Where the light gets in

Okay so I am already guilty of posting this on my other blog and then on facebook and twitter but words can't express how much I love this performance. I love the flowy costumes, how the women use each other to draw strength, the slightly eerie nature of the dance and then the dancing! Oh my gosh they were all so good. Not one weak link. If I were to quibble and there is one teeny tiny thing--it's the direction. The light kept blinding the camera and I couldn't see the dancers properly some times but otherwise, just gorgeous. Just when I thought the show was getting boring and tired it does something like this.

Guilt infested post

How long has it been? I have been shameless with the updating of this blog. Even now, I'm at a loss as to what to write. I'm going to have a clear (but not so clear, I mean come on it's me.) agenda

Music updates: 

1. Have you heard Devendra Banhart? Love love love. I had heard about him years ago when he was seeing one of the insufferably annoying actresses of my generation, Natalie Portman. I don't care if she's the reason The Shins made it as big as they did, I've never seen someone so annoying as her on screen. Okay but to get back to the point, I decided to listen to him a couple of days ago and it's safe to say I've fallen in love with his broody, melancholic but ultimately floaty charm. He's a little Nick Drake-ish. Now if only he could do something about his unfortunate name. Hippie parents I tell you. Who am I kidding though, I've always wanted to be a hippie.

2. The Shins came out with a new album I've yet to listen to but love anyway in theory. 

3. Marissa Nadler and I are still going strong.

4. I have started listening to Bjork. Yep, finally! I had an entire semester dedicated to her and her Homogenic album. Just gorgeous. 

Poetry updates:

1. I have a new stone being published in a book very soon as part of an anthology. Verrrry excited :)

2. And the poetry continues along with a change in my blog name which I've already explained on my blog.

Life and otherwise:

1. I think I'll collapse if I try this. Let's just say it's been eventful.

I will try and be more regular

A day of discoveries

Sigh, happy happy happy am I. 

I see a theme here

What can I say?

Everything predicates itself on you and me. 

Long time no anything.

It's been far too long since I have posted here. But with no laptop and practically no access to internet neither am I being exposed to much new music (or anything new, really) nor am I very inspired to write. Even my poems are coming from a drying well. Sigh. Inevitable I guess.

But oh, I heard this today and I am more than a little in love with it. I feel like lying on my bed and stretching endlessly to it. Yep. Just stretching.



Enjoy! Hopefully I'll be back in full form soon. 

League of Extraordinary Dancers on So You Think You Can Dance

Okay how amazing are these dancers? It isn't possible for me to love this show more.



As soon as I am more free and settled I am going to be catching the web series. You should too. 

Kinship, writing and Marissa Nadler

Have you ever come across an artist with whom you felt an instant connection? This connection is different from others, it's not merely that the artist speak of things you know well and intimately, nor is it mere admiration for how like you they seem, it certainty isn't the kind of connection that grows with each listen so you feel by imbibing the artists in your life you are growing a little. No it's the kind of connection you recognise instantly-you feel it in your bones with the first strains of music and when he/she begins to sing and you're even willing to entertain the slightly foolish notion that you're siblings of the same order-kindred spirits if you will be.

It's rare this kind of connection because we love so many artists for the diversity that they bring to our lives, for the way they train our ears to their sound and their message, for opening us to new ways of seeing and I'm sure many many more reasons. But this kind of connection is unique because it seems to take you back to somewhere ancient, some place no I don't want to use the word primal, even before that- a beginning of sorts. Your beginning. I haven't felt this way about too many artists and it's a good thing because over the past few days I have become obsessed with Marissa Nadler.

The moment I first heard the opening strains of Thinking of You  I immediately had that swooping sensation in my stomach a little like when you first realise you're in love but instead of throwing you off balance like love does, this feeling centers you. I guess it's what meditation should do. And then when I hear her cover of Famous Blue Raincoat (a song that holds so many memories for me that I would call it my favourite Cohen song if not for Chelsea Hotel No. 2)  I was lost. I am not someone who grudges covers but I am wary when it's a song I am already deeply attached to. Her version manages to break through that barrier. It is just as painful as Cohen's but adds a layer to it, turns the mystery of that song in a different direction and it becomes every bit her song.

I love that she is so gracefully dark. Why gracefully? I guess it's because it goes back to something I said to someone a long time back, that darkness can be very very beautiful that there's much to learn from it if we allow ourselves to. I was sick of the whole enlightenment spiel (at the time) a friend was giving me and I can remember how we coined the word 'endarkenment' as an anti thesis to it.  For as long as I can remember I've been preoccupied with pain.  I've had clashes with so many people about this though that I just shut up about it now. It's why poetry works so well for me and much of Marissa's writing reminds me of things I know, wonder about, some times don't have courage to write about.

I wrote a poem (Have you seen my sadness?) under her influence the other day and it's one I am happy with even though I know it needs more work. I took time with it, her music playing all the while in the background and it was just an amazing experience writing it. I love when that happens, when the writing is enough.

Read more about her at Pitchfork they have some great reviews of her albums. My favourite so far is Songs III Bird on the Water.