WHAT I BELIEVE : BY JG BALLARD

Current mood: THINKING
Category: THINKING Goals, Plans, Hopes

(thanks to Rob for blogging it first)

WHAT I BELIEVE : BY JG BALLARD

I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.


I believe in my own obsessions, in the beauty of the car crash, in the peace of the submerged forest, in the excitements of the deserted holiday beach, in the elegance of automobile graveyards, in the mystery of multi-storey car parks, in the poetry of abandoned hotels.


I believe in the forgotten runways of Wake Island, pointing towards the Pacifics of our imaginations.


I believe in the mysterious beauty of Margaret Thatcher, in the arch of her nostrils and the sheen on her lower lip; in the melancholy of wounded Argentine conscripts; in the haunted smiles of filling station personnel; in my dream of Margaret Thatcher caressed by that young Argentine soldier in a forgotten motel watched by a tubercular filling station attendant.


I believe in the beauty of all women, in the treachery of their imaginations, so close to my heart; in the junction of their disenchanted bodies with the enchanted chromium rails of supermarket counters; in their warm tolerance of my perversions.


I believe in the death of tomorrow, in the exhaustion of time, in our search for a new time within the smiles of auto-route waitresses and the tired eyes of air-traffic controllers at out-of-season airports.


I believe in the genital organs of great men and women, in the body postures of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Princess Di, in the sweet odors emanating from their lips as they regard the cameras of the entire world.


I believe in madness, in the truth of the inexplicable, in the common sense of stones, in the lunacy of flowers, in the disease stored up for the human race by the Apollo astronauts.


I believe in nothing.


I believe in Max Ernst, Delvaux, Dali, Titian, Goya, Leonardo, Vermeer, Chirico, Magritte, Redon, Duerer, Tanguy, the Facteur Cheval, the Watts Towers, Boecklin, Francis Bacon, and all the invisible artists within the psychiatric institutions of the planet.


I believe in the impossibility of existence, in the humour of mountains, in the absurdity of electromagnetism, in the farce of geometry, in the cruelty of arithmetic, in the murderous intent of logic.


I believe in adolescent women, in their corruption by their own leg stances, in the purity of their disheveled bodies, in the traces of their pudenda left in the bathrooms of shabby motels.


I believe in flight, in the beauty of the wing, and in the beauty of everything that has ever flown, in the stone thrown by a small child that carries with it the wisdom of statesmen and midwives.


I believe in the gentleness of the surgeon's knife, in the limitless geometry of the cinema screen, in the hidden universe within supermarkets, in the loneliness of the sun, in the garrulousness of planets, in the repetitiveness or ourselves, in the inexistence of the universe and the boredom of the atom.


I believe in the light cast by video-recorders in department store windows, in the messianic insights of the radiator grilles of showroom automobiles, in the elegance of the oil stains on the engine nacelles of 747s parked on airport tarmacs.


I believe in the non-existence of the past, in the death of the future, and the infinite possibilities of the present.


I believe in the derangement of the senses: in Rimbaud, William Burroughs, Huysmans, Genet, Celine, Swift, Defoe, Carroll, Coleridge, Kafka.


I believe in the designers of the Pyramids, the Empire State Building, the Berlin Fuehrerbunker, the Wake Island runways.


I believe in the body odors of Princess Di.


I believe in the next five minutes.


I believe in the history of my feet.


I believe in migraines, the boredom of afternoons, the fear of calendars, the treachery of clocks.


I believe in anxiety, psychosis and despair.


I believe in the perversions, in the infatuations with trees, princesses, prime ministers, derelict filling stations (more beautiful than the Taj Mahal), clouds and birds.


I believe in the death of the emotions and the triumph of the imagination.


I believe in Tokyo, Benidorm, La Grande Motte, Wake Island, Eniwetok, Dealey Plaza.


I believe in alcoholism, venereal disease, fever and exhaustion.


I believe in pain.


I believe in despair.


I believe in all children.


I believe in maps, diagrams, codes, chess-games, puzzles, airline timetables, airport indicator signs.


I believe all excuses.


I believe all reasons.


I believe all hallucinations.


I believe all anger.


I believe all mythologies, memories, lies, fantasies, evasions.


I believe in the mystery and melancholy of a hand, in the kindness of trees, in the wisdom of light.

