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mercuryonparklane · 3 years

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Since Taylor released “You All Over Me” last night and also posted the “Love Story” remix lyric video that includes a group picture with Emily in it, I am reposting this from my other blog (because at the time I posted it my other blog was too new to show up in the tags). I’m not necessarily saying that YAOM is about Emily...

Anyway, here is a post about “Breathe” and how it is the only Grammy nominated song of Taylor’s that she has performed just once:

Prior to Lover Taylor had 9 Grammy nominated songs (that appeared on her own records): “You Belong With Me”. “White Horse”, “Breathe”, “Mean”, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, “Begin Again”, “Shake It Off”, “Blank Space”, and “Bad Blood”.

According to Taylor herself, despite multiple requests from fans over the years, she has only sung “Breathe” live one time. She performed it for the first and, so far, only time on August 18, 2018 during her reputation Stadium Tour show in Miami.

I decided to compare this to how many times she has sung her other Grammy nominated songs (I chose not to include anything from Lover or folklore because she obviously hasn’t had the opportunity to perform those songs as she normally would):

(Disclaimer: the data related to the number of times Taylor has played each song comes from setlist.fm, so it may not be 100% accurate, but it is close enough to demonstrate the purpose of this post)

“Breathe”

Date of release (as a single): October 23, 2008

# of times Taylor has performed this song live in total: 1

“White Horse”:

Date of release (as a single): December 9, 2008

# of times Taylor has performed this song live in total: 137

“You Belong With Me”

Date of release (as a single): April 26, 2009

# of times Taylor has performed this song live in total: 381

“Mean”

Date of release (as a single): March 13, 2011

# of times Taylor has performed this song live in total: 196

“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

Date of release (as a single): August 13, 2012

# of times Taylor has performed this song live in total: 272 (that # includes 1 time she performed the song as a mashup with “Bad Blood” and 53 times as a mashup with “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”)

“Begin Again”

Date of release (as a single): October 1, 2012

# of times Taylor has performed this song live in total: 75

“Shake It Off”

Date of release (as a single): August 18, 2014

# of times Taylor has performed this song live in total: 189

“Blank Space”

Date of release (as a single): November 10, 2014

# of times Taylor has performed this song live in total: 166

“Bad Blood”

Date of release (as a single): May 17, 2015

# of times Taylor has performed this song live in total: 141 (that # includes the 53 times she performed the song as a mashup with “Should’ve Said No”)

As you can see, there is a pretty glaring disparity between the number of times she performed the other 8 songs live compared to the 1 time she performed “Breathe” live.

The song was released as a promotional single in the lead up to the release of Fearless, but wasn’t really a main single. It never had a music video, which means that it was probably never meant to be pushed for the charts. Although, it did spend one week on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #87 on the week ending November 29, 2008, following the release of Fearless.

The song was co-written with Colbie Caillat, who also features on the track. Colbie was fairly popular at the time, in particular her debut single “Bubbly” had been very successful the previous year. So, you might think Taylor’s team/label would have wanted to push this song a bit more, but for some reason they didn’t.

The song seemed to be received well by critics too. There were obviously plenty of people who thought the song was good enough to earn a Grammy nomination. Although, it did end up losing to Colbie’s other, more commercially successful collaboration (“Lucky” with Jason Mraz).

So, it has been established that the song was released as a promotional single, it was nominated for a Grammy, and it was a collaboration with a popular (at the time) artist. These three factors combined might make someone wonder why she didn’t perform this song live until almost 10 years after its release. Just to reiterate, Taylor performed “Begin Again”, the song she performed second least out of this list, 75 times compared to the 1 and only time she performed “Breathe” in 2018.

This brings me back to the point that all of these other songs have a music video and were pushed as singles, whereas “Breathe” was only a promotional single and never had a music video.

Perhaps it would be fairer compare “Breathe” with the other promotional single Taylor released in the lead up to Fearless (I am excluding “Change” because it does have a music video and was used during the 2008 Olympics):

“You’re Not Sorry”

Date of release (as a single): October 28, 2008

# of times Taylor has performed this song live in total: 124

Yes, that’s right. Taylor has performed “You’re Not Sorry”, a song that got about the same amount of promotion as “Breathe”, well over 100 times.

Fearless was Taylor’s sophomore album and it was her first tour as a headliner. She had two albums worth of songs, plus a handful of others, to choose from. “Breathe” did not make the setlist. The only other song from Fearless that was not a part of the main setlist for that tour was “The Best Day”, a song that she performed live 6 times between 2009 and 2018, including twice during the Fearless Tour.

So, “Breathe”, again, was:

co-written by and features an artist who was popular at the time

released as a promotional single

nominated for a Grammy

never performed live before August 18, 2018

Which begs the question, why did she wait so long to perform the song live?

It has pretty much been established that the song is about Taylor’s original fiddle player, Emily. Taylor has never named names on this one, but most Swifties, even non-Gaylors, think the song is about her. Colbie Caillat basically confirmed this longtime fan theory in an April 2020 interview, where she says that Taylor “was writing about something she was going through with a band member at the time, and she was pouring her heart out about it”.

Taylor did say in the “making of” video for “Breathe” that the song is about a friend:

“It was total therapy because I came in and I was like, ‘Look, you know, one of my best friends, you know, I’m gonna have to not see anymore and is not gonna be part of what I do and it’s, like, the hardest thing to go through.’ It’s, like, crazy listening to the song cause you’d think it would be about a relationship, but it’s really about, like, losing a friend and, like, having a fallout and just the loss…”

She also adds:

“It’s never specific as to why. That’s my favorite thing about it. It doesn’t talk about why or whose fault it was cause sometimes the hardest time and way to say goodbye is when it’s nobody’s fault. It just has to stop.”

But, again, I’m pretty sure that Taylor herself has never said that it was about Emily. The official story is that Emily left the band to attend law school, but there is a rumor that she was actually fired. More specifically, the rumor is that she was fired when the true nature of their relationship was discovered.

This is all old news to Gaylors, of course. I said in my first post for this blog that I would not go too far into this theory due to the fact that Emily was 21 when she was hired and Taylor was only 16 at that time. I do think it is possible that Taylor had strong feelings towards Emily and maybe those feelings were unrequited or maybe they were reciprocated. Either way, perhaps someone found out somehow and the fallout was Emily getting fired.

It is also not improbable that Emily decided that she didn’t really like being on the road or the business side of being a professional musician and wanted to pursue a different career. If that was the case, then I do wonder why Taylor felt the need to repeatedly sing “I’m sorry” at the end of “Breathe”.

The only thing that would make sense, other than a potential firing that Taylor somehow felt responsible for, is that they had a fight when Emily broke the news to Taylor that she was going to leave the band. Hence, Taylor feeling the need to apologize so profusely.

Even if that is the case (here is where I project a bit/draw from my own experience), it still seems, to me, like Taylor felt a deep connection to Emily that might have blurred the line between platonic and romantic feelings. Maybe Emily is the first woman that she had those feelings for (ignoring “Angelina” and “Me And Britney” for this point) and so when she left it hit her really hard. Thus, she couldn’t bear to sing about it, even by the time the Fearless Tour started almost a year and half later.

That is all speculation, of course. Still, I can’t help but wonder why she would let almost an entire decade go by before she decided to sing a literal Grammy nominated song on stage for the first time. Especially considering the fact that she has performed all of her other Grammy nominated songs well over 100 times, aside from “Begin Again” (which she has still performed 74 times more than “Breathe”).

#taymily #gaylor #gaylor swift

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spookyspemilyreid · 5 years

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Happy Anniversary "Hybrid Theory"! (October 24, 2000)❤

Hybrid Theory is the debut studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, released on October 24, 2000, through Warner Bros. Records. As of 2017, the album has been certified diamond by the RIAA for sales in the band's home country of United States, with over eleven million units, peaking at number two on the US Billboard 200, and it also has reached high positions on other charts worldwide, with 30 million copies sold, making it the best-selling debut album since Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction (1987) and the best-selling rock album of the 21st century.

Recorded at NRG Recordings in North Hollywood, California, and produced by Don Gilmore, the album's lyrical themes deal with problems lead vocalist Chester Bennington experienced during his adolescence, including drug abuse and the constant fighting and divorce of his parents. Hybrid Theory takes its title from the previous name of the band as well as the concept of music theory and combining different styles.

Four singles were released from the album: "One Step Closer", "Crawling", "Papercut", and "In the End", all of them being responsible for launching Linkin Park into mainstream popularity. While "In the End" was the most successful of the four, all of the singles in the album remain some of the band's most successful songs to date. Although "Runaway", "Points of Authority", and "My December" from the special edition bonus disc album were not released as singles, they were minor hits on alternative rock radio stations thanks to the success of all of the band's singles and the album. At the 2002 Grammy Awards, Hybrid Theory was nominated for Best Rock Album. The album is listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It was ranked number 11 on Billboard's 200 Albums of the Decade. A special edition of Hybrid Theory was released March 11, 2002, a year and a half after its original pressing.

Linkin Park was founded in 1996 as the rap rock band Xero: lead guitarist Brad Delson, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mike Shinoda, drummer Rob Bourdon, turntablist Joe Hahn, lead vocalist Mark Wakefield and bassist Dave Farrell (who subsequently left to tour with Tasty Snax). In 1999, after Wakefield's departure, lead vocalist Chester Bennington joined the five members of Xero and the band was renamed Linkin Park. Bennington's previous band, Grey Daze, had recently disbanded, so his lawyer recommended him to Jeff Blue, vice president of A&R coordination for Zomba, who at the time was seeking a lead vocalist for Xero. Blue sent Bennington two tapes of Xero's unreleased recordings — one with vocals by former Xero member Mark Wakefield, and the other with only the instrumental tracks — asking for his "interpretation of the songs". Bennington wrote and recorded new vocals over the instrumentals and sent the tapes back to Blue. As Delson recalls, "[Bennington] really was kind of the final piece of the puzzle [...] We didn't see anything close to his talent in anybody else."

After Bennington joined, the group first renamed itself to Hybrid Theory and released a self-titled EP. Legal complications with Welsh electronic music group Hybrid prompted a second name change, thus deciding on "Linkin Park". Throughout 1999, Linkin Park was a regular act at the Los Angeles club, The Whisky.

The music that would ultimately become the Hybrid Theory album was first produced by Linkin Park in 1999 as a nine-track demo tape. The band sent this tape to various recording companies and played forty-two different showcases for recording industry representatives, including performances for Los Angeles promoter and impresario, Mike Galaxy's showcase at The Gig on Melrose. However, they were initially turned down by most of the major labels and several independent record labels. The band was signed by Warner Bros. Records in 1999, due in large part to the constant recommendations of Jeff Blue, who had joined the label after resigning from Zomba.

Despite initial difficulties in finding a producer willing to take charge of the debut album of a newly signed band, Don Gilmore ultimately agreed to head up the project, with Andy Wallace hired as the mixer. Recording sessions, which mostly involved re-recording the songs off the demo tape, began at NRG Recordings in North Hollywood, California in early 2000 and lasted four weeks. Shinoda's rapping sections in most of the songs were significantly altered from the original, while most choruses remained largely unchanged. Due to the absence of Dave Farrell and Kyle Christener, who took part in the 1999 extended play, the band hired Scott Koziol and Ian Hornbeck as stand-in bassists; Delson also played bass throughout most of the album. The Dust Brothers provided additional beats for the track “With You”.

Bennington and Shinoda wrote the lyrics of Hybrid Theory based in part on early demos with Mark Wakefield. Shinoda characterized the lyrics as interpretations of universal feelings, emotions, and experiences, and as “everyday emotions you talk about and think about.”

The music of Hybrid Theory draws from diverse inspirations. Bennington's singing style is influenced by acts such as Depeche Mode and Stone Temple Pilots, while the riffs and playing techniques of guitarist Brad Delson are modeled after Deftones, Guns N' Roses, U2, and The Smiths. Mike Shinoda's rapping, present in seven tracks, is very close to The Roots' style.

The lyrical content of the songs primarily touches upon the problems that Bennington encountered during his childhood, including constant and excessive drug and alcohol abuse, the divorce of his parents, isolation, disappointments, and the aftermath feelings of failed relationships. Stylistically, the album has been described as nu metal, rap metal, rap rock, alternative metal, and alternative rock.

The album eventually produced four singles

With Hybrid Theory being Linkin Park's first album, Mike Shinoda, who had worked as a graphic designer before becoming a professional musician, has stated that the band had looked through books for inspiration on how to present themselves for the first time. The result was a winged-soldier which Shinoda illustrated himself. According to Chester Bennington, the idea of the soldier with dragonfly wings was to describe the blending of hard and soft musical elements by the use of the jaded looks of the soldier and frail touches of the wings. The art style was largely influenced by stencil graffiti, including early works by Banksy. The cover also features scrambled lyrics of the album's songs within the background, though the lyrics of "One Step Closer" are the most prominent.

Following the success of Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park received invitations to perform at various rock concerts and tours, including Ozzfest, the Family Values Tour, KROQ-FM's Almost Acoustic Christmas, and the band's self-created tour, Projekt Revolution, which was headlined by Linkin Park and featured other bands such as Cypress Hill and Adema. During this time, Linkin Park reunited with their original bassist, Dave “Phoenix” Farrell. The band kept an online journal on their official website throughout their 2001 and 2002 touring regime, in which each band member made a respective notation. Although the notes are no longer on their website, they are available on fansites. Linkin Park played 324 shows in 2001.

Hybrid Theory received generally positive reviews from critics.

Hybrid Theory debuted at number 29 on the US Billboard 200, selling 50,000 copies in its first week. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) five weeks after its release. In 2001, the album had sold 4.8 million copies in the United States, making it the best-selling album of the year, and it was estimated that the album continued selling 100,000 copies per week in early 2002. Throughout the following years, the album continued to sell at a fast pace and was eventually certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2005 for shipment of ten million copies in the United States. To date, the album has sold 30 million copies worldwide, which makes it the best selling debut album of the 21st century. As of July 2017, the album has sold 10,500,000 copies in the US. After the death of Chester Bennington on July 20, 2017, the album reached number 1 on the iTunes and Amazon music charts.

#linkin park #hybrid theory #october 24th 2000 #october 24 #10.24 #10.24.2000 #2000 #mike shinoda #brad delson #rob bourdon #joe hahn #chester bennington #dave phoenix farrell #2000s

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9w1ft · 5 years

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☔️

it’s been about a month now since TSL shut down. i’ve been thinking of how best to summarize my thoughts on the odd things that happened to me there and i’ve decided it’s best to split my thoughts up into a few posts. this is my first!

so, for starters! drumroll pleaaaaaase 🥁 i would like to clear the air.. i am very excited to say that i have properly identified and spoken to the real KalindaKing!

you may or may have noticed before the app shut down, but KalindaKing actually @‘d me in one of her final posts on the app, saying she had seen my theory but that sadly she is an only child.

unfortunately, yes, KalindaKing was not Kimby Kloss. i uhh, take it she herself confirmed it for me recently!

actually, about a month after posting my theory, a mutual of mine tipped me off to a social media post that seemed to be from someone who might be KalindaKing (the gist of the post was, to paraphrase, i saw a theory that i’m karlie’s sister. i wish!), and i had been keeping tabs on it for some time. the post did not get any traction (no likes, no shares) so there was no way to verify if it was related, but doing some digging and cross-referencing photos and whatnot i was left plenty suspicious.

So about 3 months went by after i had my lede on who it could be, and then 48 hours away from app shutdown KalindaKing @‘d me on TSL... so i decided to take the jump and direct message the suspicious person on social media. and, we had a match! it was her!

