"Please find my harborcoat."
Oct. 2nd, 2011 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greygirlbeastAnd here it is the second of Hallowe'en, and on this day one year ago I was in Portland, Oregon, Guest of Honoring for the Lovecraft Film Festival. In fact, on this night a year ago I gave the speech that was recently published in the fifth issue of The Lovecraft Annual. I'm having one of those "How can a year have already come and gone?" days. Then again, since this day two years ago, I've written two novels and...well, a metric-asston of stuff has happened.
Yesterday, I pulled together everything for Sirenia Digest #70. Great cover this month. So, as soon as I have Vince Locke's illustration, it goes out to subscribers (if you are a subscriber). But, yeah, that was work yesterday.
And a there was an email from Gary K. Wolfe that actually managed to make me happy. Kind of scary when that happens. My moments of the happy, I mean. More on this very soon.
It's Sunday, and Sunday is a very good day to order your copy of Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Me (Volume One) (sorry, the super-snazzy limited sold out long ago, but there's still a few copies of the snazzy trade edition).
And before anyone asks (as if anyone need ask), yes, I support OccupyWallStreet one-hundred percent, and I only hope we see more protests of this magnitude in more cities across the country. "We are unions, students, teachers, veterans, first responders, families, the unemployed and underemployed. We are all races, sexes and creeds. We are the majority. We are the 99 percent. And we will no longer be silent." I wouldn't hasten to add, we are artists.
Last night, we drove up to a four-band show in Pawtucket, at the Met Cafe in the Hope Artiste Village. Well, mostly, we went to see Brown Bird (click for the HEARING OF THE MUSIC), who played second. We are Brown Bird addicts, because they rock. Yes, they do, so don't make that face, you sluggard! But the first band was a group from Chicago, Pillars and Tongues (their Band Camp site), and they, too, were truly amazing. Spooky described them as the lovechild of David Sylvian, Brenden Perry, and Sixteen Horsepower. And Mark Trecka plays the harmonium! Wonderful. Then Brown Bird came on, and I was very confused, until I figured out that strange woman wandering around on stage was, in fact, Morganeve, who's cut all her hair off. Others were also confused. We left after Brown Bird, even though we wanted to see Dark Dark Dark play. But the third band was...bad. And painful. As in, a trumpet (or coronet?) splitting our skulls apart. And the bad clothes. Like, a thousand hipsters dumped into a blender and out popped this bad. Oh, and banana shoes. Let us not forget the hallowed banana shoes. We did discover that by the time we'd left the building, and walked around front and across the street to the parking lot, by then they sounded okay. But, yes, Pillars and Tongues and Brown Bird. If they play near you, SEE THESE BANDS. There are three photos behind the cut:
Mark Trecka and his sublime harmonium.
Brown Bird. Marganeve Swain on the left, and David Lamb at right.
More Brown Bird! The blur at the far right is Morganeve's brother, Spencer.
Back home...we watched Mad Men (in Season Three, now), and I read to Spooky from Halloween. Yeah, I'm having another go at reading through an anthology that's reprinted one of my stories, since it's been going fairly well, this odd new habit. Oh, and I've never before been in an anthology that also includes Sir Walter Scott. Anyway, I read her "Ulalume: A Ballad" (including the last stanza, which is usually missing) and Lovecraft's "Hallowe'en in a Suburb," which led to a rather amusing conversation about lemurs, Lemuria, Goethe, and the lemures of Roman mythology. Then she went to sleep, and I read, to myself, Joe Lansdale's extremely effective "On a Dark October."
And that, Kätzchen, was yesterday, give or take.
Car Lagged,
Aunt Beast
Yesterday, I pulled together everything for Sirenia Digest #70. Great cover this month. So, as soon as I have Vince Locke's illustration, it goes out to subscribers (if you are a subscriber). But, yeah, that was work yesterday.
And a there was an email from Gary K. Wolfe that actually managed to make me happy. Kind of scary when that happens. My moments of the happy, I mean. More on this very soon.
It's Sunday, and Sunday is a very good day to order your copy of Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Me (Volume One) (sorry, the super-snazzy limited sold out long ago, but there's still a few copies of the snazzy trade edition).
And before anyone asks (as if anyone need ask), yes, I support OccupyWallStreet one-hundred percent, and I only hope we see more protests of this magnitude in more cities across the country. "We are unions, students, teachers, veterans, first responders, families, the unemployed and underemployed. We are all races, sexes and creeds. We are the majority. We are the 99 percent. And we will no longer be silent." I wouldn't hasten to add, we are artists.
