estampes japonaises

online here


i made a comment in the comments about the color in the bnf online gallery of this, so i'm posting these to compare. the one on the right is the bnf and the one below is the best of the mfa's three.

on the first day

first, yes. i know this is the same song as yesterday. but it's the version i wanted off this very wonderful tribute to joseph spence cd that i have called "out on the rolling sea." since it's all music from the bahamas, i thought the singers were from there too. uh, nope. blue murder.

second-- i and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of folks here in berkeley followed our annual new year's day ritual: we went shopping for calendars at the pegasus bookstore annual calendar sale: 3 for $10! what a great lot of calendars i found there yesterday. now this one from the carl larsson calendar -- what is that pink thing??! in front of the lamp.

i also found one of 'impressionist photographers'! this gertrude kasebier is hanging on my wall at this moment, and if i lean my head just a little to the left i see her there.

while i was poking around in the piles and piles of calendars, i started talking with a woman about design. turns out her father did this, among numerous other WPA posters! one of my favorites! wouldn't it be cool if our obama puts artists to work as part of new deal redux?

now, a couple of days ago, you know, the one with the crescent moons, i had an image i was going to use till i suddenly remembered it was new, as opposed to the 100 years old that it looks.

his name is john martinez.

these are both images from a long series he did about operas.

look how amazingly he manages to meld jugendstil, art nouveau and other japonisme styles.

snuggle up tonight: tomorrow: LIGHT!!!

Aaron Neville

earth water fire & air

the natural cards revolve ever changing
seeded elsewhere planted in the garden fair grow trees, grow trees

tongues of the sheer wind
setting you foot where the sand is untrodden,
the ocean that only begins







listen a woman with a bulldozer built this house now
carving away the mountain whose name is your childhood home
we were trying to buy it buy it buy it
someone was found killed there all bones bones dry bones





earth water fire and air
met together in a garden fair
put in a basket bound with skin
if you answer this riddle
you'll never begin

born in a house where
the doors shut tight
shadowy fingers on the
curtains at night
cherry tree blossom head high snow
a busy main road
where I wasn't to go





I used to sit on the garden wall
say hello to people going by so tall
hallo to the postman's stubbly skin
hallo to the baker's stubbly grin
mrs thompson gave me a bear
brigitte and some people lived upstairs



skating on
happy valley pond
various ministers and guards stood around
the ice was nice hallo the invisible brethren
and there was a tent you played cards with the
soldiers in, don't worry we won't send anyone
after you they screamed
but me and licorice saw the last of them one
misty twisty day
across the mournful morning moor motoring away
singing ladybird, ladybird what is your wish
your wish is not granted unless it's a fish
your wish is not granted unless it's a dish
a fish on a dish is that what you wish

earth water fire and air
met together in a garden fair
put in a basket bound with skin
if you answer this riddle
you'll never begin