Angels can be Little Devils

Taste This :

• Fairport Convention/Sandy Denny who knows where the time goes (from Unhalfbricking, 1969). Died when she was only 31. Here drinking partners included John Bonham and Keith Moon.
• Nancy Sinatra bang bang (from How does that grab you, 1966). It's Sinatra does Cher. It's the hazy twang that gets on your nerves and gives you the headache.
• Jolie Holland mexican blue (from Springtime Can Kill You, 2006). She is a Be Good Tanya. Spooky voice, ghostly song. Texas born but sounds as if she is Canadian.
• Julee Cruise falling (from Floating into the night, 1989). The roadmap to Twin Peaks. Now you can be sure to get lost.
• Maria McKee if love is a red dress (from I'm gonna soothe you, 1993). She is an excellent singer and dito songwriter but this one is on the list because it's an uppercut of a song.
• Mazzy Star/Hope Sandoval fade into you (from So Tonight That I Might See, 1993). So much of that ultimate craving and still you keep yearning for more.
• Abba/Agnetha Fältskog & Anni-Frid Lyngstad s.o.s. (from Abba, 1975). The Blond and The Red. In S.O.S. the haunting mix of their voices reaches a climax.
• The Chemical Brothers/Beth Orton where do i begin (from Dig Your Own Hole, 1997). Always melancholic and she gives something of the seventies to every song she touches. The Chemicals and William Orbit's muse.
• Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris love hurts (from Grievous Angel, 1974). Every song needs stardust. Without a little Emmylou there is not enough of the hurting kind.
• Air/Beth Hirsch all i need (from Moon Safari, 1998). She is able to pump a soul and some magnetic poetry into French kitsch.
• This Mortal Coil/Elizabeth Frazer song to the siren (from It'll End In Tears, 1998). Landmark. Example. The song is a cathedral and who needs a choir when she is in the neighbourhood?
• Isobel Campbell bird in the wood (from Milkwhite Sheets, 2006). Let's forget about Belle & Sebastian. Delicate and lush. Plays a cello.
• Aimee Mann going through the motions (from The Forgotten Arm, 2005). You forget her left arm and than you get punched by the right. She's got a large anchor tattooed on that one.
• Ane Brun laid in earth (from A Temporary Dive, 2005). Born in Molde, lives in Stockholm. Det er ikke grensesprengende å la seg inspirere av Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Sandy Denny og Fairport Convention og mer samtidige navn som nevnte DiFranco, Kristin Hersh og Beth Orton.
• Ani DiFranco fuck you (from Dilate, 1996). "I do it for the joy it brings, cause I'm a joyful girl. 'Cause the world owes us nothing, we owe each other the world."
• Astrud Gilberto agua de beber (from Nova Bossa: Red Hot on Verve, 1965). All you need is drinking water and someone to sing about it in Portuguese.
• Iggy Pop & Kate Pierson candy (from Brick by Brick, 1990). The name of the other bombergirl is Cindy Wilson. Check out http://www.lazymeadow.com/. Kate runs a motel in Woodstock, New York.
• Cowboy Junkies/Margo Timmins i'm so lonely i could cry (from The Trinity Session, 1988). The second album of the Junkies was recorded at Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity. Except for one song it was recorded in a 14-hour session. Softly, softly, what a whisper.
• Vanessa Paradis the future song (from Vanessa Paradis, 1992). 'Depuis 1998 elle vit avec l'acteur américain Johnny Depp. Ils ont deux enfants: Lily-Rose Melody, né le 27 mai 1999 et Jack John Christopher III, né le 9 avril 2002.' (Wikipedia)
• The Velvet Underground with Nico femme fatale (from The Velvet Underground, 1967). At 15 she was sent to Ibiza for a photoshoot and met this photographer who named her Nico as a tribute to his departed Greek lover. High cheekbones, heavy make-up, heavy accent.
• Cat Power love & communiation (from The Greatest, 2006). Alias Chan Marshall. Chan is pronounced Shawn. Raw intimacy with a gruff, chalky confidence. Huh?
• Martha Wainwright bloody mother fucking asshole (from Martha Wainwright, 2005). Her father is famous. Her mother is famous. Her brother is Rufus. Martha is the youngest. Born in 1976 in Westchester, New York.
• Marianne Faithfull as tears go by (from 1964). She is living het fifth decade as a recording artist. In 1973 she performed at an NBC TV-show with David Bowie. They sang Sonny & Cher's I Got You Babe. Marianne was dressed as a nun.
• CocoRosie/Bianca & Sierra Casady armageddon (from Noah's Ark, 2005). They are sisters, born in separate states and raised all over the map. Since their first album they became inseparable.
• Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins somebody else's clothes (from Rabbit Fur Coat, 2006). Had small roles in Baywatch, Golden Girls and Roseanne. In her own words, Rabbit Fur Coat is a "sort of soul record."

I stopped at 25. Kept 47 to myself. I'm sparing my Little Devils. I'll post a black list in the near future.


Ave Maria Lane, London_2007

Very Big

It was in Tate Modern that I saw a photograph by Andreas Gursky for the first time. It was up high on one of the biggest walls I had ever seen. It would have been too high for somebody else's pictures. But it added to the instant impact and drama of an Andreas Gursky picture. Size matters. Imagine this one when it measures 207 x 336,9 cm.

