Pages

Saturday 28 March 2009

Sparky Deathcap, sleep, and living in the postmodern equivalent of nuclear fallout

Tomorrow night, I'm going to see Sparky Deathcap at Fuel cafe in Withington. My sort of new friend Phill puts on gigs once a month as Mushaboom Folk, and is one of a whole host of lovely Manchester promoters who put on awesome nights so lazy folk like me don't have to. He is also, as far as I know, the only one who pretty much always gives away free cake at his gigs. Which is total win as far as I'm concerned, despite the fact that of late they haven't been homemade. Lazy Philly. I think I have a friend crush on Phill. Tomorrow was originally supposed to be Klaus Says Buy The Record, but the line up... Well, it changed. Sparky was awesome last time I saw him so I'm really looking forward to this. Also on the line up are The Shrieking Violets. I've never heard them, but I'm very excited about this, as this is my sort of new friend Dom's band. Dom also co-runs my current favourite club night, Panda Panda, and is also the subject of one of my newest friend crushes. (I should explain about friend crushes. See lower down the page, marked by **)

Although I'm excited about tomorrow night, I have qualms as to whether I can make the distance in terms of staying awake for it. I've been sleeping such a lot lately, and yet I'm still permanently exhausted. I haven't cleaned my flat in over a week, and to all intents and purposes, it looks like I'm living in the aftermath of nuclear fall out. There is stuff everywhere. I haven't changed my bed in nearly two weeks, I haven't washed up since Monday, everything I need to take to the tip is shoved unceremoniously in the spare room. And I've been slobbing about all morning watching reruns of Dark Angel on E4. Yeah well. Maybe I should put on my decontamination gear and set about cleaning this pit...

Also, I ordered a copy of Words Are Dead on vinyl a couple of weeks ago from Amazon, and it arrived yesterday. If only I lived in Portland, Oregon. I could further my non-friend crush on Justin Ringle into mild groupie-ism. Wow. I know he's a bit bald, and has big ears, and looks super grumpy in pictures. But when he talks... And that smile. That smile that happens in his eyes before it even hits his lips. Wow. He's a massively attractive man. Why is is always pretty unobtainable musicians??? Gah. Of course, if he comes back to the UK any time soon it is my intention to flirt with him shamelessly.

** Friend crushes. You know when you're a twenty something girl, and you meet a twenty something boy, or indeed a twenty something girl, and you are overwhelmed by the desire to become friends. But you don't have any desire to get into their pants. Just that you find them, well, interesting. Intellectually. Artistically. The random twinkly bit in their eye means that you think they would understand the funny when you point out the generally considered unfunny. And that you can be yourself and witter, but at the same time you find something about them cool and aspirational, that you can be a better version of yourself in such company. The friend crush is something people don't often understand. Most people become friends through circumstance and the long drawn out process of mutual acquaintance, and to do anything else implies romantic or sexual intention according to the rules of modern day society. But, my friend crush, I do not want you that way. I don't want to see you naked. Not even to laugh and point. And there is the possibility that prolonged physical contact (like hugging) would make me feel physically nauseous. I just want your conversations and silliness. That is, I would like to be your friend.

Sunday 15 March 2009

A certain lack of chemical reactivity

Gah. I have realised that my finances are in a terrible state, so re-introducing swimming must wait until pay-day. However, I will be re-introducing yoga, and cycle-biking, and playing with my hula hoop, because I'm all grown up that way.
In other news, the Woodcat met up with a boy. There is a certain lack of chemistry. Oh dear. He seems very nice.

Saturday 14 March 2009

The Woodcat has plans

It's been over a year since I last went swimming. And I'm getting fat. Bizarrely, it's not stopping me getting attention from boys. But it is impacting my health, and the way I see myself in the mirror. And, in my less lucid moments, it makes me seriously question any attention I get from boys, and come to one of three conclusions. 1) They are crazy. 2) They have poor taste, or poor self-esteem, or they have a poor intellect, and are thus unable to distinguish attractive from unattractive... All these are lumped together, as these make me look down on the people who offer the attention, at the same time as lowering my own self esteem. 3) The prescription on their glasses needs changing. So the Woodcat is a woman with a plan. She is not entirely crazy you see, and in her more lucid moments she realises that despite what her mother may say, she looks okay, most of the time. She also realises that while she does not consider herself to be in any way beautiful, she is not an out and out dog either. Some days she looks quite nice, and if she took a little care of her appearance, that sometimes could become a most of the time. The big thing she has realised though, is that photographs decrease her self esteem. When she was going swimming regularly, she was slimmer. Not thin, not by a long stretch. But slimmer. And nearly every picture of her that people took looked, well, okay. Not great, but okay. Woodcat has a little face, and doesn't carry extra weight that well. It's not noticeable in "real life". But in a photo? Well, she starts looking like Quasimodo very quickly.
So Woodcat is planning to start going swimming again. In the mornings before work. Starting Monday. No doubt I'll only be able to do about 10 lengths, 20, at a stretch. But we are starting.

