One Only

[RandomAnthony]

Ok, you said, "or", right? Can I cheat and pick one of each...writer, musican, AND artist, or am I constricted by the "or"? I'm just trying to learn the rules, Donald, before I break them:) I know the thread names is "one only" but I'm just making sure...and wishful thinking...

[RandomAnthony]

Thanks, Donald!:) Ok, I'm going to start with an author. I love introducing people to Haruki Murakami. He's such a brilliant writer...he has such a unique style...and I never tire of reading his work. "A Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" was one of the best books I've ever read, period. I also don't think he's very popular in the states, although "Kafka On the Shore" raised his profile some. Hell, writing about him here makes me want to go read some Murakami right now.

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

Based purely on that recommendation RA I'm going to read one of his books next. I'd be thrilled to discover another amazing writer who could move me.

Artist: Vincent Van Gogh

He was mad, but that madness I think came from his willingness to dance at the skittering edge of reality where chaos begins. He was tapped into something that mainstream consciousness only began to uncover in the mid 20th Century. His Starry Night was an artistic representation of quantum physics. I think he saw the world as it really is... smeared together and interacting and exploding with energy. Patterns on the skin, patterns in the sky, patterns everywhere. Organic. Intense. To stand in front of his paintings is like being socked in the face repeatedly. You might be dizzy for a while. You might never be the same again.

Poet: e e cummings

He took apart language and sewed it back together by hand into little tattered treasures which were always surprising, fresh, and dove to the heart of the matter like a steel tipped arrow. He was silly, which I adore, yet at the same time would turn over a phrase to something dark beneath within the space of a heart beat. He loved purely. He kissed the sky. He laughed his way out of this world into the next and left a trail of breadcrumbs behind for us to follow.

Musician: Patti Griffin

I have fallen in love with my last singer-songwriter. Not only are her musical structures interesting and complex, her lyrics follow suit and also stitch together small town scenes and ideas that blanket perhaps all of human nature. Really, she tears open my heart every time I hear her songs. Not every song is a jewel, but the ones that are hold me riveted every single time. I have always had a thing for singer songwriters. She is the pinnacle for me. I wait patiently for her next release.

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

nice vid Koe. I've always liked emmy lou and shaun colvin as well. I got tired of both of them eventually... but patty griffin has held up. I'm careful not to listen to her too much though... I don;t want to wear her out too. I want each time I listen to be like the first time.

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

I like this song of hers Koe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFbjE7...

the video is kinda lame... but I love that song.

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

Tracy... I like the early Sparks a lot! What a couple of complete freaks!!! Reminds me of some of the Talking Heads stuff, who are one of my fav all time bands.

The later Sparks was too repetitive for me. I couldn't make it through the whole song. It just made me want to stab myself. But the images on the screen in the background were really cool. I like their performance art approach to their show.

Thanks!

[J]

Perfect descriptions of Van Gogh and Cummings, Charissa. I'm still thinking. Meanwhile I've got all these links to enjoy.

[Jillian]

Chris Aaron Band

[RandomAnthony]

I love cummings...

Sparks, I haven't heard them in a loonnnnng time.

Although I've mentioned them here before, I'd go with eels for music. They're a brilliant band that seem to be bubbling just under popularity for a long time. They're much bigger in Europe. E, their leader (and well, he's really the eels along with a rotating cast of sidemen) writes some of the most honest, inventive music I've ever heard. It's hard to draw comparisons...seriously. I don't even want to try. If you want a mix CD send me a message and I'll send one your way.

Art...Odilion Redon, definitely. I suppose art people (I'm looking at you, J:) have heard of him, but I don't think he's anywhere near the mainstream. I suppose you could compare him to Magritte and some of his ilk but he's way deeper, in my eyes, than Magritte or Dali or anyone like that.

[J]

Actually, the only thing I could recall about Redon was his being French. So of course I went and looked him up. Bizarre. In a very cool way. I agree with the comparison to Magritte and Dali and Cyclops is one of my new favorite paintings. Thanks!

I still have no - was it favorite or obscure or both? - writer, musician, artist to share. I'm too busy checking out all of yours.

[Sheila]

Since Anthony already mentioned the eels, I really am bound by personal honor to mention my other musical guiding lights - the Barenaked Ladies.

I always hesitate to speak of them openly simply because they've been perceived by the public for so long as pop, novelty, comedy and so forth. And so they are - their live shows are always hilarious. But they are so much more than that.
The songwriting duo of Steven Page and Ed Robertson always manages to combine pith and pathos seamlessly into almost every song.

