Storytelling in the North

October 2008: while passing along the shores of Canada on board of Grigory Mikheev (an arctic research vessel), Laurie Anderson tells a story of an old Cree Indian man singing the forgotten song of his fathers':

FYI: This video is an excerpt of the documentary film titled 'Burning Ice', directed by Peter Gilbert.

The whole film is available for free at Snagfilms.

Just Because It Was There #2

Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed in Groningen, November 2008
photo source: Reyer Boxem / Redux

Salvador Espriu's Homeland

Trial Hymn in the Temple

by Salvador Espriu

Oh, how tired I am of my
craven old brutish land,
and how I’d like to get away from it
to the north,
where they say people are clean
and noble, learned, rich, free
wide-awake and happy.
Then, in the congregation, the brothers would say
disapprovingly: “Like a bird who leaves the nest
is that man who forsakes his place,”
while I, now far away, would laugh
at the law and ancient wisdom
of this, my arid village.
But I must never follow my dream
and I’ll stay here till I die.
For I’m craven and brutish too.
And what’s more I love, with a
desperate grief,
this my poor,
dirty, sad, unlucky homeland.

(As read by Laurie Anderson in 2008,
at the KOSMOPOLIS International Literature Fest / Made in CataluNYA.

Translation by Magda Bogin)

• Read it here - along with the other Catalonian poems read by Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed and Patti Smith.

• Watch it here - this poem starts at about 33' into the video.

• Listen to it - Mnemosyne's improvised piano accompaniment to Laurie Anderson's reading (audio length: 1 min 12 secs, file size: 1.1 MB).

Dwarfed by Icebergs and the Possibility of a Disappearing Planet

Trailer of 'Burning Ice', Peter Gilbert's documentary on an arctic expedition exploring climate change in 2008 by a Russian ice-breaking ship with 40 scientists and artists of the widest range on board, offering breathtaking footage of icy landscape for those (count Mnemosyne in) who always wanted to get to the North:

'Mambo and Bling' Multimedia

Listen to...

• 'Mambo and Bling's "original" version, recorded in 2008 at Duke University's Page Auditorium *:

• Just a reminder that an updated version of 'Mambo and Bling' is also available online on the National Public Radio's World Café website, recorded at Laurie Anderson's recent appearance in the show on August 19th, 2010.

Watch...

Excerpts of Fenway Bergamot's not-so-aimless rambling on Nonesuch's website (some parts may be familiar from 'Pictures and Things', B-side of Homeland's 12" vinyl single):

• The Crash
• Pictures and Things
• Victory
• On the Road
• A Troubadour

* Along with the audio, there's also an interview made with Laurie Anderson in Independent Weekly, written by Grayson Currin, before the US presidential elections in 2008.

Perfect in Their Own Way

Just a lovely live version of 'Strange Perfumes' along with a hypnotizing drumline (which is lurking on the album version, too, but it's almost entirely inaudible... what a pity):

Then and Now #1: The Red Tie

Too much time on my hands...

1990: a screen capture from the 'Beautiful Red Dress' video:

2008: McGarrigle Xmas concert:

(Original photo by griffinshot)