Holy Cash

I went to see Griffin Theatre's Quack last night, an Australian play which is on at the moment at The Stables Theatre in Darlinghurst. It was an amazing ride. Zombies, blood, onstage surgery and more. Captivating performances and a beautifully crafted script. One part of the play included one of the characters singing a section of the below song. It was spellbinding.

Originally a Nine Inch Nails song (newfound respect!), it was then covered by the late and great Johnny Cash. Lights down, red wine in hand, music turned up. Go for it.

Frederick Beuchner and Beyond Time

I have been listening to a series of lectures called "Beyond Time" given by American author/theologian Frederick Beuchner in 1981. My Dad has it on cd. In the lectures, Beuchner talks about his own lifelong quest to "understand it all" and his growing awareness, albeit unconscious, of some greater plot. In particular, he scrutinizes the changing moments in his life, most of them random, moments when, as he puts it, "from beyond time, something too precious to tell has glintered in the dust, always just out of reach, like fireflies."

Beuchner was one of my Dad's theological mentors, a teacher, writer and raconteur first, and a minister second. In fact, the lectures aren't theological, even though he touches on his own beliefs and the journey it took to come to them. His exposition of the passing of time, his celebration of mystery, of ambiguity and of contradiction resonated with me strongly. Beuchner says he was once told, 'you have a way with words'. He has an ability to craft words into beautiful, telling, deep and thoughtful images. It's a very powerful gift. Some of his observations are, to borrow one of his own expressions,"like going away presents from beyond time, to carry with us through time, to lighten our step as we go".

While nothing can substitute listening to the lectures in full, the following passages are ones that spoke to me most directly:

"Listen. Listen. Your life is happening, You are happening... A journey years long has brought each of you through thick and thin to this moment in time... think back on that journey. Listen back to the sounds and sweet airs of your journey that give delight and hurt not, and to those that give no delight and hurt like hell: Be not afeared. The music of your life is subtle and illusive, and like no other, not a song with words, but a song without words, a singing chattering, hammering music, to gladden the heart or bring tears to the eyes, to haunt you perhaps with echoes of a vaster farther music of which it is part... Sometimes you avoid listening for fear of what you may hear, sometimes for fear that you may hear nothing at all but the empty rattle of your feet on the pavement. But be not afeared... Be not afraid."

Beuchner ends the lecture with the following paragraph:

"The way we have to go is full of perils from without and from within. And who can say for sure what we will find at the end of our journey... Faith, Hope and Love, those three, our going away presents from beyond time, to carry with us through time, to lighten our step as we go...
Never question the truth of what you fail to understand, for the world is filled with wonders... In the long run, nothing, not even a world, not even ourselves, can separate us from that last, and deepest love that glimmers in our dark... like a pearl... like a face."

Spectacular insights. The skillful delivery of a brutal truth that raps at the shell of our existence, threatening to break in and cause havoc.

Nothing quite like crying whilst reading your four-year-old niece a bed-time story.

There's nothing like crying whilst reading your niece a bed-time story. I came home from work the other day - a day full of urgent tasks, immutable deadlines and pressure situations. My niece was staying over, and when I got home, she was already in bed awaiting a bedtime story. I read her one about a baby rabbit that wanted to run away from his mother. "I will become a boat and I will sail away from you on the sea" he said. To which the mother replied, "well I will become the wind, and I will blow you back to me". *Insert unsuccessful attempt not to cry in front of a four year old* Goddammit!

I have no idea what the below book is about, but if it's half as good as the cover, I can't wait to read it. Deadset best facial expression on a dinosaur ever? Probably. I don't think the dinosaur was actually aware of what the book was going to be about when he agreed to do the cover.

Publisher: So, we'd love you to be on the cover of one of our books.
Dinosaur: Really? That's great.
Publisher: Yeah, we really love your work.
Dinosaur: Oh really?
Publisher: Yeah, huge fans.
Dinosaur: Well, thank you very much. You know, I do take my work seriously.
Publisher: Well, it shows. You should be very proud.
Dinosaur: So what's the book going to be called?
Publisher: The book is going to be called, "All my friends are dead."


At which point the Dinosaur made the below face, they took the picture, and put it on the cover.

Big ups to Chris Toole for sending me the image.

Building a Wall

Heard this song on Triple J this afternoon and could not get it out of my head for the rest of the day. Love it. Building a Wall is the second single of the debut album of Melbourne band Hello Satellites. Check it. (Reminiscent of St Vincent? Anyone?)


