Thanks, Renfield!

I’m currently obsessed with 1968, the album from which this song originates. Never would have heard of France Gall if not for you, Renfield. Thanks!

It’s you whom I want
Already I can’t take my eyes
off you anymore
And I could make you
a happy man
and since it’s you whom I want

I left my green years for my warm years
like a rose under the rain
I opened myself today to life
but already the brass bands and bugles there
shout to me not to see you anymore
and they point their fingers at me

But there will come a day when we have to separate
I feel so good in your arms
It’s you whom I want
Already I can’t take my eyes
off you anymore
And I could make you
a happy man
and since it’s me whom you want

I tell you, stay faithful to me
As long as you find
that I give you a bit of paradise
that I am beautiful as long as you love me
But I hear the brass bands that come back again
to tell me that sooner or later
our love will be dead

But there will come a day when we have to separate
I feel so good in your arms
It’s you whom I want
Already I can’t take my eyes
off you anymore
And I could make you
a happy man
and since it’s me whom you want

They tell me
that I am too young for eternal love
that in your arms every night
I am in hell when I believe I’m in heaven
But I hear the brass bands that come back
and they watch us to see
the end of our love

If there really must come a day when we have to separate
That day is not today
because neither the bugles nor the brass bands
will ever change my life
It’s you whom I want
And I can no longer
take my eyes off you

What Do Y’all Think?

I’ve seen The Thing probably 30 times. Just watched it again the other night as a matter of fact, and it never occurred to me before that Childs-Thing tips his hand at the very end when MacReady offers him a drink AND HE TAKES IT. Carpenter even telegraphs this early in the film by having MacReady pour his J&B into the computer for cheating. My mind is blown.

Coming… Eventually?

I quite enjoyed all three seasons of Fargo. Somehow there’s a trailer out for Season 4, despite an interrupted filming schedule.

Realistic Cartoon Characters

From Design You Trust. Yikes.

Ontario-based artist Miguel Vasquez seeks to distort our feelings about these cartoon characters with some reality twists. He creates realistic renditions of famous cartoon characters that might even disturb you.

Shit

Ok, maybe none of you bastards care about this, but you may find it interesting anyway.  Leon Fleisher died of cancer two days ago at age 83.  By age 30, maybe earlier, he was arguably the best pianist the U.S. has ever produced if you consider overall musicianship as well as technical perfection (he had both, but others have equaled or come close in the latter).  As a pupil of Artur Schnabel, he was in a direct student/teacher line to Beethoven.

Unfortunately the 1950’s, when he came of age, was a real pressure cooker for a group of young American pianists who were given the acronym, OYAPS (Outstaning Young American Pianists).  This was the height of the cold war, and there was huge pressure on them to be cultural ambassadors.  They were expected to be powerful and precise,  like Vladimir Horowitz, and to show uppity Europeans and especially Russia, a land of super-human pianists, that the U.S. was artistically on par with anyone (never mind we’d already proved that with jazz and emerging rock & roll, but those were treated as an embarrassent).  As a result,  Fleisher and the other OYAPS pushed themselves to the point of serious physical injury or emotional distress.  By his mid-thirties, Fleisher’s right hand was useless for the piano due to an insane practice and performance schedule.   After recovering from serious depression, he had a second career as a conductor, a much idolized teacher and an occasional performer of the limited one-handed repertoire.  Miraculously, in the 90’s he underwent experimental botox injections which returned his hand to service.  By the early 2000’s he was back in action, maybe not as much of a techincal powerhouse, but as good or maybe better artistically.

I was lucky to see him in a stunning recital in ’09.  I also got to meet him briefly and get an autograph.  For someone so lionized, he was very approachable and seemed down-to-earth.  Resquiescat in pace.

Why Not?

So on-brand for 2020.

“’I have learned this Kung Fu skill since I turned 67 years old. I think it is good for my health. I insist on doing it every day.” 

– Master Wei

Golden Dogs

Another Canadian pop band that I’ve forgotten to tell people about.

Luv the guitarz.