Back in Chicago…working on the music room, it is gonna be sweet.
Here are 5 songs I have been thinking about…
Magnolia Sons- Give up the ghost
Drive by Truckers-Outfit
Will Stratton- Night will come
Peter Mulvey- Denver 6AM
Ox- She shot me down

We’re on a famous syllable now:  nefer, the Egyptian word for beautiful or, as in this case, good.  It has sounded down the ages in the names of some of Egypt’s most famous queens: 

Nefertiti, “the beautiful one is come”;

Nefertari, “the most beautiful of them all”. 

So what symbol did the Egyptians choose to represent the sound of good and beautiful?  Have a look and see if you can tell what it is:

Nope?  Give up?  OK, I’ll tell you.  It’s the heart and windpipe, possibly of an ox.  Aaaah, of course!  You’re smacking yourself on the forehead now, aren’t you?  What else would you use to convey the sound for good or beautiful?  Well, I suppose these abstract concepts are hard to draw.  You have to reach for the practical, and the practical can be pretty earthy.  I suppose that, as writing was invented to keep inventories of valuable commodities, the butchered components of an expensive animal like an ox would be something you would want to itemise on a list.  The sound is just a coincidence. When writing is developing beyond the practical to capture abstract qualities, if a symbol already exists for that sound, that’s what you use.  So, they used the heart and windpipe for nefer, meaning good or beautiful.

Or rather, in this case:

The nefer hieroglyph is a triliteral, conveying in one symbol the sound of three consonants:  n, f and r.  The second and third of these letters are written out more fully in other examples:

However, in the case of our offering formula, like nebet in the previous post, the adjective is feminine, to agree with khet, “thing”.  You could put a loaf of bread after it, to stand for the “t” if you wanted, but as it’s a formula and things tend ot get compressed in formulae, the scribe hasn’t bothered in this example.    To draw the nefer sign, I usually start with the downward stroke, loop it around to make a squat little jar shape for it to stand on, cross the upright like a Roman t (I usually cross it twice, as the Egyptians often did, too) and then put in the details on the jar shape:  a little crescent above, and a little loop below.

Here are a couple of examples of the real hieroglyph, one a sculpted relief, the other an inlay in semi-precious stone:

You can see the internal markings of the heart carved into the limestone, but not into the tiny bit of gemstone – too fiddly, perhaps, when you have a lot of them to do.

Again, I did consider putting a picture of a real, gory specimen on the blog – but if you really want to see one, you know where to look.  I’m not squeamish, but I don’t want to put people off.

So, if you fancy one of your colleagues but don’t know how to tell them, you can write the hieroglyph for beautiful on their whiteboard, and take it from there.  Or, if you really loathe them but are forced to write the offering formula on their birthday card because you’ve done it for yourself, you can console yourself that what you’re drawing for them is something really gory.  Fill in those details with relish!

DJ-HERO CONTEST [LINK]

01. Your Father’s Basement // Ola Podrida
02. Phone Don’t Feud // Holiday Shores
03. Ex. OH**** // Ivana XL
04. 1984 // JOhn Martyn
05. I’m Ok You’re Ok // Let’s Wrestle
06. Monoliths // Maserati
07. Pica // Moreno
08. Burn Out // Ox
09. Put Some Love In What You Do // Sky

Meet Ox. I dropped a few lines about these guys yesterday but sometimes people just need a little pushing. HERE is a link to their site where you can listen to them for free. Now, all you have to do is buy their albums, turn them up, be happy, tell your friends, quit your job, and repeat…

Canadian alt-country is how some would describe Ox, I am just going to say they rock it. Check out “She shot me down” and “Miss Idaho”. Click here for a link to their site where you can hear Miss Idaho for free. Not bad huh? Their website here.

Excerpt from interview with Mark Browning of OX:
Hamilton View Weekly: Your lyrics to me always have a pensive, almost serious atmosphere. Can you comment on that?