Can i just say she is just as delightful as she was on TSL? it was an honor to chat with her. turns out she is an active moderator under the same username on another app by the same company.

actually, 😂 the KK part is really a funny coincidence.. see, the moderator who went by the username KalindaKing on TSL originally created that username for herself because she is a moderator on the Kim Kardashian Hollywood app under the same username (she gave me permission to say that), and, alliteration, so go figure! it would appear i exquisitely took my conjectures a twist too far.

this moderator is a professional, so she did not disclose that much to me, but I was able to learn that the ‘TheSwiftLife’ account was the responsibility of her and someone else. She mentioned that Social (ie twitter/fb) was run by her. Someone else was helping out on the TSL app, ie, that account that gave out those persnickety taymoji gifts on the app. 🤨

for those of you who followed my theory closely, this newly confirmed information has likely allowed you to come to the same heartening conclusion that i did: this means that the “message to taylor” function on the app is in all likelihood indeed something that only taylor can see, or, isn’t accessible to just any glu employee. yes, those personal private messages to her were in fact kept private 🥰. that is to say, leading up to my big guess post, i had disclosed the content of my guess (that kimby was KalindaKing) using this function, asking for the go ahead here on tumblr. my theory is whoever the someone is that was helping out with the TheSwiftLife account did not have access to my secret messages, and that’s where the miscommunication between me and them occurred. oops...

if you are new here, you are probably wondering how sound this logic could be. it would also seem to be completely possible that the TheSwiftLife account simply didn't know i existed / had never read anything from me / had never interacted with me through the app.

to that i say:

i now have proof that at least one moderator from the app read my theory back in October 2018

i now have proof that the same moderator @‘d me in response to the theory 48 hours before the app closed on February 1st, despite having know about it for three months.. so i take it that it merited addressing

let me walk you through a sampler of five ‘interactions’ that occurred with me and TheSwiftLife between August and October of last year:

interaction one: 8/1 Puzzle Heart..

after showcasing some interest in the taymoji gifts and crafting my theory of what they meant, i had seen a through line in terms of the overall message being conveyed but was unsure of any of this was real. i posted here on tumblr for the taymoji gods to send me sign, and the TheSwiftLife account gave out a puzzle heart with the flavor text “put the pieces together” the chances of that taymoji being picked to be given out are, i would say, 1/128 chances. the gift giving was mainly from within a pool of the 64 song-based taymoji packs and always of one of the two rare taymoji from either pack, so, 64x2=128

interaction two, 8/29 Rabbit...

following a week of ttb using the emoji rabbit to welcome some anons into the kaylor fandom, TheSwiftLife gave out a rabbit with the flavor text “Fell down the rabbit hole...”

interaction three: 9/12 Pixels..

things felt surreal following the rabbit... so i asked TSL here on tumblr to show me a sign that proved they knew me and saw me. i said there was one taymoji out of them all (of which there are 653) that represented me. i had hoped for the pixel art heart taymoji, as it says in my profile here that i am a pixel artist... i assumed if TSL wanted to respond to my request, they’d poke around my blog and make that connection. 13 days after i made the post, they gave out that exact one. in response, i mentioned what a lovely birthday present this was, as it was coming 13 days before my birthday (i’m born on 9/25)

interaction four: 9/21 Balloons...

between the pixel heart and this next gift, i came to the conclusion that kimby could be spearheading the TheSwiftLife account (given an interaction between this blog and kimby’s instagram stories involving a yacht company), and, as i love cheesy things, i made the extra (flawed) assumption that, given KalindaKing appeared to be a pen name, it would be super duper ingenious if the KK stood for Kimby Kloss. i sent this prediction in the “secret message for taylor” function on TSL, assuming (incorrectly) whoever was on the other side could read it, and posted here on tumblr simply that “i know who you’ve been, and i take it you want me to share?” The next gift that TheSwiftLife gave out were a set of red balloons from the Mine pack, with the caption “Speak now if it’s your birthday this month”

interaction five: 10/1 Umbrella...

even so, i was very hesitant to go through with pushing my theory. it felt, again, unreal. so, i put up one more test... i asked here on tumblr something in the form of a riddle. I decided to phrase a request for them to give a taymoji in the form of a question. knowing the full range of taymoji possibilities, i picked the flavor text of a taymoji that had never been given out, and a double-rare one (which weren’t given out often) the umbrella, and put out my question: do you have my back even if it rains down on me? and the next gift given out was the very umbrella i expected, which has the flavor text “Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered!”

this span of time in particular (not limited to, but especially) is why i have a hard time not believing kaylor is real. why would taylor’s team let any of this fly, that is, why would they allow a bubbly and vocal kaylor experience this if kaylor wasn’t true?

i encourage everyone to look through my blog archive from August to October to see how it played out! it won’t take that long and i think it’s more interesting than just this post. it’s a sweet slice of time... happening before the political post, and then, the ‘wedding’ thing.

and: if you are to believe that this is all just coincidence, then you have to logically assume that every of the above interactions happened at random, with TheSwiftLife drawing from a catalog of over 100 possible choices each time, and accidentally giving something relevant each time. i am not even going to cover the many many other strange alignments between what i post on here and what kimby posts on instagram. the probability of these taymoji is enough.

even taking out of account the probability of the timing of each, and just looking at it like a kid’s math problem, it’s quite a rare outcome.

what is the probability of insinuating 5 specific symbols and drawing those 5 specific symbols out of 5 bags with 128 different symbols inside each, one after the other? 1/128 x 1/128 x 1/128 x 1/128 x 1/128 = 1/34,359,738,368

a one in 34 billion chance of it happening if it happened randomly.

you only think 3 out of the 5 coincidences above are legit? well that still an over one in two million chance. only believe in one of them? still just an 0.8% chance.

and i picked these five interactions because they hilight five times where there really couldn’t have been multiple “applicable” taymoji responses. i tried to cut out that grey zone for you, because there’s plenty of grey examples to pick from. i suppose with the balloons, they could have picked any birthday-looking taymoji and accompanied the gift with the same caption.. but in that case, it means you have to calculate the chances of them writing the birthday messaging after what happened with the pixel heart... and i don’t know how to calculate that...

i’m not even talking about how some of the taymoji given out twice coincided with celebrity appearances in the world of kaylor. i don’t know how to calculate the probability of karlie saying she’ll go to a taylor concert before a marching band hat is given out, and then her appearing at nashville the day after the marching band hat was given out again. or the paul mccartney coincidence, or the hayley kiyoko coincidence, just to name a few of the most straightforward. i’m not even gonna mention all that business about the app notifications freaking out on my phone (for which i have an excel spreadsheet up my sleeve for later should i decide to nerd out that much)

i don’t even need to touch that.

some epic sh*t was positively afoot, my darlings.

but i digress. pending, you know, ‘proof’, we have no surefire way to know about the who (or who all behind it) all of this is, but, i don’t think we need to be sure of that for the time being (uwu*). i just want to re establish that while KalindaKing was a glorious misfire, the mystery of the app still very much remains.

in my upcoming post (i need to buy myself some eyedrops or something because my eyes are redder than that st. louis park sculpture right now), i would like to rewind for a sec and set the question of who aside and refocus solely on what we learned from the gifts and what we can possibly take away from the experience as a whole.

for now, this is me saying, kimby, oops! sorry i thought you were KalindaKing and sorry for not triple checking with you. my double check was not enough. but i’m glad i took the plunge, because, better an oops than a what if, right? and i hope, at least you got a good laugh out of it! and also thank you lovely sisters ☺️ for you know, clearing the way for me to make this post. at least, that’s what it looked like to me. 📯🕊

#taymoji #the swift life #tsl #kaylor #kaptain

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kalluun-patangaroa · 5 years

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Afternoon Delight: Brett Anderson Interviewed

by Tariq Goddard

The Quietus, 3 October 2019

Tariq Goddard sits down with Suede frontman, Brett Anderson for a frank talk ahead of the publication of Afternoons With The Blinds Drawn, the second volume of the singer's memoirs

Portrait by Paul Khera

Coal Black Mornings, the first volume of Brett Anderson’s memoir, was a haunting and unusual addition to the genre, eschewing the devices and gimmickry that are the principle selling points of a rock star confessional, for a harrowingly reflective and thoughtful overview of his early years. Anderson took the reader back to a time before the music, to the experiences that informed the songs, albums, and eventual career trajectory, and in doing so, circumnavigated the years of his triumph during which he rose to public prominence and critical acclaim.

His onus on the creatively formative period that preceded success, the tender portraits of his family, particularly his complicated relationship with his father, a man who may have wished he had the life his son had, and the recollections of an England that has vanished so completely as to no longer be a place, offered a more unique and heartfelt history than the celebrity tittle-tattle fans might have thought they wanted. To do anything comparable with the second volume, a story Anderson vowed not to tell, would at once be easier for him - his material would span the glory days of his career - yet harder, for how could the tenderness of the first book survive grubby contact with the reality of wild adulation and Britpop, a “movement" he admits to despising?

Perhaps to his own surprise Volume II, Afternoons With The Blinds Drawn, strikes the same ruminative notes as the earlier volume, again subverting convention and expectation to avoid cliche and disappointment, written in the vulnerable and careful voice of its antecedent. Instead of dishing up insider gossip, Anderson mentions none of his rivals or contemporaries by name, assiduously sticking to the frequently scorned advice of “if have nothing nice to say, I say nothing”. Portraits of associates, friends and ex-friends are generous, forensic but fair, and there is no attempt to airbrush or underplay anyone else’s role in contributing to Suede’s imperial phase.

Knowing that the man he became in this second volume is not as sympathetic as the youth he was in the first, Anderson goes on to slay the most prominent elephant of all, himself, through pages of literary flagellation few writers could self-administer uncoerced.

Driven by the desire to work out what really happened to him, Anderson’s writing follows an unashamedly conceptual arc (“archetypes”, “convergence theory” and “postmodern play of mirrors” all appear on a single page), constituting a historical inquiry into the motives and processes that lay behind his best and worst work, by way of remorseless self-analysis, painful descriptions of how others must have seen him, and an attempt to grasp why we all think we are right at the time. The light shed and insight shared in these two volumes places them in the same covetable space as Springsteen’s Born To Run or Dylan’s Chronicles, and would be worth cherishing even if Brett Anderson was the reason why you never liked Suede in the first place.

Musicians often write books to sustain and propagate a persona that they have developed over a career, not deconstruct one in a spirit of enquiry. This book reads like it was written by that hidden aspect of yourself that wrote the songs in private, and not the public alter ego we saw perform them…

Brett Anderson: Absolutely, that is the main premise of the book, that it wasn’t going to be written by the Brett Anderson persona but whoever the real person behind it was. The reason why Coal Black Mornings ended where it did was because my public persona didn’t exist then, and I deliberately stopped the story before it had been formed. What I didn’t know was whether I could actually write another book in that same voice I had developed in the first, dealing with the next period of my life, and not drift into public persona I had created by then. It was a massive conundrum for me, as people might be familiar with the events and that version of me, and expect something consistent with that, while I knew I wanted a more personal and interesting story, told in the natural voice of the first book.

There is something I want to be clear about though, this thing with the persona we’re talking about is that it wasn’t necessarily false in the way people understand that to be. I wasn’t just the man behind the mask manipulating people’s view of me, because to inhabit a persona you have to believe in that persona too. Looking back it’s possible to wonder how much of it is really yourself, as it is you and not you at the same time, but all of it still comes from you. You are the one doing it. I mean, everyone manufactures personas all time. People in the public eye simply amplify the process, and the lens of the media then helps magnify and distort the original amplification. The “you” that sits down and watches TV with your family is very different from the “you” sitting here now, but that doesn’t mean that your public self is some Svengali like manipulation of reality. The persona you decide to project says as much about who you are as your private self does. And it was only through growing up, growing up and not giving up these past eleven years, and having kids who you can’t fob off with a persona, that I went through the slow and painful process of taking apart the nuts and bolts of what mine was made of.

The book does come up short on after dinner speaking anecdotage. Although it is often very funny, it doesn’t seem to see its function as to amuse, does it?

BA: No, not at all. The book is a search into what happened to me in those years of success and fame, and what effect that had on me as a person, not a parade of all my achievements, where I ask the reader to look at me and love me. Like the first book, I used my writing as a sounding board very like therapy, and used the questions I was asking of myself to work out my own shit.

Portrait by Pat Pope

Notes from therapy don’t normally make for very interesting reading though…

BA: They don’t, and I knew I was running a risk. In one of my favourite reviews of Coal Black Mornings the reviewer writes, having given it two or three stars out of five, I’m not sure which is the more dismissive number, ‘this book is very well written but the big problem I had with it in the end is it is all about him, him, him!’ Well of course it is, it’s a memoir! Memoir has to take the risk of being indulgent to work.

But for a memoir, I found you very impatient with your own perspective. There’s very little self justification or score settling, often it’s like you’re trying to establish something very close to historical objectivity? Even though you keep saying that it is impossible to do that.

BA: I realise I wanted to know everything that was going on around me at that time, that wasn’t just me or to merely repeat or excuse how I saw things then. And I really didn’t want to fall into one of the lazy tropes of the genre which is just to sit there and slag off other bands. There is a vitriol in there, but I apply it to movements and features of the period, not individuals, partly because I know how the media works now. As soon as you slag off a name, that’s all your book becomes, and you lose all control or ownership of context, and simply end up as a line in a feature in quotes of the year. A memoir is about context, a complex tapestry, not a motormouth series of quotes, and you don’t want to lose that by being petty or boring, or revisiting past rivalries. I mean, who cares who ticked me off? The crazy thing is that there are people who want you to name names and write that kind of book, but I wasn’t prepared to.

But readers are more used to engaging with a work of that kind, aren’t they, who blew coke up whose arsehole?

BA: Absolutely, but the books that do that are the same story with the names changed, you know, the amusing band shenanigans, all the japery, the dirt, all of it is essentially the same tale every time. But that is the expectation, and to be honest, critics can be just as predictable. I’ve had reviews saying that Coal Black Mornings was really good but who was it really for, as it doesn’t sit comfortably in the genre they think it is supposed to be in. But for me that’s a good thing. It’s meant to be more ambitious and about trying to get to the bottom of things and to understand life. Basically the opposite of a series of oft repeated anecdotes. The anecdotes that I have included are the things that are important to me that no one else could have ever known about, because they were purely personal or because sometimes there was simply no one else there to observe them. Whether it’s the beautiful girl who comes up to me just to tell me my band are shit, or the cheese and pickle sandwich I took with me on my first flight to America, these were the things I wanted to share so that I would know they had really happened. You know, the strange and quirky little things that give your life back to you, as they thread in and out of the story everyone else thinks they know…

You are hard on yourself in the book, but you are also very hard on your own music, which from a fan’s point of view might be tough to take. Reading that you have never rated your most successful singles, or that people’s favourite songs had working titles like 'Pisspot' and 'Sombre Bongoes' for example…

BA: Yeah, 'Stay Together', 'Electricity', the Head Music title track, and 'The Power', yeah, I take the sword to them all, but I had to be that self critical in order to be convincing. If I just sat there saying, “I’m a fucking genius and everything I have done is brilliant” anything else I would say would carry zero weight! Especially if I then want to go on and talk about the songs I really do still love, 'Heroine', 'Killing Of A Flash Boy', 'Sleeping Pills', the list goes on. It’s all part of subverting the myth of the god given seer, like the bit where I talk about myself honestly as a musician and admit that I am not a particularly talented one, but what I do have is that I just don’t fucking give up.That admission for me was a moment of truth, it just isn’t what most musicians say, and so another attack on the supposed elegance of my persona. But in the same way I view myself at points in my past as a different person, I see some of those songs as written by a different person, and that is why the flaws so easily reveal themselves to me. As for being hard on myself, again, I had to be. My mistakes were entirely my own and no one else’s fault, certainly not the fault of any childhood trauma or external stuff, and I needed to take responsibility for that. My descent into hell came from being romantically attached to the notion of the artist as a genius that accepts no limits or boundaries, it was that simple.

Do you think the experience of the relatively fallow and low periods in your career helped you develop the sensibility and humility with which you wrote this memoir? That continual and unbroken success may have robbed you of certain insights that disappointment helped provide?

BA: Yes, the end of the band meant I was able to jump off the bandwagon I had been on and develop a different perspective. Those were key years for me as an artist, that I had to have away from Suede, before we came back again. Experiencing struggle and failure, having had success, was crucial for me. I loved making solo records but it did start to feel like a bit of a vanity project as you do need an audience, and there is a certain point where if you drop below a particular level, you begin to wonder whether it is still worth doing. The work may still stand up, but if there’s just a select group you are appealing to, buttressed by family and friends, you can feel like the basic relationship you need with an audience, in order to create, is breaking down. And with having a family too, I thought I couldn’t afford to go on like that anymore. A performance, a book, a song, all these things require an audience, it’s a plea, you are projecting your voice out there and you require an echo in return. Otherwise you’d just stay in your own room and write for yourself, which is what some artists claim to do, but it’s an attitude I have never shared. Because half the point of creating anything is the reaction. I’ve never understood the cliche of the artist that only creates for themselves and never reads their own press.

You have to be Kafka to really not care what happens to your work. Most artists hope for perpetual immortality, on their more modest days.

BA: But did even Kafka really not care though?

He did leave his work with his best friend and literary executor to destroy.

BA: Exactly, his best friend and literary executor! Interesting that he chose a man who thought he was genius for that task! If he really felt that way he should have given everything to someone who really didn’t give a shit about him or his work.

Contingency and chance is one of the big themes of your book. One of the very few contemporaries you name, and then very affectionately, is Loz Hardy of Kingmaker whose fortunes you contrast with yours. You seem to be asking did you succeed, and he fail, because of the hidden hand of destiny, Darwinian necessity and artistic merit, or has the whole of your and his career been the most monstrous fluke?

BA: I thought long and hard about whether to involve Loz in any of this, and there is a part of me that felt bad about it, and so I tried to be sensitive in how I talked about him, as I have warmth for him and always really liked him. But I had to include him. We were thrown together by the Melody Maker’s “dog shit and diamonds” piece, a gladiatorial contest they set up where we were used as symbols for different musical and aesthetic tendencies, and there was no way for me to explore the questions I wanted to if I ignored that. The fact is Kingmaker did not go onto achieve success, but I hope I didn’t trample on them when I refer back to that point where we found ourselves in the same place. I genuinely wanted to work out whether things happened for us in the only way they could have, and if you can judge your own worth on the basis of success, as the ultimate criteria, or if it is all down to chance in the end.

You go on to say that the neglect of great art makes you wonder whether it is all chance, however much it might suit you not to think so…

BA: Exactly, look at Echo And The Bunnymen for fuck’s sake! They’ve made amazing music but why aren’t they then given the prestige they deserve, whereas so many of their less talented contemporaries fill up stadiums at the drop of hat? How can you resolve it? It’s unresolvable! But I think you need to believe in destiny wholeheartedly to make it at anything, and it is easy to when everything is going right, you know “my success is my destined birthright!’, but then how can you have any framework or belief system left if you embrace destiny and then fuck up? You’d be complicit in your own fall. Even then though, you can make failure work for you, and realise the fuck-ups were necessary too, and that you learn from them and they therefore feed your future successes, so you’re kind of led back into destiny again. The thing is if you are happy with where you have got to in life, and looking at things from a place of satisfaction, then you literally can’t really regret anything, as the fuck ups are part of the journey that led you to where you are, and are as easily as important as the successes.

Photograph courtesy of Phillip Williams

You make a number of complimentary references to the old music press in the book, even when they turned on you, which is rare for a musician…

BA: God yeah, we’re culturally less well off for their folding, don’t you think so? That whole Punch And Judy journalism and playground tribalism produced so many great bands and so much great discussion no matter how ugly it got. Those papers were like a music factory. A lot of modern music writing, with some very obvious exceptions that I love, is too dry and balanced. Growing up to a point where you can’t be violently partial means you lose something of the enthusiasm and passion that draws you to music. Music writing needs to be a little bit impetuous because music is impetuous. It’s easy to think it was all divisive and unnecessarily nasty, but it needed to be, that was its job, which encouraged it to issue challenges and be creative in its own right too. Which was great, providing they were saying nice things about us!

How has the creative process changed for you now that you are no longer committed to releasing album after album in quick succession, a process you say that led to the creation of some inferior work; does that easing of pressure and allowing of material to gestate compensate for what is lost, which is that in the old days you didn’t know what was going to happen next, and that every new record might yet change your lives with as yet unimagined success?

BA: There’s a trade off. The eventual realisation that you are not part of the mainstream anymore, as we clearly no longer are, does give you the freedom go to interesting places you could not always have gone to before. For me now the concept of a record has to be very strong to act on it, and I won’t start writing simply because it is time to release a record again. For example, the material and ideas I thought would be perfect for A New Morning, were actually followed through on and became The Blue Hour sixteen years later. Trying to carry them into the songs I was writing at the time, and make a record about the darkness of the countryside when you want your songs to be rotated on Radio One, was never going to happen. And that’s one of the beauties and consolations of being set adrift from the mainstream, which is that you really don’t need to worry anymore about a particular kind of career path anymore. We’re never going to latch back onto the mainstream again, I know that, because we could make the greatest record we’ve ever made, or has ever been made, and we would still never be on Radio One again. And I’m fine with that now. I am a 52-year-old man, do you know what I mean? Age has got to give you something, because otherwise there is a part of you that might never get over what it has to teach you.

You plot your changing relationship with your fans from a high of believing you were in it together, to the low of seeing graffiti left on your street with directions to your house and a request to kill your cat. The lesson that fans live for you when they should be living for themselves, and that you should be living for yourself and not them, seems hard earned on both sides, particularly as you write about how much you owe them for putting you where you wanted to be in the first place.

BA: It’s a fascinating process with fans, you were there in the early days, and you know that insane dynamic where the fans are still part of the experience. We used to hang out with you guys and it was like being with your mates where you share the same passions and interests, but then you get to that point in a band where the doors come down, and there is a separation where you find yourself either being mobbed by people or sitting on your own in an empty dressing room with no in-between. Life becomes polarised between these two extremes, and it is unavoidable because it is built into success, and so to some extent, is no more than what you wanted and signed up for, but there is that lovely point when you first start when the people who follow you aren’t an abstract, “the audience”, but friends, and there is something special about those days I wanted to capture in the book. Because those days were really important, one of those lovely periods you can never have back or go back to again.

After that you become public property, where you have an image you keep up to avoid disappointing people, and where everything you say is taken at face value. Like the story you mention in the book where I forget that I asked a couple of fans to come back to my house in two days time, only to be polite, then completely forgot about it, and ended up instigating a campaign of abuse against myself…

I understand the danger of taking rock stars at their word. In early 95 I bumped into you at the Severn Bridge Services and you told me that I should join you in Watford in a week, where you would meet me outside the venue and let me into a gig!

BA: Oh no, you’re joking…what an invitation! My God, and did I do it?

I would love to have said you did! I still got in, so no hard feelings.

BA: I’m so sorry! What you’ve got to understand is that in a band when you meet someone at the services you always want to leave the conversation on a high note, to contrast with the surroundings, hence the Watford Colosseum! I just hoped that you wouldn’t believe me and would realise that in the end it was all just…words!

Afternoons With The Blinds Drawn is out now via Little Brown

#suede #brett anderson #press #interview #the quietus #2019 #afternoons with the blinds drawn

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Pluto and the Creative Arts by Anthea Head

“Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.”

from O Beautiful End by Rabindranath Tagore, Indian poet and mystic. Tagore had Pluto on the Sun/Mercury midpoint in Taurus.

The arts have the power to raise the spirit of their audience, they move us, transform us, excite our passions and our feelings. They make us laugh or weep, lift us to great heights or fill us with compassion. They provide a vehicle through which we can gaze upon both the best and the worst in human nature and in some mysterious way they make us more than we are.

Pluto is the planet of transformation and of regeneration. Where there is transformation through suffering, loss or psychological breakdown, the efficacy of the therapeutic use of the arts is now recognised. Therapists and those who work in mental health increasingly use painting, music and drama as effective therapies for deep-rooted trauma which cannot be expressed in any rational or verbal way. As for regeneration, stories, colours and sounds have the power to touch something deep, reminding us of our true purpose or opening our hearts to the commonality of human experience. They have been an essential part of civilisation since the earliest of times.

Hades/Pluto was the god of the underworld. The earliest known examples of art of any kind were discovered in caves and tombs. Archaeological finds show that dance, theatre, music, literature, poetry, painting and sculpture have their origins in ritual. Evidence suggests that the arts were an intrinsic part of symbolic and spiritual life of the community; midwife to the human-cosmic relationship. From the very earliest known examples, dating back some 40,000 years or more, skilled workers have created musical instruments, effigies and images whose purposes we can only surmise as being of a transpersonal nature. The time, skills and investment needed to produce these marvellous objects and paintings suggest that they were considered essential to the well-being of the community, this at a time when simple survival itself required huge efforts of energy and courage. The artist, the creator of form, colour or sound would have been regarded with respect. He/she was something of a shaman, maintaining the psychic health of the community. Creative expression was then, and remains always, essential to civilisation.

A tiny planet (and yes, I still call it a planet), Pluto is a little smaller than our Moon, yet symbolically it is a powerful point of focus, a mediator between ourselves as human beings and the overwhelming and impersonal vastness of the Universe, the Divine Cosmos. It is dangerous ground to draw parallels between the physical attributes of the planets and astrological symbolism. Nonetheless, as Pluto inhabits the farthest edges of our solar system, ‘facing’ outwards to dark and mysterious regions, so also does its astrological parallel draw us inward to those hidden places within the soul. Just as there is no absolute scientific theory of the nature of the Universe, so also are the realms of Pluto (within the human psyche) anathema to reason or materiality. Mythologically, Pluto is god of the underworld, of elimination and regeneration. Psychologically, it signifies passion, obsession, the instinct for survival (or lack of it) and those raw, gut feelings that put us in touch with our true values.

Pluto exposes us directly to transpersonal forces which may overwhelm us personally, but which nonetheless connect us inextricably with all humanity and the human condition. It illumines the darkest side of our natures while simultaneously offering the possibility of transcending base desires and rising on the wings of the Phoenix to the highest good. Pluto represents not only the darkness of human nature but the potential for the greatest healing once the confines of self-centredness have been broken. Pluto’s nature is to transform; and transformation is a creative act: it is the creation of a new state of being out of the ashes of the past.

Creative work produced under the influence of Pluto is powerful, unforgettable and deeply moving and speaks directly to the core of ourselves.

Pluto has dominion over all creation myths in which light, order and a meaningful existence come forth from conditions of darkness and chaos. Most of our contemporary blockbuster films and the novels on bestseller lists evoke the hero's journey to the underworld and his/her subsequent redemption and gaining of wisdom. Popular culture succeeds not just because of the beautiful people it portrays (the glamour of Neptune) but also because it holds out the promise that we too might be transformed into something greater than we are.

That no matter how difficult our circumstances are, there remains the possibility of redemption.

The theme of transformation is epitomised in the Greek myth of Persephone. Her abduction to the underworld domain of Hades (Pluto) speaks of the transition from innocence to experience, symbolised by the change of name from Kore to Persephone. The story of her conditional release from Hades is said to have initiated the pattern of the seasons. As she descended for one-third of each year to the underworld, winter came to Earth, bringing cold and sadness. After her sojourn, her return to the meadowlands above ground brought spring and the coming of joy. An element of this story is concerned with the creation of the cycles of the seasons: the new growth that bursts into life with the spring and the autumnal dying back of the plants as the life force once more returns below ground. As Earth has its seasons, so do our own lives. Our own rites of passage and initiations into adulthood, maturity and wisdom are transformative times of life. Often painful and involving great depths of emotion, these are the recurring themes in drama and literature.

Writers: Greene, Salinger, Golding

The creative arts have always had a role to play at such times. Who does not remember some music or novel which accompanied a major transition in their lives and made sense in a way nothing else could? For me, J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock both had a profound influence when I was a teenager. Unable to externalise my feelings at the time, these authors confirmed the validity of my emotional life. Salinger, born on 1 January 1919, had the Sun in opposition to Pluto; Greene, born on 2 October 1904, had an exact square between Mercury and Pluto. These Pluto aspects signify a quality within their own lives which enabled them to touch the depths of the loneliness and confusion of adolescence. As a result, they were able to write stories which became touchstones for several generations of young people.

The work an artist produces under Pluto’s influence cannot be cosmetic or superficial; it will touch on something essential and is an active, dynamic response to life. For them, the necessity to create is a compelling force and, at its most overwhelming, this creative energy represents the awakening of the divine fire of life, kundalini.

These primal forces with which Pluto is associated can manifest on any level of human experience. Its lowest expression is an animalistic energy, devoid of reason, pure instinctual power. In literature this irrational and shocking impulse within human nature is powerfully portrayed in William Golding's Lord of the Flies – a story of shipwrecked children. Left to their own devices in the absence of adults and seeking to find a means of survival and order, these hitherto well-behaved schoolboys become increasingly terrified and feral, dividing into tribes and reverting to violent and cruel power struggles. Golding’s Sun in Virgo was squared by Pluto in Gemini suggesting that he was aware on some level of the potential for order being overturned by chaos and darkness. The Scorpio South Node and Jupiter in Scorpio in a t-square with Saturn and the Moon also point to an understanding of the psychology of the breakdown of relationships and the painful consequences.

In the story, the children gradually become alienated from civilised behaviour and their primitive, tribal instincts take over. The relinquishment of self-control and personal responsibility, and their abandonment to the powerfully irrational forces of barbarity, is signalled when one boy, Jack, decorates his face with red and white clay and charcoal.

He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. …Beside the mere, his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them. He began to dance, and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling.1

This face paint is strongly symbolic of primal energy. The mask gives them permission to take on new, more fearsome identities and forms a barrier between their inner childish vulnerability and the ruthless warriors they are play-acting as being. Play-acting or truth, it is a matter for analysis.

Golding (birth time unknown) himself seems to have been a gentle man, a poet and a teacher of music and English. During WWII he saw active service with the Royal Navy, involved in D-Day and in the sinking of the Bismarck. The writing of Lord of the Flies, and other novels, provided the outlet for his Virgo Sun/Gemini Pluto square. It was written as tr. Pluto was semi-square Sun, and solar arc Pluto was semi-square natal Mercury (and possibly conjunct natal Moon). This story is a disturbing evocation of what lies beneath the veneer of civility. The boys survived shipwreck and drowning, but with no moral compass or adult support, they find themselves overwhelmed by plutonic forces. The novel has made a huge impact and is a standard text on school and university courses.

Masks invoke spirits

To return, briefly, to the subject of masks, our face is what we show to the world. In the Greek myth, when Hades/Pluto roamed above ground, he wore a mask of invisibility. People with Pluto on or near the Ascendant often shy away from revealing too much of themselves. Our face reflects our feelings, our compassion; and through lines of ageing, it says something of our experience of life and our humanity. To paint the face or wear a mask, de-humanises; it sets the actions apart from the personality, suggests a transpersonal force taking over and abnegates personal responsibility. This was the theme of the film, The Mask (1994), in which the lurid green mask has a compelling life force of its own, fixing itself on the face of the unwitting hero (a shy and awkward man played by Jim Carrey) who is transformed into a mad daredevil, a foolhardy and romantic figure. (Carrey has natal Sun in Capricorn with Scorpio rising; radical Pluto is conjunct draco Sun.)

In primitive societies, the mask (which often included a covering for the body) took on the vital energy of an ancestor or bush spirit and concentrated the power upon itself. Masks were considered so powerfully magical that someone was employed to follow the masked figure to collect any pieces of fallen garment in order that these not be used by others for magical purposes. In tribal societies, only a select few dignitaries would be permitted to wear masks. Even when not in use, they were regarded with great respect and locked away and kept in secrecy. The Etruscans and Romans, who used wax masks of faces for the purpose of ancestor worship and family cults, were also known to have kept them in special shrines in their houses.

Masks not only invoke spirits through imitation but at the same time protect the wearer from the direct force of Pluto's influence; they de-personalise the energy, focusing it on the purpose desired. In many cultures, the ritual wearing of masks signifies the laying aside of reason and enables the wearer to access the universal cosmic forces of creation. Music and masked dance may accompany ceremonies at turning points of the year, propitiating the spirits for the purpose of good harvest, good health and victory over adversaries.

Artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani (all with strong Scorpio/Pluto contacts in their charts) were inspired by the African mask. Through use of pure and vibrant lines, they produced memorable and intensely beautiful drawings and sculptures. Artists working under the influence of Pluto often use line sparingly, making pure and strong statements. Pluto pares away the inessentials, in art as well as in life. Picasso's well-known sculpture of the head of a bull (1942) was a simple but effective mask formed from one bicycle seat (the face) topped by a pair of handlebars (the horns). Pluto as god of resourcefulness and recycling!

