sid smith's podcasts from the yellow room iv and v!!!

hey golden fish readers, i fell behind on the wonderful series of podcasts that sid the smith is crafting up on the northeast coast of england. lots of listening for you this week then so get yourself a cuppa, slip your headphones on your melon and settle back!

first up is sid's podcast iv. now this one is interesting to me because it contains a couple of pieces by musician andrew keeling whose work would have remained unknown to me but for his inclusion in the stable of artists assembled many years back when robert fripp put together the early incarnation of what is now his incredible web presence over at dgm live.

here's what andrew has to say about himself:
"i began to think that the musical and psychological pursuits of the first half of my life were insufficient to sustain into the second half of life. composing presented itself as a solution to this dilemma." he had previously been a cathedral chorister, played as a multi-instrumentalist in various rock bands, and performed as a flute recitalist. meeting such composers as sir john tavener, john casken, nicola lefanu, anthony gilbert and howard skempton, and the result of embarking on a jungian analysis in 1987, paved the way for his subsequent creative activities."

the musical results of andrew's work are challenging and beautiful. here's an example of a short guitar piece andrew has shared:

here's podcast iv in all its splendour!!

sid's fifth podcast has all sorts of musical gems including a lovely piece by jacob herringman, a teary piece from matt seattle, a mesmerizing song by no-man, and some intriguing work from golden fish fan favourite marcus reuter who in this piece is teamed up with electronic music maker ian boddy.

so, here's podcast v in all its glory!!

thanks for the great music sid!!!

six sentences

i've come across several blogs and some of them have whatever those things are that get sent from person-to-person that encourage people to write either lists or short pieces of writing.

i'll be truthful and say that for the most part i find them uninspiring exercises that don't really require me to think. at their worst, they feel more like surveys having that "fill-in-the-blank" feeling about them.

however, i came across one that actually felt really good and had tons and tons of really good written responses so i'll share it with you here.

to begin, you need to go to the blog that goes by the name six sentences. there you'll enter a world in which short, rich and sometimes intense pieces of writing are featured, not to mention a kazillion links to things "six". so go there first, read the incredible writing. then - craft one of your own and submit it.

will you become instantly rich and famous? no and no.

but do it just because!

here's a golden fish "six sentences" fan favourite: by luke storms.

by the way, while you're here i should tell those of you who come from well-educated, highly-trained writing backgrounds that the golden fish perspective on what a sentence looks like is probably very different from yours. here's a place that describes my knowing of "sentence" in one big long cluttered fulsome nutshell! and that's why yours will likely be picked to appear on the "six sentences" webpage long before mine!!!!

have fun - oh and visit the golden fish sister blog "flow"!!!

under the rain

there's a chance of rain today! i love the rain - especially warm rain but it's too soon in the year for that. i'll settle for the sights and sounds all the same. thinking of rain and the recent post on the poetry of sohrab sepehri got me digging deeper into the beautiful writing of this man.



"let us clean our eyes; let us see in another way; under the rain, we should see our friends; under the rain, we should look for love".


i saw not two trees become foe.
i saw not a willow,
sell its shade to the earth.
benevolently it shares,
the elm its branch to the raven.
wherever there is a leaf,
my passion blossoms.

translated by persica australis

visit the golden fish sister blog over at flow.

amanda van gils

amanda van gils' paintings through a train window will capture the fancy and rekindle many fond memories of those golden fish visitors who recall such scenes on train journeys through europe or even across north america. i was instantly captivated by her ability to capture that really fine line between revealing the scene and the blurring of that scene as a camera sees it (or as you see it if you look directly outwards).

these are faves i saw on her blog and which believe it or not - you can buy!!!

train window riviera:



study for 17:



study for very fast:



train window spain:



for more information as well as an opportunity to look at and purchase a number of amanda's fine work please visit her redbubble site

moments along the narrow road to the interior

i've been reading "narrow road to the interior and other writings" by matsuo basho. basho has shown up before on the golden fish so i won't get too deep into his biography.

rather, i'd like to share some little moments in the book that stand out for me.

