January 27, 2005

so said k.

My friend k. says that the best way to beat the winter funk is to make daily lists of little things that make you happy, and to stab yourself with them repeatedly. On a somber remembrance day can something as trivial as a smile help me keep focus on the beautiful blinding sun outside, and the frostiest of blue skies, well I do think so. Maybe. Here goes.

1. First one was less a smile than a studious frown, seen on a young man in gigantic cushioned headphones from which thumping bass grooves could be heard from front to back of the bus; he had his nose buried into a pocket book, French Grammar – Intermediate, and my heart swell

2. Apparently someone thought I was deserving of a treat, and produced a 85% cocoa excellence bar and a jar of coffee right by this very desk! making my heart swell and swell, while I maintain my alarming productivity

3. The picklejar lady, my very favourite… really, she shouldn’t be at number three. So to recap, in the aftermath of a plant closure, shocked and sulky ex-workers are often sent our way for alchemy seminars or whatever it is we do around here to cheer folks up. It came to be that, one victim of the closure of another Kraft Foods plant is a lady of 73 years who supervised the canning of pickles, and who have kept at it from way before I was born for 6 days a week, which is simply stupendous considering how sparkly her eyes are. And how energically she kept shaking her head, and saying how she needs to find another job, and fast! because she can’t stand children, and the minute she gets off work, she gets asked to babysit grandchildren and greatgrandchildren and it simply is crazy and simply cannot be… I knew I was supposed to hand out pamphlets and walk her around our quality premises, but I just stood there and kept listening to her grievances, watching her smile grow bigger and bigger until it broke through everything.

4. I can’t think of any number 4 (have a refill of number 2)

5. At random : the word lewd, the word levorotory, the words holy shit, amongst others, leave me with nothing to do but smile.

Posted by nathalie at 04:54 PM

January 03, 2005

downcast eyes and a smile

I hope everyone had good holidays… Now quick recap before moving on.

Once again I will remember New Year’s Eve for its blurry outlines, its drinks spilled and colourful lights dangling from the ceiling or creeping up on the walls. But most especially, for all my friends dancing unrestrained, except for two but they were still happy. In the Green Room we discovered the city’s only jukebox, underneath a big plank of wood. Perhaps the jukebox was only cardboard, perhaps it stopped working long ago, but who could discern trickery amid the columns of smoke, flood of revelers; nobody!

Early into the night the DJ played a favorite song, and all I could think was, hey listen, listen, like when I am asked about a favorite book, and all I can say is, read this line, and that other. I can’t explain. Can a person be as tedious as myself, I sincerely ask. But you just ruffle my hair, now now.

It’s my last day off before returning to the office, and it’s the coziest, most quiet of mondays. I am sitting around in mocassins, attempting to balance accounts and the likes. A formidable yawn-fest in which my cat partakes too! Molecular biophysicist David Hackos observed, “Cats very often yawn and stretch when waking up in the morning, but you will rarely see a cat yawn when it is tired in the evening. ” He then pleaded for more experiments to be made on the subject. Although I don’t condone any kind of feline science experiments, the procedure doesn’t seem like the cruelest one – as the clock strikes 11 PM, a dozen cats are installed on comfy cushions, being tickled on the throat until they burst out in yawns, and their fiery eyes and swatting paws pretend to be saying “stop it STOP IT I don’t liiiiike it!” but they are purring with pleasure, and stretching out their back.

Posted by nathalie at 03:18 PM

August 29, 2004

roadrunner

The latest issue of Les Inrockuptibles come with a “50 years of rock” CD. Though it doesn’t seem to cover 50 years at all, I enjoy the tracklist, featuring:

1. The Modern Lovers
2. Love
3. The Velvet Underground
4. Buzzcocks
5. The Feelies
6. Young Marble Giants
7. The Last Poets
8. ESG
9. Boards Of Canada
10. Felt
11. Nick Drake
12. Scott Walker
13. Brian Eno
14. Lee Hazlewood
15. Sun Ra

I try to think of what I would have put instead of Boards of Canada to segue between ESG (You’re no good) and Felt (Penelope tree). Stockholm Monsters maybe, or a slow one from Unrest, I don’t know really. This sunday morning, “Why” from Slumber Party. It depends how I feel. I love playing around with iTunes playlists, for this reason.

One memory clenches my heart when I think about it. My parents had an old wooden turntable furniture piece that we called the pick-up. It was in the basement, next to our playroom. I was 5, then 6 and 7 and always listened sitting on the floor, my head against one speaker. I liked the ones I couldn’t understand the lyrics of, but mostly I liked the french version of “These boots are made for walking”, it was so powerful, so evocative. In hindsight I can say it made me travel forward in time, in a time where I could fall in love and wear big boots, stomp, stomp. My favourite music has always been the songs, be it the music or words or both, that made me feel about so much more going on, proofs of so much more being possible.

And I often feel I sound silly when I talk about the music I really love. So I never managed to write record reviews, though I admire people who go on and on about music (thinking of The war against silence closing down). I do try to write songs. Here is my latest one, set to the chords of “Walking with Jesus” - an affectionate, cautionary tale, mix of many influences.

—-

Fallen trees
Makes me so sad
But driving drunk
Into a tree
Babe, it just drives me mad

Here…
Here it comes
Here comes the sound

Hey, ho, what’s that sound?

——

Posted by nathalie at 11:36 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack