land between two rivers

the books of anselm kiefer 1969-1990 - george braziller - 1990/1991

was finally able to acquire a copy of the good book (the book of books), though it cost me a weeks pay.
first checked this book out of the massart library as a wee lad, such an influence the good book has had on my life......

some titles
- the heavens
- barren landscapes
- marble landscapes
- shards
- the burning of the rural district of buchen
- piet mondrian - operation "sea lion"
- brandenburg sand
- teutoburg forest
- midsummer's night
- trip through the country
- the rhine
- isis and osiris
- heavy water
- way across the red sea
- through the center of the earth
- the night, when isis weeps
- birth of the sun
- shulamith

october song

requiescat in pace
some albums i enjoy

- bill dixon / archie shepp - bill dixon / archie shepp - savoy - 1964
- cecil taylor - conquistador! - blue note - 1966
- bill dixon - intents and purposes - rca - 1967
- the marzette watts ensemble - the marzette watts ensemble - savoy - 1969
- bill dixon / franz koglmann / steve lacy - opium - between the lines - 1973-1976/2001
- bill dixon - bill dixon in italy volume one - soul note - 1980
- bill dixon - bill dixon in italy volume two - soul note - 1981
- bill dixon - november 1981 - soul note - 1982
- bill dixon - thoughts - soul note - 1985
- bill dixon - son of sisyphus - soul note - 1990
- bill dixon - vade mecum i - soul note - 1993
- bill dixon - vade mecum ii - soul note - 1996
- tony oxley - the enchanted messenger: live from berlin jazz festival - soul note - 1996
- bill dixon & tony oxley - papyrus - volume i - soul note - 1999
- bill dixon & tony oxley - papyrus - volume ii - soul note - 1999
- bill dixon - odyssey: solo works - s/r - 2001
- cecil taylor / bill dixon / tony oxley - s/t - victo - 2002

suspended far up in the sky (distant melodies)

eeaoa033 *

eeaoa031 *

we stood there, listening attentively together. at first i heard only the deep note of the water and the hissings rising from its turbulent surface. the willows, for once, were motionless and silent. then a sound like the humming of a distant gong. it seemed to come across to us in the darkness from the waste of swamps and willows opposite. it was repeated at regular intervals, but it was certainly neither the sound of a bell nor the hooting of a distant steamer. i can liken it to nothing so much as to the sound of an immense gong, suspended far up in the sky, repeating incessantly its muffled metallic note, soft and musical, as it was repeatedly struck. my heart quickened as i listened.

text from the willows, images from 2 new elevator bath recordings, one by keith berry and the other by matt shoemaker, both containing ancient sounds that "seem to increase with the darkness".

the glorification of passive

...in the canonical life of st. sergey is that of the bear that emerged from the woods to come face~to~face with the saint. subdued by the sanctity of the holy man, the animal peacefully accepted some of the bread and water that was st. sergey's only nourishment, returning each subsequent day to share this frugal meal. this friendship between the beast and the saint is depicted among the frescoes on the entrance tower to the monastery, and dostoevsky as a child must have seen it many times.

these stories of the lives of the saints were deeply steeped in the special spirit of russian kenoticism - the glorification of passive, completely nonheroic and nonresisting suffering, the suffering of the despised and humiliated christ - that is so remarkable a feature of the russian religious tradition.... the admiration of the russian common people for "the spirit of asceticism and renunciation, the love of poverty, the craving for self~sacrifice and self~mortification".

pages 26 & 27 from joseph frank's dostoevsky: a writer of his time
images - antonella da messina - st jerome with his friend the lion plus detail

music of the spheres

parched with thirst, i crossed
an endless desert sunk in gloom,
and a six-winged seraph * came
where the tracks met and i stood lost.
fingers light as dream he laid
upon my lids; i opened wide
my eagle eyes, and gazed around.
he laid his fingers on my ears
and they were filled with roaring sound:
i heard the music of the spheres,
the flight of angels through the skies,
the beasts that crept beneath the sea,
the heady uprush of the vine....

from a.s. pushkin's the prophet
found in joseph frank's book dostoevsky: a writer in his time

darkness moves

gestures rather than signs
departures

awakening
further awakenings

stroke by stroke

approach, explore stroke by stroke
land stroke by stroke

spread out
transform stroke by stroke

give rise to erect
release stroke by stroke


(text from henri michaux's stroke by stroke [1984] - archipelago books - 2006)
(image found by scrubbing around on quicktime file of leo mccarey's ruggles of red gap - 1935)

the lusty men

abstraction found in nicholas ray's the lusty men - 1952
from the perspective of the bull rider
slowed down to 50% and looped a few times