It was just one of these mornings. Lying there in bed, I felt as if my life was washing over me like a big grey wave, the murky waters were draining off, revealing bit of useless debris. My music and my writing, appeared like mere fragments; ideas lied scattered everywhere; unfinished poems, unsold CDs, unwritten essays. And ideas were just […]
When a couple of weeks ago, I was asked to pick a children’s piece to record as a segment for a voice-over demo, a cute little poem came to mind – something with sneezing. Via Dr. Google it was quickly retrieved on the internet. Here are the first lines: Christopher Robin Had wheezles And sneezles, They […]
Rapid technological development has led to a constant flood of visual and acoustic bits and bites – emails, text messages and Facebook updates. For most of us it has become a habit to react, one that often leaves us frazzled and detached. Single-tasking has become a luxury in the 21st century. To sit down and […]
The World I am Livings In Frances Livings Moontraxx Records – MXFL2013-014 Available from Frances Livings’s Bandcamp page. A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange by Mark S. Tucker (progdawg@hotmail.com) Following the release of a half-dozen singles and EPs, Frances Livings has published her first long-form CD, The World I am Livings In (clever title!), and her […]
If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him. We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth. ~ John F. Kennedy In the quiet of a virgin morning, it feels […]
One of my latest findings on a day trip to the wildlife and holiday resort Catalina Island, California, was a long spiraling sea shell. It felt somehow magical when I weighed it in the palm of my hand. Its spiraling shape, the shimmering tones of cream, redbrown and white somehow reminded me of unicorn horns. […]
This morning, browsing through the New York Times, I reconnected with an American photographer, Francesca Woodman, whose work I had only recently discovered. The article grabbed my attention and touched me because one of her pictures had helped in the process of completing a recent song of mine. To learn that over 120 of her […]
One afternoon, on one of my frequent outings to the Galerie der Gegenwart (gallery of contemporary art) in Hamburg, I found myself transfixed by eight very unusual portrait photographs. Individually depicted were seven cuddly toys. Their stitched-on fabric or glass button eyes, some loose and lopsided, seemed to be starring at me, wanting urgently to […]