Zuihitsu

[stilltrucking]

If Henry Miller was an elephant

Only gradually and sparingly does Miller reveal his intense romanticism, universalist mysticism and devout humanism. Ten pages into "Cancer", for example, he tells of a Jew in a lion cage without a gun trying to explain Spinoza to the lions, essentially a parable predicting the Holocaust.

https://cinesourcemagazine.com/index.ph ... ry_miller/

[the mingo]

Thx, Jack.

[sasha]

Been listening to a lot of Alan Hovhaness lately. I first heard him about 25 yrs ago, when my NPR station honored his passing by playing selections from his catalogue. I liked what I heard - contemporary classical (oxymoron?) in the romantic tradition, but without the melodrama. Introspective, but neither saccharine nor despairing. No "woe is me" or "oh Elspeth, how I love thee!".

Some of his symphonies do lean towards the traditional, but others convey an other-worldly, ethereal spirituality, not unlike some of George Crumb's work, but more accessible, less dissonant - certainly less disturbingly alien than Stockhausen or Xenakis (all of whom I admire nonetheless). Minor chords & scales reminiscent of Middle Eastern music, exotic instruments like the gamelan. I expect I'll be binging on him for a while - "Celestial Gate", "Spirit of the Trees", & "Vision of Andromeda" each need a 2nd & 3rd look - er, listen. Whatever.

100 days since Oct 7. Farewell, Judih. You & Gadi deserved so much more, but I suppose it's better that you're still together. Studio8 & ArcanumCafe are still quiet - like those mourners assembled at the funeral home who've momentarily run out of things to say. They won't be the same without you.

Cold out there today. A beautiful sun low in a beautiful blue sky, but cold. Damned cold.