The May Song

May 1st today...

There are so many emotions brought about when you think that spring is on its way...

Love, magic, flowers, bloom, the scent of the rebirth of nature..

But there is also something inside you that changes...It's the beginning of something new, a creation, the love that is reborn, the new you that calls you to take action in this crazy celebration of emotions...

I'm waiting for your hands
to fold around my wrist
I'm mellowing in warm grass
And the scent of you I've missed

And blue is representing
The draft in my heart
I'm wandering through thin skies

 And the transparent air I've missed

Pale is my face
You might want to colour
while I breathe

I'm following large drops of rain
With my eyes on the sight of you I've missed

Occupy Wall Street and everywhere: May Day 2012

Hugh D'Andrade    occupywallst.org

Rich Black   occupywallst.org

Nina Montenegro   occupywallst.org

Jesus Barraza    occupywallst.org

Great artwork and graphic design with regard to the upcoming May Day from the Occupy Wall Street website (click on the images to enlarge). These posters were made by Hugh D'Andrade, Rich Black, Nina Montenegro, and Jesus Barraza. You may find more posters at the Occuprint website, while further information on May Day and May 12 is available through the following links:

May Day Directory: Occupy General Strike in Over 125 Cities

Occupy Wall Street

The May 2012 Insurrection

Adbusters

MayDayNYC.org

OccupyMay1st.org

StrikeEverywhere.net

May12.net

Charlie Parker and John Coltrane: in pictures

Tommy Potter, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and John Coltrane

Birdland, NY, 1951 geardiary.com

It is not usual to see both Charlie Parker and John Coltrane in the same frame; the two most groundbreaking musicians in the history of jazz belonged to different generations. And yet John Coltrane’s musical origins lay in the context of bebop and hard bop, revolutionary genres brought about by Charlie Parker’s innovations. The bebop legend passed away in 1955, before the emergence of the free jazz movement, of which John Coltrane was a central figure. 

There is, however, a key link between them in the form of another amazing musician. Miles Davis was a member of the Charlie Parker Quintet from 1945 to 1948, having replaced Dizzy Gillespie; and John Coltrane was part of the Miles Davis Quintet between 1955 and 1957, as well as between 1958 and 1960. During the latter period the group was a sextet, and it recorded Kind of Blue, one of the best jazz albums of all time. And it was in the context of his collaboration with Miles Davis, as well as through his work with Thelonious Monk in 1957, that John Coltrane developed his trademark dense improvisational technique, which is often addressed as sheets of sound.

Tommy Potter, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Duke Jordan 
Photograph: William Gottlieb, Three Deuces, NY, 1947  Wikipedia

 John Coltrane and Miles Davis   Photographs: Don Hunstein
Columbia Recording Studios, NY, 1958  johncoltrane.com

And death shall have no dominion

I love this, and not only because it is a fantastic poem, a classic that stands up and kicks back to this very day. It is also because of a childhood friend of mine, who got a copy of it out of her bag and handed it over to me. Read this, she said; and that was all, plain and simple.

Those were some pretty tough times. We were having a couple of drinks that day; maybe more than a couple. That same evening I put the copy up on my bedroom wall. And it stayed there for a while. And ever since, what I do when some pretty tough times come about is stand up and kick back; that is all, plain and simple.

members.home.nl

                                  Dylan Thomas   And death shall have no dominion

                                  And death shall have no dominion.

                                  Dead men naked they shall be one
                                  With the man in the wind and the west moon;

                                  When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,

                                  They shall have stars at elbow and foot;

                                  Though they go mad they shall be sane,

                                  Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;

                                  Though lovers be lost love shall not;

                                  And death shall have no dominion.

                                  And death shall have no dominion.

                                  Under the windings of the sea

                                  They lying long shall not die windily;

                                  Twisting on racks when sinews give way,

                                  Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;

                                  Faith in their hands shall snap in two,

                                  And the unicorn evils run them through;

                                  Split all ends up they shan't crack;

                                  And death shall have no dominion.

                                  And death shall have no dominion.

                                  No more may gulls cry at their ears

                                  Or waves break loud on the seashores;

                                  Where blew a flower may a flower no more

                                  Lift its head to the blows of the rain;

                                  Though they be mad and dead as nails,

                                  Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;

                                  Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,

                                  And death shall have no dominion.

