Tomorrow Never Knows

'Happiness often sneaks in through a door you 

didn't know you left open' ~ John Barrymore

   

I Need Your Lurve

    

    

Been listenin' to excessive amounts of Burt Bacharach, in particular, this marvellous song - the result being that every time I go to type the word 'research', 'researach' keeps wheedling its way out through the keypad. (I can think of no other likely causation for that sneaky, superfluous 'a').

 

 

The story behind the track goes a little something like this:

 

One fateful day, Alpert asked Bacharach, 'Say, Burt, do you happen to have any old compositions lying around that you & Hal never recorded; maybe one I might use?' (Alpert said he made it his practice to ask songwriters that particular question; in attempt to reveal a 'lost pearl'). As it happened, Bacharach recalled one, found the lyrics & score sheet, and offered it to Alpert: 'Here, Herb, you might like this one.', and so a #1 single was born. Alpert would later become the first (& only) artist to reach the top of the 'Hot 100' chart with both vocal & instrumental performances.

 

I hadn't realised it previously, but one of my favourite groups of jazz cover-vampers subsequently recorded a version.

 

wikipedia.org

   

Good Morning, Starshine

 

 

 

Tutti Fruity

 

  

Glorious

The Pierce sisters, Catherine & Allison, have 

managed to combine the signature sixties sound of

bands like 'The Mamas & the Papas', with the minxy

good looks of Britt Ekland, circa The Wicker Man:

 

The second single from their new album,  
You & I, was released last April. Glorious, indeed.
 

 

Face To Face

I make no secret of my fondness for cameos of all descriptions, as evidenced by posts like this & this. Recently, I happened on an especially appetising version, lovingly crafted from an Oreo cookie by Massachusetts artist, Judith Klausner, who 'enjoys playing with her food, both recreationally & professionally'.

   

 

As part of a delicious-looking series called From Scratch, Klausner uses Victorian handicraft processes to transform modern packaged foods: 

'I hope to change the way people see the small & often disregarded ephemera of life, & question what defines these things as ephemeral at all. What becomes mythologised, & what is discarded as mundane? My work brings to light the beauty (& sometimes humor) in subjects & materials often dismissed or taken for granted. I revel in minutiae.' 

   

jgklausner.com 

  

Frankly, Mr. Shankly

   

   

Melanchol(ia) & The Infinite Sadness

   

 

I've long suspected that the primary appeal of Lar's von Trier's work stems from its amplified morbid curiosity factor (Antichrist's autoclitoridectomy being a prime example). At first glance, Melancholia - his upcoming title - seems less gore-centred, concerning itself instead with a marraige-meets-apocalypse theme. 

  

True to form though, von Trier has managed to conjure controversy around the film, by way of some slightly baffling, seemingly Nazi-sympathetic comments. Despite his subsequent apology, it raised a tricky question around that nebulous boundary between artistic freedom and deliberate obnoxiousness.

   

 

Also interesting, is the fact that the movie opens on what is quite literally a controversial note, with the prelude from the opera Tristan und Isolde - the pugnacious Wagner having been similarly associated with possible antisemitism.

   

Contentions considered, here's the official trailer:

 

     

Road

    
 

 

'You can take the road that takes you to the stars now

I can take a road that'll see me through'

 

Maybe my most memorable interrailing song

from summer '05

  

Champagne Supernova

                                                                         

    

The registry list for the fast-approaching wedding of Kate Moss & fiancé Jamie Hince was released this past week. Featuring an eclectic mix of accoutrements, inclusions range broadly from affordable to exorbitant, practical to frivolous, with noteworthy mentions being:

 

> Fourteen crystal ashtrays: £240ea.

> Crates of Cristal champagne: £1,800ea.

> Cutlery set: £5,000

> Silk rug: £6,600

> Bottle of Berry's claret: £12

> Pair of tea strainers: £13

> Rabbit-shaped jelly mould: £35

 

 

 

   

Photos featuring Kate Moss in acid brights

for Vogue Paris, May 2011

    

Love Hangover

  

  

The ongoing disco revival seems to have inadvertently 

seeped into my consciousness - I can't get enough
of Diana Ross as the archetypal seventies saucepot,
especially in this gloriously sleazy number:

 

Above, she performs it with the help of  

'the tallest & trippiest Muppets ever'.

 

The original version, complete with eight full minutes 

of indulgent disco ad-libbing can be found here,
& remixes like this one are pretty darn great too :)
   

Time To Pretend

  

  

Picture Of You

Having spent quite the long while pestering various djs with Blondie requests, we jumped at the opportunity to observe the in-the-flesh renditions, this day last year. 