Currently listening : Playtime Is Over By Wiley Release date: By 07 June, 2007

11:29 - 11 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	stephen	I believe that children are our future. Posted by stephen on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 12:24 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...	I believe that computers, transistors and microchips are our real children.. Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 12:33 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	stephen	I believe when I fall in love with you it will be forever. I believe I can fly. I believe in love after love. I don't believe the hype. Posted by stephen on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 12:41 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...	I believe in rock 'n' roll Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 12:42 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	stephen	Posted by stephen on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 12:53 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...	EXACTLY! Makes me wanna go and see a big rock show...Are Kiss still touring? Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 16:20 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	stephen	I believe Manowar are still touring. Posted by stephen on Monday, May 28, 2007 at 03:44 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	La Paloma, Queen of the Pirates	NOW, i'm a believer Posted by La Paloma, Queen of the Pirates on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 16:19 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...	I would believe in anything such a nice young man might have to say. Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 19:29 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	MollyCoddle -also known as Birdshit Jones	I believe in the power of American natives. Posted by MollyCoddle -also known as Birdshit Jones on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 16:57 [Remove] [Reply to this]

The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...

I believe in the power of America... Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 19:29 [Remove] [Reply to this]

HIS HIGHNESS LEE SCRATCH PERRY PT 3

Category: Music

Right...

Here we finally go with part 3 of LSP...

The most recent time I saw Lee Scatch Perry was at the Royal Festival Hall in 2003. It seems absurd it was that long ago, but doesn't it often???

Anyway, each year, the Royal Festival Hall does The Meltdown Festival.

Once a year, they basically get in some credible pop musical luminary to put on their choice of acts over a month or so - or maybe it's 2 weeks. They've had curators like David Bowie, John Peel, this year it's Jarvis Cocker and in 2003 it was Lee Scratch Perry...

Perry chose a very political line up. It was populated by acts like Spearhead and the Asian Dub Foundation, as well as mostly living legends like The Sun Ra Arkestra and Public Enemy..

I could have happily atended all of the shows, but instead decided to go for just the one: Tricky, with LSP as a late guest performer...

At the time and still now, I think this show was about the most peculiar and flawed, yet excellent show I've ever seen...

For those not familiar with the venue, as it's name suggests, The Royal Festival Hall is a venue primarily designed and built for 'Classical' music shows. It's the kind of place that's all about High Brow Culture.

Nowadays it's trying to get it's piece of the zeitgeist, hence The Meltdown Festival, but you can bet your arse there won't ever be a concert featuring Girls Aloud (Though if they do make a comeback show with Nick Cave moaning away on piano in 10 years time, it's possible..)

I've seen a few good acts play at the RFH now, but none have ever fitted the location. Femi Kuti was brilliant, but the venue was far too po-faced for his kind of a show. It was like having a boxing match in a polite tea room....the atmosphere was all wrong...

To be frank, I really don't buy this idea of putting on radical and decent acts in old colonial and stuffy venues that are trying to be hip by covering up their inherently poncey nature. I don't see it as revolutionary or as payback in anyway. It just makes good acts look ropey, out of place and shit most of the time...

So:

Tricky was preceeded by the Mad Professor doing a live PA.

As with Femi Kuti, there was nothing wrong with the Professors set - it would have been great in the right sort of venue, but in the RFH, the sound was complete shit. Half the speaker stack appeared to blow at some point and even without this, there was no crispness or seriousness of bass that's been the definition of the Professor every other time I've seen him play..

By the time Tricky came on, people had started to leave and after about 10 songs, a big whole bunch of folk had upped and left. It was a constant stream of people wandering out, and whereas in some venues this kind of exodus can be hard to detect, the wide aisles and wide view granted from where we were sat made the main event..

The problem was two fold:

Firstly, the sound was completely shit again.

And secondly, Tricky had no voice. He said that had it have been any other gig, he'd have called off sick, but because it was Perry, he did it..

But he had no fucking voice at all...

And much as i wanted to love it, I was getting tired and borred.

But I hate leaving anything early and i certainly wasn't going anywhere without seeing Perry...

And I was glad I stayed..

Because the strangest thing about this show, was that Tricky got better with time. His voice seemed to pick up, or else the sound people found a way to bring it out more. And when it came to Perrys turn, the gig became vital...

Perry and Tricky did a couple of songs. I have no idea what they were. Large parts consisted of them bigging one another up. But whatever these tunes were, I had the idea they were completely essential and from being a complete nightmare of a gig, it suddenly become absolutely important and brilliant...

