Miscellany

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August 8, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Bring Concert Films Back To the Big Screen

Going to the movies these days – the return to cinema – is a little like going to a concert. Certain screenings anyway. Recenty, I was at The Roxy for one of their fun, retro screenings. This time it was Army of Darkness. And it was beautiful. Such a funny film, all those great one-liners. And just action from the start. Also, a knowing audience – applauding and laughing throughout. A big ovation to conclude. It was the best.

I’m wondering when classic concert films might return to the big screen. I feel more interested in that option than an actual gig these days. Okay, maybe that’s not quite true, but there are a handful of concert films that I could watch again and again – that I have already watched again and again – Pink Floyd’s Delicate Sound of Thunder (and Pulse and Live at Pompeii), Jimi Plays Monterey, The Last Waltz, Stop Making Sense… Read More »

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August 7, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Repeat

I didn’t expect to be listening
to Moby in 2022. But then again,
when I was listening to Moby
in 1999, I probably didn’t quite
imagine being alive still 23 years on.

So much was happening. And not
much of it was good. And then there
was the first real threat of the end of
the world. The computers were going
to turn off and we wouldn’t be able
to fill up our cars.

We survived that of course – now we
can’t ever seem to turn our fucking
computers off and can barely afford to
fill up our cars. And Moby cancelled
himself a couple of years ago by being
a perv and a creep in his book; by claiming
he dated a famous person when he was

only really staring out the window at her,
and also she would have been underage. It
was hella creepy man. Big time suss. But
back in 1999 I thought ‘Play’ was the greatest
thing ever. It was a revelation to hear those
old blues samples, to know they’d been lifted,
but to see it as shining a light; to start hearing
those versions everywhere – in movies and on TV.

Moby was unlistenable for a whole lot longer
than he was ever listenable – for me. Until
just recently. I’ve started in on the whole catalogue.
I’m stripping the baggage. Because I’m still here
and so is his music. And some of it manages to
make more sense now – he gave a heart and soul
to electronica; his strange, sad way with a synth line
or little trinkle of piano – it’s uplifting still, it’s
anthemic. He’s still here. And I am too.

And this probably sounds like the struggles of two
privileged white men – and maybe that’s exactly
what it is. But I can’t be anyone different from who
and what I am. (Though I doubt I’ve given it much
of a go). I just find that life goes in circles – and it’s
best to enjoy that, not fight it. So right now, I bargain-bin
hunt for Moby CDs. And it’s much easier to not be
disappointed than it is to feel wound up and hurt and
wounded over nothing. And the best of his music
still hits me somewhere deep.

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August 6, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

A Very Benign And In-Character Midlife Crisis: I’m Back Buying CDs

But it is only a very specific type and only at a set price.

I won’t pay more than $5 for a CD.  (Well, sometimes rules are made to be broken). And I am basically only buying soundtrack albums, instrumental scores. Well, I’ve busted outside of the lines a few times, but it’s the same wheelhouse. A couple of ambient compilations. A couple of Enya albums (because I love her music!) and some classical. I have to remind myself that I’m not allowed to buy things for the sake of buying them and so I’ve made these tram-lines for the burgeoning CD collection. Read More »

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August 4, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Too Much Tumult

Nobody trusts anyone
now, and we are all very
tired. There is a long road

for return, but anyone even
bothering to venture down
will do so in the back seat

of an Uber, scrolling vacuously
deep on a phone they’re still
paying off each month.

We were hurtling here before
the hurtle; we were hurtled here
through too much hurting and

too many people with their
eyes on a phone rather than
on any of the roads ahead.

Nobody trusts anyone. Everyone
is tired, the road is too long and
our eyes will remain elsewhere.

Archive

August 2, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Remembering When The Ultimate Warrior Wrote Me A Christmas Card

I loved the Ultimate Warrior. And yet I can’t ever feel completely satisfied with that one sentence. It’s the love of guilty pleasure and therefore needs justification. It is like saying, hypothetically, “I love Kylie Minogue’s Greatest Hits” – or “I really like The Spice Girls Movie”.

