The TWELFTH
NIGHT 'VOICES IN THE NIGHT' Double CD is now available on Cyclops
Records. The album of previously unreleased material, includes
3 of the earliest Twelfth Night tracks written and performed with 'Electra',
in that brief, but glittering period when she was their
lyricist/vocalist - as unlikely a pairing as you'll get. If you like the
words 'CHALK' and 'CHEESE' and PROG' and 'ROCK' in the same sentence, you'll
like this. So, GO get it NOW! [READ the SLEEVE
NOTES] [Hey, don't you guys owe me a Royalty cheque???!!!! ] .. and my
dignity back?????..... Some things ARE
PRICELESS.
AUGUST-
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2008.. Oh F*CK ME>. IT's already
DECEMBER!! no, now JANUARY 2009! -
- California Dreaming
Wed
31 Dec 2008 into 1 January 2009- MGCK Music New
Year's Eve to New Year's Day
New
Year's Resolutions (or Intentions): I'm
not fucking it up again. Next year, (well 2009!) I'm going home. I'm
going back to New York.. at LEAST for New Year's Eve. Times Square,
as always, was rockin' last night and makes me weep missing it. Some lucky
f*cker captured this evocative video of the last minute to midnight.
My
New Year's Eve: We were supposed to drive over to a Ceilidh in a
Castle in Argyll... but when I woke at 10am on Wednesday, the last place I
wanted to be was in a car, driving for 4 hours and then, in a Ceilidh, drinking
for the following 8. So.. we decided to stay home, stay in... drink a case
of Cava, watch the Edinburgh Castle fireworks from our living room window and, of course... feed the foxes. That's what I did with my New
Year's Eve.. and you know what? It was spectacular: cozy, warm, lovely
and I got to listen to the music I wanted to hear (I'm not crazy about the
Ceilidh tunes) and the foxes (three young ones) were so grateful and
lovely waiting patiently for their smoked salmon and chicken legs. (ok.. I
spoil them, but it's New Years.)
So
that was that...along with the news I'll be heading back to the States in this
next month. So...Venice and St Petersburg will have to wait!!! Things turn
on a dime and then your back again....somewhere else. Carpe Diem.. make
the most of every moment. And be very careful what you wish for... you
just might get it. I usually do!
GOOD
TIMES by Kingsley Amis
They
only move who travel far,
So
whisk me off down roads unsigned
And
take me where the good times are,
Whizz
past the dance-hall and the bar;
All
muffled contact must be blind.
They
only move who travel far.
Borsch,
pate, filthy caviar,
Say
I’ve respectfully declined,
And
take me where the good times are.
The
social round – Martell, cigar,
Talk
about talk – is social grind;
They
only move who travel far.
Install
me dozing in the car,
Wined,
dined but still unconcubined,
And
take me where the good times are.
Lush
pastures of the cinema
Will
be demanded, once defined,
They
only move who travel far.
Fear
– indigestion, guilt – catarrh –
If
these exist, leave them behind
And
take me where the good times are.
Tell
me, will movement make or mar?
Then
root my body, tell my mind
They
only move who travel far
And
take me where the good times are.
-------------------------------------
Wed
24 - Thurs 25 Dec 2008 in Liverpool- MGCK Music Holi-days
Midnight
Mass at Liverpool Metro RC Cathedral. I've never been to a midnight mass and
I'm not a Catholic (or any other particular faith for that matter) but I
would recommend this splendid (decidedly spacey!) ritual to anyone. Incredible visuals,
incredible music and voice (Liverpool RC Cathedral choir), incredibly positive messages, all the
christmas carols you can sing (plus the Latin Mass) and an incredible sense of 'lightness of being'
throughout... maybe there's something in it after all.