Saturday 7 March 2009

Horse Feathers Lyrics (as taken from the Horse Feathers myspace page)

Arguably, Justin Ringle is currently my favourite poet. Because thats whats these songs are. Pure unadulterated poetry.

CURS IN THE WEEDS
Lover of things,
won't you agree
how the winter could bring
the darkest spring?

With hell on your face,
dirt on the walls
in the back of the place,
you grew and complained.

Father of three,
won't you believe,
that the ones in between,
the ones that are blamed.

Of fickle faith,
cynics that seethe,
how their children are cursed,
cursed to believe.

It's like marrow without bone.
To live in a house with no home.
Where the son is the darkest seed.
He crawls with the curs in the weeds.

Where had you been son?
Not in the street, not in the yard.

Only once, I'll call off the dogs, if you call off your guard.

Where had you gone?
Where had you been?

RUDE TO RILE
Maybe he could wait a while?
Maybe grow too tired or old.
Maybe they just lay to look.

While we were young, we all laughed and we sung.
Now we've been beat by work.
Oh, he just waits, he just hopes, and he prays.
But the more she is loved she hurts. . .

It's rude to rile her up.
Those fools for god don't love another's touch.
Making babies for good or grief?
To these types of fools he pleads,
"If beggars aren't loved they leave!"

She learned it from a book.
Suiters approach, receive dirty looks.
Calling on her for good or grief.
These types of fools who beg and never read.

WORKING POOR
We are young and we are weak.
Just as blank as we are bleak.
Too far gone in our heads.
We all live and work in the red.

We're cold,
we had done all we've been told.
There's no court for our case.
What failure gave us suits our taste.

We all bend, we all break.
We all forfeit what we make.
Too far gone, in our heads.
We all live and work in the red.

We're cold,
we had done all we've been told.
There's no court for our case.
What failure gave us suits our taste.

There's no money to our names.
Empty pockets to our graves.
There's no court for our case.
What failure gave us suits our taste.

ALBINA
Now we've got concrete.
A place those blacks won't be.
If we come they'll know.
They should flee,
They should go.
Here comes a white shadow.

Blues aren't made from greed,
this feast on famine pleads.
To take their space,
if we can, if we may,
make a darker day.
Please, shame on me.

These things, they come in threes.
This feast on famine pleads.
To take their space,
if we can, if we may,
make a darker day
Please, shame on me.

This street ain't made for me.

A BURDEN
A bitter birthday.
I can't shake.
It seems that lately,
there's no break.

I'm pleading.

Why can't I see?
It seems that lately, I curse me.

A bitter birthday.
You can't make.
It seems that lately, there's no break

I'm pleading.

Why can't we see?
It seems that lately, you curse me.

How do you go?
A curse it is right behind.
How do you go?
A burden may change your mind.

HELEN
I just heard the news,
a new one is on your line.
I just heard the news,
it's taking all my time.

What will you do
when I'm fine?
What will I write
when I'm fine?

I just heard the news,
a new one is on your line.
Legs they're wrapped around,
a victim by surprise.

What will you do
when I'm fine?
What will I write
when I'm fine.

Helen, if you called my name you know I'd go.
In much the same way the sun steals the snow.
I've been burned by the heat two bodies make.
A little bird told me that your type is too ripe to take.

FATHER REPRISE

HEATHEN'S KISS
Lyin' on the floor and through your teeth.
Tell me where you've gone, speak softly.
Crawlin' from the dark up to your feet.
Tell me where you've gone, speak gently.

Crawlin' from the dark up to your feet.
Tell me where you've gone, speak softly.
Tell me where you've gone, and what you've done.
A fever keeps on comin', I want none.

Are you true to me?
Are these vows we say profane?
Are you true to me?
Are these vows we make obscene?

