Prayers to Yemaya

Colored pencil and pen.

As Frankenstorm hits the entire East Coast these next few days, our prayers are to the great ocean goddess Yemaya. May our orisha of earth, water and femininity protect us in the path of this extraordinary tempest, and may the only flooding we experience be the gratitude of life and love for these divine forces to which we are powerless and humbled.

Take up your bells and mother bata drums and dance.

Canto a Yemayá

Celia Cruz

Ya le recé a xangó
Ya le imploré a oyá
También pedí clemencia a olofín
Y hoy le canto a yemayá
Y oxum caridad del pobre
Yemayá, mi guía espiritual
Virgencita, yo que soy tan pobre
Sólo clamo por la tranquilidad
De mi familia, de mis amigos
Sólo clamo por la tranquilidad
Yemayá, caridad
Sólo clamo por la tranquilidad
Yemayá, virgen maya, yemayá mi caridad
Sólo clamo por la tranquilidad
Yemayá, caridad
Sólo clamo por la tranquilidad
Canté a la caridad
Le canto a yemayá
Pedí clemencia a olofín
Y ahora le imploro a oyá
Yemayá, caridad
Sólo clamo por la tranquilidad
Yemayá, caridad
Sólo clamo por la tranquilidad
Ay, de mi familia y de mis amigos
Sólo clamo por la tranquilidad
Yemayá, caridad
Sólo clamo por la tranquilidad
Ay, de mi país, ay, del mundo entero
Sólo pido paz y tranquilidad
Yemayá, caridad
Sólo clamo por la tranquilidad

My dear Lyell

[…]

What a wonderful case the Bedford case.– Does not the N. American view of warmer or more equable period after great Glacial period become much more probable in Europe?–

But I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything. One lives only to make blunders.– I am going to write a little Book for Murray on orchids & today I hate them worse than everything so farewell & in a sweet frame of mind, I am

Ever yours

C. Darwin

Doodlin

The Autoerotic desert crustacean creature penetrates itself and sneezes the spiderbabies from its nose. A frantic silhouette provides scale perspective.

The Fabulous Ms. LemonLady and her towering lemon cupcake headdress is known for lemon-tipped pasties that reach out to tickle the ears of giant walking phalluses. The effect is not entirely unpleasant.

The Breakup: the boy who wants to be an astronaut to the girl who broke his delusional heart: "I'm going to go into space and tell everyone there that you're a bitch."

The Brilliance of Others

If I can be egotistical about anything, it's how freaking talented the people around me are. Musicians, artists, wordsmiths, they are mythical creatures that exist in a world of extraordinariness I am just lucky enough to stand next to. Here's a few of these examples.

Ms. Sands

This lady Carabella Sands is truly among the faerie people. She evokes whimsy, punctured innocence, devilish obsession with small things. She is my muse, my flame. This is her flickster.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76784199@N05/
 

Then recently, I also was lucky enough to watch my friend record and produce this album by a couple of Aussie-expatriate-turned-Baltimoreans calling themselves Smoke Bellow. Beautiful album.

Smoke Bellow--Old Haunts

Narcissa at the farmer's market

And then just the other day, my newly-Californian Narcissa launched her blog concerning hydroponic sustainable gardening, reasons to run, and advocating food rage. 

Exploring in Paradise


Another friend of mine, Michael Voorhis (not "Matt" as the tag suggests), read from his novel Jaw Pieces on the MICA radio show Sound Curtain. It's beyond extraordinary.

http://soundcloud.com/the-sound-curtain/matt-voorhis-jaw-pieces


 Then, yes, I do actually have an opportunity to self-promote. This isn't a game-changer, this isn't poetry, this is barely even good, but I did read it on Sound Curtain a couple weeks ago. I also read it once at the weekly Artichoke Haircut open mic. It's fun to read.

I'm a slave 4 U

http://soundcloud.com/the-sound-curtain/juliana-converse-good-service

Narcissa may be in a sensory paradise of sun and sand and fresh air, but we've been watching Baltimore experience an artistic renaissance that I venture beats the hell out of our Big Red Delicious Protruding FameRocket TimeWarner Machine.

Listen--look--be inspired.

Long live art for art's sake. 

Goddess

I got a chance to be kind of gawking, awkwardly complimentary of this artist Maria Minerva when I saw her perform at the Depot here in Baltimore. I'd heard her music online and had my own studio apartment solo club bangarang-with-champagne to her latest album Will Happiness Find Me? on Not Not Fun. A great album title, and kind of a perfect artist for me to be obsessed with right now in this particular time in my life. Wanna talk about quarter-life-crises? Me neither. There's a ton of publicity coverage of her and this album--it helps that she's beautiful and also super educated, belied cleverly by her girlish, uncloaked lyrics and penchant for sonic-slapstick, but with textural complexity and melodic simplicity. 

She said she'd just played in New York to like, 5,000 people. In Baltimore at the Metro Gallery she played to about twelve. So I hope she decides to come back, because she's <3ed nbsp="nbsp" p="p">


The Wire: Adventures In Sound And Music: Issues

I was in first grade
we had to make bonnets.
my flowers sucked
They had to hang onto doorknobs
I went home to my grandmother
and hid them in the incinerator.

Buy me presents?

Masticating DemonFunk in the Seventies

FiveMask Prototype video by Mark Brown