I wonder why during weekdays it’s hot and sunny but as soon as the weekend comes I wake up with the sound of rain falling on the roofs… Hopefully January & February will be less rainy, so I can get somebody to take me to the beach ;)
I’m moving to my next apartment next month for I don’t know how long with two seemingly great kids, with an amazing view (17th floor in Maputo, means being able to see Maputo as few get to see).
As I doubt I will get the chance to get internet before the 24th I hope you have a nice Xmas with does you love most & don’t ever take those precious moments as granted….
Merry Xmas to you all, I will see if at least my lunch will have some prawns, so enjoy your turkey or codfish ;)
Maputo has been a surprise, as all countries, as all cities full of contrasts…
For an African city it has been quite pleasant to get to know, although I hardly know it still. The not so pleasant part is having people chasing you to buy this or that (hopefully they will end up seeing that I’m not a tourist). The even less pleasant part is seeing the poverty, although until now I’ve only had to witness a small little girl caring a 5 liters bottle of water on her head and another one on her hand. Most of the children in Maputo have flip-flops and although playing at rather dirty backyards or streets they seem to be happy. My neighbors at least were laughing while playing football by our street (strangely only girls) and this cute little girl with a white flowing dress was hopping around playing in whatever imaginary world she was in… Until now I still haven’t have to look to the eyes of a child without any hope, so I suppose that even though the hard financial situations of all these people, if children are allowed to be children then there is still some hope…
Unlike the idea that the “civilized world” has, you can live extremely well in Africa if Africa is like Maputo, relatively safe (much safer then South Africa, for example), fantastic houses with “discrete” electrified fences (at least compared to iron fences you hardly notice them). Swimming pools, beautiful gardens with peacocks, where you can have a quite and relaxing stroll at you lunch hour. Drinkable water at the tap (at least that is what I’ve been told), very safe food at still quite a big number of restaurants affordable to at least the middle class of the country (which already have lovely houses just at the skirts of the city).
The locals who I’ve met and who I’ve worked closely with have been, with very little exceptions, very, very friendly so I can understand easily that it’s not only the famed beaches that give touristic potential to the country.
The company I’m working at is also unique, I’m one of the oldest and I’m only 29 (the average is 27). Hardly any “Doctors” at the work, at least between us, which I absolutely love as one earns respect, imposing it is many times just artificial.
Of course the locals have vices, all countries have them and it’s funny to see that some of their vices are the vices of the Portuguese.
Even though passing Xmas and New Year away from my family & my friends will be hard…
If it were me I would have run and kissed him, at least who can resist such a man...
Speaking of Creep this guy gives me the creeps with a song called Townes... However I was n't able to find the actual song so here goes a taste (not at the best quality)
... and realized it would have been a great soundtrack for the past year and a few months, sometimes it keeps on being a great soundtrack... A pity I haven't played this song for a while and I didn't recall it for so many months.
Everyone loves you Nobody cares An awful collection Of enemies and friends Congratulations to you With sad regrets I'm tired of the old shit Let the new shit begin
The psychic pain Of living in this world Is overwhelming me Again and again A beautiful afternoon Inside you in your bed I'm tired of the old shit Let the new shit begin
Nobody loves you Everyone cares None of them know what's Coming 'round the bend Congratulations to me Many happy returns I'm tired of the old shit Let the new shit begin
Paulo vê se pelo menos lembraste de me gravar algumas coisas para que eu não desligue completamente da civilização and to have something to dream about during the long lonely nights ahead ;)
Much better then the original! Ya, you can say as much as you want that you are into the money, but the truth is that if you couldn't play you would certainly die, because it runs in you veins and with such passion! Impossible not to fall in love with a guy playing like you...
Mr. Depp has been a good influence ;) I know it's a weird movie, unfinished, but ever since I saw it, I have never lost the impression it left written on my soul...
Novo job há 4 semanitas, novo flat há 2 semanitas e bendito do nerd que inventou o CIF Lixívia podia era ter juntado um pouco de creme hidradante para as minhas mãos não andarem na desgraça que andam...
Ah! E um spazito no fim das limpezas também dava jeito, com umas massagens às costas...
Daqui a umas semanitas depois das limpezas e assentar, será feito o jantar de estreia ;)
Makes you wish buying the collector's box and watch all the 9 seasons as a countdown for the movie. Many questions were left unanswered; I know many will keep unanswered and satisfaction will never be attained. True to the show life will be always a search for the truth and with new findings new questions are raised, quite philosophical as no human being can ever comprehend or attain all the knowledge and all the truth, starting with the simple fact that each human being understands truth in their own unique way…
This song never stops to make sense, everyday more:
I ain't lookin' to compete with you, Beat or cheat or mistreat you, Simplify you, classify you, Deny, defy or crucify you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.