Tale As Old As Time

Landscape photography by Roman Loranc

Crucified Landscape   romanloranc.com 

Grapes of Wrath   romanloranc.com

Roman Loranc is one of the most interesting black and white photographers. His work is primarily focused on landscape, and it displays a remarkable sense of light, perspective, and composition. The representation of vastness and bareness in his images conveys peace, as well as a subtle melancholy; but most of all, this work is conditioned by the artist’s relationship to the land. The Polish-born photographer is based in California, and it is the Central Valley that has caught his attention in particular. As he told David Best of Black and White Magazine, “[i]t was in here in the remnants of Central Valley wetlands that I understood nature’s dependence upon people as partners in preservation, and I hope the range of emotions I have discovered there, in myself, touch those who see my photographs.”

 

Oaks and Snag  romanloranc.com

Tule Raft  romanloranc.com

Bare Trees by the River  romanloranc.com

Roman Loranc has also photographed churches in Poland and Lithuania. But the spirituality that runs through these pictures is not different from the way he portrays nature. As he puts it, the ancient churches of his homeland “are holy spaces where millions of people have prayed for hundreds of years. They are places of great humility, and remind us how brief our lives are. I feel the same way when I’m photographing ancient groves of native oaks in California.” This work also aims to raise awareness with regard to the preservation of the Central Valley rivers and wetlands, as he and his wife, the poet Lillian Vallee, told KQED Spark in the following video; the latter includes a presentation of the photographer at work.

  

As Lillian Vallee holds, this particular set of pictures is “a call to work, to healing, to active participation in a mercifully forgiving landscape.” It seems to me that this argument is an eloquent interpretation of the relationship between landscape and its representation in the work of Roman Loranc, as well as of the wider appeal of his images.

 Road to Home  romanloranc.com

Cumulus Clouds   romanloranc.com

Paradise Lost...and found!!!

It's a fact: Paradise Lost are back. Two and a half years after their back-to-basics Faith Divides Us-Death Unites Us album the super gothic band from the UK is ready to rock us once again. Tragic Idol, their 13th studio album is set to be released on 23 April 2012 in Europe, and the tracklisting reads as follows:

  

source

1.Solitary One
2.Crucify
3.Fear Of Impending Hell
4.Honesty In Death
5.Theories From Another World
6.In This We Dwell
7.To The Darkness
8.Tragic Idol
9.Worth Fighting For
10.The Glorious End

The band's vocalist Nick Holmes gave an interview to Hardrock Haven, mentioning among other things that ''the new album is called 'Tragic Idol' and has ten songs on it. I think that people seem to think that we're going into a more ''Gothic'' direction but it's a very ''Metal'' album. I think  it's a lot more metal than the last one to be honest; it's very dark, it's got to be expected, we're not going to do anything out of the ordinary.''

I have to add that this is a statement which makes all fans happy; this album is highly anticipated. The metal feeling which Holmes talks about can be verified by Crucify and Honesty In Death, two songs off the album which have already hit the spotlight giving us a first sample of the album's sound and direction. Honesty In Death is also the first video off ''Tragic Idol'' offering us another intense experience; see below.

So, Paradise lost fans all over the world stay tuned and be patient until April 23rd. Less than 10 days left...

Sarajevo revisited

 Paul Lowe–Magnum    TIMELightBox

June 1992. Sarajevo.

“Sarajevo during the siege was like a giant experiment in human nature, in what happens to civilization when it is attacked from every side. Sarajevo was (and still is) a cosmopolitan, sophisticated European city. In covering this long, drawn out conflict, I was fascinated by what happens to people like us when their lives are transported back into a medieval siege, with no water, electricity, gas, power and little food, and constant shelling and sniping from the enemy in the hills above.