On Christmas Day we
roamed around the waterfront, incredibly built up during Liverpool's 'European
Capital
City of Culture' Year. A plethora of new luxury apartment buildings, museums, shopping
malls the size of football stadiums, perfect pavement with little blue lights,
green parks, gorgeous views; constructing the future everywhere..... What they've done in a
year is incredible. Albert Docks, Liverpool One, all of the inner city is
beautiful.
Rodin's 'The Kiss'
viewed (sadly) through the Tate Gallery windows (closed on Christmas Day)
me
Christmas people
with a can of beer
Liverpool
Legend - Billy Fury - dead at the age of 42 - living fast and leaving an
enviable statue.
A building I liked
at Albert Docks - must be an old Customs & Excise house.
Another building I
liked on James Street... it just caught my eye... it's age, lead-paned windows and the the colour of
the stone...
Newly
planted birch trees adorn the park at Liverpool One
The
new meets the old
The
Pig and Whistle, lamentably closed on Christmas Day
JM having a drink in
the Lobby of our hotel - the ONLY place open, before we headed off for
Christmas dinner with family and friends
A sculpture in the
hotel lobby
Moi in the ladies
room
The design on my
Guns N' Roses wellies - a bit more 'Day of The Dead' than Christmas Day.
the wellies
themselves later on
'Follow
the blue brick road...' The perfect pavement inset with blue lights the wellies
got to walk down.
A
drive-by of the walls of Walton
Prison remind you it's not all happy holidays
A few days of too
much food and drink and then the road North, at this point taking us towards Shap
Pass and beyond.
They
looked tired. Like they've been on the road awhile and the audience wasn't
exactly enough
or the night before was a little too
much. Like it was just
another gig in a far-flung place on a map and on their itinerary ("Hmmmm
Skot Land. Aint' that near Skandinavia?) Still.. they warmed up nicely as
they went along. THE DRUMMER WAS, no IS superb.. deceptively simplistic and
TIGHT as a drum. I don't' know anyone's names.. apart from Courtney Taylor
Taylor Love Courtney! (somethin' like that) who writes, plays, psychs and sings
it. The use of a very crafty 'light panel' on the back wall beautifully
blurred the band members in waves of colour kinda like an early Fillmore
light-show and f*cked my camera completely out of focus. JM said they
sounded like Hawkwind! (A great compliment about their sheer 'sonic' and
psychadelic-ness.) I liked the gig, but didn't 'love' it. But what I do love is
the, 'This is it, this is our art, take it, leave it,
shove it up your butt!' attitude and their 'oh
shit, here's the hit' ennui when they delivered the crowd-craved
favourite 'Bohemian Like You'. Yes, I'm a sucker and I
LOVE that song like a million other people.. I believe Jack Kerouac and Moriarty
would tear down endless highways trying to find it on the radio, but I
understand... they get a little tired playing it every night.
So
anyway.. that was last night. The ABC? Nice venue by the way.
Very tidy. Nice size. Glasgow? Bigger than Edinburgh
(much broader - I mean a highway runs through it), but still... too far North
for me. Make up your own mind. I think Andy woulda like them
just fine.
and
the trip home....
[vid
clip of Dandy Warhols @ ABC1 Glasgow, 15 Dec 2008 and photo of Miller's Eye on
Sauchiehall Street courtesy Moi!]
-----------------------------------------
Mon
15 Dec 2008- MGCK MusicBe
careful what you wish for!
You
just might get it.... well kinda.. it's not exactly what I had in mind. but
still.. a gift from Regular, so I
won't look it in the mouth.
Back
in September.. I was apoplectic with anguish that I was leaving San Francisco
and the Dandys were playing The Warfield
(perfect gig site for them) on 4 October. And a quick check of their tour
schedule and it looked like they were headed to Australia after that.
Well.. it's odd, but they're here in the UK and tonight I'm seeing them.
I
have mixed feelings. I love this band. But I really want to see them
in an 'indigenous' off-it's-head great psychedelic gig location, like San
Francisco... or maybe even TO-KY-O!
