Tripping with the Paranormal
“The mind was dreaming. The world was its dream.”― Jorge Luis Borges
We have been on a whirlwind family trip these past two weeks, hitting six destinations through three states, see dozens of family and friends. For the kids, it has been just incredible: tubing on Long Lake, Maine…seeing a Red Sox game at Fenway…meeting cousins they have either never met or barely know…swimming in the Atlantic for the first time…getting ready for a Tigers/Giants game in Detroit tonight as they learn about this incredible city and spend time with our dear friend Gretchen (who is in two bands that Birdman Records is now working with, Seedsmen To The World, and Infinite River) and her boys. Everything was going as perfectly as a family trip can go until Kaya, my daughter, broke her wrist falling off a bike at her grandparents’ house in Ohio, preventing her from enjoying most of the summer-fun activities she likes to do.
If there is one unexpected theme of the trip, it is of the occult…the paranormal. With a lot of driving during the trip…covering hundreds of miles going from experience to experience…we were looking for a podcast that would be good for all of us (which is REALLY hard to find). The kids like a good mystery and after some searching we found The Black Tapes, which is a fictitious story modeled after the Serial podcast (including the annoying piano-fueled under-music) which looks at the unsolved/not-yet-disproved paranormal stories from the files of one Dr. Strand and his institute.
The first season (which dropped in 2015) is a combination exploration into these paranormal stories as well as an investigation into Dr. Strand’s wife who had gone missing some years before. While the narrator’s cadence is rushed and somewhat annoying, the stories are compelling, taking the listener into a prison to meet a child who killed his parents through teleportation, to a creepy monastery where a body was seen falling from its tower but never found, to the scenes of various exorcisms…all stories that Dr. Strand feasts on debunking. As with most solid podcasts, while The Black Tapes could use a major editing, the core of the stories is compelling…with Season 2 losing its momentum to overly complex plots and too much focus on the lives of the fictional journalists following the stories.
Still…it helped the driving miles go by.
Kaya has been loving the Conjuring horror franchise as of late, more paranormal stories, but this time from the real-life experiences of investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (note: whose experiences with the paranormal are not believed by many). With a broken arm keeping her from biking and swimming, we decided it was time to watch the fourth film of the franchise, Annabelle, the story of a demonic doll that is seeking the souls of the living. While the real Annabelle doll (possessed or not, the doll DOES exist) is a harmless looking Raggedy Anne doll, the movie Annabelle looks evil, with crazy eyes and a horrible grimace.
Like all Conjuring films, there is too much Catholicism laced into the plot, but there are some horrific moments and some definite scares. That being said, we left the film without anyone losing sleep…that is until we arrived at the final destination of our trip where before going to sleep in the room we were crashing in, Barb espied a full-sized Howdy Doody doll staring right at her just like in Poltergeist…
Home tomorrow…..
James Meredith is still a man on a mission
The night before James Meredith became the first African American to attend Ole Miss, he was in hiding from the many who wanted him dead. And while he successfully attended the school, there were riots and deaths around the historic event as the arc of history bent in a better direction. James Meredith’s story is one of the most important in his lifetime, making this new graphic novel retelling it something I am very looking forward to digging into….
Is there a green solution to the vinyl record backlog?
So there is a new vinyl competitor in town, it seems….easier to recycle than the old, bringing with it the opportunity to cut more records more quickly without (SUPPOSEDLY) any loss in sound. Yes, I am a traditionalist and changing any element about a record is a scary thing: but I am also completely over the wait time for record manufacturing. Bring on the opportunities….
Tom Thumb’s Wedding Cake…Still at the Library of Congress, 159 Years Later
To give some historical framing, Tom Thumb’s wedding to actress Lavinia Warren was such a sensation that for a moment it overtook the usual news headlines about the Civil War. They chose a popular style of fruitcake for their ceremony…a ceremony they sold tickets to and had 5000 people attend.
Tony Visconti Preps for the Marc Bolan Memorial Concert
One of social media’s saving graces is the platform it gives to historic characters with stories to tell. Record producer Tony Visconti, who was behind the board for so many incredible records, is an active social media contributor, who yesterday posted the above photo of his original score from the T Rex’s Cosmic Dancer from the legendary Electric Warrior record. Visconti, along with The Damned’s Dave Vanian, Toyah and Marc Almond (and others) will be putting on a concert on September 20th in Shepards Bush around the 45th anniversary of the artist’s death. Bolan took the Damned on tour with him as he embraced the new punk rock movement…pretty cool that Vanian is participating.
Climate Activists Glued Themselves to One of the Vatican’s Most Valuable Artworks
The sculpture Laocoön and His Sons was recently the subject of a book called Pollak’s Arm, about a person who found its missing appendage. And now it is in the news again…this time to shine a light on the climate crisis our world is experiencing….
Four stories to start reading Jorge Luis Borges
Tomorrow is Borges’ 123rd birthday and Elisa de Gortari runs down her favorite four stories of his for readers who have yet to experience Borges’ brilliance (I love his work but did not know about one of them). Warning: unless you are fluent in Spanish you will need to translate this page, but it is worth it.
Famous Poems Abbreviated
by X. J. Kennedy
1
Of man's first disobedience and its fruit
Scripture has told. No need to follow suit.
2
Once upon a midnight dreary,
Blue and lonesome, missed my dearie.
Would I find her? Any hope?
Quoth the raven six times, “Nope.”
3
Whoosh! —hear the Sea of Faith's withdrawing roar?
So, baby, let's make love tonight, not war.
4
Who will go drive with Fergus now?
You lazy cocks and cunts,
I thought I'd ask you anyhow.
Well don't all speak at once.
5
Whose woods these are I think I know.
Shall I just sack out in the snow
And freeze? Naaaa, guess I'd better go.
Blues for Oedipus
by X. J. Kennedy
Oracle figured
You'd come a cropper,
Kingdom-killin
Mammyjammin
Poppa-bopper!
Gods dished you the shit
Like you deserves —
Now your eyeballs
Danglin
From they optic nerves.
This newsletter is dedicated to Harlene Appelman, a friend, a teacher, and a supporter and enthusiast of the arts. She was a giant.