And what of the artists themselves? To pursue a creative life often demands much personal hardship; it can be a lonely and difficult path, of continual striving for expression of the inexpressible. It is a well-known phenomenon that many creative people tend to suffer from mental health problems, notably manic depression. Considering the vital role artists and craftsmen had in early societies and the forces they were manipulating through their skills, it is no wonder that today, endowed with this creative and imaginative gift, the artist may carry something of this ancient experience within him/her and it is a heavy burden. For such people a ‘normal’ life is difficult; the road they travel can indeed be lonely and one of obsession – if there is an affliction to a sensitive point in the chart from Pluto.

However, when the Pluto/Scorpio energy is strongly marked in the lives of artists their work has frequently left a meaningful legacy which has resonated through the years to give us symbols, metaphors or images to describe the heights and abysses of experience. Their work is powerful, memorable and often iconic. Their work is fierce, painfully truthful and a cri de coeur for love and compassion.

The psychologist Carl Jung described the artist as being filled with “the divine gift of Creative Fire” for which they must pay dearly. According to him, the desire for expression is often of such urgent need that unless he can bring his consciousness fully into the light (we are reminded of Persephone escaping from Hades) he may otherwise suffer from great distress.

Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. The artist is not a person endowed with freewill who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realise its purpose through him. …He is a collective man – one who carries and shapes the unconscious psychic life of Mankind.2

Astrologically, one may expect such an artist to have an aspect between Pluto and the Sun, Moon or Mercury, or Pluto ruling the 3rd house. Scorpio on the cusp of the 3rd house often corresponds to a Virgo Ascendant with Gemini on the Midheaven. Virgo (the craftsman) and Gemini (the communicator) are essential tools for the writer/artist. I have been surprised by how many examples I have come across (in some cases Scorpio is intercepted in the 3rd house, depending on the house system). To name just a few: Ernest Hemingway (For Whom the Bell Tolls), Albert Camus (The Plague), Oscar Wilde (De Profundis), John Cage (4’33”), Mozart (Piano Sonata No. 8 in A Minor), Igor Stravinsky (Rite of Spring), Olivier Messiaen (Quartet for the End of Time), Amedeo Modigliani (numerous paintings and sculptures inspired by masks). The combination of Virgo rising/Gemini MC/Scorpio 3rd house does not (of itself) make one an artist but will enable those who are creative souls to work in a particular way.

The influence of Pluto in the charts of all these souls deeply affected the path of their lives yet also endowed them with the ability to tap into something within the human psyche, evident in their paintings, music or writing but also inevitably reflected by some personal suffering or vulnerability in their private lives. Nonetheless, this sensitivity, this ability to be open to the voice of the unconscious, is vital. Jung believed that all creative work arises from the depths of the unconscious, the conscious ego being “swept along on a subterranean current”.3

For writers, Pluto’s influence can be signified by deep psychological insight, clarity of vision and directness of expression. The philosopher Nietzsche (Sun in Libra in close opposition to Pluto, with Pluto on the Moon/Venus midpoint; possibly Scorpio rising) recorded his own experience of this. Speaking of his Thus Spoke Zarathustra he wrote:

If one had the slightest residue of superstition left in one, one would hardly be able to set aside the idea that one is merely the mouthpiece, merely the medium of overwhelming forces.4

Another author, George Eliot (author of The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch) (Scorpio rising, Scorpio Sun trine Pluto/Saturn conjunction in Pisces, 5th house) wrote that she “felt her own personality to be merely the instrument through which this spirit was acting”.5

Why is it that some works of art, literature or music strike a resounding chord with us? Jung believed that art must touch on some fundamental truth of human experience. In his book Modern Man in Search of a Soul he describes the poet as someone who assimilates the deepest feelings engendered at moments of destiny and who can, through his skill, “raise it from the commonplace to a level of poetic expression”.6

For such a person the need to allow the creative spirit to find outward expression is a necessity. Often, they cannot live by the accepted standards of society; their choices make little sense to others. That which is buried deep within the soul must come out into the light of consciousness in a creative manner. It is Neptune which elevates the imagination to visionary levels. Pluto, however, is the passion and obsession of the artist which demands a voice, and which sees clearly into the depths of the pool of the human psyche. Such artists express universal truths which have a message not only for their contemporaries but for future generations.

An example of just such an overwhelming outpouring of feeling is expressed by Dylan Thomas in his poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Goodnight:

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day Rage, rage against the dying of the light… 7

The poet's passion is indicated astrologically by Scorpio Sun trine Pluto/Saturn conjunction in Cancer and a Mercury/Mars conjunction in Scorpio. T.S. Eliot, author of The Waste Land, also had a close trine from Pluto (conjunction Neptune and in the 8th) to his Libran Sun.

There is no doubt that the influence of all three outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) may raise the consciousness of an individual above and beyond the purely personal. The creative soul under the influence of Uranus will be in some way rebellious and non-conformist but also humanitarian and often intellectual (Anton Chekhov, Boris Pasternak). The influence of Neptune is transcendental, visionary and subtle (Neptune/Venus aspects are a signature for music). Where there is a raw compulsion, the direct expression of emotion pervading the work the influence of Pluto is undeniable. Pluto is not a theorist or a philosopher: he reflects the human condition, without condemnation (except notably, of hypocrisy). The darkest conditions of Man's soul can be portrayed with the greatest empathy and understanding. The penetrating insight into human nature of which Pluto is capable shocks us because we can so easily identify with the breadth of human emotions displayed.

Painters: Picasso, Matisse, Goya, Hogarth

This is evident in the early work of Pablo Picasso (Sun and Mercury in Scorpio, Mercury opposition Pluto). As a young man seeking to study art, he found himself in Paris. With little money, he frequented the poorest areas of the city. And the paintings of his now famous Blue Period were inspired by the lives of the prostitutes and down-and-outs he came to know well. These works have a poignant honesty about them and radiate a profound compassion for humanity without resorting to sentimentality. They invoke a sense of the suffering passion of Mankind and the images hover between despair and redemption.

Picasso was a skilled craftsman and his work challenges with its power and vigour. Born at the time of a Jupiter/Pluto conjunction in Taurus (the Bull) opposing his natal Mercury, Picasso's bold and daring images frequently focus on his fascination with bullfighting and with the figure of the Minotaur. The powerful sexuality of the god-like figure of the male/Minotaur was a theme to which he returned throughout his life in his brilliant, semi-pornographic drawings. One wonders what sort of man he would have been had he not had this outlet for his imagination!

Picasso produced one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings of our era. The huge, monochrome Guernica (1937), created when his progressed Sun was exactly (to the minute) quincunx natal Pluto, was his immediate response to the terrible bombing by General Franco's forces of the Basque capital on a market day. It is an image depicting the horror of war and its effect on innocent victims. Chaos and fear fill the picture as mothers scream for their children and people die. A huge, raging bull towers over the image symbolising the forces of brutality and darkness while a screaming horse cries out in terror. Images seem strongly to relate to Picasso's chart; the Scorpio Sun in the 4th house of homeland, the Jupiter/Pluto conjunction in Taurus (the bull) in the 10th, Moon in Sagittarius (the horse) in the 5th quincunx a 10th-house Saturn in Taurus. Guernica was recognised as such a powerful image that, for political reasons, it was kept in America until after the death of Franco, at which time it was returned to Spain. It remains to this day a seminal work and in the UK has been chosen as one of the ubiquitous Masterpieces of the Millennium.8 A tapestry copy hangs in the United Nations building in New York. Significantly, a blue cloth covered the tapestry when Colin Powell stood in front of it to announce war with Iraq, so that the brutal images of war and suffering were hidden from view.

Henri Matisse, Picasso's friend, had a gentler aspect, a trine, between Pluto on the Midheaven and a Capricorn Sun in the 5th house. Matisse’s cool Capricorn Sun was less vehement than Picasso’s Scorpio, but he was just as focused and dedicated to a clarity of expression. Born twelve years apart, they both had Jupiter/Pluto conjunctions in Taurus. For Matisse this conjunction manifests through the exuberance of his colours, the sheer abundant sensuality of his patterns and his religious faith. He created vibrant images from simple lines and clear colours. Picasso fought the image of God (Jupiter), Matisse praised it. Restricted by illness towards the end of his life, Matisse worked in reduced circumstances simply with coloured paper (the resourcefulness of Pluto), creating his famous, huge, beautiful collages. His drawings became sparse, pure and deeply expressive. Pluto desires to get to the root of the matter – whether it be the root of emotion or the pure essence of light and colour.

The work of an earlier Spanish artist, Francisco de Goya, born on 30 March 1746 (time unknown), is also notable for the power of its imagery. His Sun/Mercury conjunction in Aries is sesquiquadrate Pluto in Scorpio, giving a potent Mars/Pluto mix with Saturn in Libra opposing Sun/Mercury, and semi-square Pluto. As we saw with Picasso, Pluto afflictions in the charts of creative people can be expressed in deeply disturbing works. Goya was no exception. His work is full of plutonic imagery. The masked carnival dancers in his Los Caprichosetchings are both demonic and satirical, and his portraits of the Spanish royal family are filled with deep psychological insight (which apparently his sponsors failed to see because the paintings were heralded as masterpieces of royal portraiture but are devastatingly incisive in their portrayal).

As with Picasso, Goya was compelled to reflect the human condition as he perceived it, notably through his series of etchings Disasters of War which present a profound anti-war sentiment and are deeply discomforting to look at. Another well-known image, the etching entitled Reason Asleep, shows a sleeping man slumped at a table while around his head fly bats and other frightful creatures of the dark: it is a striking evocation of the dark side of Pluto. As progressed Sun came to exact quincunx natal Pluto, Goya painted Saturn Devouring his Son. A shocking image executed when Goya was aged 73 and made to hang on the wall in his home. Like many artists working under this influence, he was skilled in etching, creating powerful black and white images through the manipulation of light and dark.

Goya and Picasso are just two examples of painters whose work graphically depicts the powerful influence of Pluto. Matisse and Amedeo Modigliani, with beneficent Pluto aspects, were also masters of line and expression, able to catch the dynamics of form using the minimum of strokes but their work is less tormented, more transcendent. Piet Mondrian, who reduced the Manhattan road plan to a series of beautifully abstracted and colourful grids, was born with very close aspects between the luminaries and Pluto (sextile Sun in Pisces, square Moon in Aquarius).

Examples of other painters who employed their skills to make social criticism include the French artist Honoré Daumier, born with a New Moon conjunct Pluto in Pisces in the 8th house, whose work exhibits the clear, transparent morality of a great satirist. The English painter, William Hogarth, born 10 November 1697 (time unknown), with Sun in Scorpio and a Mercury/Jupiter conjunction in Scorpio square to Pluto, is also notable for his humorous but biting depictions of English society. Of his etchings, A Rake's Progress and Marriage A-la-Mode are his most renowned. Pluto no doubt would also figure prominently in the charts of contemporary political satirists and cartoonists.

Having studied the charts of many writers, composers and artists and using an orb of 2 degrees to Sun, Moon or Mercury, there seems to be a remarkable predominance of close Pluto aspects in the charts of writers and these far exceed those in the other two categories.

Pluto’s insight: Thackeray, Zola, Hugo, Miller

Why is this? Pluto (and planets in Scorpio) seeks to expose what lies behind things, to get to the root of things. It can be wonderfully helpful for research, seeking hidden motives or undiscovered facts. Researchers with a strong Pluto will go back to source material, to original documents and not be content with second-hand opinion. Most importantly for dramatists and novelists, there is the ability to create suspense and stir emotion. Of course, Pluto’s influence bestows the ability to draw compelling psychological portraits of people.

It is not unusual to hear a novelist speak of their characters as though they were real people. However, for some, this seems to be a phenomenon akin to mediumship; the characters they create seem to take on their own life force. The English writer William Thackeray (born in 1811), with Mercury in Cancer in an exact trine to Pluto, wrote: “I have been surprised at the observations made by some of my characters. It seems as if an occult power was moving the pen. The personage does or says something, and I ask, how the dickens did he come to think of that?”.9 Thackeray was, of course, the creator of that wonderfully scorpionic anti-heroine, Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair.

The 19th century French writer Emile Zola was publicly criticised for the immorality of his novels. In his defence he claimed that he could not be held responsible for the morality of his characters!

Zola’s novels explore the underworld of human life and emotion. Born on a New Moon in Aries, with a tight stellium of five planets (Sun, Moon, Pluto, Mars and Mercury all within eight degrees) in Aries in the 4th house, he was passionate about his subject and both obsessive and fastidious in his research. His huge series of twenty novels about life under the Second Empire in France deals with the darkest and most fateful aspects of human nature. His thesis, that Man is a victim of his heredity, is explored through the lives of several generations of the same family. His stories deal with fate, power, sexuality and the will to survive. The thirteenth novel,Germinal, begun on his 44th birthday with the precessed solar return Ascendant conjunct the natal Mars/Pluto conjunction, and tr. Pluto semi-square his Sun: it is the story of a mining village in Flanders. The action takes place underground – truly in the realm of Hades. The final showdown, full of Pluto symbolism, takes place in the bowels of the earth in a black-dark mine which is rapidly being swamped with flood water. This is where the hero faces his dark rival.

Germinal is a powerful novel revealing the terrible conditions men and women lived under. Since childhood, Zola had had a terror of being underground and was plagued by recurring dreams of being buried alive. Nonetheless, in the course of his research, he went to the mines in Flanders and wrote that he felt he had crossed the “Stygian divide to live briefly among the damned”.10 The tiny glimmer of light at the end of the novel, the sign of redemption, has to be searched for but it is there in the form of a handshake. A barely visible sign of the hero's progress.

Another 19th century French writer, Victor Hugo, had Scorpio rising in his chart with a stellium (Venus/Pluto/Sun within four degrees) in Pisces in the 4th house. Hugo, of course, was the author of Les Miserables, a vast novel subsequently made into a film and, surprisingly, a hit musical nicknamed ‘Les Mis’. In his foreword to the book, Hugo wrote a passionate condemnation of the social policies of his day which allows “the child to atrophy in darkness” and “create a human hell within civilisation and complicates with human fatality a destiny that is divine”11. In his horoscope, Uranus (disposited by Venus) is exactly quincunx Pluto and both planets closely aspect the Ascendant. Hugo was politically active and humanitarian; and his skills as a writer and storyteller (Mercury in Pisces in the 5th) brought the suffering of the poor to the attention of the world and continues to do so. Like Zola, he was exiled for political reasons for a while.

American playwright Arthur Miller, born with Pluto in Cancer trine a Mercury/Venus conjunction in Scorpio, is also remembered for his empathetic portrayal of human beings who come face-to- face with the forces of destiny. His plays are a vehicle for a profound reflection on the nature of the individual pitched against transpersonal forces. They rail against powerlessness and promote the dignity of the human spirit. Miller wrote Death of a Salesman and The Crucible and his work continues to stir up strong emotion, inspiring us through his sense of justice and compassion.

Other writers whose charts show a significant plutonic influence include Maya Angelou, Lewis Carroll, Arthur Conan Doyle, Herman Hesse, Henry James, D.H. Lawrence, Lewis Sinclair, Jules Verne, W. B. Yeats and others. Obviously, this is only the very briefest of surveys and there is much more interesting research to be done for a thorough insight into Pluto’s workings. Nonetheless, the works of all these writers encompass an aspect of the Pluto energy, some through mystery and myth, others through wonderful character portraits. The significance of such books, written with the profound understanding of life which Pluto unveils for us, is that they have the power to change our perception of life.

Pluto’s influence never ceases to put us at the core of human existence. It rips away the veneer of status, etiquette, material comfort to expose the underlying motives and presents us with what is left. It is only then that there can be a realisation of what is truly essential to life – love.

Pluto, comedy and taboo: Monty Python

Fortunately, amidst the shambles of life and the horrors that could render it unbearable, we have the capacity for humour. As the comedian Eric Idle has astutely commented, humour offers a healthy response to ghastly problems: “If comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord to our licensed jesters”.12 Here is Pluto manifesting through black humour.