No, and I ain't lookin' to fight with you, Frighten you or uptighten you, Drag you down or drain you down, Chain you down or bring you down. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.
I don't want to straight-face you, Race or chase you, track or trace you, Or disgrace you or displace you, Or define you or confine you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.
But he never sang it, but he sang this one with an amazing smile during the song to the public, a smile I won't forget that easily, the great Bob Dylan smiling to us simple mortals ;):
It was a concert to remember and tell about to your grandchildren, it may not be Bob Dylan of the 60's (quite impossible as we are in 2008) but still amazing at the keybords and harmonic, with such lyrics and songs!
I know fuel prices are the main indirect driving force (if they weren't so sky high there wouldn't be many people investing in biofuels as they are not cheap to produce) and don't misunderstand me I'm a Greeny but starving people so we can drive our cars and still think we are doing wonders to the world is being a hypocrite. Yes let's save the environment but not at the cost of human lives.
The devilish side of biofuels is that even if they are from non feeding products (that is their are not consumed by human beings) they still land from the products that actually feed and with raising cost of petrol and therefore transportation, as well as a mad frenzy for energy has driven prices of energy in all it's forms. This made biofuels' production actually worthwhile and I can assure you that the vast majority of its investors aren’t investing only on the kindness of their heart; they are doing it for the profit with the bonus of a status quo that they actually care about the planet not their pockets. Another small detail biofuel defenders forget is how much land is necessary to produce the energy needed to produce biofuel for us to drive our cars, let’s just say there isn’t enough land for that.
In my opinion, we should be investing in other renewable energies and invest in a solution using those for our cars, be it solar or eolic, hydrogen, etc. That’s were the future lays, not in short term solutions as biofuels that may reduce a little bit of our dependence of petrol, but at the cost of human lives? That is unacceptable.
No dia 8 de Agosto, também não se percebe porque não os Franz Ferdinand no Alive ou em Paredes, mas o cumúlo da estupidez é mesmo Beck no SBSR juntamente com o Mika (que tem muita sorte que quero ver Spiritualized e por isso não meto os pés no SBSR senão acho que estava muito tentada a despistar a segurança para entrar com uns ovos para atirar durante Grace Kelly e se ainda sobrassem durante a do Relax, até 8 doses diárias durante meses fazem disto)...
Pelo menos os adeptos alemães bem que entoavam o refrão, não há nada como a guitarra do Jack White para dar pica e alento a uma selecção, agora Roberto Carlos (supostamento o que o seleccionador faz a selecção ouvir)...
"In Alabama the laws take the ban one step further. All stores, including specialty stores, are barred from selling vibrators because of a 1998 law prohibiting distribution of devices that provide genital stimulation. Breaking the law is an offense that can bring up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine. It's a penalty that rivals that for illegal gun ownership in some states."
After basically killing the series and dreaming about getting Michael another love interest… A few days, by the way, after he learnt she was killed, supposing they had been mad enough to do it in last season's episode. I really doubt that would stick: “I lost the love of my life a few days ago, but as soon as I saw you I fell in love”! Especially after betraying all the shows fans, because chemistry like this that the viewers can just sense is hard to get! If it wasn’t for Wentworth Miller (who’s absolutely divine) and being stupidly faithful (I also saw all 9 seasons of X-Files, to be disappointed by the really bad and sloppy wrap up in the end)…
So she will be back, as I desired after seeing the box, it had to be a hoax, something just to fool Michael’s brother, but after checking the internet and finding out that the actress had really left the show, I had last all hope… But the producers gained their senses and as this is not the real world they will just resurrect her! So prepare yourselves for more of this:
"I must confess nervousness in advance of a phone call to Jason Pierce, the co-founder of Spaceman 3 and, later, Spiritualized. From afar, Pierce has always seemed slightly manic with the media, embracing its platform to talk about his process of making a record but quickly turned off by its questions about his personality, his drug use, and the personnel problems of his bands. Up close, though, his music-- especially its obsessions, like its overwhelming volume and scope and its pervasive tension between getting high with Jesus, getting high with drugs, and possibly dying in the process-- means a great deal to me. When I listen to a Spiritualized record, I listen to it on repeat for days on end, committing fully to Pierce's own full commitments. When he makes a record, he does so completely. Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space exited via a 17-minute closing groove, and Let It Come Down featured 100 musicians, including Dr. John. At his best, Pierce sounds like an all-or-nothing sort, one not prone for small talk or half measures. So why would this self-involved titan want to waste time talking about a new record that, for him, is already old? To my surprise, Pierce had a lot to say after awaking near noon in a New York hotel. Our conversation spilled outside of the time slot set by his publicist, and, throughout, he seemed genuine, thoughtful, well-considered. If he was ever going to respond that way, now seems like the time. The past few years have been difficult for Pierce: In 2005, he nearly died, weighing just 112 pounds and entering type-one respiratory failure in Royal London Hospital. He was diagnosed with "advanced periorbital cellulitis with bilateral pneumonia." When he came to, Pierce was left with an album he knew he needed to finish but comprised of songs with which he could no longer connect. He found his muse in a filmmaker and, once again, in American soul and folk music. Songs in A&E, Pierce's sixth studio album as Spiritualized, is a full-volume, ultra-dynamic return to glory. And the Spaceman likes to talk about it.
Pitchfork: Jason?
Jason Pierce: Is it that time already? [laughs]
Pitchfork: Rise and shine. Should I call back?
JP: No, it's fine. You're probably the first of many for today. How are you doing? I didn't realize it was so late already. I've just woken up. I've got to hit the ground and start talking about myself immediately.
Pitchfork: Today is the last day of three days of press-- interviews and photo shoots in New York. What's the difference between this press trip and others? The 2001 trip seemed busy and stressful.
JP: What was it like in 2001? I can't remember. I can't compare the two because I can't remember what 2001 was like. But it's good. It feels good. I feel quite a lot of relief just to have finished that record, so it's gotten a lot easier now.
Pitchfork: After your stay in the hospital, how frightening was it to think you might need to give up on the songs you'd written? That's a lot of work simply to scrap.
JP: Sometimes it seemed like it was just as hard to try and finish it as it was to throw it away. Yet, those songs were all written before my illness. The whole album was written with kind of fictitious characters in mind. The whole idea was to write an album that was outside of myself and, hopefully because of that starting point, I would write an album that was considerably different than anything I'd written before. But then when I came back to it after my illness, all the songs sounded deeply personal, almost like they were more related to me than if I started with me as a central character. It was really harrowing and really kind of impossible to find a way back into it until Harmony [Korine, the filmmaker] became involved.
Pitchfork: How long have you known Harmony?
JP: Only since I met him when he came to see me at the Daniel Johnston show. He came to see me and asked me if I'd get involved with some music for his film, Mister Lonely. He's not like an old friend. He became a friend, but he put me-- I think it was kind of a dumb move-- in a studio to make some music. And it was hugely liberating because I didn't have to front the music I was making. It was literally incidental music. It was incidental to his film, so I didn't have to stand by it and say, "Look, this is my new project. This is where I am today. This is what I'm doing." By being in the studio just working with sound like that, it just became...I was producing a lot of music, and-- somewhere during that process-- I decided to work on my own album in parallel to the film music. So the two kind of bled into each other. There are bits of my album in the film. There are bits of the film in my album. And the film gave the album an atmosphere, a sense of space that it was in, which it didn't have before. Before I became involved with Harmony, the album just sounded like 11 old songs that came after each other. The film kind of gave it this space that it sits in now, that makes it work. Also, Harmony is like the craziest person I've ever met. He really is out there. And the enormity of his thing, his film, put my album in perspective for me. He's this crazy motherfucker who's taking on that, and all I've got to do is piece these last bits of the jigsaw together. It was fortuitous and kind of the best thing artistically for me, but also on a friendship thing, you know? Pitchfork: Had you seen any of the film when you started recording?
JP: I don't think he'd started shooting, so there wasn't a lot to look at, you know? I'd read the script. A friend of mine was in the film, so I'd seen the script. I knew what he was talking about. I wasn't completely in the dark. I started the music immediately because it seemed like it didn't matter. If I was making music, I was making music. Whether it was in the film or not, it was still making music.
Pitchfork: What was your goal for the music for the film, in terms of sound, idea and even technique? Or did you not have one in mind?
JP: The music for the film? [pause] There's a question. I don't know. I can't remember. I think I was just in the studio on my own, so it wasn't like trying to construct anything. It wasn't like being with people and saying, "This is what we're trying to achieve here." I just sat with a piano or a drum or whatever and just made music. That's why it's hugely liberating to do that kind of stuff-- I'm trying to achieve this kind of thing. Making a record's a real fight for me. I'm constantly fighting with this thing inside of me that says I should be sitting in a room with Matthew Shipp or I should have Han Bennink on drums or this song should be playing for the next 20 minutes in my head, not a silly little pop song. It's constant. Things like "Soul on Fire"-- I didn't want that on the album. When it's a pop song, I don't really want to do pop songs, but they exist and sort of come out by accident. I couldn't find anybody to back me up on that. I couldn't find anybody to say, "Yeah, that's a good idea. Take ‘Soul on Fire' off the record." With Harmony's thing, I was kind of free to do that, to say I'm going to make some music now that doesn't have to fit into anybody's criteria. They didn't really even have to fit the film. The beautiful thing about Harmony is that he's constantly challenging what works in a film and what doesn't. Whether you love it or hate it or whatever, it's constantly in this place where it's not a comfortable place to be. It's not like "Ahh, yeah, I understand that on the simplest of forms, or on the simplest of terms." So it didn't matter, you know? If he took it, he could have it. If he didn't, it didn't matter. I was still making these pieces of music because it made sense. And maybe, in an odd way, they were more about what I'd been through than these old songs that sounded like they were about what I'd been through.