And
I've never been in the ABC (... did I see SAHB there?).... hmmmm... nice
club if that's the case, but I don't know if I can sneak my camera in.
Then again.. I'd never get
my camera into The Warfield. It may have to be a mobile phone job.
Disappointing, but there ya go.
Last
Saturday night I went out to The Shore to have a coupla drinks with a
friend back from Moscow. The same friend who was in Russian class with me
for three years and two years ago told me, 'Russia is an adventure that would
last you the rest of your life!' I almost believed him. Я
почти верилa
ему!
So..
anyway... he's singing a different tune these days.
Ужасный! ... or in a language you may
understand: "APPALLING!" That's what he's saying now. He
wants out. Wants to move to the south of France. The things I see,
hear and read about going on, on this island and the rest of Europe and the
stories he tells me about day to day life in Moscow, make me realise there is
only one place to live and that's MENDOCINO!!!! or Hawaii.. my best friend John,
in San Fran says he's running away to live in Hawaii. He doesn't care if
he has to bag groceries at Safeway. He's going.
Anyway...
after I left The Shore and walked around the corner on Bernard Street,
I was Shanghai'd by 'the lads' and ferried into a dark and dismal pub place,
which turned out to be a lot of fun. A little too much fun. I like
the company of men. They shout and stomp and bark at the moon. Get
off their heads and go crazy. Let nothing hold them back or down when the
spirits and the chemicals take them. I like that kind of night out.
Women are a little too 'circumspect' and way too SELF-CONSCIOUS to spend a
Saturday night with. But 'the boys'.. yes.. they're a whole lotta fun.
As I said, too much fun.. and when I finally got home around 4am to the warm
arms of JM, who was so busy writing new music in the back studio, he never even
noticed I was gone! Anyway... the long and the short of it. I lost a
day, Sunday.. yesterday... I lost a whole day not feeling too good after the
fact. Sick as a dog actually, all day long. There must be a moral to
the story.. but I have none.. myth-spent youth runs to a simple desire to never
let the party stop.. Once you know what the party's like, I mean.
...
that night brings to mind one of my FAVOURITE POEMS EVER!!!:
the
boys i mean are not refined by E. E. Cummings
the
boys i mean are not refined
they go with girls who buck and bite
they do not give a fuck for luck
they hump them thirteen times a night
one hangs a hat upon her tit
one carves a cross on her behind
they do not give a shit for wit
the boys i mean are not refined
they come with girls who bite and buck
who cannot read and cannot write
who laugh like they would fall apart
and masturbate with dynamite
the boys i mean are not refined
they cannot chat of that and this
they do not give a fart for art
they kill like you would take a piss
they speak whatever's on their mind
they do whatever's in their pants
the boys i mean are not refined
they shake the mountains when they dance!
They
certainly do.-----------------------------------
Remember:
"Any society that would give up a
little liberty to gain a little security shall deserve neither and lose
both." Benjamin Franklin.
Mon
17 Nov 2008- MGCK MusicCome
Back Music Business!!
All
Is Forgiven!!!
"The music business is a cruel and shallow
money trench; a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and
good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." --
Hunter S. Thompson
Yes...
the negative side is THE AMATEUR Music Business....!
I
have to agree with Hunter S... But apart from the glamorous glass and steel hallways of the major
labels, (that any smart musician WISHES he/she could get inside of), there's the
'OTHER' music business. The one handled 'locally' by amateurs. The
one running riot in the world right now. The music business taken back by
THE PEOPLE! For THE PEOPLE!!! Which is, in many ways, more of a fuck-up
and ultimately more dangerous to a career in music than the vicious
throat-cutting cowboys that the majors ever were. At least the
throat-cutting cowboys kept RECORDS! I.e. sales, percentages, royalties
due.. or in many cases, NOT DUE TO YOU!!! because you'd cut a lousy deal and
signed on the wrong bottom line. But still, they kept records.