Love these lyrics:


"Cause we're building a wall, we're building a wall, to keep your love in and the storms outside. But it's here in your heart, here in your heart, and you can't stop it from rising out... but you'll have to get hurt if you want to get out, you'll have to break something if you want to get out. I was building a wall, building a wall, to keep my job safe and my lover by my side." 

Heaven at Once

This is what happens when you smoke a fat jay and then walk into a music studio. Someone has finally put this track up on the internet. It was pretty much the soundtrack of my time in Paris. This one goes out to The Djé and his record collection of Soul. I'll always remember those sessions in the apartment at 2 Rue des Couronnes fondly. ("Jamze. T'es avocat, t'es rugbyman, t'es deuxieme ligne...")

Allez. En fumez un, et ecoutez bien Kool and the Gang pendant qu'ils vous amenent au "ciel tout de suite".

Seattle to New York: Dan Ilic

An old Ronnie Johns mate of mine, Dan Ilic, has been on a voyage across the USA, hitchiking across 13 states from Seattle to New York in 7 days. This video is shot, produced and edited by Dan. He wouldn't have it any other way. Dan is someone who makes life happen around him. He always has been. If he has an idea for a sketch, he goes out and records it himself. He doesn't wait for a TV producer to turn up on his door step. I remember when we did our first show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival together in 2003. The show had very poor audiences in the first week and the producer sat us all down and said, "If we cut and run now we won't lose money. Do you want to leave?" Dan piped up and offered to finance the remaining week of the show with his own money if it meant we could stay to finish the festival. "This is what I want to do with my life", he said. I can still remember the steel in Dan's eyes. I remember being amazed by (perhaps even jealous of?) his certainty and belief. At the moment, Dan's trying to fulfil his dream of getting a position as a writer on one of the Tonight shows in NYC.

Anyway, this video is a great testament to Dan's faith. It's also an amazing soundtrack. Go Australian Music. And Go Dan!

Kashmir - Petite Machine

Love this song by Danish Band Kashmir. Love the drums, the melancholic guitar and the build at the end. Yummy.

Did you know that Kashmir were originally called Nirvana (this was way back in 1991), but then changed their name to Kashmir, after the Led Zeppelin song, as the Seattle version gained notoriety? Yeah. That's right. Checkout more Kashmir by following the above link to their myspace.

The Jezabels - Easy to Love

Holy Crapola! Seeing these guys on Saturday night at the Factory in Newtown. I recently came across them while trawling through the Triple J Unearthed website (yes I know, they have been around for a year or so now!). Love the sound. Love the drumming. Love the opening lyrics.

Well I was the one who showed you the sky
But you brought it down to my thighs
I sadly believed every word i didn't mean
About loving darkness.

Beautiful.

Love this filmclip. They actually look like they are having fun! What a relief from the usual morose-a-thon. Love the time exposure clip of the lights of Sydney through the window. Yay for getting Australian sights into your film clips. Apparently one of The Jezabels' other singles "Disco Biscuit Love" went massive in the US college community. The future looks bright.

Exciting stuff coming out of Australia at the moment. Check out The Jezabels' myspace: www.myspace.com/jezabelsband

I encourage you to take the time to read their bio. They sound like a great band to get excited about.

Also check out the new video for Melbourne duo Gypsy and the Cat's song Time to Wander. Love the bit where the man just stands back and gestures towards the sound coming out of the speakers with his hands. Simple but poignant.

Go Australian music Go!

Sydney Debut of THE FALL!

It's an exciting time! After years and years of playing in my own bedroom, I'm finally playing in public. Tamara and I met in 2006 but only just started playing together again upon my return home from France. We're called THE FALL and we had our Sydney debut last night at the Excelsior. It couldn't have gone better. We've been asked back to play again on 29 July 2010. Stay tuned, I'm sure there'll be more to come. Thanks to Luke Easey for these iphone snaps taken during a rehearsal at Sound Level.

Volcano Choir - Still

Exhibit A of why Guy Garvey's Finest Hour is good (see previous post). This is a cracker version of Bon Iver's song Into the Woods which I just heard on Guy's program. Turn it up, turn down the lights and have yourself a bottle of red.

Guy Garvey's Finest Hour

I get most of my new music by listening to Guy Garvey's Finest Hour. It's actually a 2 hour podcast (he gets two cracks at it each show) hosted by the lead singer of UK band Elbow. The type of music featured on the programme ranges from Rufus Wainwright to The National to Chet Baker to Esther Phillips. It's an eclectic mix, which I find is a refreshing change from some of the stations in Australia.