"smoke of burning leaves and pine cones drew me on, touching something deep inside. then the moon rose, shining on the sea, day turned suddenly to night. we stayed at an inn on the shore, our second-story windows opening on the bay. drifting with wind and clouds, it was almost like a dream."

all night long
listening to autumn winds
wandering in the mountains kawai sora

all the long night
salt-winds drive
storm-tossed waves
and moonlight drips
through shiogoshi pines. basho

wave after wave
mixes tiny seashells with
bush clover flowers basho

with clear melting dew
i'd try to wash away the dust
of this floating world basho

across a dark sea,
the distant cries of wild ducks
and faintly, traces of white basho

the bee emerging
from deep within the peony
departs reluctantly basho

visit the golden fish sister blog over at flow.

the wheel

wheels define so many elements of our lives - transportation, machinery, even the ones that we can't see that spin 'round and 'round inexorably . . . .



today i'd like to share a short film from germany entitled "das rad" or "the wheel". it's a clever piece of work that provides the viewer with an overview of a plot of land over the course of many, many years . . . things come and things go but two rock figures - who provide the action and the narrative - remain more-or-less constant.

all the complicated details

a recent walk through the woods on a late winter afternoon. a peacefulness like the quiet of sleep.



winter trees

all the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
a liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.

william carlos williams



visit the golden fish sister blog over at flow.

winter days part two

from the beautiful confluence of writer and artist comes this amazing rendering of basho's ranga entitled "winter days" in its animated format.

"the creation of the film followed the traditional collaborative nature of the source material -- the visuals for each of the 36 stanzas were independently created by 35 different animators. as well as many japanese animators, kawamoto assembled leading names of animation from across the world. each animator was asked to contribute at least 30 seconds to illustrate their stanza, and most of the sequences are under a minute (yuriy norshteyn's, though, is nearly two minutes long)."

part seven

part eight

part nine

part ten

part eleven

part twelve


what? you didn't see part one?!!! where've you been?!!! you need to go back in time and watch it right here!

georgii sviridov's sacred music

i wish i could explain why it is that of all the choral music i have heard, (and i guess i really mean, liturgical choral music) it is the russian sacred music that reaches way deep inside and touches a part of me that recognizes something essential in its sound and presentation. there's tremendous passion side-by-side with a hard to define reserve in this music - strange that they should be heard and felt side-by-side but there you are.



here's an opportunity to listen to some more orthodox chants sung by the monks and metropolitan choirs of kiev - pechersk lavra
1. small doxology (anonymous) 2. god with us (kiev - pechersk chant, fragment).

winter days part one

from the beautiful confluence of writer and artist comes this amazing rendering of basho's ranga entitled "winter days" in its animated format.

"the creation of the film followed the traditional collaborative nature of the source material -- the visuals for each of the 36 stanzas were independently created by 35 different animators. as well as many japanese animators, kawamoto assembled leading names of animation from across the world. each animator was asked to contribute at least 30 seconds to illustrate their stanza, and most of the sequences are under a minute (yuriy norshteyn's, though, is nearly two minutes long)."

part 1
part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6

if you enjoyed this then you might like to visit my other blog over at "flow".

a morning walk

i recently had the good fortune of an invitation to visit another teacher's classroom to observe some stellar practice. lucky me!!
i planned to walk part of the way there along an old railway line that has been (as is the happy fashion in many places) torn up and converted into a public thoroughfare. in the summer this is an amazing route to bicycle and links up with trails that you can ride on for hours to all sorts of lovely destinations and of course, the whole thing is ultra flat as trains didn't like steep hills.

i loved crossing the bridge over the little river and then the lovely trail itself wandering off into the distance with those gorgeous trees overhanging. oh i was so happy - and alone for most of my walk!!!! what an amazing way to start a day!!