Records you could request. Records that were regulated by bodies such as
ASCAP, MCPS, PRS, PPL. Lotsa bodies looking after every single unit of
your music, recorded, played, sold. Looking after your agreed publishing
and performance cuts.
Now,
what we've got is an amateur 'music business' taken into the hands of the bands
and the artists and their friends. Downloads and CD's sold at gigs.
Airplay on internet stations which demand the 'artist' have NO AFFILIATIONS -
i.e. no ASCAP or PRS or MCPS membership. Nobody to report to that
the station played your song and you are due a premium. This amateur side
of things is being touted as the greatest thing for the artist since the
invention of the multi-track mixing desk. Puts the power and THE MONEY IMMEDIATELY
in the artists' hands. Yes.. as long as you're only selling 4 copies of
your CD at a gig and all the band members can take a quid from the proceeds
there and then. Otherwise, how is the money collected? WHO collects it,
WHO divvies it up and WHO disburses it to songwriters and band members?
Who works out the overheads: recording costs and costs of artwork, materials (jewelcase
and liners).. just the man-hours involved in the creation of the finished
product; the administration of the task: WHO WORKS THAT OUT? And alongside
this laissez-faire nonsense is a great sense that because it's this new
revolutionary Bolshevik universe of communal music, that a lot of it should just
be given away or let 'slip' away. Free internet radio play. Free
downloads. Free Free Free.
This
has been a talking point in my blogs before, but I'm getting a real belly full
of it in the last year or two with the release of a CD with 3 of my songs on
it. The 'independent' record label and distributor of the CD and
the 'administrator' of the CD's design and compilation (a previous band member)
went to all kinds of lengths to appear to be professional. Contracts were
meticulously gone over, detailed, etc before signing. Artwork was sent
around to be OK'd. It all looked 'acceptable' up front, except for the demand
that the MCPS (MechanicalCopyright 'Protection'Society)
not be advised or gone through to 'license' the CD. That
they would do it themselves. Barcode it and launch it out there on the
internet in this brave new world.
OK..
I didn't really want to do it their way.. but ultimately, it was only 3 songs
and they were crap and I was paid some remuneration up front. OK.. that's
fine.. but here we are 1 and a half years later. I can go to various
internet sites and see this album for sale, for MUCH MORE now than the initial
agreed retail price that we the band-members/songwriters signed contracts for an agreed
percentage-split of. And I have never, to date, seen any kind of
accounting for units sold, as normally delivered by the MCPS
1.1
"Accounting Period" means every three calendar month period commencing
with the date of the first day of the month in which the invoice referred to in
clause 4.8 is issued.
And/or, god forbid, any
record of radio play of any tracks on the album, which I assure you, this
particular Kabala of indie-Label and Administrator would have been pushing and
hoping for.
So
.. now what's happened? As of this past week, another person has wriggled out of
the woodwork describing himself as the band's 'approved Biographer'. He
wants to ask me some questions. I say to him, ' I'm not too happy with
this band at the moment. I've never received any accounting of album sales
or radio play and it's entirely possible (though entirely my own fault) that
they may be owing me some money at this time. So, really, apart from the
fact they were always VERY DULL.. I have nothing to say about them.
So,
I think the point of this blog is to shout: ""Oh MY GOD, for the days
of the real music business!!!!!!"" Real Cutthroat Bastard
Executives and Managers, Real labels. Real Publishers.
Real Radio Play. Real timelines, goalposts and REALA&R
MENandWOMEN!!! [[Jesus, they're the ones I miss
most. My KINGDOM for a GOOD A&R Person!]] Yes, THEM. The people responsible for
'ARTISTDEVELOPMENT'. When was the
last time you heard those two words together in the same sentence? The people who
meticulously would review the proposed songs for an album, i.e.