Chicago, Board of Trade II 1999

Huge. The King Kong of photographs and it works. It's 100% form before content. It creates an air of distance and less emotion. It's cool but cold and it kills emotion. I cannot imagine people crying or laughing or whatever when they see or saw a Gursky. But it creates a mood, an atmosphere and so it does something to you. When you watch you get involved. When you get overwhelmed, and I can imagine that it happens, the picture sucks you in. Although I am a B&W fan, his selection of subjects and compositions demand for colour and... I like it.

99 Cent 1999

He uses digital manipulation not only to clean up reality but to construct his own universe. Gursky is a God.

Colour, manipulation, no emotion and I'm impressed? I'm a fan. Andreas Gursky is an exception in my book.
http://d-sites.net/english/gursky.htm

Tate Modern, London_2006

http://www.tate.org.uk/

Chelsea won the FA Cup. It would have been a boring afternoon but for one divine moment featuring John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. Drogba scored his number 33 of the season. Chelsea beats Manchester United 1-0 and wins the FA Cup that could have been the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final.

What's on a Man's Mind?

I saw The Queen (2006) and Elizabeth I (2005) last week. When you see one you want to see more. More of her in the first place. She is one of the first you could think about when they every now and then shout: "There's your new thinking man's sex symbol!". I always reply: "And what about Helen, is she still on your list?" Shall I produce a limited list? Here we go:

Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Rachel Weisz, Bridget Fonda, Alex Kingston, Monica Bellucci, Christina Ricci, Julianne Moore, Emmanuelle Béart, Annette Bening, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson,

Kirsten Dunst, Sofia Coppola, Kim Delaney, Sherry Stringfield, Heather Graham, Gillian Anderson, Robin Wright Penn, Helena Bonham Carter... So, what about Helen? Why is Helen Mirren the exception on this list? Her 163 cm? Because she is Russian by birth (Illiana Lydia Vasilievna Mironova)? Because she is fluent in French? Because she's married to Oscar-winning director Taylor Hackford? Or because of her age?

Let's not be bland. She was born in 1945, she played her first part on the silver screen in 1967 and became Dame Helen Mirren in 2003. From all the women listed, and some of them are brilliant, she is the most talented. But Helen Mirren is the special one on the list because she is 61.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/helen_mirren_biog.html

If you play some kind of queen six times, you become one. I began by mentioning The Queen and Elizabeth I. I can add The Madness of King George (1994), The Snow Queen (1995), The Prince of Egypt (1998) and Caligola (1979).

So on DVD she pretends to be Elizabeth I & II, the voice of The Queen next to the pharaoh Seti I, an icy Snow Queen in another animated movie, Queen Charlotte besides Nigel Hawthorne's exceptional George III and last but not least she was the empress Caesonia in an instant classic Caligola by Tinto Brass.

By the way, she made her debut in the Old Vic in 1965. She had a starring role in Antony and Cleopatra . You can be sure that she did not put on men's clothes to play Antony.

Kensington & Chelsea, London_2007

Prime Suspect

Most smart professionals keep the filth outside the front door. Not Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) in the uncomparable Prime Suspect. She always carries her dirty job, the violence and the terror she comes across, with her. Tennison takes every gruesome crime she meets inside her house and her life. There's no private life, hardly friendship, no time for love and tears, only whisky and the comfort of a sneaky sigaret. It's a grim society, there is no escape and it hurts a lot. But Jane Tennison has got convictions. So she keeps on going. She is convinced that in the end there will be justice. At least in the cases she is working and winning.

In Prime Suspect London is just a backdrop. The city is never a character, it only delivers a place to live, work and suffer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Suspect

Yesterday I saw Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness (2003). It's no goodbye yet. I'm glad there is more to see.

Helen Mirren and Laura Greenwood in The Final Act
In Prime Suspect The Final Act (2006) Jane Tennison investigates the murder of a missing girl. She struggles with the consequences of too much alcohol and her father dies...

Under the Albert Bridge, London_2007
I saw a lot of Helen Mirren, lately.

I can see clearly Now

Els Maes wrote in De Morgen (Belgian newspaper in Flemish) "Sometimes not taking part is more important than winning". Sometimes? Many times? Always? She got the idea from Ivo Van Damme (Belgian athlete, two silver medals at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, died in a car crash in the same year). He said: "Your personal best time is the most important." He took part in every major championship but basically was less interested in competing, in beating the enemy, in winning.

And we thought this was the most important element in sports at that level. He thought we got it wrong. Els Maes: "You should get better without looking who is running next to you."

If we understand this we get better. If we understand.

Bishopsgate Churchyard, London City_2007

St Botolph Churchyard, London City_2007

Had breakfast with my family in Entrepot du Congo in Antwerp. Met my daughter's brandnew boyfriend. He's a good guy. Sometimes you see things at first sight.

Start me Up

I am about to create a weblog of my photography and all other notes and reports to self.

The number one statement on this blog is that every photo you make is a memo to yourself. The next is that a little mystery is always welcome and creates an interesting buzz. But this is not about a buzz. It's about what I like and about exploring the world around me and getting better all the time. Including getting better as a person.

So here is the very first mystery on Note to Self.

'6 Palace Gate' London, Kensington_2007

I'm in the middle of preparing a project with pictures of London. Everybody who is interested can expect a sneak preview on this weblog every now and then. I'll keep you posted.