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Sat 17th Nov Woke up in the morning, had breakfast, now doing laundry.. weirdest day I've had in months. It's only when the dust settles that I realise what I've been breathing in the day to day. Put some lipstick on to add some spice but ended up cutting my hair a bit too Robert Smith as a result. Actually got tons of new songs but looking for a nice location to record a video or two. May do that later, Richard Pierre Wakes Up With No Opinions would do well in a church, but they're all about the dollar in that gang & I'm broke as battle-biscuits. Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate in the world knows how I feel these days: |
Fri 16th Nov |
Thu 15th Nov |
Mon 12th Nov So very strange being in Berlin for such a flyby visit. First bar I went to was the 'new' CCCP, and when I ordered drinks, the bargirl said she knew me. I recognised her tattoo but she had changed a great deal, it was someone I almost fell in love at first sight with when I very first came to Berlin in early 2008. Somehow that chance re-meeting has thrown me into a stupefaction of sorts, and I've remained under it's spell these past few days. Not because of the girl, but due to increased awareness of the extremely arbitrary nature of most occurrences. You know when you have a feeling that something isn't quite over, and many years later that feeling is the only thing that remains, so when the wheel has come full circle, it doesn't mean anything anymore. A mockery of meaning; I am here. Saw Vincent Joseph (now Vincent Long once more) play a great show, kissed a married woman while both caked in glitter & had a lot of those conversations which begin "I saw that video of you in New York", but altogether a lot calmer than I might have imagined. Haven't really seen the people I intended to see, but still plan to catch Scarlet Soho's Berlin date on their European tour & get back to London for JEEPS show at AAA in Kensington on Thu. What else. Listening to James Iha's new album, pretty ok so far, intended to catch him in New York but.. something ridiculous probably happened instead. Actually enjoying this so far but definitely won't be many people's cup of tea. The song Appetite is an uncharacteristic highlight, but getting sick of it now. One of the lights of the Madame Claude scene is this chap Albert spielt Punk (auf dem Klavier), was great to see him perform new material last night: |
Fri 9th Nov I know what I'm doing tonight: Full concert HERE. |
Fri 9th Nov Every time I read one of the more complex Shakespeare plays, I find some apparently minor detail that can fundamentally shift the character balances. I'm back on Othello again, and I started this reading with a few questions that have been on my mind about the text. Firstly, the choice of names. Surely no coincidence that the word hell can be found in the title & main character, while the name of his angelic wife Desdemona contains the word demon. The 'whore' of the play is called Bianca (latin for white), and somehow these three things escaped my notice before. So, once more, I took up the play themed to the brimstone with the notion that all is not as it seems. When devils will the blackest sins put on, They do suggest at first with heavenly shows. I started to question if Desdemona was so spotless after all. The father she deceives is possibly the most reasonable man in the play, and receives his hurt with understated bitterness. And after all, wasn't he correct about the magic spells cast by Othello to steal away his daughter? Othello denies it, of course: She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd, And I loved her that she did pity them. This only is the witchcraft I have used: Here comes the lady; let her witness it. But later, when all manner of shit has hit the fan, he confesses this of his first gift to Desdemona: That handkerchief Did an Egyptian to my mother give; She was a charmer, and could almost read The thoughts of people: she told her, while she kept it, 'Twould make her amiable and subdue my father Entirely to her love, but if she lost it Or made gift of it, my father's eye Should hold her loathed and his spirits should hunt After new fancies: she, dying, gave it me; And bid me, when my fate would have me wive, To give it her. I did so.. So this raises very many questions. If it's true, then the real villain of the play is Othello himself, even Iago's evil is undermined as he seems to be completely unaware of the frightful deception that transcends his own. But woh there, these matters I had considered before, so here's the little detail that I noticed on this reading which jiggled my perception somewhat: Cassio gives Bianca the same handkerchief, unaware of its powers, and it has no effect whatsoever. Does this mean that it wasn't "dyed in mummy which the skilful / Conserved of maidens' hearts" after all? Was Othello merely angry, and making such wild statements out of revenge? Is it not human nature to confess to something we are accused of sometimes, though we are innocent, purely out of spite? And then we remember, this Othello chap is a gullible man, the tragedy hinges on this trait, so there's every chance that he would believe such a weave about the handkerchief. The main concern regarding his story is intent, the nature of which remains ambiguous, so we're left with these conclusions: 1. Othello conceivably believed that he was wrongfully obtaining Desdemona's love with the use of a magic handkerchief. 2. The handkerchief itself had no powers. Therefore: 3. Desdemona's love for Othello is legitimate. 4. Her deception of her father can not be blamed on powers outside of her own will. Likewise, her father was wrong about her being enchanted & bound in chains of magic, regardless of the beliefs of Othello. Anyway, apologies for another Shakespeare rant, but see how key point 2 is to all of the above? I thank you. Oh, you want proof that the handkerchief has no power? Behold: BIANCA Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did you mean by that same handkerchief you gave me even now? I was a fine fool to take it. I must take out the work?--A likely piece of work, that you should find it in your chamber, and not know who left it there! This is some minx's token, and I must take out the work? There; give it your hobby-horse: wheresoever you had it, I'll take out no work on't. CASSIO How now, my sweet Bianca! how now! how now! OTHELLO By heaven, that should be my handkerchief! BIANCA An you'll come to supper to-night, you may; an you will not, come when you are next prepared for. Hardly amiable, is she? In fact, it seems to have had the opposite effect on her, as she loved Cassio previous to this scene. Or is her whiteness immune to the dark powers of the 'chief.. oh man, quest continues. |
Thu 8th Nov |
Wed 7th Nov Velouria was excellent, I'm sure, but ran at a loss once I'd paid the sound guy, bartender & bands. The night itself was a success, all the acts were superb, but I'm gonna have to figure out a way to make ends meet. I've ideas & we'll see, some amazing acts lined up for the future. Been a truly nuts week, and it's probably a good thing that I'm barred from almost every venue in Camden now as there's a lot of work to do. More in a minute, gotta go get some milk. So, it's Blurlin Week, but I'm in Ruislip right now 'cos I missed my flight earlier.. by two hours. Love EasyJet though, they still put me on another flight tomorrow for only 60 quid. Now I have a London evening in hand, with no plans but to try recover from an insane 7 day rampage. Jeepswreck, deep breath. Speak of the Jeeps, we have a show coming up in Kensington next week: FB Event The Tea Tone Radio recordings actually went on for hours, I only uploaded the first twenty mins or so of each 'cos I didn't have time to listen any further, but there's no reason to go back to those now, maybe one day I'll do a best-of from all the 'unreleased' shows. P'raps not. Would like to do more though, make it a regular thing but days & weeks spin off axis & I just.. can't.. find a.. spare moment here. Except for right now, ten past midnight on a rainy Ruislip hi-road. So how's it going? Just glancing through my diary, seems that this time last year was pivotal in that I replaced the coffee, vodka & cheeseburgers diet with the cheaper & healthier mulled wine approach to winter decapitation. "That Halloween feeling is in the air. The Saints are mobilising, the goblins giggle. Mark Knopfler adjusts his mic stand. All of a sudden, one of Richard Carpeter's flute solos comes over the hill, and it's November. Not long before Elvis & the Beach Boys send Boney M for reinforcements and we all huddle together to blow a lonely candle out on our own personal Jesus fishcake." |