YOUR REPERTOIRE and worked with you - The ARTIST on the
development and production of those tracks. Oh for CLIVE
DAVIS, the ultimate A&R man. And the GREAT
Producers. Where are they now? As every band or 'artist' whacks
together an album of sloppy, under-produced and under-detailed tracks in their
bedrooms or some cheap studio. Which is fine.. in the short
run.. It's fine for 2 or three albums to launch yourself out there
on the ether, to develop your own sound and approach. It's fine to begin
that way, surfing along at street level. But when 300,000 bands remain at
'street level' for what constitutes the entirety of their 'music' careers,
something tells me a lot of people have day jobs.
and
a lot of music ends up forgotten and trashed like this disk
I found on Market Street in San Francisco.
So,
yes, please.. bring back the bad old days of the REAL Music Business.
And I'll add here, for all the propaganda, the REAL business, currently,
is not so much on it's last legs. It's making more money on fewer
artists and it won't EVER invest again the way it used to in 'artistdevelopment', preferring to leave the great unwashed out there on
the OUTSIDE. So go ahead... DIY your own music and tour dates and
publicity - Lucky you! - In other words, to not really have a music career.
--------------------------------
Anyway..
being a Serious Voyager.. I fell in love with the journey of the SIRIUS
VOYAGER as she exited San Francisco Bay and headed into the setting
sun. We drove across the Bridge, through the Presidio, down past Baker
Beach to Ocean Beach and caught her as she headed out to open sea in the setting
sun.
LIVE
@ The Picture House, Edinburgh, Scotland. The ARENA album tour.
I
went to this gig last night in Edinburgh, not expecting it to even touch the sides of
TheGreat American Music Hall gig last 6 July in San Francisco - but man...
'Todd the God'... It was
better. All so tight. His VOICE WAS INCREDIBLE. For
me.. Todd sings 250% better at this time in his life than he ever did as a young
man. His guitar playing is superb and as another music critic (Mr Dead
Earnest) put it in a text to me this morning. 'It was heaven for
me. Pure rock n roll primeval raw sex and power!!!" Yes
indeed. Todd is sexy. I think
so anyway. He can come over any time... or better.. he CAN TAKE ME BACK TO
CALIFORNIA WITH HIM. PLEEEEEEEEZ TODDDDD! Anyway.. The Picture
House staff threatened to expel me after telling me twice to stop filming, but,
hey.. I'm a determined girl. This video track 'MOUNTAINTOP' is my favourite from the
ARENA album, along with 'Bardo' as in 'the last Bardo....'
I believe it's a perfect song. Especially if you've
lost someone recently. JM loves COURAGE and WEAKNESS.
They're all great. The ONLY thing missing from this night for me?
Somehow, here in the UK people take the 'No Smoking' message literally in
these venues. In California, they know it only means 'No CIGARETTES!'
i.e. TheGreat American Music Hall was a bit like the inside of a
giant BONG!
Anyway..
for your delectation...the uniquely talented Todd Rundgren:
[video
clip courtesy of Moi! Electra 7 Nov 2008]
Fri
7 Nov 2008- MGCK MusicMellowing on the good news
I'm very pleased for all of the individuals of Afro-American descent and those who claim ‘mixed race’ status -
for all people of
colour who feel one of their own has finally broken the glass (or cast-iron
ceiling) and ascended to the highest office in the land, but really, as a woman, I’ve been waiting
for a ray of Hope my whole life long. FINALLY, the end of the reign of the
Stupid White Man (tho' there’s a lot of them still around). I’ve been
waiting all my life to see white men toppled from their complete grip on
boardrooms, businesses and the presidency. I’ve been waiting for a world that
says, ‘there is no entitlement, only what you earn as a human being,
regardless of race, sex, background….’ Believe it or not.. me.. who’s
lived her whole life on the coattails of ‘entitlement’ wants to see hard
work and humanism get the kudos. Speaking of Stupid White Men, I was
watching snippets
of our Ex-US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton’s cuddly brand of Nazism on
YouTube. The guy actually told Tony Benn something to the effect, no matter how
messed up we’ve made Iraq, the Iraqis are ‘LUCKY’ to ‘live in a country
without a dictator’. No.. really, they’re lucky to live in a country without
John Bolton, ‘though I hear he sometimes visits.