Pitchfork: I imagine it felt really good just to be creating again.
JP: Yeah, and having somebody value that as well, which I felt was also really important, too. I'm not the most confident person, anyway, and to have somebody who really valued and was excited about these things... I don't work on my own records in a kind of public way. I don't play stuff for people and go, "Is that all right?" I don't do sort of jokes and say, "How was that for you guys?" It's a deeply sort of personal thing, and it has to be good for me to justify everything else that goes on, even calling up a band and saying, "C'mon, let's get together." People have to put effort into that, so-- until it's great in my mind-- it's like, "What the fuck's the point of that effort?" With Harmony's thing, I was working with someone who was deeply enthusiastic about what he was doing, and it was absolutely the best time in my life to be working with someone who was like that.
Pitchfork: When you played the Mainlines shows last year, you were playing some of the songs that became Songs in A&E. How close were they to finished?
JP: They kind of existed as songs, but I don't think they were finished. They hadn't found that kind of...I'd mixed 'em a few times. I'd tried everything. I'd tried to mix 'em like I was mixing an old Spiritualized album-- mixing up the sounds and applying reverbs and stuff. And I'd just gone through everything to try and get this down and finished, and it just sounded like the application of an idea to something. It sounded wrong. I think the mixes were finished maybe a year after we'd played them live. For a while, I tried to make them sound like the acoustic thing, like, "This is how they're supposed to be. Let's do it like the acoustic shows would do it." But it sounded wrong. It seemed like I couldn't find a space for them to sit in that worked. And then it all kind of happened, having gone through all of that. Sometimes it's easier to make decisions when you know that you've tried things that are so wrong, you know, "OK, I don't go that way with it. I don't go this way with it." The way I work, I kind of have to go down all those wrong paths to know that the one I'm doing really is the one that is going to work.
Pitchfork: Did those shows help you see how the songs should work, or how they should fit together?
JP: Kind of, and also that they were to good not to finish. We had to find a way to put this album together, and, also, I had to make them contemporary again. I don't mean contemporary like contemporary to modern music. I mean contemporary to me, contemporary to my life, like I wasn't just working on a set of old songs. At times, it felt like someone had asked me to remix my last album or the album before that. "What is that? It's been finished forever. It's been a long time since it's been finished. What's the point of carrying on with it?" That's what this record felt like when I was working with it. So [the shows] kind of made the songs contemporary again.
Pitchfork: Mixing has always been so important to Spiritualized records. You're infamous for struggling through that process over a long period of time. What were the particular challenges of mixing this one?
JP: A lot of those challenges are the same as every record: You have to find that space. My records don't mix in a conventional sense, like, "Oh, here you go." I don't mean they're unconventional records, but they just have to find a space. It's almost accidental. I tried everything with this one, and I don't mind going down paths that I kind of know aren't going to be the one that will work. But I might get a tiny little gem that I can carry into the next process. It's weird because, what I ended up with this record, I ended up mixing it with no studio effects. I ended where I was with Amazing Grace, where anything that was added to it in the mix stage just sounded like I'd applied some reverb to it or whatever. So all the reverbs in the sounds are the rooms that the tracks were recorded in. That was the energy in it, and I was quite happy because that's what I'd been trying to talk about when I was working on those albums with William Parker and Evan Parker and Matthew Shipp [2003's Spring Heel Jack Live]. Those records are all about performance and just sticking a microphone into the performance and capturing it, not about trying to produce a record, you know? I kept saying I got sick of listening to people's productions, like people who had no ideas, no songs, nothing to say but could still con people's ears into thinking those songs were there by the application of production. I kind of wanted my record a little more honest than that: "Well, this is us. We put a microphone on it. Here it is."
Pitchfork: Care to name any names?
JP: [laughs] No, you can fill in your own. You can fill in where you feel like they apply. A ton of stuff, you know? I'm not talking about the tiny little specific thing. I'm talking about a lot of music. It's that kind of thing where people still talk about making songs for radio or doing a radio mix or something. The idea of making a record for the medium with which you're going to try and sell that record is just kind of weird. I make records. I don't make records...[breathes in] People are now telling me, "Albums are dead. You've got to make your records in tiny, bite-size pieces people can download." Well, I don't want to fucking do that. I make albums. I make these things that have their own space and time, and they fit. There's a link and a relationship between certain songs and certain ideas and certain themes. I'm kind of going, "What next? If you want me to do little bite-sized things, I'll just do the chorus for you. Or I'll just have them download the notes A and E." You can read an excerpt from a novel or a book in a magazine, but you can't deny that it's from a book, you know? I don't make records for this medium with which we're going to sell it. The selling of it can never be more important than what you're actually making. There's too much of that in the world-- in everybody's world, not just in music. There's too much, "Are you hip to this kind of stuff?" "Hey, this is cool." "Are you hip to it, because this is what we're selling today?" I think it's bullshit. I'm rambling now.