sid smith's postcards from the yellow room: podcast III

sid has cranked out a bumper version of his podcast efforts with a third smash edition of Sid Smith's Postcards From The Yellow Room: Podcasts From The Yellow Room III

this is nearly double the size of sid's previous efforts and covers a much broader spectrum of artists all stitched together with sid's lovely geordie anecdotes and observations. as some of my visitors already know, sid's blog is well worth a visit as he provides excellent and insightful reviews of worthy music, incredible photography of the north yorkshire shoreline and that bit of the north sea to which it is exposed as well as occasional commentary on the realities of being a dad and a husband and a family member in the midst of trying to earn a living! for those of you who are curious then hit the link button on the right-hand side of this blog.

anyhow, one of the tracks that caught my attention - and that has me listening to it over and over is a real beauty by an (unknown to me) artist named rafael anton irisarri. so, here is rafael anton irisarri - "hopes and past desires".

marja hakala - a creative nature

marja hakala has created an extensive repertoire of works that take pieces of nature - literally - and reconfigure them such that their innate beauty is magnified, amplified, enlarged even as they are reconfigured and structured in such a way as to render them aesthetically pleasing but unnatural. it is in this juxtaposition of purpose and intent that her work bears its most interesting fruit.



and then you can simply look at it -



because it is truly beautiful, exciting, and almost addictive in its complex and detailed simplicity.

here is what marja says about her work:

"i work with nature. i create installations indoors and environmental art straight into nature; in forests, parks and trees, at cliffs and so on.

i respect nature. in forest i can hang small, glittering in sunlight and almost unnoticeable glasspearls on branches of a fallen tree. on the other hand i rearrange nature’s own materials in a new way in their own “territory”.

i bring nature’s materials gathered from forest indoors. i use them to create larger installations or smaller objects. for example I placed pinecones eaten by squirrel as pieces on the old boardgame. spruceneedles or cones on the floor can be formed into a big mandala. even withered and faded leaves can have a new life in a work of art – at least for a moment. my works are not meant to last forever.

nature gives us life and energy, opportunities to meditative silent prayer or unbelievable experiences of beauty. if we destroy nature, we will destroy ourselves."

just look:

bel air by mathieu lehanneur

the air in most people's homes is an admixture of chemicals, many of which are not very good for us. by-products of manufacturing processes that produce materials which decay or relase gases and particulate matter into the air, it seems to me a logical assumption that many of the illnesses and conditions that are being observed in greater degrees than was previously the norm can be traced to this simple fact.

what to do?

designer and innovator mathieu lehanneur has developed a proposal that capitalizes on some research done by nasa when they noticed that their astronauts were getting sick from lengthy exposure to the materials used to construct the spacecraft. the results of the study showed that the peace lily, bamboo palm, english ivy, mums, and gerbera daisies suck more than their fair share of toxic chemicals out of the air making them prime candidates for a filtration system.
here's mathieu's proposal.





while you're here have a look and a listen:

hokusai

hokusai self portrait (1839)

it's perhaps fair to say that of all the japanese woodcut artists, hokusai is the most well-known and widely venerated. his iconic image "the great wave of konagawa" seen here -



- is instantly recognizable from its inclusion in so many artbooks and in association with so many sites devoted to japanese culture.

here is another iconic hokusai image taken from a series he did of mount fuli. this one is entitled "red fuji southern wind clear morning".



hokusai was born into an artisan's family and clearly benefitted from the perspective of his father who placed him into apprenticeship with a woodcarver at the age of fourteen.

you really should watch this this beautifully drawn short film on hokusai.



if you enjoyed that, you might also enjoy this video gallery of hokusai's work.



and the current fan-favourite around the golden fish world headquarters water cooler:



"carp leaping up a cascade"

last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street

i wrote about musician jon hassell some time ago. jon's music has remained a fixture on my turntables, tape players, cd players and laptops for as long as i can remember. happily for me, jon hassell has a new and beautiful cd of music out entitled "last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street." the music takes its title from a rumi poem - excerpted here . . .

