by eyes cast down | Mar 10, 2011 | Poems
We end this cycle the way we began, with a fascinating but tortured personality. From my first reading of John Nathan’s biography of Yukio Mishima, the legendary Japanese writer haunted me for years. I read over a dozen of his novels in translation including, of...
by eyes cast down | Mar 8, 2011 | The Creative Life
On Feb. 26, 2011, StillStream featured the music of Lucette Bourdin in a five-hour edition of Zen Caffeine. This completed a week of tribute programs, which also included Kite Radio and Free Floating. That was my introduction to Lucette’s music. While she was...
by eyes cast down | Mar 5, 2011 | Album Reviews
Singer/songwriter and guitarist Prabhu das’ 2004 album Journey to the Heart lands squarely in the oft-dreaded New Age category, with many of its benefits but – to these ears, at least – none of its drawbacks. Prabhu das’ full-bodied voice is in fine form...
by eyes cast down | Mar 2, 2011 | Poems
A depressing piece, but I thought it one of the better ones. Another female character study; to me the most telling aspect is that she could be of any age. Twilight Child Another glittering frigid April sun Shivering trees and coasting birds prove the wind...
by eyes cast down | Feb 28, 2011 | Album Reviews
Guitarist Bobby Jones, who records as I’ve Lost, has just released Scáth M’anam, his first album on the Relaxed Machinery label. It follows Dissociative Fugue, a two-piece EP released on the Feedback Loop netlabel last year. Scáth M’anam is a Gaelic...
by eyes cast down | Feb 23, 2011 | Poems
Where was I? Musing on impermanence… I wonder if this piece will survive me. Victor Hugo probably had no such doubt about his legendary hunchback character. That novel’s final image birthed and informed my piece, over 160 years later. Jack or Jive named...
by eyes cast down | Feb 21, 2011 | Album Reviews
Tennessee space musicians Mark Mahoney and Michael Peck team up for their fourth duo album, A Life Incandescent (Waiting World Records 009), a feast of classic analog sounds with a strong science-fiction, exploratory vibe. The music was recorded live (at the Gathering...
by eyes cast down | Feb 16, 2011 | Poems
This poem was the next one written after Camille Claudel, and the thematic connections are clear enough. I was reading books like The Beauty Myth as my daughter approached her third birthday, and contemplating her place in this… well, Marilyn French’s...
by eyes cast down | Feb 14, 2011 | Album Reviews
Rudy Ensueno’s long-form Burundanga plays like a film-noir soundtrack. Juggling a small number of elements to carve out his piece, Ensueno builds a series of scenes, ratcheting up the tension and letting it fall, carrying us along as a great film always does. He...
by eyes cast down | Feb 10, 2011 | Album Reviews
The Relaxed Machinery label celebrates its first anniversary with its 9th release: sleepMODE, a compilation featuring all 13 of the label’s artists. As can be discerned from the track titles, some of the artists used the Philip K. Dick-inspired question...