Pitchfork: You mentioned selling the notes A and E instead of the record itself. Tell me about the titular pun.
JP: I don't think it translates in America very well. "A and E" in England only means "Accident and Emergency." I did suggest that maybe we call it Songs in Accident and Emergency and spell it out in America, like subtitle it. If I say "The record's called Songs in A & E," to someone in England, they'll go "Accident and Emergency." They'll know what that means. It's written everywhere. It's written on every single hospital.
Pitchfork: Did that medical reference become apparent from your time in the studio, or reflecting about that time?
JP: I've got a feeling that it was there before again, before I went in there. But my memory's lost that one I'm afraid. It was always a good pun. It wasn't meant to allude particularly to a stay in a hospital. The idea that-- I don't have to explain it-- that the keys of A and E musically and the idea that these songs are...it kind of fits in with all my songs. I think they're all Accidents and Emergencies. I don't know why I do this. It's not any easy process. I don't even think I'm gifted in a way that someone can just stick a microphone and say, "Hey, this guy can play the guitar." Because I can't! I don't even play the guitar. The only time I play the guitar is when I walk on the stage, and that's it. It sort of seemed like it fit with the way my songs kind of came together, anyway.
Pitchfork: Particularly with Let It Come Down, you talked about the songs not necessarily being autobiographical, so it seems that writing outside of yourself has always been of interest. You mentioned before finally making this record about characters. Why haven't you tried that before?
JP: I think that you've just got to be honest, and sort of the greatest music is almost recorded by accident, coming out of people that are not doing it to make...There's always this talk of the industry of music and about selling records and whatever, but that ignores probably the majority of music that isn't about trying to sell itself, that isn't about being connected to any industry. There's a huge amount of music where someone just happened to have a tape recorder and turned it on or hit the red button while they were in the back of church or recording something in their front room. There's a huge amount of that music from America. I've just got this thing that music has to be honest. So I never really wrote about characters, but this album was definitely about a group of people that were going to populate these songs, which I'd never done. "The Waves Crash In" was called "The Old Man Says Goodbye to His Daughter at the Gate", and it was about exactly that. It was about an old man filled with pride and sadness that his daughter was old enough to leave home and go out into the world. His whole future was embedded in this person, like this lineage of time. "Borrowed Your Gun" was that kind of sentiment as well, that the future is with children. The lines at the end of "The Waves Crash In" were the girl's lines back to the father. He's like, "Look, I'm really sad to see you go, but I'll try and be with you forever." And the girl's throwing these lines back that are saying "I know you think I'm staggering but lately I've been staggering," with both senses of the word. But, like I say, that may have been where I started with it, and I can still relate that story about that's what it's about. But it kind of isn't about that anymore. It became deeply about me and where I was. Now that it's finished and it's out there, even that's irrelevant. Maybe it's relevant for a couple of weeks while I talk about the album, but eventually the songs become about and for whoever's listening to them. I've said the line about Ray Charles a million times, but nobody listens to him singing "I Can't Stop Loving You" and wonders who Ray can't stop loving. They apply that to their own lives. That will happen with this.
Pitchfork: Did the lyrics change at all when the titles changed?
JP: No, they were the same lyrics, the same words.
Pitchfork: So only the titles changed?
JP: Yeah, and a different sense of what the song meant to me. "Death Take this Fiddle" was written from a place with pride, almost like life isn't worth living unless death is around. As soon as you understand that and as soon as you can go really close to death, everything can make more sense. That's a place where people will always want to go. Obviously, after my illness, it could no longer really sound like that anymore, but that's where it started. To write a song like that with any form of pride after an illness sounds like the actions of a fool. The whole sense of where it was at changed.
Pitchfork:You keep mentioning the sort of American music where there just happened to be a microphone, where a recorder happened to preserve an authentic musical moment. People always talk about you buying the Stooges record as a teenager, but when did you first hear this sort of soul or folk or gospel music from America?
