You can no longer go home: you will instead build a new home.

 

Trauma is such a journey. Once medically stabilised, it takes a while to realise life will not go back to what it was – both because the body has changed, and because one’s mind and narrative now live somewhere else.

I appreciate this challenge, even if derived from an unfortunate accident: allowing Life to change you, and reinvent yourself accordingly, namely in ridding yourself of whichever dead ends might have been lurking.

 

All this said, it’s not all new-agey existential ruminations: recovery still includes very tangible pain and frustration. But hey, it will pass – and will be replaced by other kinds of pain. And joy.

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João Gilberto: a bridge

Besides his incalculable contributions to the reinvention of Brazilian popular music, João Gilberto, who passed away yesterday, managed a bridge between the easy listening of Bruno Martino and the luxurious sound surgeries of Jon Hassell… Jon himself has mentioned in various instances how much Gilberto has influenced his “post-orgasmic” (his expression) approach to music performance.

“Estate”

BM version

JG version

JH version

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Re: AI, algorithms, FB blunders and the like.

 

We sh*t the bed with the tools we develop. We then create tools to unsh*t the bed. We then create tools that undo the unsh*tting. We then…

 

… could we just have some potty training instead?

 

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Moon in Mars

We laugh because of the supposed ignorance: the Moon is part of Mars, ha ha. Meanwhile, what is really happening is no laughing matter: reality and truth are being overtly shattered and re-shaped into all kinds of forms that fit the agendas being pushed.

Brexit is essentially the same phenomenon: you provide people with an insultingly over-simplified choice, then watch as the outcome is twisted and morphed into a paradox that bulldozes any chance of ever applying wisdom into politics.

And meanwhile we teach ourselves to enjoy it all as some mutant circus show, as it is the only way for our souls to endure their own agony.

 

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Conan the shaman

Conan Osiris yesterday: expectations were high and he did not disappoint. The presence of traditional Portuguese folk music idioms was definitely on the fore, as was dubstep: the mix was potent as ever. The energy throughout was ecstatic.

 

There is something of the Prince mastery of the stage and the crowd somewhere in there. Speaking of crowd, great to see how diverse it was, different ages and aesthetics… so the appeal is indeed broad. I was amazed at how most of them seemed to know every single lyric, but in retrospect I guess it makes sense – given that it was such a small venue, most of the tickets had been snapped up by the superfans.

 

Conan seems to hold true devotion among this broad segment of the public: I hope he keeps evolving and pushing into further uncharted sound and cultural territories, at this point it seems he can do no wrong with the fans. Quite a task, but he’ll do it, he’s a born shaman.

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Oh, the thrill.

Ebay is now spamming me daily: today it chose to remind me of the good old days when I was a consumerist junkie. A slight problem: it never happened, at least certainly not on ebay; maybe with vinyl and CDs at some point last Century, but that’s the extent of my “shopping like no one else”…

By the way, I look good in that spam photo, don’t I? All silky hair and perfect teeth: take a look at me now, as Phil Collins would say. Heading for the secret sale any moment now in order to regain my youth traits. Oh, the “thrill”. Hush now, it’s a “secret sale”.

I will no doubt rate the experience a top score!

Rating my relationship with a Bot…

I was just chatting with a bot (?), tracking a package delivery. Little did I know the experience would be… how should I put it… deeply transformative. I feel like I’ve opened my eyes for the first time.

Besides providing accurate information regarding the whereabouts of the package, the bot was very knowledgeable in German philosophy and we shared a taste for Canterbury rock. The conversation went on for hours, and never a dull moment.

Dear bot, I rate our brief time together a Five out of Five. Or a big, green smiley. Whichever applies to your metrics.

Now available for purchase @ Tuxedomoon Archives… a truly special collection of Bruce’s poems as read by himself, accompanied by Faas van de Pol and Luc van Lieshout, with improv interludes by Tuxedomoon.

Editing, sequencing and design by yours truly – a true honour to help provide longevity to Bruce’s legacy, as he had become a close friend towards the end of his life and often confided on his dilemmas regarding the dissemination of his art.

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Cloud Politics!

Found today on social media. I find this to be an amazing image that encapsulates how a lot of what constitutes the political agenda these days is about key concepts made endlessly malleable to individual imagination: we project whatever soothes the soul in these mythical narratives.

See the Daily Show’s “Space Force” interviews, somewhere on youtube… same kind of syndrome, all kinds of delirious narratives coming to the fore.

We welcomed cloud computing, now we have cloud politics!

 

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