Mark: i think it depends on the song- Awkward Beauty isnt that way, but, El Camino pt2 is. ‘Dust Bowl Revival’ is pretty much all that way. Lyrics are a bit of a word game to me- one line can be very direct, the next sets an atmosphere. there are lyrics on ‘American Lo Fi’ that are reflective- in that WHAT they say isnt important- but the attitude behind them reflects a state of mind that defines the song and ultimately, the record… Miss Idaho’s ’sick of foo yung and, moo yoo guy pan… restaurants, laundromats… i’m on pawn…’ is that kind of idea. the serious atmosphere stuff is more direct writing- straight from my head. i try to be as direct as possible when i write that way- i’m not very into ‘poetic’ lyrics because i think they’re contrived- people dont talk in clever rhymes etc i dont think anyone is truly reached that way and i dont think that way so, why should my lyrics be that way. i’m not into impressing people with cleverness- i’m just trying to get things out of my head. rock & roll was never meant to be clever, it’s meant to be real. i’m more interested in doing that.

Courtesy of the Toronto Star:

At this clothing store, ox marks the spot; Varanasi shop owner welcomes the presence of blessed, aging animal
Rick Westhead.  Toronto Star.  Toronto, Ont.:Apr 23, 2009.  p. A.10

“Namaste, mind the ox.”

Not the usual greeting a visitor would expect walking into a store on one of the traffic-choked roads near this sacred city’s famous riverfront ghats.

Four years ago, Naveen Chhugani opened a clothing store called Lucknow Chikan House on a narrow, gritty street where he sells shirts and kurtas for 120 to 220 rupees ($3 to $5.50 Canadian). On his first day of business, a red ribbon still stretched across the entrance of the store, an ox wandered in and sprawled out on the cool floor.

It’s come back every day since.

“We call him Nandi Baba, named after Lord Shiva’s ram,” Chhugani said, folding clothes and wiping down an idol of Lord Shiva behind his counter. “I don’t know what we did to deserve this. We’re blessed. We open at 10 every morning, and he’s always there, standing outside, just waiting. It’s a unique thing in all of India.”

Lord Shiva is one of Hinduism’s most revered gods, both a lord of life and a destroyer of life. His bull, Nandi, was a constant companion.

On Sundays, when the store is closed, the ox usually sits on the store’s front steps. Chhugani said he feeds Nandi Baba sweets, barley and vegetables – tomatoes are his favourite. Somehow, the ox knows not to relieve himself inside.

Over the past few years, word of Nandi Baba’s favoured store has spread through Varanasi. Chhugani said tour guides, ferrying both Indian and foreign visitors alike to the turgid waters of the Ganges River for a boat ride, often stop off at the Chikan House first to take pictures of the placid and mangy-looking ox.

As is the case with cows, which typically roam free on streets even in cities like New Delhi, oxen are considered holy in India. But Nandi Baba doesn’t look especially consecrated. His horns look mouldy and his hide is mottled and worn. “I think he’s 14 or 15,” Chhugani said.

“I don’t even want to think about what happens after he dies. I guess we’ll take him down to the Ganges and put him in the river.” The Ganges is Hinduism’s holiest river. It’s considered an honour for Hindus to be cremated at one of the funeral ghats (steps) along the river, their ashes then deposited in the water.

Chhugani has made the ox a part of his business. His invoices, order slips and even his business cards now include photos of Nandi Baba.

Chhugani said no customers have ever been hurt by the ox, and no one has tried to shoo him from the store, especially after an incident with local police a year ago.

A few days before the prime minister was scheduled to arrive in Varanasi on a visit in March 2008, a police officer walking the streets tried to move along a cow that was standing next to a sweet shop, swatting it with his baton. The very next day, the same cow somehow made its way into the police station a block away, ransacking the place.

“It was quite a day,” said Vikram Yadav, a local journalist. “The police were helpless to do anything. It was such close quarters and they couldn’t do anything. They couldn’t shoot it, there would have been a riot. We have learned to live with animals here. It’s a way of life.”

Even in a shop selling saris and kurtas.

It’s pronounced “Gee-Awguh,” and it’s the county that the township of Burton belongs to. (Don’t quote me on the township, Burton may be large enough to be a village. It’s surely not large enough to be a city. But I digress….)

Outside the Apple Butter festival and inside the circle that is the one traffic impediment in downtown Burton, was the Ox cookery. The Ox Grill, the temporary grills set up to cook, what else, Ox. Ox with a capital “O.” The mascot and signpost for this part of the weekend’s festivities was this great Ox, sitting beside the road, glaring at all comers in a particularly inviting ox-like way.

Think of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, or Wild Bill Cody riding a tornado, and you’ll get the feel of the Big Ox of  Geauga County.

I found it especially appealing that it was labeled “Junior Fair,” so the kids are learning early what it means to raise and kill and eat your own meat. This is a good sign for the future of America.

From Aceshowbiz.com:

A few hours before the first volume hit the stores in United States, “Glee: The Music Vol. 2″ is announced coming on December 8. The second installment of tracks featured on the FOX’s musical series “Glee” season 1 will contain 17 tracks like its predecessor.

The tracklisting which has just been released contains both solo and choral covers of popular songs such as Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” and Lily Allen’s “Smile”. There is also another song called “Smile” which is actually a cover of Charlie Chaplin’s classic sung byDianna Agron in the show.

The ensemble piece meanwhile is Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary” which will be performed in the upcoming episode called “Wheels”. Other songs in future episodes are taken from two feature films “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from “DreamGirls” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from “Funny Girl”. The former is sung by Amber Riley while the latter is performed by Lea Michele.

On another news, the singles from the first volume are experiencing chart success with the lead track “Don’t Stop Believing” being certified Gold for selling over 500,000 downloads. Seven songs from “Vol. 1″ in fact are occupying slots in the Top 200 of iTunes Top Songs chart.

Tracklisting of “Glee: the Music Vol. 2″ according to Amazon.com:

1. “Proud Mary”
2. “Endless Love”
3. “I’ll Stand By You”
4. “Don’t Stand So Close To Me”/”Young Girl”
5. “Crush”
6. “(You’re) Having My Baby”
7. “Lean On Me”
8. “Don’t Make Me Over”
9. “Imagine”
10. “True Colors”
11. “Jump”
12. “Smile” (Lily Allen cover)
13. “Smile” (Charlie Chaplin cover)
14. “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”
15. “Don’t Rain On My Parade”
16. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
17. “My Life Would Suck Without You“

Coalesce has been one of those bands that I’ve listened to for years, but all that listening has been via one album that I can’t get tired of:  Functioning On Impatience. They have a decent discography, but I just haven’t been able to move on from that album.  Same thing with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.  Let Love In is one of those albums that hit my ears at just the right time in my life (going into a serious relationship and then getting dumped fucking hard), so it held some precedence in my life for quite some time.  Not until two weeks back or so was I able to jump ship with Murder Ballads.  Holy shit… Nick Cave is a storyteller to say the least.  That man has the ability to weave words with music and it creeps under my skin.  Like telling ghost stories and giving yourself goosebumps, that’s what Murder Ballads has been doing for me.  Let’s bring this around full-circle though.

Coalesce has the OXEP streaming from lambgoat (a great news source on heavier music, but sometimes you gotta sift through garbage soda-drinker bands to find the real meat).  It’s their new EP, which is following up the recent OX full-length that I’ve only put to my ears once – earlier today – and it jammed along just fine.  I gave the EP a run through twice and it seems like I may be making the move onto a new album finally.  The stream is only up for a short while, so don’t be lazy about it because you gotta do this “thing” for a friend, when we all know you’re just gonna get high and whack-it.  It’s obvious.

I found this in a book of illustrations at my buddies place today.  Kris went and saw Where The Wild Things Are at IMAX and apparently got a lot of free swag.  Skinner Davis is the man with the skills here and the work he has up on his site gave me a decent lot of eye-boners.  I’ve always dug bright colors in art, especially neon, dayglo, blacklight bullshit (beginning of Belly is the bees-tits, not knees) so it makes sense why I’d watch Busta Rhymes video for Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See countless times in middle school.  I doubt it had anything to do with the big, busty, bouncy, Black ladies though.  Oh Pam Grier, why won’t you return any of the imaginary phone calls I make to you in my mind.  She’s such a tease.

Shit son, music and art all in one swing.  I’d call that a God damn success in culture if you ask me.  Don’t you feel better about yourself now?  You can pour out all that Tang you’ve been drinking and stop munching on partially cooked fish sticks.  Even though you say, “I don’t mind that it’s cold in the middle,” we all know you’re full of shit.  It’s kinda sad.  You needa’ head down to the corner store and pick yourself up a 40 of Steele Reserve, OJ, and peanut M&M’s.  Now that’s a meal for refined people, which you can now classify yourself into.  Just find a nice stoop to post up on and share what you learned with a stranger or two.  Hell, offer them some of your drink too.  I don’t know anyone that dislikes a good ol’ Brass Monkey.  Except maybe Canadians; they only like the band Rush.

New image in the zodiacs photography contest

or Taurus the Bull. …
Year of the Ox photography picture

It’s November—time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and pilgrims!  Here’s another scene from Two Bad Pilgrims.  This one shows the pilgrims beginning construction of Plymouth Plantation.  The first thing they built was the common house/fort.  This is my thumbnail sketch, 2 inches tall.

One of the great things about being an illustrator is that you’re always learning something.  F’rinstance, to draw this scene of 17th century building construction, I had to find out how those buildings were framed; how a block and tackle works; how an ox yoke is harnessed.  I made several trips to the library and spent some time on the internet.

I show the pilgrims hauling cannon to the upper storey of the fort. 

Art director Jim Hoover and editor Kendra Levin had a team of crack historians fact-checking my sketches.  Turns out the pilgrims didn’t bring any oxen with them on the Mayflower, so I replaced the ox with a group of men when I inked in the drawing.  Too bad; I kind of liked the ox.  The timbers are shaped to form mortise and tenon joints.  That’s an adz lying in the foreground. 

Color indication—

—and colorized final art.

Colorization by Mr Vince Dorse.

THIS RECORD WAS COMPLETED BEFORE EVERYTHING IN THE ECONOMY WENT TO CRAP,” says Coalesce vocalist Sean Ingram, referring to his band’s fourth album (and first since 1999), OX (Relapse). “But it’s interesting, because one of the themes that ended up coming out when I revisited the lyrics was that it’s OK to suffer. People have done a lot worse, so there’s no reason that shouldn’t purify us and reshape our commitment to each other as fellow human beings.”

If this sounds strangely upbeat coming from the man whose legendary art-core band built its reputation on dysfunction, negative energy, and onstage violence, it shouldn’t. With only one member (drummer Nate “Jr.” Richardson) under 30, and 14 kids among them, Coalesce have long since outgrown their wilder years. That doesn’t mean OX is any less unhinged than previous releases, despite its newfound embracing of Old West-informed melodies and clean tones in Ingram’s vocals, Nathan Ellis’ bass lines, and Jes Steineger’s inimitably weird guitar figures. Recorded in stunning detail with longtime producer Ed Rose, OX is every bit the bone-crushing beast its title implies.

“We wanted to name the record like it was its own being,” Ingram explains. “Beast of Burden was the initial idea, and then we thought about what this record sounded like, and it’s just an ox, you know? It’s really powerful.”

Given how often Coalesce have split, reformed, and fallen apart again since forming in 1994, OX also seems a fitting metaphor for the band’s current status, which Ingram describes as stronger than ever. “I’ve never bought into the idea that the best heavy music has to come from dysfunction,” he says. “We’ve lived that dysfunction, and trust me: It’s highly overrated.”

Yoke heavy

Nostrils singeing

In the Sun,

Glistening with fresh

Snotty sweat,

Black with deep flesh.

Track trodden, soft

And stodgy, bouldered

Thickly, sticky stoned.

Stoic foam it drips

And slips from tongue

To lip and lower,

Down, the rim of hairy

Fur, the hoary jaw,

The bull’s sound-

Piece, it grunts.

Loud it feels that

It  could groan but

No, its eyes are down

And grooves

Cut fissures in

The soul as soil

Is churned and

Churned

And churned.

[6^th October]

The original post was publish in French: http://wp.me/ppkTL-1U
It was translated into English with the support of Yahoo Babel Fish.

On the right path, each step is a journey.