Speaking of ‘other’
white guys who are not so stupid…TONIGHT is
Todd Rundgren @The Picture House
on Lothian
Road, Edinburgh. I will try to take my camera. Dress it up as a toy poodle or
something.
It's
also my brother's birthday, so Happy Birthday to him and Happy BIrthday to all
other Scorpios out there.
-------------------------------------
Wed
5 Nov 2008- MGCK MusicThank God for
Pennsylvania...
and
Virginia, and Ohio, and New Hampshire and Nevada, and Colorado and New Mexico
and South Carolina and Florida and all of the people who really 'thought about
it' long and hard before they cast their ballots. For the first time in
YEARS as an American living abroad, I am completely and totally and
'ecstatically' PROUD to be an American out in the world. The world feels
'safer' today. Thanks to all of you who voted, for helping to create this
new feeling. This new possibility.
[Postscript:
Wow... I'm feeling so pleased and generous on this beautiful November 5th
morning... I'm feeling such 'largesse' that I might even consider SLEEPING with
a Republican!!!! Not today.. but maybe in the future.. should the right one come
along.]
I
watched the Neil Young/Stephen Stills generated documentary last night about the
CSNY 'Living
With War' album tour in 2006. Very interesting. On the back of that,
I went searching on the net today for more information about the 'Living with
War' website and found a wonderful little video on YouTube: Neil
Young giving a most patient and eloquent lesson on 'Patriotism' and the 'right
of Free Speech' to a CNN 'Showbiz Tonight' LA media bimbo. A more
bizarre and odd couple you couldn't sew together... but as one YouTube watcher
stated. "She needed to interview him, because she needed to
learn." or as the Buddhists say, 'when the student is ready, the
teacher appears."
We're
getting closer and closer to Tuesday. Vote your conscience. Vote for
the truth.
Quote
for the Day: "There is nothing so difficult in all human
affairs as to change the established order of things, because the people who
will lose are certain of their loss, while those who will benefit are uncertain
of their gain Nicolo Machiavelli - 'The Prince'
Apparently,
my 'I Will Not Sleep With A Republican' button hit a HOT button with some people
on MySpace. I sent it out as a bulletin and got back some advice that
first, I'm an idiot creating division amongst people (well maybe people who take
everything literally) and second, no self-respecting Republican would want to
sleep with me! (no irony there), and third I should sleep only with my boyfriend
or husband and keep my dirty diseases to myself! (a new social health plan in
development - quarantine!) I could say 'touche' and if only the 'new' REPUBLICANS would keep their current mindset to themselves, we'd all sleep a lot
safer.
But
I have to ask, when did the Republican Party get hi-jacked by the Special
'Interest' Parties? In it's inception (mid 1800's) it was the party for
abolition and women's rights.. a lot of good things.. so WHAT HAPPENED?
How did we arrive at the last 40 years dotted with a 'Nixon', a 'Reagan', a
whole gaggle of 'Bush's' and now a candidate called 'McCain'? All
war-mongers, all special interests kowtowers and protectors of the moneyed
'Elite' versus the wage-slaves. Add to that, in the last 2 decades they've
become the party of the far right SUPER EVANGELISTS. The party that
brought the words 'Creationism', 'Armageddon' and 'Rapture' into schoolrooms and
into context as a modern possibility. How did this happen? It's a
fair question from a possibly diseased idiot who is allowed to sleep only with
her boyfriend or her husband (at least they left me TWO people I can sleep
with).
----------------------------------------------
Tues
28 Oct 2008- MGCK MusicAll You Need
To Know..
And
I haven't 'slept' with a Republican since the last time I had a bad dream and
crawled into bed with my parents when I was about 3 or 4.
