Monday, July 24, 2006

Comus "The Prisoner"

The magickal dance rituals were enacted on the fecund wet lawn of mental illness. Here are the lyrics to the anthem:

THE PRISONER

I was mad and was accepted for treatment at a hospital for the mentally sick
I was wild and introvert wandering alone in the night
I would scream and rage should someone disturb my peace
So they took me away and they put me here alone in my silent privacy
Then they gave me shock treatment
And when I awoke I was numb and remembering nothing
Probe me mold me reassemble my brain my brain
Schizoid paranoid just terms just names just names
Why can't you leave me don't drive me insane
Your minds analyze me, your eyes penetrate me
Illusions, confusions, I'm frightened, I'm helpless
Please leave me I long to be free
I long to be free
I lie alone unable to remember
No face no name no eyes my brain just an ember
Kindle me protect my barren matter
Whose seeds may propagate yet still may shatter
They have emptied my head of its dreaming
Like paper out of a waste bin
And I yearn to be yearn to be yearn to be yearn to be free

Cold is the climate dark is the atomic night
Searching and hoping guarding my mind from your sight
Your evil eyes watch me your evil hands touch me they're cold
I can stand prison but even my conscious you hold
Let me be
Set me free
Yea

Oh...

Probe me mould me reassemble my brain my brain
Schizoid paranoid just terms just names just names
Why can't you leave me don't drive me insane insane insane insane insane....

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Mormons

Yesterday as I was lying down for a spell in the coarse grass towards the back of our house which is actually the front (but let me say many many steps down a path away from our dirt road), the Mormons came upon me. I was in possession of bottoms and no top as I lay sunning, bleaching my chest hair and bronzing my manly cheez nips.

First I spied the telltale shiny van trundling up the road. Not many cars come up our road and most of them are dirty pick-ups with grisly types at the wheel. I hurried inside to put on my overalls, the ones with the beer cup holders at the hips. I walked out the front door and who do I see trespassing down our path but two Sunday-best-wearing Mormons. In the heat, the young man wore trousers and a long sleeved shirt and tie and young woman wore a high-necked blouse and skirt down to the ground.

He said "Are you worried about the wars going on in the world?" Holding his Bible out in front of him. "Do you think it's possible that there will be a time when the wars end?" I said no. No I don't think so. But please have a very nice day. I smiled very sincerely. I wanted him to see that heathens can wish you a good day too. I also wanted to tell him that I was an atheist and I hate Christianity but then I might have actually had to talk to them for a while. No good on that. The cheez nips may have been visible through the overalls which was already creating a sinful, shameful vulnerability on the homestead. MM nervous. Go away Mormons. Next time I will have a super-soaker if you walk onto my land again. I am going to join the NWRA (national water-rifle association).

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Studio Soundtrack a.k.a. Lifesaver

Re-immersion in relic-production is painfully not easy after the show happens and ends in a way that is less than thrilling. You probably know that already. Questioning of self occurs. Remembering of comments on Painter NYC occurs, not unlike the grad school voices that take years to exorcise. But whatever the show was a good thing and you are happy you had it, it's just that you try to make paintings again and it seems ridiculous, pointless, horridly self-indulgent. Then you remember people like PD who keep going no matter what and you get a nice email from a friend who causes you to feel you have been seen for a split second - you remember that the whole point of this endeavor is not to make money or to get public recognition or to be "successful" in all the ways we have been taught to - it is really ultimately about the deep need to make work for yourself and also a sense of community. So. You make it because you have to and because there are some wonderful people out there who understand you. That is what matters. I am back on track in the studio after months of retardation. Partially it's because of my darling pals who inspire me every day. I love you. And partially it's because I would probably be a criminal if I didn't. The other part is because of the following songs that I am back in the shack. I highly recommend them. Dork quotient is high. Here is MM's Top 40.

