in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
London last week; was that all a dream? Thank you for the love and to âŞ@PaulWellerHQ⏠for joining us â¨â¨â¨ (đ¸ Jamie Macmillan)
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Live at the magic âŞ@kexp⏠for KEXP at Home đ¤ Watch the full session and interview here x
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Fun times playing songs from Fever Dreams in all of the lovely record stores đż â¨
đˇ by Mike Burnell
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The Eve of Fever Dreams â¨
Tune in for a live performance to mark Fever Dreams eve, tonight at 7pm BST.
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âThe First Dayâ Book Club #6: âWhy I Writeâ by George Orwell
Week #6 on my favourite pieces of writing which connect to the ethos and spirit of âThe First Dayâ. The full list is at wearevillagers.com/ and this week we have George Orwell's âWhy I Writeâ.
In this 1946 essay, Orwell examines the conflicts within, and origins of, his impulse to write. Primarily known for his politically charged critiques of totalitarianism, he is quick to debunk the idea that his writing process is solely born out of an urge to express his civic-minded ideals. âThe job is to reconcile my ingrained likes and dislikes with the essentially public, non-individual activities that this age forces on all of usâ he writes, as he explores the fruitful terrain between the inner world and the one which we must all learn to live in.
Taking us through his early development, Orwell describes a process of individuation involving a childhood need to create a âprivate worldâ, followed by literary imitation (âI wrote bad and usually unfinished ânature poemsâ in the Georgian Styleâ) and subsequent diary entry. At the age of sixteen he âsuddenly discovered the joy of mere wordsâ, and he directs us to the importance of folding in and honouring these initial impulses without limiting intellectual development: âIt is (the writerâs) job⌠to discipline his temperament and avoid getting stuck at some immature stage⌠but if he escapes from his early influences altogether, he will have killed his impulse to write.â
Orwell distinguishes four âgreat motivesâ for writing: sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse and political purpose. The friction between these fluctuating motives creates the spark which ignites the creative mind. âI see that I have made it appear as though my motives in writing were wholly public-spiritedâ, he observes, âI donât want to leave that as the final impression. All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery⌠One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist or understand. For all one knows that demon is simply the same instinct that makes a baby squall for attention.â
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âThe First Dayâ Book Club #5: âW.B. Yeats Selected Poemsâ edited by Timothy Webb
Week #5 on my favourite pieces of writing which connect to the ethos and spirit of âThe First Dayâ. The full list is at wearevillagers.com/ and this week we have a 1991 collection of the poetry of W.B. Yeats.
I was fifteen when I came across this book in my parentsâ house and I was instantly drawn to âThe Witchâ; a terse and elegant verse with a confrontational tone that harnessed something in my burgeoning adolescent mind. My Ireland was drunk in the throes of rapid economic growth which had already begun to show signs of an uncaring inequity. A spiritual vacuum seeped through the city from the top down. âToil and grow rich,â wrote Yeats, âWhatâs that but to lie / With a foul witch / And after, drained dry, / To be brought to the chamber where / Lies one long sought / With despair?â
I quickly set about creating a painting which depicted the poem as an illuminated manuscript in the style of The Book of Kells; a naive act which, on reflection, bore signs of an effort to break free from the psychically claustrophobic environs of our freshly minted country and forge a deeper connection to the nuanced and complicated facets of our collective unconscious. It didnât work; the conflict festered but a newfound interest in poetry began to sustain me at a less urgent pace. This was no quick fix; indeed there is no such thing as an effective âquick fixâ in the creative act, as I gradually learned.
Although the humanity of his political philosophy has been rigorously contested, not least by next weekâs Book Club subject George Orwell, there is no denying the depth of Yeatsâ poetic explorations into the anxieties and instabilities of the modern world in âThe Second Comingâ, or the pure aesthetic beauty and (knowing) romanticism of his tribute to Maud Gonne in âHe Wishes for the Cloths of Heavenâ. In all of his complexities, and to borrow from âThe Lake Isle of Innisfreeâ, Yeats never shies away from the dense vigour of âthe deep heartâs coreâ.
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âThe First Dayâ Book Club #4: âAre You My Mother?â by Alison Bechdel
Week #4 on my favourite pieces of writing which connect to the ethos and spirit of âThe First Dayâ. The full list is at wearevillagers.com/ and this week we have Alison Bechdelâs âAre You My Mother?â
âI am alternately envious and contemptuous of people who finish their phone conversations with a rote âI love you!ââ notes Alison Bechdel in the final pages of her dense and highly accomplished graphic memoir. Perhaps a somewhat banal statement on a superficial level, it is one which captures the essence of the novel as a whole. Over the course of 289 tightly packed and gorgeously illustrated pages, Bechdel attempts to deconstruct the nuanced and complicated nature of familial love by elegantly intertwining biographical narrative, dream sequence and literary reference in a deeply immersive piece of storytelling.
Drawing from a wide array of texts revealing her long-standing interest in the intersection of psychoanalysis, sexuality and feminism, Bechdel examines key moments in her life with direct reference to specific and apposite ideas and quotations from writers such as Anne Bradstreet, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Virginia Woolf, Jacques Lacan, Betty Friedan and Adrienne Rich (see Book Club #1, 2/5/2021). The central thrust of her self-analysis, however, is predominantly influenced by 20th century English paediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicottâs distinction between the âtrue selfâ and the âfalse selfâ, as well as Polish-Swiss psychoanalyst Alice Millerâs later development of Winnicottâs ideas in her 1979 bestseller âThe Drama of the Gifted Childâ.
Although Bechdel draws an undeniable parallel between her own emotional upbringing and the crises of developmental selfhood expounded by Miller and Winnicott, one gets the impression that the elements of resentment which she fosters from her childhood are slowly being subsumed into a growing resilience and an understanding of the immeasurable and conflicted universe inside of those three simple words of devotion.
âOur truce is a fragile oneâ writes Bechdel of her relationship with her mother. Yet what is fragility but a catalyst for caring?
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