"Any
people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up,
and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them
better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope
and believe, is to liberate the world." Abraham
Lincoln
Sat
18 Oct 2008- MGCK MusicThe Debates
and 'The Daily Show'
I
sent my 'Absentee Ballot home to California to be counted. Yes, I voted for
Barack Obama. I mean, there is no choice is there? We can't have an
alaskan seal-pup slaying pitbull-lipstick oozing MILF as President of the United States!
So.. anyway... the Daily Show.. and Palin As President link (hilarious! and
scary too)
The
message: Don't be complacent. VOTE.
You
can drag your ass to BURNING MAN @ Black Rock in the Nevada Desert (6 months ago, I promised myself I'd BE THERE! but
.. well...
other things took precedence. - I've been promising myself I'd BE THERE for 12 years now!!!!!)
or
STINSON
BEACH CLOSED for the weekend
with two Great White Shark sightings.
OR...On
Sunday: EMBARCADERO STREET EVENT (San Francisco):
a 4.5 mile route along the waterfront closed to traffic.
Fairs, yoga classes, markets, other
consumer interests and THANKFULLY, apart from all that nonsense... the most gorgeous
views known to man or beast..
Or
you can stay home in bed, read a paper.. and later.. when it seems
appropriate to get up and maybe do some 'thing'...you can walk the dog
(or the girlfriend) to the bridge...and catch the same spectacular
life-changing views....
So
much going on.. and it's all because with this weekend passing...
traditionally... just like Jim Morrison sings it... "Summer's Gone".
And
SUMMER on the California coast, is like nothing
you've
ever experienced anywhere
else. It's the best.
The
Golden Gate Bridge, through rose-coloured glasses... literally, on another
perfect San Francisco / Bay Area evening.
I'm
troubled... I'm perturbed... Watching 'Hills'
last night on MTV
- The 'Lauren
Looks Back' episode:
I
don't have to explain or reveal my motives. My life's not a reality
TV show. I just happened to be watching 'Hills'. A purely
accidental, remote-surfing, lunar-landing, kinda thing... And, yet, I'll
admit, while watching it, I developed a soft-spot for ' LC' who began the
series at 18 and is now perhaps 20-21... I like her now. I don't
know why. She's got 'something'... but what she's ALSO got is lousy
taste in predictably good-looking, predictably-moneyed young men. She
hooks up at odd moments with anyone handsome, driving a Cadillac Escalade,
BMW or Porsche, and calls it 'LOVE'!! Then weeps her eyes out when the very same dude is caught
red-handed, always in some trendy public setting, ON CAMERA, kissing his 'ex' or
some straggler (always a friend or roommate of hers!): embarrassing her
VERY VERY VERY publicly! (Globally, actually)
'Lauren'
suffers the consequences of
H.U.D. ('hooking-up'disappointment) more times than you've had hot
dinners. She reminds me of a female Prometheus', chained to the rock, with the
eagle eating her liver daily. Difference is, Prometheus was chained.
This girl has a driver's license, money and wheels. Her miseries are
self-generated, repetitive and unrelenting. Let's face it; she's unlucky
in love and if she keeps this up, she'll be UNLUCKY IN LIFE!!!
So...trying to get practical and 'knuckle down' Lauren starts talking to
and taking the advice of her Teen Vogue mentor - a steely-faced,
wrinkle-defeating, 40-something, stony-serious career bitch, who (if you were
smart!) you'd rather
take a bullet in the face than emulate. Through this shining human cipher,
Lauren tries to focus on a compelling and oh so promisingcareer in fashion. But clearly, her hormones won't let her make
such wise modern, practical, clued-in
choices, cause she f*cks that up too.
Now
come the troubling comparisons: Before I turned to 'HILLS',
I'd been watching PART 1 of the 1967 Russian film version of Tolstoy's
epic novel 'ANNA KARENINA'.
In that great novel (and film) Tolstoy explores and describes in bitter,
throbbing, impossibly
aching detail - the pinnacle of
obsessed Love + Passion as pure Tragedy.