Last night, we drove up to a four-band show in Pawtucket, at the Met Cafe in the Hope Artiste Village. Well, mostly, we went to see Brown Bird (click for the HEARING OF THE MUSIC), who played second. We are Brown Bird addicts, because they rock. Yes, they do, so don't make that face, you sluggard! But the first band was a group from Chicago, Pillars and Tongues (their Band Camp site), and they, too, were truly amazing. Spooky described them as the lovechild of David Sylvian, Brenden Perry, and Sixteen Horsepower. And Mark Trecka plays the harmonium! Wonderful. Then Brown Bird came on, and I was very confused, until I figured out that strange woman wandering around on stage was, in fact, Morganeve, who's cut all her hair off. Others were also confused. We left after Brown Bird, even though we wanted to see Dark Dark Dark play. But the third band was...bad. And painful. As in, a trumpet (or coronet?) splitting our skulls apart. And the bad clothes. Like, a thousand hipsters dumped into a blender and out popped this bad. Oh, and banana shoes. Let us not forget the hallowed banana shoes. We did discover that by the time we'd left the building, and walked around front and across the street to the parking lot, by then they sounded okay. But, yes, Pillars and Tongues and Brown Bird. If they play near you, SEE THESE BANDS. There are three photos behind the cut:
Mark Trecka and his sublime harmonium.
Brown Bird. Marganeve Swain on the left, and David Lamb at right.
More Brown Bird! The blur at the far right is Morganeve's brother, Spencer.
Back home...we watched Mad Men (in Season Three, now), and I read to Spooky from Halloween. Yeah, I'm having another go at reading through an anthology that's reprinted one of my stories, since it's been going fairly well, this odd new habit. Oh, and I've never before been in an anthology that also includes Sir Walter Scott. Anyway, I read her "Ulalume: A Ballad" (including the last stanza, which is usually missing) and Lovecraft's "Hallowe'en in a Suburb," which led to a rather amusing conversation about lemurs, Lemuria, Goethe, and the lemures of Roman mythology. Then she went to sleep, and I read, to myself, Joe Lansdale's extremely effective "On a Dark October."
And that, Kätzchen, was yesterday, give or take.
Car Lagged,
Aunt Beast
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 07:15 pm (UTC)Damn, that sounds like a truly amazing band. I will seek them out. Thanks for the recommendation.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 07:51 pm (UTC)You're welcome.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 09:26 pm (UTC)a harmonium since I got into Nico.
Harmoniums rock.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 03:56 pm (UTC)Harmonium seems like it should be pluralised as Harmonia. You know?
Lansdale
Date: 2011-10-02 08:48 pm (UTC)Beneath the surface, he was a little bit ahead of his time and he might be one of those ones who's just lucky enough to have culture suddenly catch up to his sensibilities.
A contemporary genius (Ligotti, for example, or Aickman, despite their being radically different writers) can create brilliant work without ever hitching a ride on the strange beast that is pop culture--but Lansdale strikes me as fourteen to twenty-six months away from doing that weird Jack Ketcham move, where a whole lot of people are suddenly re-reading old work and finding new satisfaction. (Maybe inspired by tv, film, or comics, for example.)
I haven't read him recently, but I feel like Lansdale's old material's full of themes and ideas that are going to leap back to the forefront and we'll be hearing his name again, lots, soon...and not just because some shuttle Columbia debris landed in his yard...
Re: Lansdale
Date: 2011-10-02 09:26 pm (UTC)Um. I just like his writing.
Re: Lansdale
Date: 2011-10-02 09:38 pm (UTC)Re: Lansdale
Date: 2011-10-02 09:55 pm (UTC)Same with most people who RP. Most of them do not even know how to watch moves.
Re: Lansdale
Date: 2011-10-02 10:39 pm (UTC)Re: Lansdale
Date: 2011-10-02 10:45 pm (UTC)That made me hurt.
Re: Lansdale
Date: 2011-10-02 10:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 09:34 pm (UTC)I'm glad the circuitry still works!
the lovechild of David Sylvian, Brenden Perry, and Sixteen Horsepower.
Okay, excuse me while I listen to that . . .
no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 09:37 pm (UTC)Okay, excuse me while I listen to that . . .
You will like.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 12:10 am (UTC)It'll be a double dose of cosmic goodness if I get my deluxe copy of Two Worlds And In Between this week as well. I'll finally get to read "Daughter of the Four of Pentacles" and "From Cabinet 34, Drawer 6" which I'm very excited for as well as getting to see "Night Story (1973)" reprinted, it is one of your finest stories and the collaboration with Poppy Z. Brite only sweetens the deal.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 04:09 pm (UTC)Just bought back issue #57 and I'm loving "Fairytale of the Maritime," it also has one of my favorite Vince Locke illustrations for the Digest.
I think that was one of those where we reversed things, and I wrote a story for his picture.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 03:17 am (UTC)There's a spider that keeps building its web in front of my house. The web spans from the hedges to the gutter, right next to the front door. Normally, I have a raging fear of spiders, so I've knocked down the web a few times. Every time, it rebuilds its web in a matter of days. I admire this spider's resilience, and I've decided to live in harmony with it.
I've named it Baxter.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 04:10 pm (UTC)I've named it Baxter.
I'm flattered.
Now be nice to spiders.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 03:49 pm (UTC)Tonight, describing a certain set of stories that arrive entire and demanding, I wrote the phrase Uppity words, all hellfisted and unreasonable.
I liked it.
I shall check out these bands when the new computer arrives.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 04:10 pm (UTC)Tonight, describing a certain set of stories that arrive entire and demanding, I wrote the phrase Uppity words, all hellfisted and unreasonable.
That's good.