JP: A little later than that. The blues thing was slightly more mainstream. There were a lot of kids who were into rockabilly when I was a kid, when I was 16 or so, and listening to John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters and that kind of stuff. The Staple Singers was probably the first gospel stuff I heard. I used to listen with Natty [Brooker, original drummer of Spaceman 3]. He taped a lot of radio shows, like Alexis Korner radio shows. The Staple Singers was somewhere in the middle of all that. The main reason was they just sounded alien. I think the track was "Tell Heaven," and it's just this long, extremely slow vocal thing. A lot of what people were playing as blues then was more like white blues bands. So [The Staples] immediately sounded alien, like it just dropped from the sky or something. Once you get an in, it's like anything. You want to hear more. "Where did this come from?" It still seems like it's endless. I found those Mississippi Records from Portland, and they've got whole catalogues and more of that stuff. You listen to like the Rev. Charlie Jackson, and you think "Wow, where's this from?" It's some guy in Kentucky with an electric guitar playing this amazing stuff...and then there's a whole ton more of this kind of stuff. All of the George Mitchell stuff that Fat Possum just put out...It's this kind of thing that, but for the sort of luck of that person being there at that time and putting something down, this music almost wouldn't be here. But for that kind of accident, they're there, and there's more of it. It's beautiful stuff."
Ora ai está uma brilhante ideia para acabar com as bocas do "tia solteirona" ou "já tens namorado" e de certeza que o Sr. Padre Vieira também concede divórcios na hora sem justificações ;)
Será que o Wentworth Miller consegue alugar um jacto que ande para aí à velocidade do som pelo menos para chegar a tempo (já que o Johnny Depp, Beck e Jack White já não estão no mercado)? Só espero que ele saiba tocar guitarra eléctrica senão quero logo divórcio e não lhe perdoo os vídeos com a Mariah Carey (tirando o som e a dita, continuam a ser de cortar a respiração, o que se tem que fazer para ficar com um papel e cumprir um contrato)!
About 30 minutes long (in contrast with Guero and The Information, not and Ipod album in this case) with Danger Mouse production and The Great Cat Power’s collaboration on Walls, so I’m quite curious to hear this one and add it to my Beck collection ;)
Just because they don't starve, they don't do plastic surgeries or they don't do enough of those. Women cannot fight a few simple things in life without resorting to plastic surgeries: cellulite (every month due to our menstrual cycle we accumulate liquids and therefore cellulite, some have worse genes but eventually all of us get it and pregnancy doesn’t help), breasts that start to become less firm and eventually just hang down (this occurs faster if you breast feed your children and it’s a crime not to do so if you can as it’s the best defence system you can offer to any baby) and birth stretch marks once again due to pregnancy. This not to speak about wrinkles through all your face and eventually your body…
So women are left with two options: - Starve, don’t have babies and in case that happens never breast feed and please no C-sections, and do intensive plastic surgeries until you are 60+ and look like Joan Collins or Michael Jackson - Have babies, eat in a healthy manner with some moments of sin, do exercise (but forget about being maniac about it as you don’t have time or a personal trainer) and live with the fact that everybody ages and that unless you have the dope (and it’s not a once a time investment, breast implants have to be changed every 8 years or so for example) and “no plastic surgeries” is not a principle for you, you will never have you body in the same state as the body of Madonna, Demi Moore, Angelina Jolie, etc.
Let’s just put it like this stop making life a hell for people who are thin but not anorectic (they are lucky enough to have great waists, so what? Lucky them! And don’t worry it must be hell to live everyday looking at the mirror and wondering if you are too fat to use a certain dress to the Oscars as people will be so cruel about it) and please stop making fun of women who are normal for their bloody age, not all can afford to do plastic surgeries or are against them or are simply reluctant to succumb to that kind of pressure and not all have the will power to pass 40+ years starving and refusing everyday some of the biggest pleasures of the world. By the way the same goes for those that are morbid obese, it may be entirely their fault, in most of the cases, but making fun of them or being cruel will only make them eat more to fill the void…
Ah! And let’s not forget about those that brag that they eat steaks, sweets, chocolates, chips and whatsoever and they never get fat (yeah, if you only it one meal of that the whole week and you skip all others) or those who say that they are 1,70 but only weight 48 kgs (so why do you look so healthy and are not in hospital in your death bed and were is the weight of your breasts or of your hips) it gives the idea of impossible healthy measures to normal human beings… And then they wonder why so many women cannot get into grips with their bodies and men mock about diets but they are always bragging that their dream is to marry some model or other with those impossible measures (they are of course lying...). After all what are a few inches more or a few pounds less? Or some close up photos with a few computerized touches?
Then when they see they with their true colours it’s a sock “too fat”, “too slim”, “hideous makeup” or “no makeup: too normal/ugly”… Hey, they are not perfect, all of us have some defects, some much less then the normal ones yes, but still with some shortcomings...