But just as it could be suggested that Kylie’s greatest hits album shows a transition from a girl-next-door pop wannabe to a sophisticated dance-pop entertainer (not that I’ve listened to it) or that The Spice Girls’ movie Spice World could indeed mark a return to the Beatlemania-derived school of fan-fetish film-making – and a superbly over-the-top performance from Richard E. Grant (not that I’ve actually seen it) it can be said that The Ultimate Warrior was one of professional wrestling’s greatest characters-turned-caricature (and this is where I have to admit that I have seen him). Read More »

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August 2, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Re-Watching Heat

Michael Mann only makes great movies,
provided you only count the very best

and who wants to rewatch Public Enemies
or Ali, and why bother anyway when

there’s Thief and Manhunter, The Insider
and Heat – that right there is the rollcall;

that’s better than many could ever manage.
So I’m watching Heat, for the first time in

15-20 years. I still remember that Sunday
night when a group of us rushed to that

giant big screen, to drink in nearly three hours
of Al Pacino talking loud and Robert DeNiro

saying next to nothing. And it’s got that
stacked cast of greats helping to carry the

weight of it all. I saw the film again at least
one other time, and bits and pieces from it

have always been on my radar, many of them
sitting deep inside my mind, some of them feel

quite close to my heart. That’s how it is with
the best movie art. You hold on to it as best

you can, know you can get back to it as soon
as you must. I bought a copy of Heat on DVD

just last week. Had to have it. Had to hold it.
Had to do more than just watch it. Had to own it.

Archive

August 2, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

#NewFoundPoems

I found some old books on the shelf – very old books, 10c finds from Church fairs from years and years ago. I started scratching out certain words to make new poems. It was fun. Doing it on the fly. One take. If I scratched too far – or took out the wrong word – it was ruined. Instantly. Line by line. Each one a stupid experiment carrying a strange secret thrill. Each one a rude transmogrification of someone else’s grit and sweat and soul.

I’m not sure they ever worked – at all. But I was proud of some of them in the moment. Or more so, amused. I Tweeted them out to no reply. I shared them on Instagram – and possibly Facebook (I can’t remember, I’m gone from there now, but no doubt I did). And that was it. No real commentary. No real reason for doing any of it. But a bit of fun. It kept my mind limber when I first gave up drinking. That’s how I remember it.

*********************************************************************************************

I’ll share a few of them here. Maybe I’ll pick out some more one day. Share a few more. Maybe not.

 

 

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August 1, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Isn’t Music The Best? Oh, And How Good Are Rhetorical Questions By The Way?

Hey there, and guess what? I found – on vinyl! – (I always hear that in the voice from Half Baked when they say, “on weed!”) the score to Twin Peaks. I consider this a holy grail, basically. I am so thrilled to have this. I didn’t have time to sit and listen to it – on vinyl – until after my holiday. But I played a digital copy of it on my headphones for the flight. In anticipation. Since I’ve been back it’s all I’ve been playing. Well, that’s not quite true, but it’s been on high rotate.

Here’s a really weird confession: right now I am listening to the soundtrack to The Bodyguard. Weird, because a) it’s true, b) I’ve never heard it at all before, all I know from it is Whitney’s cover of the Dolly Parton classic and c) I have never seen the film. I bought this (on CD) for $1. And no, I didn’t need it. But I’m just in that deep with this soundtrack thing… Read More »

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July 31, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Process/ing

so
so many
so many times
so many times I’ve
so many times I’ve started
so many times I’ve started a
so many times I’ve started a poem
so many times I’ve started a poem over
(and over)        I’ve started a poem over and
(over)              I’ve started a poem over and over
(and over again) (and again) (and again) (and again)

and

so
so many
so many times
so many times I’ll
so many times I’ll do
so many times I’ll do it
so many times I’ll do it again
(and again)      I’ll do it again and again
(and again and again and again and again and again)

Archive

July 29, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

My New Single Is Available Now – Second Storey Teller: Have You Ever Been Experienced?

My second single is available for free/pay what you like over on Bandcamp. It’s called Have You Ever Been Experienced? 

This is part of the soft-launch of my spoken-word+beats side-hustle which is a lark that I’m loving. Earlier in the month I released my first full album, Everybody Wants To Fool The World. But Experienced is not part of that album. It’s a standalone single. Read More »

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