Watching
THE FLYING GUILLOTINE
Ho Meng-Hua
Hong Kong, 1975
EMIL CIORAN
In every man sleeps a prophet, and when he wakes there is a little more evil in the world.
Playing
Philip Glass & Susan Marshall
LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES
A Dance Opera Based on Jean Cocteau's Children of the Game
Conductor
Karen Kemensek
Voices
Christine Arand, Valerie Komar, Hal Cazalet, Philip Cutlip
Pianos
Eleanor Sandresky, Nelson Padgett, Philip Glass
MARY OLIVER
"Don't Hesitate"
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
ADVOCATUS PEREGRINI
Talented and well-practiced in every vice, a stranger to compassion or empathy, a liar and a cheat so complete in perfidy that he has elevated his dishonesty to hold it up as an ersatz moral principle, violent, so long as he can order someone else to do the dirty work, grotesque in body, graceless in action, in possession of a wounded self-regard so colossal as to smother any spark of grace, treasonous, not only to country, but to every ally he has ever had, the poisoned fruit and rankest flower of racism and contempt for women, and utterly devoid of shame for his moral and spiritual bankruptcy.
That is your leader. That is to whom you give your money. That is who you follow and laud. That is whose banner you willingly carry. Why?
Because he is a mirror, not a lighthouse. You see yourselves in him. He is what you would be, if you had inherited money and could shed the last vestiges of conscience and shame.
No, I do not "respect your choices," nor do I admire your loyalty and dedication to this miserific, demoniac vision. You have demonstrated not only a lack of civic virtue, loyalty to the Republic and to the rule of law, but a willingness to engage in violence and sedition at his slightest expressed wish. And you will never, ever admit you were wrong.
Because you see your dark, twisted, resentful dreams in him. And to renounce him is to renounce yourselves.
REN
“Hi Ren”
Hi there Ren, it's been a little while, did you miss me?
You thought you'd buried me, didn't you? Risky
'Cause I always come back, deep down, you know that
Deep down, you know I'm always in the periphery
Ren, aren't you pleased to see me?
It's been weeks since we spoke bro, I know you need me
You're the sheep, I'm the shepherd, not your place to lead me
Not your place to be biting off the hand that feeds me
Hi Ren, I've been taking some time to be distant
I've been taking some time to be still
I've been taking some time to be by myself
Since my therapist told me I'm ill
And I've been making some progress lately
And I've learnt some new coping skills
So I haven't really needed you much, man
I think we need to just step back and chill
Ren, you sound more insane than I do
You think that those doctors are really there to guide you?
You've been through this a million times
Your civilian mind is so perfect at always being lied to
Okay, take another pill boy
Drown yourself in the sound of white noise
Follow this ten-step program, rejoice
All your problems will be gone! Fuckin' dumb boy
Nah, mate, this time it's different, man, trust me
I feel like things might be falling in place
And my music's been kinda doing bits too
Like I actually might do something great
And when I'm gone, maybe I'll be remembered
For doing something special with myself
That's why I don't think that we should talk, man
'Cause when you're with me, it never seems to help
You think that you can amputate me?
I am you, you are me, you are I, I am we
We are one, split in two that makes one, so you see
You got to kill you if you wanna kill me
I'm not left over dinner, I'm not scraps on the side
Oh, your music is thriving? Delusional guy
Where's your top ten hit? Where's your interview with Oprah?
Where are your Grammies, Ren? Nowhere!
Yeah, but, my music's not commercial like that
I never chased numbers, statistics or stats
I never write hooks for the radio, they never even play me
So why would I concern myself with that?
But my music is really connecting
And the people who find it, respect it
And for me, that's enough 'cause this life's been tough
So it gives me a purpose I can rest in
Man, you sound so pretentious
Ren, your music is so self-centred
No one wants to hear another song about
How much you hate yourself, trust me
You should be so lucky, having me inside you to guide you
Remind you to manage expectations
Provide you perspective, that thing you neglected, I get it
You wanna be a big deal, next Jimi Hendrix? Forget it
Man, it's not like that
Man it's just like that, I'm inside you, you twat
No, it's not man, you're wrong, when I write, I belong
Let me break the fourth wall by acknowledging this song
Ren sits down, has a stroke of genius
He wants to write a song that was not done previous
A battle with his subconscious, Eminem did it
Played on guitar, Plan B did it
Man, you're not original, you criminal, rip-off artist
The pinnacle of your success is stealing other people's material
Ren, mate, we've heard it all before
Uh, "she sells seashells on the sea shore"
Fuck you, I don't need you, I don't need to hear this
'Cause I'm fine by myself, I'ma genius
And I will be great, and I will make waves
And I'll shake up the whole world beneath us
That's right, speak your truth, your fuckin' God complex leaks out of you
It's refreshing to actually hear you say it instead of downplay it
"Ugh, music Is all about the creative process and if people can find
Something to relate to within that, then that's just a bonus"
Fuck you, I'ma fuckin' kill you, Ren
Well fuckin' kill me then, let's fuckin' have you Ren
I'm a do it, watch me prove it, who are you to doubt my music?