To this day, i can't put my finger on what this turn around was all about. Maybe it's me idolising Perry, or that Tricky performed this Lazarus like recovery. I really don't know....

It was a fucking great show though...

Currently listening : Vulnerable By Tricky Release date: By 17 June, 2003

01:51 - 0 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

GUILTY PLEASURES

Current mood: MILD
Category: MILD Music

So, after 3 days of these free Diesel 'Goodie' bags sitting on the stolen hardwood bench (this bench was taken together with nearly all the furniture from the house of our previous landlord) I finally dipped in....

It's taken so long because It felt like we'd stolen them and I've had that feeling you get when you find yourself with things you don't quite feel like you've earned...

It's like finding a bag or a phone or some money on the bus. You grab it thinking 'FUCKING A!!' and then you sit with it and the longer you think about it the more it feels wrong or complicated..You start to think about whether the person really needed the item? And you wonder what you're going to loose in exchange in the future? etc etc

I'll list the contents:

1 Diesel T-Shirt
1 Dazed and Confused trendy 'green' reusable canvas shopping bag
2 Double shot bottles of Silver Patron Tequilla
1 Small Budweiser Beer
A load of leaflets
1 Small LED Torch
1 Set of Diesel Badges
1 Diesel Combined Lighter and Bottle Opener
1 4gb Sony NWA806FB.CE7 4GB video WALKMAN black
1 Diesel trendy 'green' reusable canvas shopping bag

It's the second last item that makes the difference. These players are worth £140 as a standard issue and this is a specially boxed Diesel one which probably adds a few extra quid on top...

I've been playing around with this gadget for a few hours this evening, but i don't want it. It's neat. It plays videos and it's about half the size and width of the smallest phone I've seen, but I've just bought a gadget to cover it's role..

Thing was, I never noticed these 'goodie bags' were there or had I of done, i'd have most likely not bothered to queue to get one. I'd have figured they were full of a load of promo shit crap, made sure i had a few extra Budwesiers in my pockets instead and never known of their true composition....

Mrs Giovanni was however down there like a machine gun shot.

And then, not happy with just the one, she went to the back of the queue and got herself a second. Mrs Giovanni is every bit the crafty Italian. In fact if ever there was a criminal nation, it's Italy. I used to think it was a cliche, but all the Italians I've met are complete and natural petty criminals. They have no real regard for the state or other peoples businesses, only their own immediate family and friends...

So, the long and the short of it is this:

We went to a free party. Drank about £50 worth of free booze each (at Cuckoo La La Land Piccadily Prices) and came out with £600 worth of free gifts....

And you wonder why I gave the band performing a good write up?!

Maybe it sounds wrong, but I've grown to love corruption this last little while. I used to hate it, but i think i've now resigned myself to it's inevtiable existance and decided that from time to time, a little bit of crime doesn't do one, or the other, any real harm...

So there.......:+)

Currently listening : My Fair Lady (1956 Original Broadway Cast) By Alan Jay Lerner Release date: By 28 May, 2002

23:52 - 4 Comments - 5 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	MollyCoddle -also known as Birdshit Jones	I found a pound coin on the pavement outside a Tesco Metro today. Posted by MollyCoddle -also known as Birdshit Jones on Saturday, May 26, 2007 at 01:13 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...	Did you keep it or hand it into the police???? I handed a £1 note into the police and got it back after a month... I also handed a wallet containing about £280 that i found in a phonebox close to the Royal Albert Hall in to the police and got it back after a month... Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Saturday, May 26, 2007 at 01:18 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Engrish Professor	I dropped my wallet containing $80 cash on the street while getting out of a cab in Brooklyn a few years ago. Had my license, credit cards etc. I figured I'd never see it again once I realized what happened - but 3 weeks later, I got it back fully intact by mail at my D.C. home address. No return address on the package. Shocking! Posted by Engrish Professor on Saturday, May 26, 2007 at 01:28 [Remove] [Reply to this]

The Paul Giovanni Music Blog...

Mrs Giovanni generally steals the cash and returns the wallet/cards... I make up different rules each time i find something. I have 2 phones that are blocked because i found them and kept them, but left the sim cards in - they are now useless and they irritate the shit out of me each time i see them..... Posted by The Paul Giovanni Music Blog... on Saturday, May 26, 2007 at 01:38 [Remove] [Reply to this]