I love eels because I admire so much E's honesty and coherence (and inventiveness) in creating music about his experiences and observations.

I love Barenaked Ladies for their honesty and coherence in creating music about my own, if that makes sense.

Their music just feels that personal to me.

[Meels]

This idea if choosing one and only one of anything is a virtual impossibility for me. I mean, what I might choose today would be completely different next week! Take music for example, it so depends on my mood. I could say Nina Simone today, then next week I just want some good old John Denver (yes people, I said John Denver and screw you...he was the shit!) and the next some Poison Idea. It's all cyclical and comes around again eventually. The Who phase, The Breeders phase, Queen - hello, Queen is amazing! What sick, mean, bastard would try to make me choose just one? Oh, yeah, Donald did...

[Meels]

Poison Idea has a song called "Amy" you know! :)

[Sarah]

OK, this isn't really my "one and only" because I can never really pick favorites in any of these 3 categories. But, whatever.

Musician: The Shins - Just plain fun, indie rock at its best.

Writer: Jasper Fforde - Absolutely brilliant. Master of wordplay. So creative.

Artist: Barrett Manning - A very good friend of mine so I like to be supportive.

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

Sarah... I love the shit eating grin your friend Barrett has in his picture. And nice art work too! I'd buy a piece of it. Does his work hang somewhere I could drive to?

King... I'm... deeply moved by your obvious mental disorder. We can raised funds. I promise.

Amy... I totally know what you mean. I tried to pick some things that seemed solid... but later in the day I swear I broke out in a cold sweat over my choices. Oh god, I thought, they aren't obscure enough!! What if next year I can't stand Patty Griffin? What if I wake up one day and Van Gogh no longer moves me?

Then I thought... shit... get a hold of yourself woman! It's a fucking book blog!! Seriously...

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

Boris? As in Boris and Natasha? As is Moose and Squirrel? Dude, if that's the Boris you're referring to, I'm totally there. ::::gets popcorn and sits with her nose almost touching the tiny black and white screen watching Fractured Fairytales:::::

[[deleted user]]

i really need to do something else
but for now
music
Ralph Stanley-bluegrass-not obscure but
Elvin Bishop-"I'm goining fishin"-70's session player? a couple solo albums musicians musician
Brothers Johnson-70's funk
James Gang-but again not obscure
Jonathan Edwards-not really folk
Dickey Betts-orange blossom special-again not obscure
and arlo and woody guthrie
...these are all pretty much 50's to 70's

[Sarah]

Charissa, well I have 3 pieces in my home. You should come up for Second Saturday one month when he's doing a show. Also some of his work is at a boutique in Sacramento. He rotates where he shows it. He just ended a two month deal with these really upscale lofts that are being built. His stuff was in one of the models.

[Sarah]

Actually my real "One and Only" band that I'd love to introduce everyone to is a New Orleans brass funk/rock/jazz band called Bonerama.

http://www.myspace.com/bonerama

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

Well King, I certainly don't want to be associated with the second meanest man in the world. If I'm gonna be a badass I want to run around with the first meanest man in the world... Ouchy the Clown

http://www.ouchytheclown.com/prodom.s...

[Paul]

I will have to actually read all your lively comments and make up some ribald ripostes, but while I am doing that, in the spirit of Donald's original question, which was, what completely obscure artifacts would you like to FOIST upon your friends until their eyes smart, I'll choose two movies, one musician and an album to begin with. The movies are Goto Island of Love by Walarian Borowczyk and Bad Boy Bubby by Rolf de Heer. These are strange but yet ultimately very strange movies. The musician is John Fahey, who should be famous but apparently isn't. Solo acoustic guitar. The album is Sophie and Peter Johnston, which has been unavailable since around 1986, the year it was released. 12 sparkling perfect pop songs by a teenage brother and sister. S&PJ's album was so obscure even their parents hadn't heard of it. I think I was one of only 7 people who bought it. The cover of the LP is also a work of pop art

http://rateyourmusic.com/misc/link_im...

which I've stuck on my wall next to the sleeve of Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me by The Cure (an album of fairly poor music, but a beautiful cover). Enough rambling, must get back to work.

[Paul]

Okay, only one obscure single.... it has to be Baby Oh Baby by The Shells. You'll all think it's crap but it's...not

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5dHSK...

