Archive for December, 2006
Saturday, December 30th, 2006
Not Like The Others
Self-awareness is a necessary precondition for spiritual growth. But it is not sufficient by itself. One reason for this is that genuine spiritual growth comes semi-paradoxically from an elevation in one’s level of awareness, which allows one to see things about oneself that were previously invisible and inaccessible by definition. It’s tricky. You can’t change [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Studio, The Nightmares by Philip
Sunday, December 17th, 2006
Ho Ho Ho
Perhaps the height of Devastationalist romantic integrity is the idea of dying (either figuratively or literally) for the loss of love: “I said you were my life, my heart, my soul, and now you’re gone; so I will stand true by my words, my feelings, and I will make myself begone, too!” A perfect musical [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Acoustic Studio, Recenter Music by Philip
Sunday, December 10th, 2006
Charlotte Coleman Was The Bomb
I had an opportunity to indulge my love of Charlotte Coleman (who died unexpectedly in 2001 of an asthma attack at the age of 33) this morning because “Four Weddings & A Funeral” was on TNT as I was puttering through an hour and a cup of coffee between the gym and walking [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Non-Musical Devastionalisms by Philip
Saturday, December 9th, 2006
Paean, Payin’, Pain
A much-bandied analogy, and one I subscribe to, is that arrangements of songs are the clothes in which you send them out into the world, from the solo-acoustic fig leaf to a fully orchestrated ball-gown ensemble (complete with horn-section clutch, back-up singer brooch and other accessories). But the skeletal structures of songs can also be [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Amazing All-Girl Band, Live by Philip
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
So Used To Having None Am I
It’s wa-a-a-a-ay too easy to get used to losing, to giving up, to living without. Late-stage Devastationalists often try desperately to convince others and themselves that they’re actually happier doing without, and may even try to make a case that it is a better, cleaner way to live.
This song, of course, is not lacking in [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Live, Recenter Music by Philip
Tuesday, December 5th, 2006
If This Thing Isn’t Going to Suck You Up
“If this thing isn’t going to suck you up, if it’s not going to kill you, the only way you can do it — even though it will irritate everyone, because you go so slowly — is to take one step at a time and do only what you know and feel secure about. The [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Breathing Lessons by Philip
Tuesday, December 5th, 2006
Her Mother’s With a Soldier
A big topic over the past weekend was the often absurd discrepancies that arise between what people say they want with all their heart and the actions they take in pursuit of their stated desires. To choose a random, hypothetical example, one might say something like, “I want to fall in love and live happily [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Live, Recenter Music by Philip
Saturday, December 2nd, 2006
Peace Bird
This song was finished at V&T’s, right before a gig somewhere on the Columbia campus. 3 or 4 of us passing around a bottle of red wine, trading off lines, scribbling on place-mats. I can’t remember how the term “Peace Bird” came into our lives, but in those days pretty much anything anyone said got [...]
