Karl Jenkins Jazz, Rock, Classical Born: 17 February 1944, Gower, Wales Nationality: Welsh
Jenkins is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. His best-known works include the song “Adiemus.” Educated at Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music Jenkins joined the jazz band Soft Machine in 1972. He became the group’s leading songwriter and worked with them until 1984. Jenkins has written music for TV ad campaigns and has won the industry prize twice
Bitter words spoken in haste the truth of love meaning nothing snarling antagonism aspiring to caustic sarcasm but failing with its crushing unkindness bantered in rallies of spite in a cold soulless courtroom the only victims now are the children forgotten by parents so lost in their hate in the twistedness of a nasty divorce
Moving from Cheer to Joy, from Joy to All, I take a box And add it to my wild rice, my Cornish game hens. The slacked or shorted, basketed, identical Food-gathering flocks Are selves I overlook. Wisdom, said William James,
Is learning what to overlook. And I am wise If that is wisdom. Yet somehow, as I buy All from these shelves And the boy takes it to my station wagon, What I’ve become Troubles me even if I shut my eyes.
When I was young and miserable and pretty And poor, I’d wish What all girls wish: to have a husband, A house and children. Now that I’m old, my wish Is womanish: That the boy putting groceries in my car
See me. It bewilders me he doesn’t see me. For so many years I was good enough to eat: the world looked at me And its mouth watered. How often they have undressed me, The eyes of strangers! And, holding their flesh within my flesh, their vile
Imaginings within my imagining, I too have taken The chance of life. Now the boy pats my dog And we start home. Now I am good. The last mistaken, Ecstatic, accidental bliss, the blind
Happiness that, bursting, leaves upon the palm Some soap and water– It was so long ago, back in some Gay Twenties, Nineties, I don’t know . . . Today I miss My lovely daughter Away at school, my sons away at school,
My husband away at work–I wish for them. The dog, the maid, And I go through the sure unvarying days At home in them. As I look at my life, I am afraid Only that it will change, as I am changing:
I am afraid, this morning, of my face. It looks at me From the rear-view mirror, with the eyes I hate, The smile I hate. Its plain, lined look Of gray discovery Repeats to me: “You’re old.” That’s all, I’m old.
And yet I’m afraid, as I was at the funeral I went to yesterday. My friend’s cold made-up face, granite among its flowers, Her undressed, operated-on, dressed body Were my face and body. As I think of her and I hear her telling me
How young I seem; I am exceptional; I think of all I have. But really no one is exceptional, No one has anything, I’m anybody, I stand beside my grave Confused with my life, that is commonplace and solitary
Randall Jarrell Born: 6 May 1914, Tennessee, USA Nationality: American Died: 14 October 1965, North Carolina, USA
Jarrell was a literary critic, children’s author, essayist, novelist, and poet. He was the 11th Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress. Jarrell received the Guggenheim Fellowship award for 1947-48, and the National Book Award for Poetry in 1961
Weathered city in the morning sun Beaten, dilapidated by time Echoing to the chisel tapping sound A craftsman chipping at stone
Tap tap tapping a rhythm of sound Resounds across the square A makeshift and do workplace Repairs for the decaying mother church
Like an actor taking his performance To his audience amid the flaking plaster With rough old timer exposing brick The craftsman performs to make it good
Un Chien Andalou 1927 Surrealism 35mm Film The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Dali had acquired an education in art by the age of 24 and was inspired by Picasso to practice his own interpretation of Cubism and utilize Surrealist ideas and concepts in his paintings. It was also at this time he joined with Luis Buñuel, a film director, to create something radically new – a film that veered from the traditional narrative into dream logic, lack of plot, non-sequential scenes, and free association. Recreating an ethereal setting, “Un Chien Andalou” presents images in montaged clips that jostle reality and tap the unconsciousness, shocking the viewer awake and even soliciting feelings of discomfort as if in a nightmare. The film was a sensation and gained Dali entrance to the most creative group of Parisian artists of the time, the Surrealists. “Un Chien Andalou” is recognised as the first Surrealist film and remains in prominent in the canon of experimental filmmaking.
Salvador Dali Surrealism, Surrealist Sculpture, Biomorphism, Assemblage Born: 11 May 1904, Catalonia, Spain Nationality: Spanish Died: 23 January 1989, Catalonia, Spain
Dali was a surrealist artist known for his technical skill, precision draftsmanship, and the striking and often bizarre nature of his images. Initially influenced by Impressionism and the Renaissance he became increasingly interested in Cubism and the avant-garde movements of the time. By the late 1920s, he joined the Surrealist group of artists and became one of its leading exponents
Mad World Album: The Hurting Date: 1983 Genre: Alternative/Indie Artist: Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears were formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith after the dissolution of their first band, Graduate. Tears for Fears were associated with new-wave electronic bands of the early 1980s and achieved international success. Their debut album “The Hurting” reached the top of the UK Album Chart. In 2021, Orzabal and Smith received the Ivor Novello Award for “Outstanding Song Collection” in recognition of era-defining albums and innovative hit singles
You may enlarge any image in this blog by clicking on it. Click again for a detailed view. Autumn and winter are the seasons for seeing Prairie Falcons in the farmlands northwest of Tucson. These graceful raptors are year-round residents of southern Arizona but they are generally inaccessible during the summer months when they retreat […]