The BBC are planning to close BBC 6 Music, the station on which Guy Garvey's Finest Hour is broadcasted, at the end of 2011. A public outcry in the UK received widespread coverage, however it has failed to save the station from closure. I believe the BBC's cultural capital will be poorer for it.

Check out Guy Garvey's Finest Hour here.

Ronnie Johns Tour

Swell Season - High Horses

This is, for me, the best song off the latest album by the Swell Season. I was listening to it today as I walked down Sydney's Martin Place today and couldn't help but strut.

Favourite line: "Get down off your high horses, let me in. Get down off your high horses, let's begin."

Ripper

Fremantle Harbour: Perth

The strangest thing about Perth for someone who has grown up on the east coast of Australia is that you get to see the sun set over the ocean, which, in Sydney, we're not used to. Everyone warned me about how cool it was, however I still wasn't quite ready for how strange it felt to see the sun kissing the sea in the afternoon in a way I was so used to seeing at sunrise. Go nature go!

Stars - Dead Hearts

Continuing the "songs that make me smile" series, this latest offering off the new album by Canadian act Stars is a great example of sparkling pop at its best. I particularly love the sweet piano at 1:26.

"It's hard to know they're out there, it's hard to know that you still care... Dead hearts are everywhere." And who said pop can't be poignant.

The Bridge

That home

Following on from the last post, I press you to listen to the below video of To build a home.



It is the first track on The Cinematic Orchestra's fifth album entitled Ma Fleur. I've been a big fan of it for a while now (it came out in 2007). I recently listened to the whole album again. The second last track features a one and a half minute reprise of To build a home which is entitled That Home. Its juxtaposition with To build a home is hauntingly beautiful.

To build a home tells a mournful story of loss culminating in the final lines:
"And I built a home
For you
For me
Until it disappeared
From me
From you
And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust"

In contrast, the lyrics and music of That home, while still somewhat mournful, are strangely uplifting. When I'm sitting quietly with That home playing firm through my headphones, I feel like I've arrived in a place that I never want to leave. It is a feeling of intense belonging and comfort. The lyrics couldn't be more spot on, for this is a place where I don't feel alone. This is a place that I call my home.

For me, a combined listening of To build a home and That home epitomises Rilke's observation that music has the capacity to make "the innermost point in us stand outside". And the beautiful thing is, we have no control over it. It happens against our will. Yummy.

When the innermost point in us stands outside

Rilke has a way of navigating his way to your most sensitive heartstrings, and flicking at them. I love these two poems:

Music

Take me by the hand;
it's so easy for you, Angel,
for you are the road
even while being immobile.

You see, I'm scared no one
here will look for me again;
I couldn't make use of
whatever was given,

so they abandoned me.
At first the solitude
charmed me like a prelude,
but so much music wounded me.

To music

Music: breathing of statues. Perhaps:
silence of paintings. You language where all language
ends. You time
standing vertically on the motion of mortal hearts.

Feelings for whom? O you the transformation
of feelings into what?--: into audible landscape.
You stranger: music. You heart-space
grown out of us. The deepest space in us,
which, rising above us, forces its way out,--
holy departure:
when the innermost point in us stands
outside, as the most practiced distance, as the other
side of the air:
pure,
boundless,
no longer habitable.

Clarke and Dawe

OK. I'm really sorry. I didn't want to blog about Clarke and Dawe again this week but John Clarke's face in the below video at 1:37 is just priceless. I love the idea of Rudd being faced with a graph of how unpopular he is and his response being to just sit there and cry.

Check it out here or click on the below image to watch.

I promise that after this one, I'll stop. I'm off to Clarke and Dawe rehab.

Clarke and Dawe: Watch in Awe - It's necessary viewing

They're back. Australia's social barometer. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Clarke and Dawe, with yet another surgical dissection of Australian politics.

The insights in this sketch, particularly those aimed at Tony Abbott, are so timely.

I especially love the line, "Does Tony Abbott tell the truth... or is he just a dinkum aussie bloke who says what he thinks".

I'd like to think that most Australian's are capable of dismantling Tony Abbott's manoeuvring and doublespeak by themselves. I'd like to think that. So thank god we have Clarke and Dawe there to help us all out... just in case we missed something.

Check it out here or click on the below image to watch. Necessary viewing.