As I will never marry I don't have to worry about this old English rhyme ;)
Married in White, you have chosen right, Married in Blue, your love will always be true, Married in Pearl, you will live in a whirl, Married in Brown, you will live in town, Married in Red, you will wish yourself dead, Married in Yellow, ashamed of your fellow, Married in Green, ashamed to be seen, Married in Pink, your spirit will sink, Married in Grey, you will go far away, Married in Black, you will wish yourself back.
But you must agree with me it's an absolutely gorgeous gown!
In my opinion the one who better impersonates what Bettie Page was... I would love to have this gal's glamour and everything else (including most of the times her excellent taste) ;)
A country which fought so much for human rights and respect for all no matter race or religion commits this atrocity. Once again I must be ashamed of my country’s history and people… I know hunger, unemployment, poverty and AIDS-toll takes all hope, but killing those who are as bad or worse can never be justified…
Never less, the country is been leaded by an incompetent and will be followed not only by an incompetent but also a rapist, hope is slimming in such a great country, with so much potential…
Who signs with this passion... Boys take the hint ;)
"I know of a river...
I know of a river
In which the only stars,
Always leaning over,
Are the lights of the city
I know of a river...
I know of a river
A river where falsehood itself
Has the flavour of truth
I know of a river
My love, give me your lips!
Give me the lips of that river
Which was born of my thirst!
But the dream continues...
And my mouth (for how long?)
Parting from yours
Repeats and remembers
"I know of a river...
I know of a river..."
My love, give me you lips!
Give me the lips of that river
Which was born of my thirst!
But the dream continues...
And my mouth (for how long?)
Parting from yours
Repeats and remembers
"I know of a river...
I know of a river..."
I know of a river...
Ah!
For how long?"
This was how he began last Friday's concert and I can say it was one of the most sensual things I've heard, with that voice, that passion, that intensity, just absolutely chilling...
Conquest- He was out to make a conquest Didn't care what harm was done Just as long as he won The prize
Conquest- She was just another conquest Didn't care whose heart was broke Love to him was a joke 'til he looked into her eyes
And then in the strange way things happen The roles were reversed from that day The hunted became the huntress The hunter became the prey
Conquest- Now you know who made the conquest She, with all her female guile Led him helpless down the aisle She had finally made a conquest
Ahh ahh ahh ahhhhh (x4) Oooh oooooohh oohhhh
And then in the strange way things happen The roles were reversed from that day The hunted became the huntress The hunter became the prey
Conquest- Now you know who made the conquest She, with all her female guile Led him helpless down the aisle She had finally made a conquest
Ahhhhh
Conquest
I absolutely love this song, the lyrics are great (I've met many such hunters, unfortunately they haven't become the prey yet) and the music... well it's Jack & Meg at their best (as there is no official video you may just listen)...
For the first time since I’ve got my new mobile phone it’s quite empty, only with the message “No more entries today” which at the same time means no more entries for the whole week… This doesn’t mean I’m on holidays (as usually those are marked as an entry), as I keep on having loads of work and some trouble in organising it all.
So surprise of surprises, I’m actually updating my blog, as at the moment I’m doing a backup of a database on which I need to work, as it’s taking a while here I’m!!!
Although since I’ve started working with my father, I haven’t taken much of any kind of holidays, I’ve been able to take some days to go and watch some concerts or actually enjoy some summer festivals.
I must say that if it hadn’t been Paulo and the Maiorais, my musical life would have been quite poor in terms of concerts for the first 5/6 months of 2007, but as they had the guts and perseverance to keep on organizing concerts of some of the best Portuguese bands that are around I can say I’ve been quite blessed ;)
The first concert, you may have seen in the blog: d3o, will be a story to tell my grandchildren, as well as some other amazing nights in Rio Maior. Even if fate won’t allow Maiorais to keep on dreaming and even if Paulo can’t organize the so dreamt about Musical Festival at our local theatre, the concerts I saw in a little bar will be treasured moments, as to everybody who knows me more a less, knows I would love to have my own club, but a club as the famous ones in London and USA, where we and about less then a thousand lucky ones are able to see bands such as The White Stripes, The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Guided By Voice, Beck, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and so on at their beginning, with excellent conditions (which isn’t always what happens at some of few clubs we have in Portugal and unfortunately they are in Lisbon, I still live about one-hour drive from them and the concerts are fatally at eleven or even midnight and a girl must work so)!!!