 

During same visit, longtime fan and Dublin artist, Peter Rees, presented Debbie Harry with a monochromatic painting of her iconic pout:

 

 

  

- A pout that is similarly evident in Warhol's screen print 

of one of music's most famous visages, ca. 1980:

 

 

The portrait, made up of five layers of ink screened 

over a bubblegum pink background, is to be auctioned 

by Sotheby's of London at the end of this month.

 

 

↑Blondie strikes a Bowie?↓

 

    

 

Light My Fire

June 23rd is better known in Cork City proper as 'Bonna Night': an annual event thought to derive from ancient fire festivals & pagan solstice rituals. These celebrations were later reappropriated as part of 'St. John's Eve' or Oíche Fhéile Eoin.

 

'During the festival, people would say prayers, asking for God's blessing upon their crops. They would take ashes from the fire, & spread them over their land as a blessing for protection. It was common to have music, singing, dancing, & games during the festival. The fire was used for destroying small objects of piety (rosary beads, statues, etc.) without disrespecting God. It was also customary for people to jump through the flames of the bonfire for good luck' 

- Source

Modern day celebrations are seen less as an opportunity for saintliness than as an excuse to run amok, but the tradition of yearly bonfires remains. 

   

Whatever Lola Whats

In keeping with the theme of wayward ad. execs, the following are illustrative of their combined efforts during the formative years of consumerism: ranging from the amusing to the outright absurd, with something to offend everyone: man, woman, baby or beast:

   

   

  

  

 

    

  

    

     

Jockey Full Of Bourbon

Jon Hamm stars as the resident rogue in Judd Apatow's lastest offering, Bridesmaids, which went on general release yesterday. To me, he'll always be the inimitably suave 'Don Draper', concocted like so:

   

Click to enlarge

Thefader.com

      

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo

   

 

Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes

Solstice celebrations were marked by the 

legendary Paul Simon at the Marquee:

 'It's good to be back in Cork...I can see that 

the weather has improved since my last visit' 

With a sellout show, two encores & a band of masterful

musicians (including a vocalist from the original 1986 

recording of Graceland), it was good to hear that the 

music of my childhood has lost none of its sparkle.

 

   

     

A Question Of Time

   

    

Peach Trees

 

Three years ago, on the eve of Fathers' Day, I stayed up into the early hours, making a card for my Dad; my 'expert' tools comprising the leaf-patterned, cardboard interior of a Kookaï bag, some peach picture cut-outs, and all-important glitter pots 'n' pens. Inside, I inscribed a Wayne Hemingway quote that I'd saved for the occasion, one that I felt aptly captured my Dad's knowingness and judicious self-containedness, in the often chaotic settings of our household:

'I'm used to living with fiery women, & it 
always amused me & made me proud that 
my Grandad never got into it. He'd stay silent 
& tap his foot, & when he got told off for 
that, he'd go outside & look at his peaches.'

Not in my darkest imaginings could I have forseen that this person - so brimful of life and so very dear to me - would be gone from me so shortly thereafter, with only a handful of Fathers' Days having passed in the interim.

 

 

Starry, Starry Night

    

 

The Eye of Sauron makes a sneaky appearance, as

Van Gogh's magnum opus gets a LOTR-style revamp

    

  

And Don McLean's Vincent.

  Image: blastr.com

       

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

        

       

Speaking of 'New Vintage': at the start of this month, sisters Lily Allen & Sarah Owen visited Dublin's Brown Thomas store for the launch of the pre-fall collection for their Lucy in Disguise clothing line. 

       

Having followed the somewhat slapdash Riches to Rags documentary - based around their adventures in apparel - I am both surprised & impressed by the fruits of their labour (& by their kaleidoscopic website, which is a sight to behold).

      

The retro-flavoured pieces have names like Haight Ashbury,
Goldrush, & Nairobi, conjuring a sense of specific time &
place. Had I the funds - & the modelesque stature - the lace,
lily patterned, Radio City dress would be my personal pick:

'South Kensington' Silk Maxi-Dress
      

'The Roxy' Red Jersey Jumpsuit
      

'Radio City' Black Lace Maxi-Dress

        

      

The line has also inspired some eye-musing promotional posters & illustrations, including the following by Antonia Parker & Karina Yarv, respectively:

       

    

     
And this one, by Nigel Waymouth of the creative partnership Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, who produced colourful, psychedelic images for the likes of Pink Floyd & Jimi Hendrix, back in the day:

      

Which leads me 'round to a record from that same era: the original namesake for the collection itself.

The real-life 'Lucy', who passed away in 2009, reportedly hated the nonsensical song: