could hear the guitars play / It was very nice / it was paradise / You're right and I'm wrong / hey babe, I'm gonna miss you now that you're gone". And that says it all.

Listen to:
Lou Reed - Berlin(Live)

"Ο Ηθοποιός" Ένα ποίημα της Ματίνας Μόσχοβη

"The Return" A short animated film by Natalia Chernysheva

A sweet and short animated film about the change and difference of perspective between a child and an adult. But memory, when it's triggered by direct experience, is capable of dissolving this kind of difference and in an instant, a magical instant, the adult becomes the child once again.
   

Le retour from Natalia Chernysheva on Vimeo.

"Permanently" A poem by Kenneth Koch (1925 - 2002)

"Permanently"
 by Kenneth Koch


One day the Nouns were clustered in the street.

An Adjective walked by, with her dark beauty.

The Nouns were struck, moved, changed.

The next day a Verb drove up, and created the Sentence.



Each Sentence says one thing—for example, “Although it was a dark rainy day when

the Adjective walked by, I shall remember the pure and sweet expression on her face

until the day I perish from the green, effective earth."

Or, “Will you please close the window, Andrew?”

Or, for example, “Thank you, the pink pot of flowers on the window sill has changed color

recently to a light yellow, due to the heat from the boiler factory which exists nearby.”



In the springtime the Sentences and the Nouns lay silently on the grass.

A lonely Conjunction here and there would call, “And! But!”

But the Adjective did not emerge.



As the Adjective is lost in the sentence,

So I am lost in your eyes, ears, nose, and throat—

You have enchanted me with a single kiss

Which can never be undone

Until the destruction of language