Eric Idle (Pluto rising in Leo trine an Aries Sun on the Midheaven) was one of the ‘Pythons’, the group of five writers/performers who devised the extraordinary Monty Python’s Flying Circus. It was a British ground-breaking TV series described by Eve Jackson in Transit in November 1983 as a “wonderful vehicle for a Pluto looking for expression, revelling as it does in such taboo areas as sex, violence, death and the generally disgusting”.13 It is no surprise that Pluto is emphasised in all the Pythons’ charts.

The most renowned Python was John Cleese, with his Scorpio Sun and Mercury in the 3rd house. The Sun is exactly square Pluto while Mercury squares Mars. Cleese has confessed to a personal problem with suppressed rage. The roles he has written for himself, notably Basil Fawlty in the British television series Fawlty Towers, have given him a means of exorcising his anger in the healthiest of ways. He not only provides himself with some sort of emotional release but also gives his audience the chance to laugh at the ludicrous and embarrassing situations which arise through his repressed fury. For Cleese, the influence of Pluto is also apparent in his desire for self- understanding. He has a deep interest in psychotherapy and has undergone therapy for many years. He co-wrote (with his therapist Robyn Skinner) Families and How to Survive Them.14

As for music, examples of composers with significant Pluto aspects are less common than writers or painters. Puccini had Pluto in the 7th house, which is interesting when one considers the heroines of his operas: Tosca, Madame Butterfly, Turandot. Olivier Messiaen, who wrote the Quartet for the End of Time while incarcerated in a German POW camp, had Sun opposed to Pluto and a Venus/Mars conjunction in Scorpio in the 3rd. Mick Jagger has a stellium in Leo conjunct IC which includes Sun, Jupiter, Pluto and Mercury – which makes sense both in his private and professional lives! John Cage, the American composer who wrote a piece of music entitled Silence 4’33”,had a conjunction between the Moon and Pluto in Gemini square a Venus/Mars conjunction.

Mozart and Schubert…

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, perhaps the most famous composer of all, had a very close Moon/Pluto conjunction in Sagittarius in the 4th house. This had tremendous significance during his early years as a child prodigy when, under the direction of his father, he was escorted throughout Europe to perform in front of kings and courtiers. He forfeited his childhood to music. He had a great sense of humour (which bordered on the obscene: possibly he had Tourette’s syndrome, although this is unconfirmed). He also admitted to having a preoccupation with death. His friend, Da Ponte, wrote that: “Mozart's real existence remained hidden like a precious stone buried in the bowels of the earth”.15 Mozart was a member of the Masons, and while much of his work was written on commission as entertainment, his operas Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute have definite occult subtexts.

In his early twenties Mozart visited Paris, escorted by his mother, to make money. Life was hard. Because of their poverty, his mother died (Moon/Pluto in 4th). The A Minor Piano Sonata was written in 1778 and a deep sorrow invades the work. There is a profundity about it which is not present in other pieces and it has an underlying pattern which one reviewer equated with the recurring rhythms of the cycle of birth and death.

Interestingly, as Pluto transited Mozart's natal Sun in Aquarius, he married and changed his first name to Adam. Adam, the first born in the Bible, of course had no biological father; he was created directly by God. Mozart sought to liberate himself from his past, to be “reborn” – a wonderful signature for a Pluto transit of the Sun.

The Austrian composer Franz Schubert, well known for his song cycles inspired by the poems of Goethe, was born with Mercury/Pluto conjunct in Aquarius in the 9th house close to the Midheaven. The conjunction is within orb of the Sun/Moon midpoint. He was a lonely, rather melancholic man who detested the superficiality of Viennese society yet depended on commissions to earn his living. With a complex personality he could at times be a simple, honest and straightforward man while at others he seemed to be plunged into darkness, driven to excess by mood swings. He could not write during the summer months, but each autumn felt compelled to return to composing, perhaps prompted by the Sun in Scorpio (transiting his 5th and 6th houses) at this time of year. There are two pieces, a piano sonata entitled The Wanderer Fantasy and the song cycle The Winter Journey which stand out as evocations of the Mercury/Pluto conjunction in the 9th house.

I first heard The Wonderer Fantasy about forty years ago. I was only just married, and we unexpectedly found ourselves in London in rather dire circumstances, sleeping on a friend’s floor and jobless. The friend had a piano. My husband, a pianist with strong Pluto aspects by transit and progression to his natal chart at the time, taught himself the first movement of this work and its thunderous notes became an intrinsic part of our lives during those months. It was composed by Schubert as progressed Mars was sextile natal Pluto, and tr. Pluto was semi-sextile its natal position; and it stands as a musical outpouring of the disturbed moods and aggressiveness which he was prey to. It is a virtuoso piece, wildly energetic and full of turbulent rhythms, devastatingly difficult to perform. The psychologist Anthony Storr has described as “manic defence” a tendency to respond to depression with a fierce and ambitious outpouring of energy.16 Schubert could never master the piece himself and furiously abandoned his only public performance with the words, “Let the devil play the stuff”.17 The Wanderer Fantasy, with its explosive passion, is a very clear example of the necessity of the creative process in the soul struggling against a dire inner distress.

Five years later, in 1827, with progressed Sun quincunx natal Mercury/Pluto, Schubert wrote his song cycle entitled Winterreise (Winter Journey) as a means of expressing his own sense of isolation. Its lyrics are the poems of Wilhelm Müller which are rooted in despair: the traveller journeys through a frozen wilderness, shunning other people and taking hidden paths. His journey leads him to a graveyard. He seeks refuge in an inn but is turned away and later has a vision of three suns in the sky. He hears a hurdy-gurdy man playing in a village but “no one wants to hear him, no one looks at him and the dogs snarl about the old man”.18 It is enormously sad. Schubert's final illness dates from this time. He died in November 1828 suffering from both typhoid fever and syphilis.

Oscar Wilde and De Profundis

To conclude, there is one document in literature which cannot go unmentioned in any study of Pluto and the arts. It stands as an astounding testament to the power and significance of a Pluto transit and in my opinion should be on the reading list of all advanced students of astrology. This is De Profundis by Oscar Wilde, written in response to his imprisonment for homosexual practices.

Wilde is best known as an author and playwright. His witty and astutely observed plays, such as The Importance of Being Ernest and An Ideal Husband, are incisive commentaries on Victorian society. He is said to be the most quoted playwright after Shakespeare. With his Virgo rising and Sun in Libra, he had Mercury in Scorpio in the 3rd house. Pluto in Taurus in the 8th is on the Sun/Mercury midpoint.

Wilde was a refined and cultured man, an aesthete who took pleasure in beauty and sensuality and who mixed in the most fashionable society of his day. Bisexual, he flaunted his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas at a time when homosexuality was a criminal offence. In 1895 he was put on trial and, with tr. Pluto within one degree of his Midheaven on 25 May, he was sentenced to two years’ hard labour: this meant the treadmill, literally powered by men. They trod endlessly, their bare feet turning the massive wheel. It is hard to imagine how someone with Wilde’s background could physically survive the rigours of prison life.

De Profundis was written in prison and is a deep reflection on his life. He had lost everything: his reputation, his wife and sons, his home, all his worldly goods and most of his friends. He was effectively plunged into an abyss of despair. The theme concerns sorrow and loss and reveals the values that he discovered to be at the core of existence. “Suffering”, he wrote “is one very long moment...the very Sun and Moon seem taken from us”. He talks of his shame and guilt: “I had disgraced my (family) name eternally. I had made it a low byword among low people. I had dragged it through the very mire”. He speaks of a realisation: “Where there is sorrow there is holy ground. Someday people will realise what that means. They will know nothing of life till they do”.19 As he comes to understand the true meaning of forgiveness, he discovers what he calls a “Vita Nuova” (a new life) which would have been impossible before his imprisonment. In this essay he explores the meaning and the gifts of suffering. It is an extraordinary chronicle of the redemptive qualities of Pluto.

Pluto afflictions in a chart can signify distress arising from profound trauma which results in a silent conspiracy engendering guilt, loss of power or fear of victimisation. The arts stand alone in providing a non-intellectual medium through which one can access these otherwise inexpressible emotions. The growing acceptance of art, music and drama therapy as wonderfully effective tools for healing deep-rooted problems are examples of the way in which the creative arts can be used to unblock deeply rooted problems. When Pluto is activated by transit or progression, such feelings long buried in the unconscious may come out into the light. It is at such times that the healing power of the arts can provide a vital channel for the expression of these irrational and overwhelming forces. Many healers also work with the vibrations of colour and sound to rebalance the energies within their patients, disciplines that we are only just beginning to really understand.

This essay is intended, partly, to demonstrate the significance of the arts in our lives, as an essential component of a psychically healthy society. My intention has also been to show that the works artists create under the influence of Pluto may not only reflect the imbalances, injustices or brutality that exist in the world but shine a light on the possibilities within humanity to demonstrate love and compassion, and thus play a healing role in our lives. They can act as abiding reference points, for example, politically (Guernica), socially (Les Miserables), emotionally (Madame Butterfly). For me, those works produced under Pluto are immediately recognisable. They are also eternal images and ones that can be related to decades, or centuries, after their creation.

From our viewpoint in the 21st century, art is very far removed from its original magical purpose. With the secularisation of life, few meaningful rituals remain to honour the crises experienced when we are touched by the transformative powers of Pluto. Once a midwife to the great initiations of life, the artist today should still have a central role in the community.

Notes and References: Author’s note: This essay considers the role of Pluto in the charts of artists, writers and composers. Pluto aspects alone do not signify that a person will be an artist. This text is based on a talk given at the White Eagle School of Astrology Annual Conference November 1999. All data has been taken from Astro-Databank or Solar Fire. Where birth time is unknown, birth dates have been gleaned from the internet. 1. William Golding, Lord of the Flies, London & Boston: Faber & Faber, 1958, p. 69. 2. C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976, p. 195. 3. Ibid, p. 197. 4. Anthony Storr, Solitude, London: HarperCollins 1997, p. 199 quoting Friedrich Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo, translated by R. J. Hollingdate (Harmondsworth, 1979), p. 48. 5. Anthony Storr, Solitude, London: HarperCollins 1997, p. 198, quoting George Eliot’s Life as Related in her Letters and Journals, Edinburgh & London, 1885, pp. 421-5. 6. C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976, p.179. 7. W. Davies & R. Maud (ed), Dylan Thomas, Collected Poems 1934-1953, London: J.M. Dent & Son Ltd., 1988. 8. A. S. Huffington, Picasso: Creator & Destroyer, London, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1988. 9. Anthony Storr, Solitude, London: HarperCollins 1997, p. 198 quoting W. M. Thackeray in Some Roundabout Papers. See also The Works of William Makepeace Thackeray with Biographical Introductions by his daughter, Anne Ritchie; (London 1903), XII, pp 374-5. 10. F. Brown, Zola: A Life, London: Macmillan 1996, p. 119. 11. Victor Hugo, Les Miserables, London: Penguin Books 1982, p. 17. 12. Eve Jackson ‘Monty Python, Pluto and the Fool’, Transit,issue No 43, November 1983. Astrological Association. p. 13. 13. Ibid. 14. R. Skynner & J. Cleese, Families and How to Survive Them, London: Mandarin 1993. 15. M. Solomon, Mozart: A Life, London: Hutchinson 1995, p. 93. 16. E.N. McKay, Franz Schubert, A Biography, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996, p.148, quoting Anthony Storr’s The Dynamics of Creation, London 1976 p. 112. 17. E.N. McKay, Franz Schubert, A Biography, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996, p.148, quoting O E Deutsch, Schubert: Memoirs by his Friends, trans. R Ley and J. Nowell, London 1958. 18. S. S. Prawer (editor and translator), The Penguin Book of Lieder, London: Penguin 1964, p. 61. 19. Dr T. Gaynor (ed.), The Works of Oscar Wilde, London: Senate 1997, pp. 748-798.

Published by: The Astrological Journal, Jul/Aug 2019

Author: Anthea Head, Dipl. WESA, has been involved with astrology since the 1980s, gaining her diploma from the White Eagle School. As one of their astrologers, she went on to teach their advanced course and became a long-standing member of the School Council. Her main interest is in the profound energies symbolised by astrology and what they may mean within an individual’s life. She lives with her family in north Oxfordshire where she teaches and consults. She may be contacted at: [email protected].

#Pluto #pluto and the arts #anthea head #art #astrology #masks #The Astrological Journal

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emo-scene-fm · 5 years

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Artist Name: Edie

Genres: Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Emo, Lo-Fi, Pop Rock, Bedroom Pop, Alternative

Similar Artists: The Promise Ring, Park Ave., The Juliana Theory, Bright Eyes, Avril Lavigne, The Hush Sound, The Get Up Kids, November Blessing, ... wait, why do you want other artists? You should be listening to THIS ONE!

Bio: The Scenecore community on Tumblr is something I'm really thankful to be involved with. When I'm not saying dumb stuff, making bad decisions, breaking down and losing what little of my crumbling sanity and emotional stability I have left it's really nice to reblog some blingees of pop rock bands from the 2000s and a glittery Monster Energy Drink logo completely unironically. I feel like there's something really admirable about people trying to revisit the 2000s Myspace Emo-Scene (or scemo, if you will) trend but taking it back and leaving behind a lot of the more problematic and toxic aspects of it. I feel like a lot of good people came together and made a welcoming, friendly community of acceptance. But something I've always hoped would come out of this was someone being inspired by this wave of nostalgia and make something new. We're a massively nostalgia based community. We're nostalgic for old fashion, old bands, old internet trends and old graphics. Hell, even this blog was founded on the idea of revisiting the forgotten emo-scene artists from the MySpace days. That's all fine and good but sometimes you want to see something new, pure, from the heart and completely independent. To be an actual scene revival, we need someone to really revive it. And that's exactly what I found.

Boys and girls, cats and squirrels, meet the musician you've all been waiting for. Edie. This is the music project of @xx-fangz-up-2006-xx who I've been mutuals with for some time now, even back on old accounts of mine as well. Back in May of this year on the 11th, Edie put out a demo on her YouTube channel, Edie! At The Disco. The song is called “You Left Me”. It's a song about an unfaithful partner leaving her for someone else who'll likely have a similar experience. This demo was very rough but still full of heart. It was actually quite refreshing to hear.

A post on Tumblr revealed that Edie intended on writing more material. Originally Edie planned on making a full length album, but Edie instead settled with an EP set to come out a couple of months later. On October 24th she put up a new single called “Genuine Tears” and a remastered version of “You Left Me.” Although remastered, the independent, lo-fidelity quality vibe is still present. It just felt more... complete this time around. Then finally on November 3rd, the EP "Made With Blingee" came out. It featured “You Left Me,” “Genuine Tears,” and two new songs called "I Can See You In The Fog" and "Dream Person." Attached to the EP is this description:

"This EP is all my bottled negative emotions about people that i've had stored up in me for a very long time. All dressed up in pink, glitter and kandi, ready to kill you with a Hello Kitty knife. I hope you enjoy."

I don't think I could sum up Edie's music any better than she did herself but I’ll do my best to describe what I heard. It's very 2000s emo inspired but also reminiscent to independent MySpace pop music like The Perfect Measure, early Never Shout Never, or November Blessing and from my personal observations, even a bit of a Midwest Emo vibe to it. On the poppier side, mind you. Think The Juliana Theory or The Promise Ring. It sounds very humble and non-pretentious. It's stripped down, heartfelt music at it's finest and something I don't really see a whole lot of people trying to make anymore. A lot of the time these days, especially in mainstream music, people overproduce their music to insane amounts to but with Edie the attention is carefully and lovingly placed on the music and the lyrics, making it very down to earth and relatable instead of generic radio-fare. Genuinely good music sounds good even if it’s recorded on a potato and played with Fisher-Price instruments. Sometimes I tell people that I don't like pop music but that's actually not completely accurate of me. I like pop music when it's done RIGHT, and I really feel like this is an example of it being done right, done originally, and most importantly done for the right reasons.

What makes her music really unique is absolutely the quality of it. The songs are purposefully very minimal production-wise with a sort of Lo-Fi/Bedroom Pop vibe. It really helps to drive home the emotive aspects and the relatability. She's absolutely sold me on that because it works so great. The whole EP sounds like it was made by a mid-late 2000s emo-scene girl which was kinda the whole point of this EP in the first place. I feel like that's another goal met. It really does feel like a snapshot from a completely different time. It's a homage to a past era without being just a carbon copy of what other people were doing. I really feel like Edie has a ton of potential and a strong start. I'd love to see her make more music, perhaps even a full album someday.

