We cannot know his legendary head with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso is still suffused with brilliance from inside, like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
gleams in all its power. Otherwise the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could a smile run through the placid hips and thighs to that dark center where procreation flared.
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur:
would not, from all the borders of itself, burst like a star: for here there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life.
It's growing on me. When I first listened last night, I found it a bit too slow, but it doesn't feel so much that way now. The intriguing ensemble includes, along with Bragg and other notables, folk icon Martin Carthy and his daughter, fiddler Eliza Carthy, not to mention Paul Weller. The idea of approaching traditional music from a contemporary blend of styles and instruments drawn from the musics of modern Britain's many cultural groups certainly delivers a rich, if sometimes sonorous, sound. One request: if Bragg isn't going to play, at least let him hold a guitar--he has no idea what to with his hands.
The Imagined Village project certainly blends well with Bragg's current interest in what constitutes an English identity today, a topic about which he's written and even devoted most of an album. I didn't find that record very successful as music, unfortunately, though I look forward to reading the book. I do wonder what Bragg and Weller say to one another these days. Obviously it's been a long time, and no doubt they've had plenty of opportunities in the relatively small world of British pop to meet and talk, but I recall from Bragg's official biography a movement on his part from admiration for Weller to a certain amount of disappointment and disillusionment in the aftermath of the Red Wedge effort. Whether that was deserved, or Bragg was simply misguided, or if I'm even remembering correctly may all be doubted, but it interests me nonethless. Anyway, a clip from old times to end this post.
As an update to the post below, I've made some comments over at Fugitive Ink regarding the Batoni review, and the author there has responded. I'll be commenting further over there later in the day, so it's safe to say that it's where the conversation is. Head on over and take a look, especially if you haven't yet read the review. Even if it's not your sort of thing, I'm sure the description of the emotional trials of a young student at Cambridge will take you back to you own, best left forgotten, college days.
Congratulations to the Boston Children's Museum and their landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. on winning a 2008 General Design Award of Honor from the American Society of Landscape Architects. A featured juror comment reads calls the design "playful and daring without being silly and avoids the clichés of
working with children’s landscapes. A fantastic example of placemaking." More from the award:
In a world where almost everything within a city is designed for
adults, the Boston Children’s Museum Plaza is designed for children.
Perceptions of difference, distance, size, and scale are playfully
manipulated in different ways within the new plaza. Inspired by the
forty-foot-tall Hood Milk Bottle, all elements of the design, from the
seating and paving to the unique environments like the marble boulders
or the native plant garden, are slightly oversized, undersized,
overstated and boldly patterned.
With respect to its urban setting, the plaza establishes a clear
outdoor area for the museum that is distinct from but fundamentally
connected to the pre-existing Harborwalk and attracts attention within
the seemingly boundless waterfront setting. In recognition of its
significance, the Hood Milk Bottle was rebuilt in a new location in
order to announce the presence of the museum from a distance and
enhance its visibility from all directions. In conjunction with
architectural improvements, the design of the plaza also serves to
clarify the museum’s entry sequence.
The award text is dated in one respect: it says that the museum is on track for LEED certification. It's my understanding that BCM already earned that certification, becoming the first museum in Boston to have it, so good on them.