Heathens kiss softly.
From their mouthes there's nothing.
They cruelly come gently.
With violent lips smashing.

Heathens kiss softly.

DIFFERENT GRAY
Oregon loves too few.
Oregon loves just you.

Curse the rose, curse the rain.
Now two bodies, can't start the same.
How our sun has gone away, there aren't days,
there's just different gray.

How can anybody only just sleep?
How can anybody only just leave?

Who talked to you?
Who's in your ear?

Probably a better man.
Who's probably got better plans
for wealth or success.

THIS IS WHAT
Baby brother don't you know?
I'm cross when you come,
I'm cursed when you go.
I won't waste my time, let the worst get in line.
I fruitlessly labor for show.
As time passes distance grows.

My son is so late.
Mother trust I will bring you a face,
even on the wrong days,
you know I could dream to lay,
next to that body,
I've yet to make.

This is what it is to be.
Call it joy in youth,
don't dare call it free.
He won't come, he won't crawl.
He won't answer at all.
I fruitlessly labor for show.
As time passes distance grows.

FATHER
Father your failures are so grave,
they have seeped to son.
No amount of wishing,
for grace to be regained or won.
10,000 pounds of hope,
on the shoulders of one.

It's clear to me,
how the son has gone to seed.
It's clear to me,
how the roots shape the tree.
If I found a penance to be paid,
if I found a payment to be made.

There's no real letter to write,
To no real father of mine.
With no real things,
it's hard not to think.
With no real things,
it's hard not to sing.

Father your failures are so grave,
they have seeped to son.
No amount of wishing,
for grace to be regained or won.


HARDWOOD PEWS
Stalling, stalling, the hardwood of pews is calling. We want this news. Lovely ladies make pretty babies, it's true. That woman's not you. Take your body and clothes to places he won't go. Your life as you know is hopeless, it'll happen too slow. Oh, she's tricked, she was trapped. Her body was lacking white and red, those hues lost in bed. Oh, they would speak language exacting. Oh, they would lay, parts practicing. And through it all he won't call. Lovely ladies take your beauty to your grave.

FINCH ON SATURDAY
Boys, they've got wicked things on their minds. Before the father said you're toein' the line. Like a finch on Saturday, sin with wings. Give your tongue to God, on Sunday sing. It all seems fine. These things are off your mind. Remember we're born to die, but she was born to cry. To cry herself to sleep. Red cowards in the home of the brave. Rather the knaves and crooks that twist the good book. Peasants, paupers, pilgrims they are the same. They give their dollars to God but they need their pay. It all seems fine. These things are off your mind. Remember we're born to die, but she was born to cry. To cry herself to sleep.

DUSTBOWL
Viscious are the mouthes she tastes. Wicked are the vowes she breaks. Leaving all her luck to haste. Leaving all her luck to waste. All these things in a box, where she goes she lays. Leaving all these men tonight, leaving all these boys to fight.Leaving all her luck to haste. Leaving all her lust to waste. All these things in a box, where she goes she stops. Hell to all these moneymakers. Lives they won't mistake. Oh, you knew I loved to hate her. Eyes that won't debate.

BLOOD ON THE SNOW
Painless ghosts, of which she knows, the smell in her clothes, the smell in her nose. There's blood on the snow. Bring your love, it's on your tongue, it's on your roads, and in your toes. There's blood on the snow. Tuesday's violence, we're alone. Into their beds they approach their doom. Their heads, their lips, their chests, their hips, they walk. Them bones they move, they talk. Their bones they bleed they rot. Their tones they're forged, they're wrought, into what they're not.

HONEST DOUBTERS
Bound in blue, they wind into a love some would say is grand in its making. Worms may sing, that from beneath their graves, they're found embracing. Some might say love without touching. Bones may break, parts keep on bleeding. God loves honest doubters. Praying is always work. The best things will happen to the worst.Tuesday's lovers, Monday's mistakes.

IN OUR BLOOD
There are things you tend to say when you're alone. There are tones you tend to take when you're at home. Let me be that thorn, thistle, or key. Let me prove you'll unlock just for me. It's in your eyes we fail to even try. It's in our blood to watch each day go by. It's in our times young men they're living on dimes. It's on our minds to put our hands to throats. There are things you tend to say when you're alone. There are tones you tend to take when young hearts are broke.