I really hope you guys not only go listen to her music on Bandcamp but you actually buy the EP to support Edie monetarily. I think it's very important to support independent artists and with music this good it's so worth it. I’d really love to see where she goes from here. Edie, I sincerely want to thank you for introducing “ediecore” to the world and I hope this isn't the end of you musical journey.

Discography:

Made With Blingee (Bandcamp)

Favorite Lyrics: "She falls asleep every night, clutching her pillow tight. Waiting for dream person to arrive. She wants to cry when she wakes up, because it's all in her head. When will dream person finally be there..." (Dream Person)

Recommended Songs:

Dream Person (x)

Genuine Tears (x)

You Left Me (x)

#emo-scene-fm #scenecore #nu scene #scene revival #scemo #edie #indie pop #bedroom pop #emo pop #indie rock #alternative

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toogoodmusic · 6 years

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TOO GOOD TUESDAY INTERVIEW: Annika Bennett

New York born singer and songwriter Annika Bennett has already been through a career’s worth of life by her early twenties. At the age of 18 she dropped out of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and made the official move from New York to Nashville. From there she inked an artist development deal with Sony Records that led her to the realization that her best work was done on her own not necessarily with the help of label-booked co-writes. She went on to terminate the deal and has since become completely independent. Now she has just released her debut single “Boy Who Has Everything” and already played it live for a television appearance on Today In Nashville. Lucky for Too Good Music, Annika took some time to answer some questions about her debut single, making the decision to drop out of school and to move to Nashville, her dream collaboration and more! Full interview below:

TOO GOOD MUSIC: Let’s start from the beginning – how did you get started in music?

ANNIKA BENNETT: Both of my parents are extremely musical, so it was never a question of if I’d play - only what I’d play. I took violin lessons, piano lessons, and saxophone lessons (all of which I quit) before I started playing guitar at 9 years old. I wasn’t crazy about practicing scales and studying theory, so I learned Beatles songs instead, and soon started writing songs of my own.·

TGM: Dropping out of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music to move to Nashville at 18 was a massive decision. How did you come to the conclusion to make that decision? Why did you feel then was the right time to do so?

AB: In retrospect, dropping out of school was undoubtedly a bold decision, but at the time it felt really natural and logical. I signed with Sony Nashville halfway through my freshman year, and a couple trips to Nashville during the second semester convinced me that it was where I needed to be. I really didn’t second guess my intuition on that, especially since the logistics (finding a place to live, a car, etc) fell into place remarkably easily.

TGM: What’s the biggest advantage to being independent after terminating your artist development deal with Sony Records? What’s the biggest disadvantage?

AB: I think the biggest advantage is being able to release music on my own timeline. When you’re on a major label, you have a team of people working with you to put music out on a large scale in a specific format, so the process can take longer. It’s nice to be able to release what I want, when I want, without having to wait for approval. The biggest disadvantage is the lack of a team - the people I worked with at Sony are incredibly experienced and hardworking. So without them, it’s been somewhat daunting being my own manager, marketing team, publicist, etc. when I know very little about the business side (probably because I dropped out of music school… hah).

TGM: How did you decide to release “Boy Who Has Everything” as your debut single?

AB: I played a show in New York City a month ago, and at the time I was choosing between a few different songs as my debut. Throughout the set, I told the audience which songs were contenders, and while talking to people after the show I was able to gauge that "Boy Who Has Everything” was the favorite. That response felt very fitting because when I first wrote the song, I remember feeling that it really represented who I was as a songwriter, musician, and person.

TGM: What was the inspiration for “Boy Who Has Everything?”

AB: I had a conversation with a close friend in which we bonded over both feeling like the more troubled person in our respective relationships. Afterwards, I started writing the song because I was trying to process those really complicated and conflicting emotions. Some of the lines are exaggerations, or were more inspired by my friend’s experience, but writing the song was still very therapeutic and helped me come to terms with my feelings.

TGM: If you knew (or maybe you already know) a boy who did have everything – what would you give him?

AB: I think I would (and did, I guess) give him the truth about my doubts and insecurities in the relationship. I’m a huge proponent of emotional honesty, both within myself and with others, and I think the most you can give someone is the truth, no matter how dark or unflattering it is.

TGM: What kind of influence does a town like Nashville have over your writing style and overall sound?

AB: The songwriting community in Nashville puts a huge emphasis on storytelling, and presenting a story to the listener in a clear and unambiguous way. Even though most of my songs aren’t stories per se, I think I’ve adopted that mindset when writing about emotions - I want to make them as clear and accessible and understandable as possible.

TGM: How would you describe your sound?

AB: I’m never sure how to answer this question! I’d say my sound is something like indie-folk-pop-rock. Sometimes I call it “New York folk.” I don’t know what that actually means, but it sounds fitting.

TGM: What’s the thing you miss the most from living in New York?

AB: Besides family and friends (I’m originally from NY), I really miss the energy of the city, and the inherent excitement it brings to mundane tasks. I also miss walking everywhere. People look at you strange if you do that in Nashville.

TGM: Who would be your dream collaboration?

AB: Blake Mills or Justin Vernon. As writers, artists, and producers, I am consistently amazed at the work they both put out, and how they can be experimental without sacrificing emotion.

TGM: What would be a dream venue to headline?

AB: Anywhere in Europe!

TGM: You recently played Today In Nashville – what’s the biggest difference from a TV performance vs venue performance? Were you nervous?

AB: It was my first time performing on live TV, and I was definitely nervous (hopefully it didn’t show)! I think in a venue you don’t have to worry about perfection as much, because the audience is with you, and the moment is over as soon as it happens. But knowing that my TV performance was being recorded and broadcasted totally freaked me out!

TGM: If you could only listen to (5) artists for the rest of your life, who would they be?

AB: The Beatles (and all of their solo careers), Bon Iver, Paul Simon, Kacey Musgraves, John Mayer

TGM: Ha! That’s kind of cheating throwing in all The Beatles solo careers as well but I’ll give it to you. What’s the rest of 2018 look like for you?

AB: I’m planning to release followup singles at the end of October and November, and play as many shows as possible in the meantime. I’m also in the middle of writing a crazy number of songs, so hopefully I’ll wrap some of those up and record them!

Would like to give a huge shout-out to Annika for taking the time to answer some questions from Too Good Music and a huge congrats on the debut single! Be sure to follow along with Annika’s journey through the below links:

Facebook | Instagram | Website

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theonetruenerd-blog · 6 years

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MY THOUGHTS ON MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE

I know it has been a while since I made an actual post, but school and laziness got in the way.

But here I am giving you guys another movie review!

(Quick side note, I saw this movie due to the HASBRO LEAK, I know I said that we shouldn’t do that but I am so sorry I will never download leaked movies again. I am sorry for being a hypocrite.)

So, oh my god this movie actually happened!

The FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC SHOW came out in 2010, and the show still goes on to this very day! It’s so unreal that the show is still airing! And I love the series so much, it’s actually the best cartoon show airing today. Yeah, I said it.

And when I heard that a 2D animated movie based on this show was going to be released in theaters, I. WAS. PUMPED!

There was a celebrity cast involved, along with the original cast from the show involved as well.

I was so excited for this movie to come out, I was wondering what this movie could possibly be about!

And then, in mid 2015, the plot synopsis of the movie was revealed! From MOVIEWEB, it reads:

“In the movie, a new dark force threatens Ponyville, and the Mane 6, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity, embark on an unforgettable journey beyond Equestria where they meet new friends and exciting challenges on a quest to use the magic of friendship and save their home.”

When I read that synopsis, I felt skeptical. But it was just a synopsis, the final movie can still be good!

And then I saw the movie.

Now look, no matter what movie I’m about to watch, I always give them the benefit of the doubt. Even when I was about to see THE EMOJI MOVIE, while I knew it was going to be bad, I still gave the movie a chance.

And then I saw the movie. And . . . *sighs* it was not good. Really bad, it was. I thought at first it was just okay, but after thinking about the movie and then watching it again with my analytical eyes, I came to this conclusion: THIS ANIMATED MOVIE IS ONE OF THE WORST ANIMATED MOVIES I’VE SEEN IN YEARS.

HEAR. ME. OUT!

I am not hating on this movie just because I can or because I had a lot of plot theories in my head and they didn’t come true (*coughs* Last Jedi). I just simply don’t like this movie, and there are many reasons why.

Before I get into the actual movie, I want to go somewhere else. I want to tell you guys about the behind the scenes aspect of this movie.

Developing wise, the story should have been done better. It was predictable, this movie was.

But lets get into the behind the scenes now.

I DO NOT KNOW THE BUDGET OF THIS MOVIE!

Really, CARTOONBREW said the production budget was from $5 to $8 million, but then EQUESTRIADAILY and other MLP forums said that the movie was around $20-$30 million. So I’ll say that based on that, the movie’s budget is fron $5 to $30 million towards the production of this movie.

And the animation software for this movie was TOON BOOM HARMONY.

It is a well known 2D animation software that was used in this movie, combining 2D animation with 3D CGI animation for the settings and so forth.

I thought the animation would be in-house software, meaning only the company making the film would be using the software that they made, instead of using software that is open to the public. But still, TOON BOOM is still good software for animation from what I have heard of.

And then we go back into 2014 where the current showrunner of the show, Megan McCarthy, announces that the MLP MOVIE will not only get made into a feature length movie, but it will also be released in March 2017, which was eventually moved to October of that same year I. WAS. HYPED!

And then in 2015 at PonyCon Australia, she was asked if the movie was going to have the same tone and feel that the EQUESTRIA GIRLS movies have. She replied by basically saying that the movie would be just ...”straight up pony friendship is magic.”.

But if you would watch the behind the scenes look at the movie, along with that same interview in PonyCon, the main reason for her making this movie WAS NOT because she had a complex story or new story in mind, but literally because that she wanted to go big on scope and atmosphere. (Watch the first five minutes.)

youtube

So.... nothing on story and character development and nothing on bringing in more people to know about the show, just the big picture, she wants.

She’s basically saying this:

youtube

(Watch from 2:21-2:25)

And now we get into the animation part. Then I will get into the story/characters, and then I will tell you guys my conclusion.

So for the animation, it’s a mixed bag. For one, the animation on the mane 6, Spike, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Tempest, Storm King, Grubber, and the seaponies are all well done. Granted, there were moments where Twilight and Pinkie Pie would make weird faces, and all I could think of is, “Wow, the animators really like to show off.” LOL. Still, the animators did a good job with those characters.

HOWEVER! Onto the negative side on the animation.

(THE REST OF THIS REVIEW WOULD BE FULL OF SPOILERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.)

When it comes to the settings, the buildings, and certain characters that I’ll mention in just a bit, they look out of place and unfinished.

Maybe it’s because the final script was finished two months before the movie was released? (I read the script during the leak and now it’s gone, but the date for the final script when finished said it was on 8/15/2017. August 15 of this year, and the movie was released on October 6.)

But when it comes to the HAN SOLO RIPOFF Capper, Celaeno and her crew, they look unfinished.

Think about this. The movie’s production budget was very low. So the animators probably had some trouble to animate the entire movie. But there have been other 2D animated movies like SONG OF THE SEA where the budget may be low, but can still be animated very beautifully. This movie however, has some glaring issues with that.

The settings, as I said, look unfinished and out of place. When you place two dimensional in a setting surrounded by buildings that look unfinished, the film takes me out of there and I question why these buildings are there. It takes me out of the experience.

And now to Capper and Celaeno and Celaeno’s crew.

They look great in these pics, but whenever they move and interact with other characters on screen, it just feels weird. Think about this: the ponies and the other characters that I mentioned before looked great, but the ponies looked the best because even with the very low budget, the animators knew the show and they knew how to animate these characters in this movie. That’s why whenever they’re talking, running, walking, and doing cool moves, it looks amazing and the animation there feels smooth and fluid.

But whenever you see Celaeno and Capper, they would never run, flip, do moves, or do anything else besides talking and walking, (Celaeno does very little when it comes to kicking the bad guys. And Capper only runs once, but for like 5 seconds. but that’s it.) that’s because with the new character designs, rushed script, and budget concerns with the animation, you would get characters that don’t move naturally.

Now with the story, the most important part of every movie. I am going to give you guys two point of views, from me being a fan of the show, and from me seeing this as just a standalone movie. So right now this is me as a lover of film and seeing this as a standalone movie. Now, onto the story.

*sighs* WHAT STORY!?

It’s just, inconsistent and predictable.

But let’s get into the story, shall we?!

So the opening of this movie has three random ponies that we don’t know flying above the clouds and then flying down towards Equestria, while the pony version of WE GOT THE BEAT is playing. *sighs* The fucking Jimmy Neutron movie used that song, from fucking 2001.

Anyway! The first fifteen minutes in this movie really had no connection to the actual plot of the movie. You would think that because this is this beginning of the movie, this whole fifteen movies would be the whole movie. But here’s the thing, it isn’t the whole movie. So when the actual story happens, it comes right out of nowhere and I’m asking myself, “Wait, what?!”

The whole fifteen minutes is entirely dedicated to Equestria setting up this festival of friendship, this huge glamorous event run by Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight.

Now with the start of this movie, the setup to the world that we are in is very important. Once the audience gets introduced to a world beyond their imaginations, then we should know about this world and feel like we’re people living in that world. Being immersed into the film. But with Equestria in this movie, you don’t really know much about the world. It’s just, we’re here, and that’s it. Nothing really interesting happens, it’s just Equestria pasted into the movie as the backdrop and that’s it.

Even with the character introductions, again, we as a moviegoing audience don’t know who these characters are. The characters are slapped on the big screen and the filmmakers want us to know who these characters upon introduction (not really.), but we don’t. Only the fans of the show know and when making an animated movie based on a television show that some people may not know about, that is not good. (I mean THE SIMPSONS MOVIE is a great example on how to make a great movie that is based on a television show. It doesn’t rely on references to the show without any context of said reference, fan service, and character introductions that don’t feel like actual introductions. It’s a movie that anyone can watch. In the movie, we get introduced to the Simpson family, we know immediately in the beginning that they are a dysfunctional family. Bart is a troublemaker, Lisa is the shy and musically talented one, Marge is the responsible and mature one, and Homer is the dumb one. They all have arcs in the story that are important and are actually built up upon, but I digress.).

There are even prequel comics that explain who the new characters are and introduce the mane 6! Hey, there’s something! Oh wait, it’s not in the movie, so there’s nothing! Studios need to stop relying on comics and other mediums of entertainment to tell the rest of the story instead of the movie doing its job. If movie studios use that method, then they have no faith in their own movie.

It feels like a movie just for the fans, this definitely reminds me of SUICIDE SQUAD LOL.

And then we get to SONGBIRD SERENADE.

Who is really just a pop star thrown into the movie and is given no character or reason to be there, other than to put a dance number at the end and to have a big pop star that people like (including me) in the movie. She shows up at the beginning for a few seconds, and then we never see her again until the very end.

So after her introduction, we all of the sudden get an introduction to the main villains. And we are introduced to THE HEAVY, TEMPEST SHADOW.

She takes out Luna, Celestia, and Cadence out very easily, even though the three ponies should not stand around like idiots. They should fucking move to the left or right, you know! *groans*

So the ponies get pwned by one of STORM KING’S GUARDS (THE BIG BAD) by one of the guards using his shield to deflect Twilight’s beam, which makes no sense because he used a regular shield which should have been destroyed, but fuck it, lets just move the story along.

So the mane 6 and Spike need to go to the Hippogriffs, part seapony, part eagle. Thinking that they can help them save Equestria.

As a fan, where’s Discord? Shining Armor with his army? Daring Do? Changelings? Dragons? No mention of them? Well, movie could have been way worse.

So the reason why Tempest is bad makes no sense. At first, we hear from her that she’s sick and tired that ponies use their magic just for parties. But then we hear again that she’s doing this in order for the STORM KING to repair her broken horn, and then later in the film which I’ll explain later, something happened to her as a kid, which is really stupid, dumb, and doesn’t make any logical sense.