So the concerts I was lucky enough to watch in my home town we basically my salvation at a quite little town but unfortunately also quite dull in activities for the mind, soul, heart and thrill music gives me…
When I first heard The White Stripes were coming to Portugal I was in heaven (2 hours later in a nightmare as it wasn’t truth), then some weeks later Jesus & The Mary Chain, then LCD Soundsytem and finally Sonic Youth, unfortunately not all on the same day, so I ended up in going to 3 different Summer Festivals plus one (as Manu Chao also came to Portugal)…
The White Stripes concert suffered for being in the middle instead at the front with many idiotic Smashing Pumpkins fans who clearly don’t know how to respect others and the low sound whose soul responsibility was of who ever organized the concert… So sadly I saw the whole concert in Black & White through screens, never actually saw not even what colours Meg or Jack were wearing (although I knew it had to be black and red), while passing most of the concert hearing Spanish spoken quite loud, as well as Portuguese… So if The White Stripes ever return I will this time be at the front row if possible (although I hope somebody will bring them to the Coliseum de Lisboa)…
From the other big expectations I can say I loved Jesus & The Mary Chain (even if their guitars didn’t play as Psychocandy), LCD once again fantastic, Sonic Youth was magical and Manu Chao is Manu Chao: amazing (thought but not with out non concert related pain)… Now I can’t wait for Patti Smith this autumn! Perhaps, one of these days I actually win the lottery and I will finally watch Bob Dylan and of course do my around the world trip ;)
I really can’t tell much more of what I’ve been up to lately as work as consumed much of my time and energy, but hopefully I will be able to make ends meet still this year and actually do some travelling even if only through Portugal ;)
For those that only hear North American Scum here goes the lyrics, for me it's criticizing not only some things about America but also this stupid hatred people are feeding on... It's becoming stronger and stronger; everybody throws the first stone but forgets whether they shouldn't also throw stones to themselves... I'm scared of another Holocaust, one of hatred against innocents just because they are American or Arab, because, yes anti-Americanism is becoming absolutely unreasonable, just as unreasonable as anti-Semitism is/was or just as unreasonable anti-Immigrants and anti-Arabs is… I have a weakness I never expect the worst from people and sometimes I’ve paid the price for being so, but I still have faith that for some not all must pay!!! So let’s quit looking to North Americans as if they were all the enemy and unite strengths against the atrocities committed everyday by monsters who laugh in our face because we let them get away unpunished or we get them too late (and yes that includes some North Americans but not all, just as well as it includes Russians, French, Sudanese, Israeli, Palestinian, Arabs, Coloured, Whites… there will always be evil everywhere and focusing on only one will let other commit unspoken atrocities with no consequences and sometimes with our silent consent).
In the end it’s a great song no matter the political message, so enjoy!!!
Oh oh oh oh i don't know, i don't know, oh, where to begin we are north americans and for those of you who still think we're from england we're not, no. we build our planes and our trains till we think we might die, far from North America, where the buildings are old and you might have lots of mimes. aha, oh, oh. i hate the feelin' when you're looking at me that way cause we're north americans but if we act all shy, it’ll make it ok makes it go away.
oh I don't know, I don't know, oh, where to begin when we're north american but in the end we make the same mistakes all over again come on north americans
we are north american scum we’re from north america
and all the kids all the kids that want to make the scene here in north america when our young kids get to read it in your magazines we don't have those so where's the love where's the love where's the love where's the love where's the love tonight?
but there's no love man there's no love and the kids are uptight so throw a party till the cops come in and bust it up let's go north americans oh you were planning it i didn't mean to interrupt sorry i did it once and my parents got pretty upset freaked out in north america but then i said the more i do it the better it gets
let's rock north america
we are north american scum we're from north america we are north american scum we are north american
new york's the greatest if you get someone to pay the rent wahoo north america and it's the furthest you can live from the government un huh huh some proud american christians might disagree here in north america but new york's the only place we're keepin them off the street boo boo now we can't have parties like in spain where they go all night shut down in north america or like berlin where they go another night, alright, un huh un huh
you see i love this place that i have grown to know alright, north america. and yeah, I know you wouldn’t touch us with a ten-foot pole ‘cause we’re north americans.
we are north american scum we are north americans we are north american scum we love north america
take me back to the states man north american scum where we can be north american where the dj here in north american scum don't blame the canadians let go north america
Dedicated to all the lies, maybe they will understand...
I ain't lookin' to compete with you, Beat or cheat or mistreat you, Simplify you, classify you, Deny, defy or crucify you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.
No, and I ain't lookin' to fight with you, Frighten you or uptighten you, Drag you down or drain you down, Chain you down or bring you down. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.
I ain't lookin' to block you up Shock or knock or lock you up, Analyze you, categorize you, Finalize you or advertise you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.
I don't want to straight-face you, Race or chase you, track or trace you, Or disgrace you or displace you, Or define you or confine you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.
I don't want to meet your kin, Make you spin or do you in, Or select you or dissect you, Or inspect you or reject you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.
I don't want to fake you out, Take or shake or forsake you out, I ain't lookin' for you to feel like me, See like me or be like me. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you.
Miller's father is of African, Jamaican, English, German, Jewish, and Cherokee descent, and his mother is of Russian, French, Dutch, Syrian, and Lebanese descent.
