Spring has come to London, mad as March hares. This one, an albino, is over a hundred years old and fell asleep for ever somewhere on Dartmoor in the nineteenth century. But after a fashion, he lives on here with us in a house in a city in a way never dreamed of back then. He has company - blue birds, an owl, a squirrel, a parrot, a blackbird (who flew into the window one day), a whole family of grebes, a hawk and a miscellany of others. Some find them spooky but for me they are magical - creatures from dreams, frozen in flight or caught for ever in the light.Speaking of such things reminds me that my old friend, that peculiar animal Cibelle Blackbird has a new single "Man from Mars" coming out followed by an album "Las Venus resort palace Hotel" in May. I have had heard them both and I can confirm they are marvellous. The album is set in a club at 'the end of the world' which sounds a little familiar - maybe there is something apocalyptic in the air of Clerkenwell and Dalston.
Cibelle is one of the stars of the "Dreams That Money Can Buy" live score by The Real Tuesday Weld which I am looking forward to seeing performed again later this year. Here she is singing, the final sequence: A kiss like a knife:
One day we will never wake up.
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this spring everyone is going to fall in love
This morning I walked to the coffee shop through the park. It was mildly, delicately, gently, miraculously spring. At the shop, as I waited for my coffee to be prepared, there seemed to be, amongst the three girls working there, busying themselves around me, some kind of tension. One, dressed in a white frilly frock and DMs was saying, with a not very convincing air of unconcern, "well, it took me a long time to get ready", while the faces of the other two were set with scowls. I immediately felt, after the sublime outside, this unpleasant inside atmosphere was seeping into me.
"It's going to be the most spectacular spring any of us have ever seen," I said, calmly and rather unusually, to all three.
The girl in front of me who had been unhappily concentrating on steaming the milk looked up at me.
"Why do you say that?"
"It happens to be true."
The older of the three said, with mechanical politeness, "yes, the weather is very nice."
"Not just nice," I went on, undaunted, "This spring the whole world is going to go up in frothing ecstasy of flowers."
Silence.
"Also, everyone is going to fall in love."
The girl in white laughed, "everyone?"
"Yes, and all problems that already couples have will be sorted out. Everyone is going to be in love. How about that?"
"That's good news," said the girl serving me, smiling.
"Isn't it?" I said, taking the coffee, "bye bye everyone."
"Bye!" they said, all three together, and I left.
If this were a dream
If this were a dream my internal reality would manifest externally; anger would come to me in the form of angry people and love would come as lovable people. There would be strange justice in that, making mysterious sense. How much sense wouldn't be the result of what I was seeing or feeling, but who was seeing or feeling it.
Sometimes I would feel that 'you' over there and 'me' over here were an illusion, edges softening, into the unknown. In those moments reality would seem so real and vivid I'd say "its like a film" or "its like a dream". If this were a dream I would dream of knowing it, of being invulnerable, of being a king (although I need not tell anyone). Then, no matter how bad it got, I would never have it any other way.
www.gentleapocalypse.com
I've lately thought that a house is not a home without an ex-pheasant, and I'd love to acquire one (that lived a long and happy life 100+ years ago) for my parlour. I'd like to give him a chance to live again, if only in my imaginiation.
Thanks Darren - i appreciate that contribution. I've always been a big believer in the value of dreams - although of course in a non literal way.
The film Dreams That Money Can Buy is very interesting in that it really captures the nonsensical significance / senseless meaningfulness thing.
Jane, I like the use of the word 'parlour' there. Very nice
I must watch DTMCB again sometime. Quite enjoyable.
I see that TRTW will be playing a free Union Chapel gig with The Leisure Society and Snowbird in May? At least, so Songkick informs me. Looking forward to it!
Ooh, also, whilst talking about Dreams...
There's this song on a compilation of multiple blogs:
http://eardrumsmusic.com/2010/02/15/music-alliance-pact-february-edition-34-songs-by-34-bands-from-34-countries-presented-by-34-blogs/
The German song, by an act called Napoli Is Not Nepal- it just reminds me of trtw/dreams, but a bit more electronicky. Maybe reminding me of Ruth, Roses and Revolvers? The beat or something to it. I like the familiarity it gives me anyway!
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