St. Vincent interview, with bonus triva

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oct/27/st-vincent-strange-mercy

Also, tidbits that were shaved off for word count purposes:

-  Clarke played in two bands before joining the Polyphonic Spree: Terminal, a junior school outfit that turned out Iron Maiden covers (Annie rocked a purple Ibanez bass guitar), and heavy noise band Skull Fuckers, a side project that came about during her stay at Berkeley College of Music.

 -  She doesn't own an acoustic guitar. The one she plays on Strange Mercy's end song, Year Of The Tiger, was borrowed.

-  On Year Of The Tiger: "It’s based on a piano melody my mom used to play when we were little. We used to dance around to it and pretend to be native Americans”.

-  Clarke will be appearing in the new season of Portlandia, the TV comedy show created by Fred Armison and Sleater Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein; the pair previously featured in her awkwardly hilarious video for ‘Laughing With A Mouth Full OF Blood’. She knew Armison pre Marry Me days after opening a show for him, and met Carrie after a St. Vincent show in Portland. For the record, her favourite Sleater Kinney album is All Hand On The Band One, though we agreed that Dig Me Out had some fine numbers on it too.

Some things you lose, some things you give away

I shredded 6 (nonconsecutive) years worth of diaries today, late 90s/early 00s stuff. It felt liberating to purge all those words. The idea of permanently destroying a diary would have horrified me as a teen.

The gods of lost and found clearly approved, because half an hour later I discovered a cache of unread zines I'd tucked away months ago and promptly lost under the kipple.

Active Child interview

"There's a hymnal magic to You Are All I See; is it possible the churches of Gossi's childhood inspired him to apply the same reverence to the intimacy of romance and lyrical self reflection? “Definitely. Religious or not, when you’re in a church or a cathedral you feel a sense of calm or inspiration just being in that space; they're kind of designed for that. That's always been something that I wanted to pull out in my own music.” 

My interview with Pat Gossi AKA Active Child, on break-up albums, rap music, harp appreciation and seeking the spiritual in secular music.

http://www.tourdates.co.uk/londontourdates/issue-077/2011/10/01/2624-active-child-heavenly

Found: Audrey Niffenegger - The Three Incestuous Sisters: An Illustrated Novel

I read this on the weekend and remembered why I want to write/create graphic novels (though Niffenegger herself would refute that this book belongs to that aforementioned medium). Startlingly beautiful, and totally inspiring.

Romi Klinger interview

From strap-on scenes and lesbian reality TV to pin-up, role model and fashion entrepreneur: my interview with the Real L Word star Romi Klinger in the lush November edition of DIVA magazine, on shelves now.

True Widow @ The Macbeth 12.10.11

Amp-reverberating narcotic rock, all the way from Dallas. Satisfying to feel those baselines up close and in my bones after months of stoner reveries from one of the best albums of 2011.

Because they will try to convince us that we have arrived, that we are already there, that it has happened.

I penned a feature for Comment Is Free, on the closure of First Out Cafe/Bar, the falling pink pound, and why queer spaces everywhere are so vital.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/11/gay-club-scene?commentpage=3#start-of-comments

I want more

"I want more. When I’m talking to someone....their art is one side of them, there is so much more.  And when the consumer begins to realize that what you are getting is one tiny iota, the art, the document, the after-effect of what lead up to a person becoming what they are...so what?"

Lydia Lunch, on interviewing. 

NYC 2011, part 2

Pilgrimage picture; I did not stay here.

My hotel was situated on a street full of live/silk flower wholesalers.

 Bird on Broadway

 Fat kitteh at Bleeker Street Records. This should be a prerequisite for every rekid shop.

 Joe Jones, Metal Zitar #4 1971

 Carlita Carvalhosa, Sum of Days  

(Gauze curtain maze, hung with microphones/speakers that record and broadcast the chatter and sounds of passing visitors in MoMa's atrium, layering each day's audio on top of the previous, with the oldest fading to whispers as each day/recording is added)

 Romare Bearden, Jazz II Deluxe 1980

Various, Happylife 2010

 Revital Cohen, Phantom 2010

("A novel peripheral nerve interface allows regenerating axons to grow into microchannels incorporating embedded electrodes. This neural implant enables sensations to be inserted to the device, or for activity to be recorded from movements" which I think translates as 'machine that records the twinges of phantom limbs', yes?

 Johanna Bresnick and Michael Clud Hirschfeld, Mouth To Mouth 2006

(The Torah, administered in pill form)

Prayer Companion, 2010
(In which nuns from Poor Clares at St Joseph's in York recieve prayer prompts from a machine that sources people's feelings, worries and concerns from RSS feeds and global news sites)

 Johan Linden and Olivier Gregoire, Check Mate 2009 

(Sexxxy chess board, complete with "diletto" chess pieces)

 Emily Read and Chen Hsu, Homeless City Guide 2007

 Deana Lawson, Thai 2009

 Newark airport sunrise, around 5 a.m

Homeward bound

Major and micro NYC press.The pink, blue and yellow cover is Gay Genius, a queer anthology. I highly recommend you head here to purchase http://www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/books/gaygenius/pages/gaygenius.html