The shaman said:
“you must not eat cow’s meat … Think of the ox. A strong, handsome animal. He helps man in the fields and on the road. To eat him you must kill him. That meat enters into you and turns you, too, into a murderer.”
(1) A Fortune – Teller Told Me, Tiziano Terzani, Flamingo 1998

I decided, a few years ago, not to consume Bovine meat anymore. No justification or explanation of this choice is needed as it was not founded on a dogma nor is it an indoctrination, nothing esoteric, but a banal personal reflexion. In spite of its limited practical impact it is a positive intention and, “on the right path, each step is a journey”.

The year of the ox (2) gives me the opportunity to make an apologia of this symbolic animal and to demystify my resolution. It was not without consequences on my entourage. My friends were  amused and adapted, in my presence, some gastronomical practices, even the selection of some restaurants. They accepted this change without skepticism, mocking remarks or proselytism.

My determination goes back to a time with a widespread epidemic of  the “mad cow” disease. There was no relation for me to this epizooty, however, fear to contract the Creutzfeldt-Jakob illness was an acceptable “à priori” for giving up eating ox. Personally, I was geographically far away and not sensitive to sanitary arguments about the devastations of a disease having particularly touched the United Kingdom.

A posteriori, I discover many arguments speaking in favor of a reduction in meat consumption globally. These elements, however, were not part of my decision at that time, as it was only based on a daily life’s anecdote.

When traveling the countryside of Thailand, I often stop my motor bike to appreciate and photograph the rice plantations with there random patches, delicate color shades, reflections and undulations who never fail to fill me with admiration. Everywhere, busy families of peasants punctuate the landscape with their indigo colored costumes. Now and then, small huts with thatched roofs of broad foliages, offer a precarious shelter to rest and eat. Strangers passing-by are greeted with broad smiles and any question related to the meal will immediately trigger a proposition to share it. Knowing the fondness of farmers to consume all kinds of animal proteins, from the more crawling to everything winged and flying, I generally avoid to accept this charming custom. It is then enough to tap its belly to signify that one just leaves table and is already “full”.

Without going as far as tasting the food, I am always interested to know about the the contents of the dishes. Traditionally, meals were wrapped in banana leaves, modernism has often replaced them with plastic bags. A merry hubbub introduces me to the delicacies of the day and the alternatives seasonally available according to the success of huntings and harvesting.

Communication is done with laughter and conspirator’s onomatopoeias, punctuated by the questions: “can you eat this?”. With some practice, everything can be eaten. Rodents, inhabitant of the rice plantations, and many kind of insects are delicacies. If a little money is available, poultry, ducks, pigs and shrimps will  enhance the daily repast. Pointing toward a beast of burden, I get reprobative pouts. No! Not the ox, it is a sin, this animal has value, he brings us his assistance in the fields and on the roads.

In the West, we do not consume our pets, dogs and cats are saved from butchers, sometimes even the rabbits, tortoises and other playmates. An Asian farmer can have similar feelings towards its work companions. His respect of the buffalo, the cow and other bovine family members combines a practical and a sentimental value. It is not only founded on the teaching of the Buddha (3), which protects any living being, but a personal conviction anchored in the heart of many peasants.

This attitude seduced me and I adopted it. This is not a crucial renunciation, however no stone is too small to build a road, no contribution is unimportant if the intention is positive, “on the right path, each step is a journey”.

Later on, some research and readings devoted to the environment reinforced my conviction about the adequacy of my choice. Beef has a low conversion efficiency of feed to meat proteins. The process is also intensive in water consumption and the extension of bovine breeding has catastrophic effects in certain countries. In Brazil, it contributes largely to the destruction of the Amazon forest (4,5). Perhaps more humorous, a serious study of the Australien government recommends the replacement of beef by the meat of kangaroos. The bovine emit significant amounts of methane, a polluting gas for the atmosphere (6).

Recently, the film “Home” of Yann Arthus-Bertrand (7) highlighted, for a large public, the harmful effects of certain excesses. Among the quoted examples were the consumption of 30′ 000 liters of water wasted for the production of one kilo of beef, and the use of half of cereals marketed in the world for animal food and the production of fuel.

