gentle reminders for the abrupt soul

Reminders to self (in no particular order). The Timbers are (finally) having their debut EP launch at The Promethean on Friday March 25 at 8pm, A$15 entry. Claire Maguire's new CD, Light After Dark, should be out. Seek and you shall find. Tripod have (finally) released a DVD of Tripod versus The Dragon. Better than nothing, but the sight lines are a bit crowded because of the venue. I much preferred the show at the Royalty where you got to look up at the performers. Gives Elana that badly needed extra couple of inches to be truly impressive (rather than exceedingly impressive). Must extract the songs that never made it to the album. Thinking over sending a copy or three to various Old School mavins overseas. French Film Festival at the Nova and Indian Film Festival at the Mercury this week. Must look again at the programmes. Although I note that Ash will be in Robot, as the closing film of IFF. Vaguely interested. And if all else fails, clean up. For those of you tracking Ian from the comforts of your home, he shall be seeing Brillig and Soursob Bob perform at the Folk Centre (cnr George St and South Rd Thebarton) tonight at 7:30pm ($10/$8), followed by a preview of one of the Alliance Francaise Film Festival movies on the Sunday.

noble sentiments

I will say this even though I fear the Devils and even though I fear the flames. I will say this even though I idolize Heaven and its given grace; even though there are times when I am angry, and more than angry, at what Hell has been and done. But the first work of Hell is to honor and bear witness to the things that would otherwise be entirely unloved. They will come and sit with you if you have to die alone. The Powers of Hell. The demons. The flames and rotten flowers, at least, if nothing else; maybe even a Devil. They won’t do it to hurt you, not even the Devils. They might hurt you, they might hurt you terribly, they might even steal your soul, because they’re just that broken. But it won’t be why they’re there. They’ll be there because if they were not there, you would suffer and die, alone, and with no witnesses; and for someone to die in such a fashion is anathema to Hell. They will come and visit you, now and then, if you live in the mountains, isolated, with no one else to know. They will come to watch you, to listen to you, to know you, if you are a thing so horrible and broken that no one else would dare. They love the evil things, maybe, best of all, because it’s evil that needs Hell most. If you want to know how the Devils have gone so horribly wrong, it may be that; that, as much as the corruption and their own suffering; that they spend all of their time in the company of the worst of us, and so they’ve come to exemplify that awfulness themselves. But to love the evil things is not their duty but its expression. The work of Hell is to love whatever needs them most; whatever would, without Hell, be alone. It's going to take me a few more weeks to fully digest the third edition of Nobilis, but it seems to be far more prosaic than the previous editions. Whether that is a good or bad thing I'm rather undecided at the moment, for the vast mythic sweep of the cosmology seems hidden from sight. But I am saddened that there are far fewer Flores. And Hell has become something small and personal, instead of being something vast enough to root the World Ash in, but then, it always was. We are just bigger than we normally imagine.

twas brillig and the soursobs did bob

Tonight was a quick trip to the Folk Centre to see Soursob Bob and Brillig. It was the last show of Brillig's for a while, as they are going into seclusion to write the next album (although apparently two songs from it have already been recorded). They played excellently to a good house. A comment was made that they might need more songs about different cutlery. Such as ... spoons. Perhaps a runcible spoon! To my mind Soursob Bob is a musician's musician. Technically good, and a reasonably talented songwriter, but I find he lacks the charisma to appeal to a wider, especially non-muso audience, who may not be as appreciative of the technicalities of his performance.