And Charissa you can't have Vincent van Gogh, how much LESS obscure can a painter be, he got a Number One song in 1972! I like to go to London and gaze upon the many VVGs hanging in the National and Courtaulds but better I like Seurat who was also mad but kept it together a bit better. And Tracy, Sparks are famous, always have been. I especially like Falling in Love with Myself Again ("I bring home the bacon, I eat it myself, here's to my health, hope that I am doing well") and Looks Looks Looks ("From the eye to the brain's just an inch or two, from the eye to the heart's only slightly farther") and their masterpiece Miss the Start, Miss the End, concerning which I'd like to write a small essay. Or maybe Sparks are only famous in my house. I get to think that all my favourite musicians are famous but I could be wrong. That's why I didn't choose Dan Hicks, Lee Scratch Perry or Kate & Anna McGarrigle. For an obscure artist what about Joseph Beuys, y'all know him?

http://www.genetologisch-onderzoek.nl...

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

Ah King... then you know about his true evilness. There is nothing more foul on this earth, is there not???

Paul... yes... if you will scroll up later you will see how I was tortured by that very fact after I had written it. How can one choose to foist only ONE thing upon one's friends and acquaintances? Regret always will follow for me. I'm going to have to dig deep for something truly obscure. But dude... the McGarrigle sisters are hardly obscure. One is Rufus Wainwright's mother for goodness sake. And Dan Hicks? Old news. I saw him three or four times in the early nineties. He made western swing actually cool for me, which was no mean feat at the time. Come on... I know you can get more obscure than that.

[Sarah]

Seurat's not obscure either. He had a Broadway show written about him!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_i...

[J]

This is too hard. For one thing my tastes cover too broad a spectrum. Would I share Old Crow Medicine Show with you

http://www.crowmedicine.com/media/vid...

or Scott Matthews?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49FqiJ...

Depends on the day. Maybe something else entirely. The other thing is that I'm so very much in my own little world I don't know what's obscure. I never listen to the radio. Maybe they're playing Old Crow Medicine Show all day long and I don't even know it. Are they?

[RandomAnthony]

No, I don't think they are, J, but I like Old Crow Medicine Show, esp. the OCMS album with "Wagon Wheel."

I should mention Stars of the Lid, too, a fantastic ambient/noise duo...."The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid" is one of my favorite albums ever. They're touring American in April...I'm going to see them in Chicago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_of...

[J]

Wagon Wheel is my fave with Tell It To Me a close second. I don't know about this Stars of the Lid though. It says something about "nocturnal lullabye". Will it put my kids to sleep?

[RandomAnthony]

If your kids fell asleep to SOTL, J, they might have nightmares.

My nine year old does a great imitation, though, in which he makes droning noises, stops, and makes droning noises again. He hates them. If you like Brian Eno, Aphex Twin, etc., you'd probably like Stars of the Lid.

Here's a youtube clip of one of my favorite SOTL songs...I think fans did the video, so you can tune that out, but listen to the music.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4vlZvBYW7ns

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

I want to know what is more important in this exercize Donald... obscurity or our passionate experience of the artist in question?

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

cool. Then I won't worry about my choices. They are, in fact, my deepest passions in those genres that have stood the test of time.

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

Anthony... SOTL is very Eno-esque. I think somebody likes the loop machine. Since I had read the story about your son doing an imitation of them it was all I could think of while I watched the video so mostly I just giggled through it.

King... I just want to say that I apologize for ranking on your Patches man. I'm a cruel and shallow woman. And, well... clowns are an easy target. Lord know where I would be if it weren't for the hours and hours of Joan Baez and Peter Paul and Mary I listed to on headphones to get through my miserable and fucked up childhood. And there's hardly anyone who deserved to be mocked more than Joan Baez. So, you know, glass houses and all that.

That being said... nothin up my sleeve... Presto!

[Charissa, That's Ms. Obnoxious Twat to You.]

:::sings::::

where have all the flowers gone... long time passing....

kumbaya my lord.... kumbaya.....

bangladesh.... bangladesh.....

Heh. Wow... no wonder I'm groove challenged. I was poisoned with folk music at a very young age.

[Paul]

Hey hmm cmon, I thought Goto Island of Love, Baby oh Baby and Sophie and Peter Johnston were pretty obscure. I forgot about the Seurat musical but I don't think it troubled Andrew Lloyd Webber. Is Joseph beuys a household name now? If so things are looking up.

[Sarah]

Andrew Lloyd Webber?? Sunday in the Park is Sondheim, my friend.

[[deleted user]]

appropos of nothing
brattlhell
have ya been there?
it has the weirdest feeling of any town i've ever been in
the mountains are oppressive

but a book set in vermont
could be cool