last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street
“get up,” i told my heart, “and give the soul a glass of wine.
the moment has come to join the nightingale in the garden,
to taste sugar with the parrot of the soul.”
i have fallen, with my heart shattered
i have fallen on your sacred path and broken your bowl
i am drunk my idol, so very drunk
shield me and take my hand.
a new rule, a new law has been decreed.
break all the glasses and fall toward the glassblower.
rumi


"camouflage" mati klarwein

i can't listen to jon hassell's music without thinking of the gorgeous landscape paintings of mati klarwein. they share a common passion for divergence and detail as expressed through their sensual response to this world. words like luscious landscapes, richly emotional, exotic tapestry, start to define the magic parallel-realities these men create with their imaginations and talent.


"headquarters" mati klarwein

here's a brief podcast from echoes devoted to jon hassell.

here's jon's myspace site where you can listen to some old tunes.

here's a very recent and excellent article about jon and his music.

at present there is no way for me to share his latest work with you but if you go here you can listen to and watch its musical sister "maarifa street live".

tight knit

welcome to the vetiverse. somewhere right in the middle of the beginning and ending of folk music where the sand streams both ways from the past to the future. from the future to the past. in a place where the two streams are so intermingled, so inseparable that they actually become indistinct. time slides sideways away from the hourglass and a a whole new space is created. it's called "the vetiverse". the vetiverse is populated by vetiver, an american folk band headed by songwriter andy cabic and often joined by devendra banhart, cellist alissa anderson, drummer otto hauser, violinist carmen biggers, guitarists kevin barker and sanders trippe, as well as bassist brent dunn.

never heard of them? then read this and this

never heard them? then listen here.

vetiver have released four albums: vetiver (2004), to find me gone (2006), thing of the past (2008) and their latest (and in my view most complete and coherent release entitled "tight knit".

go here for a listen to a streamed version of vertiver's new disc "tight knit".

here's vetiver playing for their supper:


here they are about to eat. i like that almost all of them have their hands pressed in their laps!

the mermaid of alexander petrov

i am absolutely stunned by how beautiful the amazing paint on glass animation of aleksandr petrov is.

so what is "paint-on-glass?"

" the film is made entirely in pastel oil paintings on glass, a technique mastered by only a handful of animators in the world. by using his fingertips instead of a paintbrush on different glass sheets positioned on multiple levels, each covered with slow-drying oil paints, he was able to add depth to his paintings. after photographing each frame painted on the glass sheets, which was four times larger than the usual a4-sized canvas, he had to slightly modify the painting for the next frame and so on."


today i'm sharing his film "the mermaid". based on a dramatic poem by alexander pushkin,entitled "the rusalka" the worlds of religion, sexuality, and other-worldliness find a point of confluence that leaves many questions both asked and unanswered. the reader (and in this case the viewer) are left to find their own resolution or to remain hovering in an unresolved state.

the doormat

the doormat at our backdoor. i love the calligraphic tracery and the slight frosting of snow. winter is woven in its whorls and spaces.





here's some colourful respite!

nike hindsight by billy may

this is one of those design objects that appeals to cyclists who brave city streets as a matter of course. emerging from the credo - what helps you see helps you live longer (or at least see what's going to nail you!) - designer billy may has come up with a very lovely concept that is both practical and visually stunning.

dubbed the nike hindsight these glasses are supposed to provide the wearer with an extra 25% in their range of vision.

here's the thinking: my field of vision is nominally 180 degrees. to see further than that i have to swivel my head. cyclists know that this invariably results in two things. one, your body swivels and slightly adjusts the direction you're travelling in and more importantly, it takes your eyes and your mind off the road in front of you. both are bad news on busy streets.

using fresnel lenses on both sides of the glasses, the rider can detect motion in a field of view beyond the normal human limit of 180º. here are billy's design sketches.






if nike picks up on this then you can be sure that i'll be finding a pair to wrap around these eyes!!