THE SIGNAL from David Katznelson
“One should not become an artist because he can, but because he must. It is only for those who would be miserable without it.”― Irving Stone
With photos coming in showing a supremely happy Kaya Katznelson at camp, we have taken to the road with Asher to show him a good time. First stop: A brief trip to San Luis Obispo to experience the incredible new hotel established here by our dear friend Circe Sher. The Hotel San Luis Obispo (SLO) sits right in the center of the historic Chinatown district of the town and most importantly is a walking distance from three record stores…which will be visited before we head back up to SF.
We fell asleep last night to TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT which I have not watched in years. I had no idea that Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner both had a hand in the film, Hemingway writing the novel that was made into the film and Faulkner helping with the script. Two Nobel laureates, one classic flick featuring a 19-year-old Lauren Bacall. Crazy.
Keeping the newsletter short today so I can jump into an adventure with my son…but will say that I just received a great series of answers to my questions from Electric Prunes’ front-man James Lowe about his post-Prunes producing and engineering years. which I will post next week.
Read an extract from Mark E Smith & Graham Duff's The Otherwise
So I guess The Fall’s Mark E Smith and English actor/writer Graham Duff once wrote a screenplay to a horror flick starring….The Fall! I wish that had been made. The above article is the transcript to part of a conversation between the two where they talk about influential films and music…including why Smith could not be seen buying a CAN record in a shop.
Don Hill, saxophonist with The Treniers, dies
Don Hill performed until his last days…and is one of those unsung heroes in the early days of Rock n Roll with his blasting with the Trenier twins (who were born today, in 1919). This article features a loving video made of Hill going over his career.
Faulkner conference returns, focuses on ‘Mississippi Confluence’
Silver lining of COVID: being able to virtually attend conferences like this one, especially given that this years’ program looks incredible. For the first time, it will focus on 2 other authors as well: Eudora Welty and Richard Wright. Wright’s daughter will be speaking about Faulkner’s “response to the lynching of Emmett Till in Sunflower County in 1955.” Smart way to have a conference about a writer whose legacy has faced some major punches in this new world of rethinking history. Richard Wright deserves his own conference, anyway.
GALLERY REVIEW: Evoca1 (aka Elio Mercado)'s "Sanctuary" @ Thinkspace Projects
“Sanctuary is a series that embodies Evoca1’s agenda to merge art and humanity into a single creation. With photorealistic works that have a delicate quality, he effortlessly conveys the nuances of human life, creating scenes of human life and emotion. ‘Sanctuary’ transports us to a future where a group of children navigate a desolate earth, armed with their open minds, a love of nature, and a yearning for community.”
BIRD
By: Pablo Neruda
It was passed from one bird to another,
the whole gift of the day.
The day went from flute to flute,
went dressed in vegetation,
in flights which opened a tunnel
through the wind would pass
to where birds were breaking open
the dense blue air -
and there, night came in.
When I returned from so many journeys,
I stayed suspended and green
between sun and geography -
I saw how wings worked,
how perfumes are transmitted
by feathery telegraph,
and from above I saw the path,
the springs and the roof tiles,
the fishermen at their trades,
the trousers of the foam;
I saw it all from my green sky.
I had no more alphabet
than the swallows in their courses,
the tiny, shining water
of the small bird on fire
which dances out of the pollen.