ANNA KARENINA and
COUNT VRONSKY are
IN love and
screaming '"I WOULD DIE FOR YOU!" and have eyes for absolutely NO ONE
else. They want THIS Love object and THIS love object
alone - for eternity. Unfortunately, eternity doesn't last that
long and the collapse of the passion and loss of the love kill Anna K in the
end... but my oh my.. what an end. Beats wondering if Jason or Spencer
or Tony or BRODY! were still 'thinking' about you (these guys don't 'think') or had 'moved on' or 'gone back' to Veronica or
Charlene or Jessica... and did Heidi sleep with him???? It's worse
than the desperate, embarrassing, 'singleton' mishaps of Bridget Jones and Sex &
The CIty - because, so far... 'Hills'
doesn't have a happy or
passionate ending! (it doesn't have a happy or passionate MIDDLE!)
There seems to be NO POINT to the tortureand no reward in
sight!!!!
Really
and oh so really... nothing really changes.
Yesterday
was the
significant MONEY NUMBERED lucky day
08/08/08. Some people were in Beijing watching the opening of the
Olympics (questionable politically) and other, more enlightened beings were here
in San Francisco @ The Grand Ballroom watching
The National
AIR GUITAR
Finals! The best AIR in America!! I was one of
those lucky and enlightened beings. And it was a HOOT! When I get
the video sorted out, I'll post it here. Actually, this clip was the
most 'perfect' clip, even if I can't remember this guy's name or city of
origin. But for me, he captures the organic, 'no guts no glory' Spirit of 'Air-ness'.
[actually
- He calls himself 'STRYKER' and he's from Denver or Detroit????. 'Hot LIxx
Hoolihan' won, but I wasn't entirely impressed with his early performance -
although I'm sold on his winning bid: doing a backflip onto a blow-up baby
whale.]
Wed
6 August 2008- MGCK Music
Battle of Opinions on YouTube
That
Gay Pride video I posted to YouTube really created a sh*tstorm of opinions going
back and forth. Particularly between a dude called GLOBAL GRINGO and a
woman called LISA. Some of the interchange is just plain ugly and other parts
are just plain FUNNY.
Lisa's
best comment to date: ""You dare to call ME a
moron when you can't spell "ridiculous", don't know that Africa is a
continent, can't look up letters in your own congressional archive, and ignore
cited scientific studies in favor of your own prejudicial statements. Really?
You argue the same ignorant points over and over (I was going to say like a man,
but I guess it's like a STUPID MAN). I actually RAISE my children. I discuss
issues with them that I want them to learn about. It's called PARENTING. You
should try it. ""
LAST
BUT NOT LEAST... we say farewell to the setting sun - last night of July and
only hours before the TOTAL ECLIPSE of this same sun, on 1 August - which will
be visible on another continent much further North and West of here.
I
desperately want to sail on one of these cargo ships that depart San Francisco
Bay every evening under the Golden Gate Bridge and head out across the vast
Pacific - escorted in the fading light by flocks of pelicans
Debussy said,
'"Art is the most beautiful of all lies", but in truth, I think Nature
is better.
The TWELFTH
NIGHT 'VOICES IN THE NIGHT' Double CD is now available on Cyclops
Records. The album of previously unreleased material, includes
3 of the earliest Twelfth Night tracks written and performed with 'Electra',
in that brief, but glittering period when she was their
lyricist/vocalist - as unlikely a pairing as you'll get. If you like the
words 'CHALK' and 'CHEESE' and PROG' and 'ROCK' in the same sentence, you'll
like this. So, GO get it NOW! [READ the SLEEVE
NOTES] [Hey, don't you guys owe me a Royalty cheque???!!!! ] .. and my
dignity back?????..... Some things ARE
PRICELESS.
New
Year's Eve to New Year's Day
vs 
If you don't know how.. 
