Stereopony

I have been listening to Japanese music since middle school.  There's something very special about the groups that I like.  Their upbeat music, even happy songs, seem to have an undercurrent of melancholy.  That element has fascinated me and moved me to tears.  I don't believe I can say that about an American group.  It's either melancholy or happy; never both.  This particular band, Stereopony, are also special to me for a very important reason: they are all girls.  They play instruments with sophistication, instead of merely strumming two chords and looking pretty.  Check out the above video for "Hitohia No Hanabira" and rewind the solo, play it twice.

i-DENIM

I still love this old shoot from i-D of totally worn, patched up jeans.  Denim is such a versatile fabric.  It has almost no rules.  Maybe that is why I like it so much.  There are times when I think, "Everybody wears jeans" with near boredom.  Still, this "anything goes" fabric is my favorite textile.  It can be customized with endless possibilities; all the more reason to keep rocking the blues.

-scans from Sea of Shoes.

Spring

Hello all,
I haven't posted in while!  I just wanted to say Happy Easter and Passover.  The East coast is finally experiencing the gift of beautiful weather in the midst relentless spring rain.  Today is a day to read a good book, have a cup of tea, and spend time with your family.  Today I am flipping through Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Stephen Mitchell.

"I want to unfold.


I don’t want to stay folded anywhere,


because where I am folded, there I am a lie."


-excerpt from I Am Too Alone by Rilke

Young Brides

I typically don't like music videos.  As Eddie Vedder once said, "You supposed to sit with your headphones in a bean bag chair and picture the music in your mind."  One of the few exceptions to my dislike is "Young Bride" by Midlake  (watch it on youtube here).  The tale reminds me of the poem "The Griesly Bride" by John Manifold, though the endings are different.  In the video, I like that there is this whole other world behind the bookcase.  I might try to design a little nook like that in a home someday.

The Griesly Bride

"Lie down, my newly married wife;

Lie easy as you can.

You're young, and ill-accustomed yet

To sleeping with a man."

The snow was deep, the moon was full

As it shown on the cabin floor.

His young bride rose without a word

And ran barefoot through the door.

He up and followed, fast and sure,

And an angry man was he,

But his young bride wasn't e'er in sight,

And only the moon shone clearly.

He followed her track through the new deep snow,

Calling out loud her name.

Only the dingoes in the hills

Yowled back at him again.

Then the hair stood up along his neck

And his angry mind was gone,

For where the two-foot track gave out,

A four-footed track went on.

Her nightgown lay upon the snow

As it might on a bed sheet,

And the tracks that led from where it lay

Were never of human feet.

He first started in to walkin' back,

Then he began to run,

And his quarry turned all in her track

And hunted him in turn.

An empty bed still waits for him

As he lies in a crimson tide.

Beware, beware, oh trapper men,

Beware of a griesly bride.

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Words by John Manifold, music by Tom Campbel

Crafty Work

Here's some of my crafty work.  I'm thinking of experimenting with carving on the bracelets in the last photo.