January 2024

 

Happy New Year!

This year I'm hoping to bring out the book I've been working on since the COVID lockdown and a period of illness. I am aiming at publishing it at some point in the late spring/early summer if possible.

In the meantime I really must post more often. To counteract the post-Christmas torpidity, some things that have caught my attention recently:

It's a pity I missed out on buying this 'cursed' painting that was on sale in a charity shop in St Leonards and has since been bringing 'bad luck' to its owners. Now on display at the London Bridge Experience. I wrote a blog entry about a couple of other 'cursed' works here. 

Some recent reading has included John Szwed's fascinating biography of collector, film maker, occultist and eccentric Harry Smith Cosmic Scholar. Responsible for compiling the hugely influential Anthology of American Folk Music, Smith's animated films are well worth viewing on You Tube - an obvious influence on Terry Gilliam. There's one here. 

Also Alex Ross The Rest is Noise, a book about 20th century Western music I've been meaning to read for years. It's a big book on a thorny topic, but I'm gradually making my way through, listening to the music described online while reading. I'm having to write about 20th century music in the new book, so, as a non-musicologist, I'm looking for ways of approaching the subject.

I seem to be increasingly divorced from contemporary culture, so I won't be giving a list of my favourite music or films of 2023 as I've barely seen or heard any. There's so much stuff from the past to catch up with! I'll just say that I've enjoyed finally getting the chance to view the early films of Jean Rollin which have been released on Blu-ray over the last few months. I like the oneiric Surrealistic qualities of his vampiric visions.