So the ponies go to this dirty looking village called KLUGETOWN. And Twilight tells her friends reasonably that they need to keep a low profile, they can’t get captured, and they can’t trust someone who will back stab them. But Pinkie is like, fuck it, I’m going to do the exact opposite! And then the villagers surround the ponies and they all want to buy Spike for some reason, which introduces Capper. And just because he saved them once, every character excluding Twilight, trust him now. Rarity calls him “charming” and Rainbow Dash calls him “awesome”. And this brings me to the biggest problem in this movie besides the story . . . it’s the characters.

While the new characters have no development and do nothing of importance, the ponies, excluding Twilight, are jackasses! They constantly fuck shit up in this entire movie and they never apologize for what they did. Pinkie draws attention when Twilight specifically told her not to, because they were on an important mission. Then her friends would trust the pirates that were about to kill them. Also, Rainbow Dash does a sonic rainboom above the pirates’ ship and draws attention to Tempest. Then I swear to god, when hiding with her friends, Dash says to Twilight, “Did you think they saw my rainboom?”

Jesus Christ.

And then Pinkie Pie, again, just jumps into some little pond area where the seaponies live without thinking what will happen if she did jump in the water. And she trusts the seaponies even though she just met them. Lets talk about the seaponies, especially QUEEN NOVO.

To me, she’s the biggest bitch in the whole movie. I know she felt wary about strangers entering her kingdom, which is reasonable, but she doesn’t have to be a rude bitch towards Twilight!

Think about this scenario:

Imagine me as a very rich person, I’m wearing rich clothing, walking with my entourage, and I am holding a very powerful orb that can cure all diseases. So then a homeless man runs up to me:

Man: Please help me, my son is very sick, him and I are homeless, and he’s dying! *looks at the orb* Use that on my son, please! He doesn’t have much time left!

Me: *smirks and smiles* No no no! This is how it usually works! I only help the people I know. I don’t help people that I don’t know. It’s not like I can be a kind soul where innocent people are dying and I can save them, that’s just not me. So fuck off while I use my money on more expensive clothing. So go fuck yourself!

Yeah, that’s Queen Novo in a nutshell. Twilight needs that orb and Novo refuses to give it to her. Granted, I know the ponies to her on strangers. But Novo knows who the Storm King is, she knows what he has done to her subjects, and Twilight is pretty famous. So Novo not giving a helping hand, or fin, to Twilight and her kingdom, she says no, and literally gets out of her throne just because it was time for her seaweed wrap. Fuck her!

Twilight stealing the orb was surprising to me and was big, and stealing is not right. But while Twilight is having stress over being an inspiring leader and a responsible one too, her friends constantly fuck shit up like it’s nothing. So her friends are on the wrong and Twilight is on the right. If you needed to save your family and you need that orb, would you sacrifice yourself to save it by doing everything you can to get it, or just do nothing and not take action. Like a song and dance number instead. Fuck her friends.

The whole, “I don’t need friends like you” was out of nowhere, but still, it’s just to move the plot along, even if what just happened made no sense.

Then her friends leave her (good job, “friends”) and Twilight gets captured by Tempest. And Tempest sings OPEN UP YOUR EYES to Twilight, while Twilight is inside a magic proof cage.

And this is the part of the movie where Tempest’s past, her motivation into becoming evil, makes no sense.

The very underrated youtuber, THE DISHONOURED WOLF, said it best:

youtube

(7:27-7:53)

So, she did something TO HERSELF and she blames everyone else for it?!?!?!

And telling Twilight to “grow up” even though she is a princess with a lot of responsibility and wasn’t acting like her friends for the majority of this movie?!?! Tempest should tell Twilight’s friends that they need to grow up instead. (The show’s characters will always be lovable characters and the movie is a huge spit in the face.)

There are also some audio problems with this movie.

Like this scene:

youtube

It sounds like Sia was singing in a recording studio and it doesn’t feel like she’s singing in that scene.

This scene from GAME OF THRONES sounds like a person is singing in the woods, while you hear a horse’s hooves, birds chirping, and the wind.

youtube

I do like the glance between a torn up Twilight and Songbird, but we know nothing about Songbird and she doesn’t look at everyone else which is very odd and weird.

A whole bunch of shit happens and the Storm King is a weak ass villain, basically STEPPIENWOLF FROM JUSTICE LEAGUE but a thousand times more annoying and with no character motivation or personality.

There’s a scene a few moments later where Twilight has one of two choices:

Take this poweful staff away from the king, to save her kingdom and everypony who is enslaved? Or save the one pony who has been chasing after you throughout your journey, enslaved your entire kingdom, and let the king take her magic away? Which choice do you think Twilight made?

If you guessed the first choice, of course, she didn’t make that choice.

And then at the very end of the movie, Tempest is friends with the ponies even though, again, she enslaved an entire race of ponies. And reveals her true name. Her name is.... FIZZLEPOP BERRYTWIST.

How does that name affect her character? It doesn’t.

THE LEGO MOVIE with Wildstyle, where she revealed that her real name was Lucy. And it works because she wanted to become “the special” and when revealing her name, it shows that she’s just a regular girl, not just a super cool action girl.

FUCK THIS MOVIE.

AN F, THIS MOVIE HAS.

That’s my take.

@elijah-dawg-one @equinox-vixen @renegade-timel0rd @alexboehm55144 @drwolf001

#mlp movie #mlp #my little pony the movie #my little pony #friendship is magic #mane 6 #spike #queen novo #celaeno #capper #tempest shadow #storm king #animation #simpsons movie #lego movie #hasbro #lionsgate #lauren faust

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bangkokjacknews · 3 years

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The Weekend Mystery - Will the real Paul McCartney please stand up?

Did the famous ex-Beatle really die in a car crash back in 1966?

On 12 October 1969, Tom Zarski rang the ‘Uncle’ Russ Gibb’s radio show on WKNR-FM in Dearborn, Michigan, and announced that Paul McCartney had been killed in an accident in November 1966 and the Beatles had drafted in a lookalike to keep the band fully functioning. He backed up his argument with several pieces of credible circumstantial evidence, including the decision by the band in 1967 to stop playing live in order to concentrate on their studio recordings and film work. Russ Gibb was so intrigued by the story that he then spent two hours on air mulling over the clues and playing Beatles records. When one caller urged him to play ‘Revolution 9’ (from The White Album) backwards, Gibb was amazed to find he could distinctly make out the words ‘Turn me on, dead man’ through his headphones. Despite the fact that Zarski had pointed out he didn’t actually believe Paul McCartney was dead, he was just interested in the theory, by the end of the programme networks across the United States were discussing the mysterious death of one of the world’s most famous rock stars and the events surrounding his demise. Hundreds of news journalists promptly flew to London and interviewed as many of the conspiracy theorists they could find, and from the reports that followed the only certainty is that many of them were experimenting with LSD, as none of it made much sense at all. The story ran that on the evening of Tuesday 8 November 1966 Paul McCartney and John Lennon were working late into the night on the Beatles’ upcoming album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when a row developed over recording techniques and McCartney stormed out of the studio. Furious, he sped off in his Aston Martin and smashed into a van, dying instantly. The resulting fire prevented the coroner from positively identifying the body but the remaining band members were left in no doubt at all that McCartney had not survived. Another caller to Russ Gibb’s show claimed that McCartney had picked up a hitchhiker called Rita that night. When she suddenly realized who he was, she had screamed and lunged at her hero, causing him to crash into the van. Neither Rita nor the other driver were ever seen or heard from again. The public mourned as shock in but there was one unavoidable question: if McCartney had died in 1966, who was the man that looked like Paul and who had been hanging out with the Beatles ever since? The explanation ran that Beatles manager Brian Epstein was so horrified at the thought of the world’s most successful band breaking up that he held secret auditions and persuaded John, George and Ringo to have all their photographs taken with a stand-in to keep the public unaware of the accident. When Epstein died only nine months later, after a battle with depression and drug abuse, his untimely demise was cited as another piece of evidence. It was said that he just couldn’t come to terms with the loss of McCartney. The Paul-is-dead mystery was also conveniently used to explain McCartney’s sudden split from long-term fiancée Jane Asher (because McCartney stand-in William Shears Campbell didn’t like her) and that his new relationship with Linda Eastman (later McCartney) was Campbell’s real love interest. Another piece of supposedly compelling evidence is that for several years the other three Beatles had wanted to stop playing live shows because the audiences were screaming so loudly they couldn’t could hear anything, but McCartney had resisted. With Paul gone, the remaining three could do as they pleased – indeed the Beatles had last performed live on 29 August 1966, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, and played no more live concerts after that. Conspiracy theorists nodded and agreed that it all made perfect sense, while others, including the Beatles, laughed it off as a ridiculous urban legend. And still the story continued. One American radio presenter had photographs of the singer before and after November 1966 scientifically compared and found there were obvious differences, one being that the nose was of a different length. A doctor from the University of Miami analysed voice recordings and concluded publicly that the recordings prior to August 1966 were different to those recorded afterwards. Paul McCartney, he claimed, did not sing on Beatles records after August 1966. By now fans all over the world were beginning to look for their own clues in Beatles music and album covers, and the clues turned up in spades. Here then are some of them, and the evidence seemingly pointing to the fact that Paul McCartney was dead. Sgt Pepper was the first album the Beatles released after the supposed accident, after recording began on 6 December 1966. When it reached the shops in June 1967, nobody noticed anything unusual about the artwork in connection with the Paul McCartney mystery, but in 1969 conspiracy theorists were able to detect a range of coded references to Paul’s demise. For a start the band appear to be standing at a graveside complete with flowers and wreaths. They are surrounded by famous personalities, who could be mourners, and one of them is holding an open hand above McCartney’s head, said to be a traditional Eastern symbol for death. The theorists looked closer and concluded that the yellow flowers at the foot of the picture are arranged in the shape of a left-handed bass guitar, Paul’s instrument, and one of the four strings is missing, signifying his absence. Under the doll’s arm on the right hand side there appears to be a blood-stained driving glove and the doll itself has a head wound similar to the one Paul was supposed to have died from and he is wearing a badge on his sleeve on the inside cover bearing the letters OPD, standing for ‘Officially Pronounced Dead’. The open-palm gesture actually appears on the front cover of Revolver, twice in the Magical Mystery Tour booklet, twice in the Magical Mystery film and twice on the cover of the original Yellow Submarine sleeve, but, in reality, none of it means anything at all. There is no such gesture in Indian culture symbolizing death. The badge Paul is wearing on the inside sleeve does not read ‘OPD’, it has the initials OPP on it. The badge was in fact given to McCartney when he visited the Ontario Provincial Police in Canada during the Beatles’ world tour in 1965. A statue of Kali, a Hindu goddess, also features on the front cover of the Sgt Pepper album, which the theorists maintain represents rebirth and regeneration, hinting that one of the Beatles has been reborn, or replaced. But Kali, from which the name of Calcutta is believed to derive, has traditionally been a figure of annihilation, representing the destructive power of time (kala being the Sanskrit word for ‘time’) Also, the ‘O’ shaped arrangement of flowers at end of the band’s name has caused some theorists to speculate that the whole thing reads ‘BE AT LESO’ instead of ‘BEATLES’. This was taken as a sign that Paul was buried at Leso, the Greek Island the band had supposedly bought. But none of the Beatles had bought a Greek island and there is no such place as Leso. There are many more pieces of ‘convincing’ evidence. I’ve just picked out some of my favourites. The Beatles all grew moustaches at the time to help mask a scar on the lip of McCartney stand-in William Shears Campbell. In fact McCartney did grow a moustache for Sgt Pepper as he was unable to shave at the time. Paul had fallen off his scooter on his way to visit his aunt and split his lip on a pavement, making it too painful to shave. He also lost a front tooth in the accident, explaining why he appears in the ‘Rain’ and ‘Paperback Writer’ promo videos missing one of his teeth. The accident also explains the scars seen during the White Album photograph sessions. The number plate on the VW Beetle shown on the Abbey Road cover reads LMW 281F, taken to mean Paul would have been 28 ‘IF’ he had survived. But Paul would have been only twenty-seven, and the VW Beetle had nothing to do with anyone at Abbey Road. The director of the photo sessions tried to have it towed away, but the police took too long to arrive so they went ahead with the picture anyway, leaving it in shot. McCartney is wearing no shoes in the Abbey Road photograph. His explanation was: ‘It was a hot day and I wanted to take my shoes off, to look slightly different to the others. That’s all that was about. Now people can tell me apart from the others.’ But the conspiracy theorists swore that the picture had been set up to look like a funeral march, with him as the corpse. On the records Rubber Soul, Yesterday and Today, Help and Revolver there were said to be many more clues. The song ‘I’m Looking Through You’ on Rubber Soul was thought to be about discovering that McCartney had been replaced. Some fans took these blatant ‘clues’ as hard evidence while others quickly realized all of those records were made prior to 9 November 1966 and could not possibly have anything to do with the supposed accident. But with hysteria mounting, even the thinnest clue came to look like definite evidence. In the lyrics to ‘I am the Walrus’, the line ‘stupid bloody Tuesday’ is taken by some to be John Lennon referring to the day of the accident that claimed his band mate. But when it was pointed out the alleged accident was supposed to have happened on a Wednesday morning, conspiracy theorists then claimed it was the Tuesday night that the two of them had fallen out before McCartney had stormed off, and to his death. Some believed it, while others dismissed it as an already thin lead being stretched even thinner. But then came the line ‘waiting for the van to come’, a supposed reference to the ambulance, and ‘goo goo ga joob’ – apparently Humpty Dumpty’s last words before he fell off that wall and bashed his head in, as Paul was supposed to have done. The Beatles themselves very quickly became very irritated by all the speculation. And it was not long before the band, aware every lyric and photo shoot was now being studied, began to play up to the hysteria. After writing one complicated and seemingly meaningless song called ‘Glass Onion’ Lennon remarked, ‘Let the f**kers work that one out.’ But he included the lines ‘Well here’s another clue for you all / The walrus was Paul’. In no time at all, people were announcing the walrus was a symbol of death to some cultures and Lennon despaired. It wasn’t much fun being a Beatle any more and the band broke up soon afterwards. So – to sum up – if the real Paul McCartney had died in his Aston Martin in 1967, and a replacement found in time for the photo shoots for the next album, then imagine the string of coincidences that needed to have taken place. For a start he had to look and sound just like Paul. Then he had to convince Linda or, if she was in on the plot, she had to like him enough to stay married to him for the next thirty years. And he would have had to learn how to play guitar left-handed, which is even less likely, I can assure you. John Lennon would have to have been fooled too, as it is unlikely he would want share song-writing credits and royalties with a stranger for the last three years of Beatles recordings, especially as Epstein wasn’t there to tell him to. And most of all, for the lookalike to have written and recorded songs of a McCartney standard for over thirty years would be hard to imagine. Hang on a minute, I have just remembered ‘The Frog Chorus’ and ‘Mull of Kintyre’, and so my argument is beginning to wear thin, even to me. And another thing – would the real Paul McCartney have married Heather Wills, or whatever her name was? Perhaps Zarski was right after all – there must be an impostor. - Albert Jack Albert Jack AUDIOBOOKS available for download here

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jackmaccomm · 3 years

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*Narrative Theory*

In this entry I will examine the critical question, “What central narrative(s) does this artifact tell through its rhetorical elements? In doing so, what values does it promote and ignore (who does it include and exclude)? In which ways is this narrative (ethically) productive for society, in which ways is it limiting, and is it more productive or limiting?”

The artifact that I will be examining is the studio album good kid, m.A.A.d City by Kendrick Lamar. This album productively shares a narrative of what is believed to be the ideals of a young black man growing up in poverty (Money, Power, and Respect), as well as the harsh reality of crime and gang life and how it is often the only route.

Kendrick Lamars, good kid, m.A.A.d City was released in October of 2012. This album is often regarded as one of the greatest of all time and it has even been used in academia as it is looked at for its storytelling as well as the lesson taught. Kendrick used this album as a way of showing the world how he transformed from his adolescent self, to the well known rapper and celebrity. He wanted this album to not only relate to others that were put in the same situation as himself, but also to show the rest of the world that there is often no easy way out of low income America, and the struggles that impoverished people face.