'Cause I call the shots. I choose if you die
Yeah, I call the shots, and so I who choose who survives
I'll tie you up in knots when I'll lock you inside
News flash
I was created at the dawn of creation
I am temptation, I am the snake in Eden
I am the reason for treason, beheading all Kings
I am sin with no rhyme or reason
Sun of the morning, Lucifer, antichrist
Father of lies, Mephistopheles
Truth in a blender, deceitful pretender
The banished avenger, the righteous surrender
When standing in-front of my solar eclipse
My name it is stitched to your lips, so, you see
I won't bow to the will of a mortal, feeble and normal
You wanna kill me? I'm enteral, immortal
I live in every decision that catalysed chaos
That causes division
I live inside death, the beginning of ends
I am you, you are me, I am you, Ren
Hi Ren, I've been taking some time to be distant
I've been taking some time to be still
I've been taking some time to be by myself
And I've spent half my life ill
But just as sure as the tide starts turning
Just as sure as the night has dawn
Just as sure as rainfall soon runs dry
When you stand in an eye of the storm
I was made to be tested and twisted
I was made to be broken and beat
I was made by His hand, it's all part of His plan
That I stand on my own two feet
And you know me, my will is eternal
And you know me, you've met me before
Face to with a beast, I will rise from the east
And I'll settle on the ocean floor
And I go by many names also
Some people know me as "hope"
Some people know me as the voice that you hear
When you loosen the noose on the rope
And you know how I know how I know that I'll prosper?
'Cause I stand here beside you today
I have stood in the flames that cremated my brain
And I didn't once flinch or shake
So cower at the man I've become, when I sing from the top of my lungs
That I won't retire, I'll stand in your fire, inspire the weak to be strong
And when I am gone, I will rise, in the music that I left behind
Ferocious persistent, immortal like you, we're a coin with two different sides
When I was 17 years old, I shouted out into an empty room
Into a blank canvas, that I would defeat the forces of evil
And for the next 10 years of my life, I suffered the consequences
With autoimmunity, illness, and psychosis
As I got older, I realised that there were no real winners
And there were no real losers in physiological warfare
But there were victims and there were students
It wasn't David versus Goliath, it was a pendulum
Eternally swayin' from the dark to the light
And the more intensely that the light shone, the darker the shadow it cast
It was never really a battle for me to win, it was an eternal dance
And like a dance, the more rigid I became, the harder it got
The more I cursed my clumsy footsteps, the more I struggled
So I got older and I learned to relax
And I learned to soften and that dance got easier
It is this eternal dance that separates human beings
From angels, from demons, from gods
And I must not forget, we must not forget
That we are human beings
BEN MEISELAS
On Republicans and Matt Gaetz
Those Republicans were sure ready to cover up child sex trafficking. They were rushing to cover it up. They were blaming the media for it. And one of the things Trump did during this awful transition was basically expose the entire Republican Party as being a pro-sex trafficking party.
The Affordable Care Act was passed more than 14 years ago.
There was no misinformation that Obamacare and the ACA aren't the same thing. It is common knowledge, like NYC being in New York State.
This "one man" gleefully lets him mother die so that he can own the libs. NOTHING heartbreaking about it.
One of millions of identical stories to come.
GEORGES BATAILLE
bande-moi les yeux
j’aime la nuit
mon cœur est noir
pousse-moi dans la nuit
tout est faux
je souffre
le monde sent la mort
les oiseaux volent les yeux crevés
tu es sombre comme un ciel noir
-
blindfold me
i love the night
my heart is black
push me into the night
everything is false
i suffer
the world smells of death
birds fly with their eyes gouged out
you are dark like a black sky
Playing
Avi Avital
CONCERTOS
Il Giardino Armonico
Giovanni Antonini
- Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto Grosso in B minor, Op. 3/10 , RV 580
- JS Bach - Concerto in C minor for Violin and Oboe, BWV 1060R
- Emanuele Barbella - Mandolin Concerto in D Major
- Giovanni Paisiello - Mandolin Concerto in E-flat Major
- Johann Nepomuk Hummel - Mandolin Concerto in G Major, S. 28
GEORGES BATAILLE
Blue of Noon
Twenty years later, the boy who used to stick himself with pens was standing under the sky in a foreign street where he had never been, waiting for some unknown, impossible event. There were stars: an infinity of stars. It was absurd - absurd enough to make you scream; but it was a hostile absurdity.