What happened is that people hung on to their civic values, and indeed celebrated them, as a form of resistance against the violence of the aggression. What happened is that people were incredibly inventive, coming up with all sorts of amazing ways to survive and even to prosper in such adversity. What happened is that people kept on making art, performing plays, holding classical music recitals, filming movies and, above all, kept on identifying themselves with the city and its spirit as a center for democratic, artistic and cultural life. Nothing symbolized this more for me than this intersection, on the notorious ‘Sniper’s Alley.’ This stretch of open ground marked a transition point between the suburbs and the heart of the city. So every day, hundreds of civilians risked their lives by sprinting across this street, under sniper fire from the gunmen in the hills above. And they risked their lives to come into the city, to be part of its life, to identify themselves as civilized humans against the barbarity of the violence being rained down upon them. ”

TIMELightBox  included the above picture and text by Paul Lowe in its  post on the forthcoming book Bosnia 1992-1995, which will be published by photographers who had covered the Bosnian conflict. It seems to me that this picture and its accompanying text share an insightful, albeit painful, sense of what is at stake in any war; the ability to seek out and sustain the brighter side of the human condition.

Film quotes #2: The Fisher King

iol.co.za

For quite some time I could not decide whether my favourite Terry Gilliam film was Brazil or  The Fisher King; intellectually I was more inclined towards the former,  but emotionally I was more attracted to the latter. And you know what happens in these occasions: the heart wins. And it wins because of reasons such as this monologue, which brings me to the film’s writer, Richard LaGravenese. What follows is the story of the Fisher King, as told by Parry (Robin Williams) to Jack (Jeff Bridges) while they’re lying in Central Park in the night; screenwriting just doesn’t get more awesome than this.  

It begins with the king as a boy, having to spend the night alone in the forest to prove his courage so he can become king. Now while he is spending the night alone he’s visited by a sacred vision. Out of the fire appears the Holy Grail, symbol of God’s divine grace. And a voice said to the boy, “You shall be keeper of the grail so that it may heal the hearts of men.” 

But the boy was blinded by greater visions of a life filled with power and glory and beauty. And in this state of radical amazement he felt for a brief moment not like a boy, but invincible, like God, so he reached into the fire to take the grail, and the grail vanished, leaving him with his hand in the fire to be terribly wounded.

Now as this boy grew older, his wound grew deeper. Until one day, life for him lost its reason. He had no faith in any man, not even himself. He couldn’t love or feel loved. He was sick with experience. He began to die.

One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a fool, he was simple minded, he didn’t see a king. He only saw a man alone and in pain. And he asked the king, “What ails you friend?” The king replied, “I’m thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat”.

So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king. As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the Holy Grail, that which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement, “How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?” 

And the fool replied, “I don’t know. I only knew that you were thirsty.”

Tim Burton returns

cinematheque.fr

Tim Burton has been eloquently addressed by black symphony as the man with a thousand faces. This year his multiple faces will be on display at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, in an art exhibition including drawings, paintings, sculptures, costumes, and storyboards, as well as a retrospective of his films. This is the next step in a journey which began in 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and continued in Melbourne, Toronto, and Los Angeles. The following video by PUREchannel combines views of the exhibition with Tim Burton’s statements, while the Cinémathèque provides an interview, and a full video of the Master Class. 

Furthermore, two new films are on their way. The trailer of Dark Shadows reveals a refreshingly new take on the 1960s television series of the same name, combining gothic visuals with elements of comedy and satire. And then there is Frankenweenie, a stop-motion animated film, which I must admit I am particularly interested in. It is a remake of Tim Burton's 1984 short film, which is available here; I always thought of it as his best work together with Edward Scissorhands.

Song Of The Month: April Rain

Delain's ''April Rain'' is the title track of their 2009 album.

 

How does it feel when all you're counting on is scatterbrained

Every wind that you have sailed upon, a hurricane

Every summer you have seen was filled with April rain

It doesn't get easy, don't you know

Fortune smiles on you

You're not watching, dig that hole deeper

Fortune smiles on you

You're not watching, create your own fate

Count your blessings and prepare to change your point of view

All those days that you spend waiting won't come back to you

Take off the glasses that have treated your world black and grey

It doesn't get easy, don't you know

Fortune smiles on you

You're not watching, dig that hole deeper

Fortune smiles on you

You're not watching, create your own fate

Keep raining, 'cause we are blind
Keep raining, 'cause we are tired
Keep raining, 'cause we are blind to fortune's guidance now

It keeps raining, 'cause we are blind, it will keep raining, 'cause we are tired
It keeps raining, 'cause we are blind, it will keep raining, 'cause we are tired

Fortune smiles on you

You're not watching, dig that hole deeper

Fortune smiles on you

You're not watching, create your own fate

P.S: Delain's new album ''We Are The Others'' is to be released on June 4th throughout Europe.