1. Comus: The Prisoner
2. Faust: Track 25
3. Bauhaus: Bela Lugosi's Dead
4. Throbbing Gristle: Hot on the Heels of Love
5. Impala Syndrome: Too Much Time
6. Led Zeppelin: In My Time of Dying
7. The Politicians: Everything Good is Bad
8. Fela Kuti: IGBE
9. Joe Jackson: Steppin Out
10. Soundgarden: Burden in My Hand
11. Outhud: The L Train is a Swell Train
12. Scissor Sisters: Comfortably Numb
13. Destroyer: Hey Snow White
14. Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder: Bonde
15. The Futureheads: Hounds of Love
16. Depeche Mode: Never Let Me Down Again
17. Blonde Redhead: In Particular
18. Toots and the Maytals: Sweet and Dandy
19. Neneh Cherry: Buffalo Stance
20. Dungen: Panda
21. Mya: Ghetto Superstar
22. David Bowie: Starman
23. A Passing Fancy: You're Going Out of Your Mind
24. Amon Tobin: Nova
25. George Michael vs. Missy Elliot (Radio Soulwax): Get Your Faith On
26. Sean Paul: Get Busy
27. Destiny's Child: Bootylicious
28. Beat Happening: I Let Him Get To Me
29. Spoon: Track 20 from A Series of Sneaks
30. Gnarls Barkley: Crazy
31. Holger Czukay: Cool in the Pool
32. Nick Lowe: Cruel To Be Kind
33. Alison Krauss and Union Station: Every Time You Say Goodbye
34. NWA: Fuck the Police
35. Sweet: Fox on the Run
36. Toots and the Maytals: Sweet and Dandy
37. Joni Mitchell: Don't Interrupt the Sorrow
38. Wolf Parade: Grounds for a Divorce
39. Fun Boy 3 and Bananarama: It Ain't What You Do
40: Genesis: Follow You Follow Me

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Zucchini Blossoms



The blossoms are coming like mad and six plants are spreading everywhere. We will have zucchini until the end of time. PD, I am wondering, there are many blossoms on the plants right now. If I pick them will more come? For some reason I am not wanting to disturb them, they are so cute. The zucchinis are tiny right now, it's not quite time to pick... In other news, the lettuce is slutty and wanted to be spread all over. The weeds are insane and there are little snakes and frogs that sit with me in the garden. It's super cute. It would be easy to stop doing everything and just garden.

Last night I started some paintings that have the feeling of real paintings, not just fake practice paintings but real ones. I think I was channeling Dubz as I got way into the schmearing. The chum-hurling. We see if it stays. Art is weird. I am channeling the Romance of a bygone era. Why. I don't know.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

An ABZ of Love

This is the title of a Danish dictionary of sexuality from 1962. Random terminology is “defined” and “explained.” If you are in a relationship this book is sure to be of assistance. For example, here are some helpful excerpts:

Approach: There are many forms of sexual approach. (See also Petting). Here we are thinking especially of the husband who casually strokes his wife’s cheek, breast, backside or even more intimate parts and she hisses “Leave me alone!” and other, even more discouraging things….women require a slightly more methodical, regular and tangible kind of erotic stimulation in order to let themselves be carried away – a woman is a little more sluggish.

Bag, Scrotal: The scrotum. (See Genital Organs, Male).

Bed: The most important item of furniture in a home. Not many people realize this….A bed is to a very high degree a lovely thing too. The same thing applies to beds as to sexual relationships, namely that the human mind has created some pretty ingenious things. And there is no reason why we should believe that the authorized forms are the best – whether as far as beds or sexual relationships are concerned. Many beds are very badly constructed. Many people should experiment a little more with their beds as well as their sex lives.

Breast, Mammary Glands: Women, as we all know, have breasts, and these contain mammary glands. The breasts terminate in points called nipples. A ‘normal’ breast is rather difficult to define – but let us put it this way: when a woman stands up, the fully-developed breast is not shaped like half a lemon.

Defeat: Fiascos and defeats occur in all people’s lives. But there is a special kind of defeat that is connected with sex life, namely the defeat that many women feel when they are sexually satisfied, i.e. when they have an orgasm. Many women refuse to give their husbands the triumph.

Exhibitionism: Many grown-ups receive a bad fright if they meet an exhibitionist. The sight of one may look a little frightening, but to the best of our knowledge there has never been any instance of an exhibitionist who also attacked the person or persons to whom he bared himself. So apart from the visual shock he is a fairly harmless fellow. (See also Understanding and Peeping Tom).

Fetish: Something or other said to be imbued with mystical powers.


Well I hope you have learned something, I know I have.