Moody Food

Cleo: Give me some music; music moody food of us that trade in love.

Quoth Cleopatra of Shakespeare's "Antony & Cleopatra."

I am finding the musty old volumes which my father acquired from a Boston public library auction, the complete works of aforementioned playwright/poet, add just the sort of antiquity needed in my modern day. Without their influence Of Montreal love songs, particularly "Keep Sending Me Black Fireworks" & "The Party's Crashing Us Now," would not have drawn parallels to ancient tomes.

The Sunlandic Twins - Of Montr...

I have been thinking how fantastically raucos it would have been if Of Montreal had performed at The Globe Theater. Barnes would certainly have held the most temperamental audience captive. Imagine the throng of debauched revelers! Filthily glorious!

Anne Carson Goes Icelandic

Anne Carson & Sigur Ros collaborate! The Icelandic indie band's front man, Jónsi Birgisson, is working to arrange some of our favorite poetess's texts into choral pieces which will be performed in concert during the Spring of 2010. Carson and her business partner Robert Currie visited my poetry workshop yesterday, during which they indulged us with some back story. Currie revealed that their initial creative vision was for the poems to be translated into Icelandic before being musically arranged. However, when Birgisson was presented with the plan, he responded by saying "something like, 'That's the stupidest idea ever. Icelandic is the most ridiculous language. We make up most of the words in our songs.'"

Watch Sigur Ros's documentary Heima and read Carson's latest book An Oresteia, in preparation for what should be mind numbingly beautiful come spring.

We are Heathcliff in this Comparison

Just as many contemporary novels are lacking, the 1980's British pop scene was so much more intelligent than much of what's circulating in the mainstream today. Kate Bush sings Wuthering Heights. Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered by such nostalgia.