FALLING THROUGH THE ROOF
Lady, you fondle then fight, tonight. By tomorrow you should grow. Hades, the place you reside tonight. By tomorrow we should know. It's likely you will lie as your tongue will taste the sky. Like it was once. And maybe, you will bruise as you fall right through this roof. Like it was once. It's likely you will prove that these things they come in two's. Like it was once. And maybe, you will bruise as you fall right through this roof. Like it was once.

LIKE LAVENDER
The wall breaks on the phone if at all, if you call. A hole from which to see your head, if words are dead. Some things always stay the same. How you looked wet from all the rain. Like lavender the smell of your hair, silly errs postponing your despair. And I'll wait, I'll wait. Take a ticket to my own fate. Maybe I'm too late.

WALKING & RUNNING
Walking and running, sucking and fucking at your will. You won't debate us, nor entertain us. It's your thrill. A bitter pill that you must take. Broken bones and hearts, that's your fate. I want out, I want to curse and shout. Get me from your mouth. Haters win, it just all depends if they won't, they won't miss a thing. We have just gone south. Get me, get me from your mouth. Heaven is what's just gone south. Do what you want, leave just your mouth.

EYES FULL OF ROSE
They move, they touch. Perhaps too much. They love to sing, only to be seen. They are cross 'cause they are clean.They are grave 'cause they are green. By tongue, by teeth. By fist or feet. There's two on the nose, it's bloodied and broke. I hid to see. Eyes full of rose. She tips on her toes, her father's ears, they are keen. Late in a dream, it remains to be seen if his grave is in flames. They move, they touch. Perhaps too much. They love to sing, only to be seen. They are cross 'cause they are clean. They are grave 'cause they are green.

MOTHER'S SICK
Mother's sick. She's gone mad. A daughter's tricked, she's been had. Life just don't always fold up neat. Sadness will come in different sheets. As blue eyes state, on your father's face, hides some grace. All those years your youth has stole. How your wife and your body has taken toll, toll, toll. Grab your mother, bring her ears. Tell her things she'll never hear. Like how her bark, it has calmed before her bite, bite, bite. We're beat, beat, beat asleep on feet. Goodnight, night, night let's calm this fight.

On Wednesday, I went to see Horse Feathers

The gig was amazing. The first support act didn't quite blow me away, I'd never heard Animal Magic Tricks, she has a nice enough sound, and a really good voice, and for the first couple of songs I was completely enamoured, but there was not enough going on in terms of range or variety to keep it entirely interesting for quite as long as the set lasted. Men Diamler was the second support, again, I've never heard before, but he was incredible, by turns ridiculously sombre and frenetically funny. Half way through he unplugged his guitar to play a song called Life is a Terrible Thing entirely within the crowd, and he was jumping in front of people and generally creating the best amount of uproar I've ever seen. And then Horse Feathers were just everything I could have wished for. And then some. I got hold of the first album, Words Are Dead, on iTunes late 2007 because I was becoming quite a fan of Peter Broderick, and I was interested in the other projects he was involved with. And I've been massively overplaying it ever since. Recently the second album, House With No Home was released, and it's ridiculously beautiful. They played a lot from the new album, as I think that's what most folks are more familiar with, and a decent amount of older ones, with an encore of Falling Through The Roof, and then when they'd finished we got talking to Justin Ringle who seems like an incredibly nice man, and disturbingly attractive when he smiles, and he gave me - gave me, how cool is that - a copy of their 7", and I paid some cash for a poster, and now I seem to have this deal with Justin Ringle that if I contact him and send him the monies, he will send me copies of both albums on vinyl! I'm so excited.(Though I will try and obtain them in ways that aren't inconveniencing nice folks that give me free stuff, but it's a lovely offer!)

As for the venue... Pretty good actually, a decent size for that sort of gig. Bar is downstairs, then there's a pretty big room upstairs where the bands play. I'm pretty sure when I was a kid Dulcimer was an amazing art supplies shop called Quarmbys, and the upstairs was a really cool toyshop, where I once got this puppet of a skunk. I'm pretty sure I still have that somewhere actually...

- I must confess, I felt absurdly bad about the idea of asking Justin Ringle to put himself out for me and send me vinyl, so I just sent him a message saying thank you for the 7", and how lovely it was to meet him. Then I looked on Amazon, and have bought a limited edition copy of Words Are Dead on vinyl for $16. It did surprise me, and amuse me, that there are 8 (now 7) copies for sale altogether, and 3 of those copies on there for nearly $60 each!