Finally, it is also necessary to distinguish the religious interdicts, in particular in hinduism. The backgrounds are similar as the cow was protected by the Brahmans for his utility and its symbol as a source of life. It became thus taboo to kill this animal. The farmers, on the other hand, do not act because of a prohibition but through compassion.

This approach allured me some years ago. It was of course a very small step. Becoming totally vegetarian would probably be much better … and, why not?

——————————————

(1)  A Fortune – Teller Told Me, Tiziano Terzani, Flamingo 1998

(2)  A New Chinese year began on January 26, 2009 and finishes on February 13, 2010. This year is placed under the sign of the buffalo (or ox),  one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac.

(3) This attitude is not ordered by Buddhism which prohibits to kill, but not to consume the majority of the meats, if the animal was not killed specifically to be offered as a meal to the monk.

(4) Three or four reasons why eating beef might become the subject of open social disapproval:
its highly energy-intensive (the energy required to produce one kilogram on a table in the UK is among the highest for any foodstuff) its water consumption is big (instant data from Fred Pearce’s book: 11,000 litres “to grow the feed for enough cow to make a quarter pound [100g] hamburger” – compared with 500 litres for a kilo of potatoes) commercial beef ranching creates a monoculture – and can even lead to desertification of the area.
http://thenextwavefutures.wordpress.com/
http://thenextwavefutures.wordpress.com/2007/05/24/beef-starting-on-the-road-to-disapproval/ (accessed in September 2009)

(5) The past three years have been the most destructive in the Brazilian Amazon’s history. In 2004 26,000 sq km of rainforest were burned: the second- highest rate on record. This year could be worse. And most of it is driven by cattle ranching.
George Monbiot The Guardian, Tuesday October 18 2005

(6) Professor Ross Garnaut, the man asked by the Federal Government to help save the planet and reduce the impact of climate change, has published a 620-page report, which forecast higher electricity, gas, food and petrol prices for us all, predicted that unless a way is found to reduce livestock methane emissions, that iconic Australian animal, the kangaroo, could become a regular feature on our dinner plates.
Garnaut warned that food prices will rise to a point where households will move away from traditional beef and lamb, eat more chicken and pork and re-runs of Skippy will start being shown on the Food Channel.
There are an estimated 1.5 billion cattle on the planet, their four-chamber, bacteria-filled guts generating more than 100 million tonnes of methane, about 20 per cent of the emissions thought to be contributing to global warming.

Kangaroos, apparently, are far more polite dinner guests. “Australian marsupials emit negligible amounts of methane from enteric fermentation,” wrote Garnaut, who added that scientific modelling shows the potential for big reductions in our sheep and cattle numbers. These could be replaced at the same time by expanding the present population of kangaroos from 34 million to 240 million within 12 years.
http://www.garnautreview.org.au/chp24.htm
http://www.garnautreview.org.au/domino/Web_Notes/Garnaut/garnautweb.nsf
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/roo-not-for-our-bland-palates/story-e6frezz0-1111117646351
(accessed in September 2009)

(7) “Home” Yann Arthus-Bertrand, June 5, 2009 . Movie presentented worldwide, on multiple media, for the World Environment day.

I need new post titles. Agree/disagree? What’s important is that today I did all of my news writing from the comfort of my home and was infinitely more productive than I usually am at the office. I’ll chalk it up to the fact that my editor sent me all my story leads in one go, rather than every hour or so. And I was very very motivated about the prospect of having thai food for lunch for the millionth time in the past week (note: exaggeration).

A lot of what I wrote today is in the vein of touring/album release information. I am hoping that soon I’ll be able to write more substantial pieces; I almost am wondering where my M.I.A piece on The Swell Season, and the new YSP!WSD! album are. Hmmmm. Oh, and today I saw Moby on the street.

Pointed Sticks Releasing Long Awaited Album

Ox Tour in Support of New Album

Arkells Announce National Tour

Hugh Dillon Sets Album Release Date

Weezer + Lil’ Wayne=Rad

The album cover is provided here, and the review is actually in video form this time. I apologize for the sound cutting out here and there.  The songs I mentioned at first were the songs “Burnout”, “Prom Queen” and “Unknown Legend”, I think that may have been a little unclear. Hope this is alright for everyone!