Foss (2004) describes narrative by saying, “Narratives organize the stimuli of our experience so that we can make a sense of the people, places, events, and actions of our lives. They help us to interpret reality because they help us decide what a particular experience is about” (333). We have the ability to create our own narratives allowing those who have not experienced what we have, to be able to make their own interpretations of the situation. We often see this in music as artists often write about life experiences and how it shaped them into the person they are today.

A narrative that Kendrick plays on heavily is that young black men in lower class America have no choice but to join a gang or be involved with crime due to the situation they have been born into. You see this in one of the most popular songs on the album, “maad city.” He goes in depth about how being affiliated with a gang is the norm and it is something you have to adapt to. Kendrick says “Pakistan on every porch is fine, We adapt to crime, pack a van with four guns at a time.” Later in the song he says, “Iv's on top of IV's, Obviously the coroner between the sheets like the Isleys, When you hop on that trolley, Make sure your color's correct, Make sure you're corporate, or they'll be calling your mother collect, They say the governor collect, all of our taxes except, When we in traffic and tragic happens, that shit ain't no threat, You movin' backwards if you suggest that you sleep with a TEC, Go buy a chopper and have a doctor on speed dial, I guess, M.a.a.d city.” He is putting into perspective the war zone like lifestyle that comes with growing up in Compton, California. The point though, is not to gain pity, but to create awareness for why he joined a gang. Kendrick realizes that it appears as though young black men join gangs just because this is what they want to do. He corrects them by explaining that he is in fact just a product of his environment.

Another main narrative that Kendrick plays on is the believed ideals of Money, Power, and Respect. Growing up in Compton, Kendrick talks about how these were what he believed to be the keys to success. In his song “Money Trees,” he says, “Dreams of living life like rappers do (like rappers do, like rappers do), Bump that new E-40 at the school (way at the school, way at the school), You know big ballin' with my homies (my homies), Earl Stevens had us thinking rational (Thinking rational, that's rational), Back to reality we poor, ya bish (ya bish, ya bish), Another casualty at war, ya bish.” He explains that he had dreams of living a lavish lifestyle with money and fame but quickly came back to the reality of his situation. While Kendrick is not shaming the idea of making money and having respect, he is rather stating that money, power, and respect, are not the only things you should work towards in life. Kendrick also says, “A louis belt will never ease that pain.” Another example of him pushing the idea that money and fame can be wonderful, but internally, they won’t make issues go away. It is very important for him to get this message across to other people who are in a similar situation that he was. Kendrick doesn’t want to seem them make the same mistakes that he did.

Kendrick Lamar’s message is inspiring and helpful, but it is possible that some could find it unproductive. While his intention is to provide insight into his own life and the life of many others like him, it could be taken as a message about black youth as a whole. American politics from the time of this album release until now have been riddled with talks of systemic racism. This album could be used as ammo for extremists. They could claim that Kendrick, a black man from poverty himself, claims that all black men join gangs and are criminals. This is the exact opposite purpose of his work, but it is not uncommon for words to be twisted in American politics. While this is a possibility The album is still productive in regards to what it is trying to do. Overall Kendrick creates an entertaining narrative that not only teaches a lesson to those in a situation similar to his, but it also allows people who are completely unfamiliar with this culture and lifestyle to have an idea of what is going on. As stated, this album has been used in academia because of its ability to create such a vivid story.

Narrative is an essential form of human communication. We as humans are natural storytellers. In a journal By Guowei Jian, Jian says, “Fischer (1989) argues, Human beings are storytellers or "Homo narrans" (p. xiii) who rely on the narrative logic to communicate” (89). One of the most common forms of storytelling that we use is music. Artists are experts and creating a vivid image in our brains through a form of art that is very easy to consume. Because we as humans are creative, it makes understanding through music even easier. Whether he realizes it or not, Kendrick uses narrative theory in creating his music and he is one of the best at it.

In conclusion, Kendrick Lamar puts on a beautiful display of storytelling layed out in such a way that provides entertainment and a lesson. He provides narratives on gang life and strong desires for money and respect. Kendrick gives us a piece of work that is highly productive for society and has continued to be relevant years after its original release.

Foss, S. K. (2009). Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice (Third ed.). S.l.: Waveland Press.

Jian, G. (2019). Transforming the Present Moment through Conversation and Narrative: Toward a Hermeneutic Leadership Theory. Communication Theory (1050-3293), 29(1), 86–106.

Lamar, K. (2012). m.A.A.d city [Recorded by K, Lamar. MC, Eiht]. On good kid, m.A.A.d City. City of production: Top Dawg Entertainment. (2012).

Lamar, K. (2012). Money Trees [Recorded by K, Lamar. J, Rock]. On good kid, m.A.A.d City. City of production: Top Dawg Entertainment. (2012).

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markwatkinsconsumerguide · 4 years

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Consumer Guide / No.103 / Musician Nina Ricci with Mark Watkins.

MW : How did you find home-schooling?

NR : I was home-schooled from 6th grade through 12th grade, and at first, I wasn’t really happy with the changeover from being in a school setting to being home-schooled full-time. Honestly, it was the best thing for me!

I was only required to do four hours of academics daily and if I finished by noon, I had the rest of the day for art and music. I had time to discover my own interests. I liked the curriculum that we used, and I was able to learn without outside distractions. I was able to spend quality time with my parents, especially my dad who was battling a terminal illness (he passed away in 2008).

I started out with video lessons that were sent to me on DVD. It was like I was watching a class in session, and once I learned how to learn on my own, I was able to school myself from my books by reading and completing the quizzes and tests.

For my grade point average and achievement, I was selected to give the Valedictorian speech to my graduating class. And yes, there were other graduates in my class, I just graduated with strangers, that’s all!

I was also asked to sing at the graduation, and I performed my original song, ‘If They Only Knew Me’, which speaks to the hidden character and talents of those who are sometimes overlooked in the world.

I wouldn’t be who I am today if I had not been home-schooled.

MW : In what ways did studying at Berklee College Of Music help develop you as a musician?

NR : When I started classes there in the spring of 2011, I was virtually an untrained, raw talent. I had piano lessons for a few years that taught me some music theory, a few guitar lessons, and a measure of vocal training, but I had not been immersed in studying like I was when I got to Berklee.

Berklee impacted me in many ways, the most important fundamental skill set that college taught me was how to critique myself, to internalize what had been learned, and to self-hone my skills. I remember one teacher said, “we can’t ‘teach’ you anything, we can only put the information in front of you - for you to do with what you will.”

Fortunately, having been home-schooled, I was accustomed to studying independently. I had instruction from some teachers that took a special interest in me and who helped me to discover what my capabilities were and how I could increase my capacity .

Jeannie Gagné has a holistic approach to teaching voice. She helped me to bypass hurdles that I was facing as a vocalist. Jeannie really cared that I was able to succeed and achieve according to my expectations and aptitudes. She was a most helpful guide to me as I was learning to properly and healthfully sing.

Livingston Taylor helped me overcome stage fright! He teaches a class called Stage Performance Techniques. He did much to increase my awareness as a performer in regard to how a performer relates to an audience. His classes increased my confidence in my abilities as a performer.

Paul Rishell taught private lessons under the American Roots Music Program at Berklee, and he taught me to play country blues guitar. He set my picking style in order and gave me my first set of fingerpicks. It’s that kind of generosity and real care for students that makes a student go on to great things, and Paul’s teaching was invaluable to me.

MW : Why did you decide on making folk music a career?

NR : Folk music appealed to me when I was a teenager. The aesthetic was an immediate draw. I had been mostly listening to rock music like The Beatles, Joan Jett, and Queen. My mom turned me onto Bruce Springsteen and I listened to my dad’s Springsteen cassettes.

Listening on, I soon found ‘We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions’ and my interests took a turn. All of that big, blended Americana sound was captivating! My ears were tuned to that unvarnished sound and then I began listening to Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

In the beginning when I was just experimenting, I thought I would be an electric lead guitarist like Brian May of Queen, now I had begun to play my dad’s Alvarez acoustic guitar and to write acoustic-based songs.

MW : Why do you rate Joan Baez so highly?

NR : It wasn’t a matter of “who is the best singer?”, but rather who took me away from the Nashville suburb I lived in into another world?

I was always an imaginative kid, and Joan’s voice transported me. Her way of singing and handling a song as if she was the character in it made me feel the depths of meaning the compositions contained. The ballads she sang, especially, early on in her career were gripping, and I had a lot of time on my hands to really listen and appreciate them. I was a bit like Jenny, from Forrest Gump, I wanted “to be a singer like Joan Baez.”

Of course, we all have people we look up to, and as I was just learning, I was able to sharpen my ear through listening to Baez and then to set aside the mold to embrace my own music.

MW : I believe you were born, raised and live in Nashville ; which country music acts & artists - past AND present - do you particularly enjoy, and why?

NR : Thank you for asking this question! I was actually born in Atlanta, raised in Nashville. My parents moved us to Nashville when I was 18 months old.

My dad wanted to pursue song writing in Nashville. He had talent for writing songs, but in order to provide for his family he opened a service business in the hospitality industry where he sent his employees to local venues, such as country clubs, the Nashville Symphony, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and many more. The business eventually claimed all of his time. Since my dad was from the North, and my Mom was from Atlanta, they weren’t really country music fans.

My parents took me to see Bruce Springsteen and Tony Bennett when I was in the womb. My dad really loved the Beatles, so he was teaching me their names by the age of four. They did discover that Dwight Yoakam’s voice calmed me as a baby when I was crying.

I listened to mainstream country in the early 2000’s which was basically Sara Evans, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, and a few others. My only claim to country music is that some people think I sound a bit like Dolly Parton, and I occasionally play bluegrass.

I like Johnny Cash, of course, and I appreciate a well-written country song, but frankly, I’m not much for “the twang.” You might call my bluff when you hear my first album ‘Designs On Me’, though, because I do utilize that sound on a couple of songs, but it’s more of a stylistic choice than a genre for me.

Folk musicians are some of the best writers. In fact, behind many country songs that are huge hits, there is a folky from beyond Nashville who wrote a song that was pitched for a country artist.

MW : In order of merit, what are your Top 10 favourite albums of all-time?

NR : I have recently come to this thought. Truthfully, I am more of a lover of songs than of albums. So, if I list an album, please know that I may have liked a majority of songs, but maybe not the entire album.

10. Bruce Springsteen ~ ‘Nebraska’ (1982)

9. Bob Dylan ~ ‘Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II’ (1971)

8. Tom Waits ~ ‘The Heart Of Saturday Night’ (1974)

7. The Avett Brothers ~ ‘Emotionalism’ (2007)

6. Joan Baez ~ ‘The First Ten Years’ (1970)

5. Queen ~ ‘ Greatest Hits’ (1981)

4. The Beatles ~ ‘Abbey Road’ (1969)

3. Bob Dylan ~ ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’ (1964)

2. Bob Dylan - ‘Bob Dylan’ (1962)

1. Bruce Springsteen ~ ‘We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions’ (2006)

MW : Tell me about your new album...

NR : This album was meant to be! ‘Fare Thee Well: A Joan Baez Tribute’ was officially released on July 20th, 2020.

I recorded this album in light of the fact that in 2019 Joan went on her Fare Thee Well tour and celebrated 60 years in music! Since she was retiring, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank her for the music by recording a tribute album based off of her first national release, Joan Baez.

This year is the 60th anniversary of this iconic album, which was released in October of 1960!

My tribute contains my renditions of the 13 original cuts from Joan Baez in the original album order. I recorded the album in simple fashion, with just guitar and voice, similarly to the way Joan’s album was recorded.

The impact Joan had on me as a musician still shows through in my performances, although I am a very different artist. While I did not try to imitate Joan with this album, I believe it conveys my appreciation for her as well. My renditions of her songs do not stray very far from the original arrangements.

I also decided to write a tribute song to Joan, which I call ‘Club 47/Fare Thee Well, Joan’, which is a medley. I had the title, ‘Fare Thee Well, Joan’ in mind, and I meant to write a song surrounding the idea of wishing her “farewell,” thinking of her retirement.

As Joan was on her last tour, I was going on my first tour!

My mom, our tour dog, Riley and I toured for all of 2019, and every spare minute was reserved for rehearsing Joan’s songs, so I didn’t seriously begin writing ‘Fare Thee Well, Joan’ until I was sitting in a motel in Venice, Florida in the middle of winter. We had already begun production in Sarasota at a tiny studio called Jump Dog Audio Productions.

Mom and Riley went out for the day so that I could work on the song without interruption. When I began writing, a completely different song than I intended was emerging with my every stroke. I was working with a half-capo and that was altering the way I played, and the tones I was working with.

I had been reading Joan’s memoir, ‘And A Voice To Sing With’, and a book about the Boston/Cambridge folk scene, ‘Baby Let Me Follow You Down’, and all of these ideas and influences served to inspire me.

The first half of the medley, ‘Club 47’, remembers where Joan began her career singing in the Club Mt. Auburn 47 coffeehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

There was a photo taken around 1959 of Joan at about 18 years old singing at the Club 47 by Stephen H. Fenerjian that inspired the imagery of the first half of the song, and that photograph is featured, with permission, on the cover of ‘Fare Thee Well: A Joan Baez Tribute’.

Since I hadn’t intended to write this song, rather, to write ‘Fare Thee Well, Joan’, I set aside ‘Club 47’, thinking: “I like it a lot, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with it.”

I started writing the other song which was a little more modern and not what I was expecting. I wrote in a straightforward way about how I came to know Joan’s music and how I found myself in college in Boston, treading in her footsteps in Harvard Square.

I wasn’t finished with the song, and time was passing quickly so we moved to a hotel closer to the studio so that the commute would be shorter. I took another day and finished out the song.

I added the words : “years of concerts on the road, and leagues of fans adore you.” I wanted to fill the song with varying melodies, and this one just really touched me because I know how much her fans appreciate her. I rounded out the song with a message from me to Joan, which I hope she will hear soon.

My whole intent with this album is to say: “thank you for the music.”

MW : Away from making music, what are your other hobbies & interests?

NR : Well, I once had many hobbies and crafts, but I hardly have time for anything but music these days! Music has truly become my way of life.

Poetry is my literary secret passion. I get to write things in poems that don’t have a place in my songs. Words are my interest; the interaction between syllables and evocative imagery, as well as the way lines can be set against each other in juxtaposition creating interesting bright spots really excite me. I do journal continually. I try to write the less memorable aspects of my life down, as well as the highlights and how they came about and interconnect. I endeavour to write down the details I may not remember in retrospect so that I can know what has shaped me into who I am becoming.

I sew sometimes. It’s not a passion, just something I dabble in and enjoy. During the recent quarantine, I made two 1960s-style shift dresses using a pattern and a sewing machine.

I have the ability to draw, with an inherited gene from my dad. He had a better eye than I do, and he could draw from memory, as well as doing it on the fly.

I like movies a lot. In the past few years, my mom and I have been watching noir films from the 40s and I am always up for a British period film like ‘Pride And Prejudice’, or an early American classic like ‘Sarah, Plain And Tall’. That’s me in a nutshell!

MW : Where do you see yourself in five years time?

NR : With the uncertainty of the world at this time, that is hard to say. I follow God and His plan for my life, so I am always living accordingly. I set short-range goals and sort of eat them up like Pac Man dots. I do expect to tour again, and I plan to do another album, along with various other musical pursuits. I plan to grow in my skills and to also broaden my career. I think in five years I may have a fairly good-sized fan base according to how well-received my next couple of albums are, and might be touring extensively, maybe even overseas.

MW : Where can we find out more?

NR : I am a fairly accessible artist. I love to talk with my True Fans, as I call them. I have an active fan page on Facebook :-

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TrueFansofNinaRicci/

I am also on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter :-

https://www.facebook.com/ninariccimusic/

https://www.instagram.com/ninariccimusic/

https://twitter.com/ninariccimusic

The best way to reach me is through the contact section on my website :-

https://www.ninariccimusic.com/

I encourage interested persons to sign up for The Nina Ricci Music Newsletter via my website.

My new album, ‘Fare Thee Well: A Joan Baez Tribute’, is available for purchase in my website shop, as well as my first release, ‘Designs On Me’, and some of my original singles. There is also an unofficially released collection of songs called ‘Anthologies Sung: Roots For The Record’.

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