mardi, janvier 30, 2007

SE SOUVENIR DES BELLES CHOSES

Le sexe a été inventé en 1903 par un cordonnier thaïlandais, Tony Chang Siu-Tung. Comme nombre d'inventions qui ont bouleversé durablement la vie humaine, la découverte du sexe n'est pas le fruit de longs et laborieux efforts, mais bien celui du hasard, une sorte d'acte manqué pourrait-on dire. C'est au cours de ses rares loisirs que Tony confectionnait, à l'aide de semelles usagées, une reproduction fidèle de la barque utilisée par son père, poissonnier au marché flottant de Damnoen Saduak. Il était déjà bien avancé dans sa maquette quand il découvrit, à la suite d'un collage malheureux qu'il cherchait à rectifier, le sexe. Il alla aussitôt colporter sa découverte dans le voisinage, qui n'y prêta aucune attention. Ce n'est que 30 ans plus tard, lorsque Sir Thomas Alex Brown, voyageur, se rendit pour la troisième fois de sa vie sur le marché flottant de Damnoen Saduak, qu'il entendit mentionner l'existence de Tony Chang Siu-Tung, après avoir loué la beauté de la maquette que le cordonnier avait offerte aux repreneurs de la barque paternelle. Sir Thomas Alex Brown manifesta le souhait de rencontrer Tony et un rendez-vous eut lieu le 23 juin 1933, dans un café à l'angle de Silom Road. C'est ce jour là que Sir Thomas Alex Brown sut qu'il avait rencontré l'être le plus exceptionnel que sa vie aventureuse lui avait permis de connaître, un homme au-dessus de ce que l'humanité avait engendré jusqu'ici, être que la vie avait cantonné dans de toutes petites besognes. Afin de rendre publique une découverte qui concernait toute l'humanité, Sir Thomas Alex Brown racheta la barque pour la modique somme de 2200 baths et en fit un musée flottant. Aujourd'hui encore, on peut visiter ce lieu sur le marché de Damnoen Saduak, et c'est le fils de Tony Chang Siu-Tung lui-même qui se charge de vous expliquer ses secrets de fabrication.

vendredi, janvier 26, 2007

cagesan

For the readers who don't know that Toog is managing the career of the bird Cagesan (click on the right), here are some articles about this new and fabulous winged artist:

Indiepop.it (Italy)
GoGo Paris (France)
Sand-Zine (Italy)
Luna Kafe (Norway)
Sonhors (France)
Vital Weekly (Netherland)
Zonainidie.com (Argentina)
Neural (Italy)
Gimmick (France)

So why do I manage the musical career of a bird? Because birds perfected their music millions of years before us, when we were heavy chimps heading for humanity. Also, their music & chant is not separated like ours; they are in while we are out, chased away from mother nature's unicity.

jeudi, janvier 25, 2007

simone

One of my best myspace discovery is a french song: 'trop bonne pour toi' by Simone & Pop-hip. It's a perfect pop song. The lyrics are incredibly funny, smart and sexy and the music is great. Simone is part of the Sexy Shower people.

mardi, janvier 23, 2007

I really like this Jackospacko boy (Jack Perejuan), who seems at a young age, to have understood all the mysteries of the internet and film making. This boy is a grand manipulateur and I hope so, a future film maker. Look how he's playing with you!

lundi, janvier 22, 2007

Bar-Mitsva

The last night I dreamed that I was jew. The rabbi said to me that I was reaching the age of Bar Mitsvah, which is the ceremony celebrating the majority for the young jew (around 13 for boys). The boy acknowledges that he is a son (Bar) of the commandment, or good action (Mitsva). It's a very strange dream. I really feel like I'm jew since I'm believing in the same God that the one who inspired Abram, before becoming Abraham. This God said to Abram: Goto, without saying where to go. Haha, it sounds like a Toog anagram. True muslims should also feel jew since Mahomet, who's an immense prophet for that reason, acknowledged that the jews's God wasn't the jews property but a mankind possibility... Reaching the age of majority as a jew heir: what does it mean as a man, as a Toog?

vendredi, janvier 19, 2007

It's nice to be able to watch LICK MY STAR by Sofia Coppola on her myspace space. It's her first short film (1998) and it's great. Sofia Coppola had her first child with Thomas Mars, the singer of the french band Phoenix in the last november. Thomas proposed Sofia to live in the Chateau de Versailles, not far from his parents home. But Sofia said that the boring atmosphere of Versailles could make a musician of Romy in the future; and the world has enough Versailles music with Daft Punk, Air, Phoenix and TTC... Even the grand father of Michel Gondry, an other versaillais (Gondry was the drummer of Etienne Charry's band 'Oui Oui') was into music: he created one of the first synthesizer in the 40's, the CLAVIOLINE. On this video you see Gondry following his grand father's steps.

jeudi, janvier 18, 2007

amour

"Mais ça a lieu. Avoir lieu: l'expression est étonnante. Le lieu fait partie intégrante de l'évènement. D'où l'utilité de revenir sur place".

Plus loin:

"Le peintre est entré dans son paysage. A y bien réfléchir, dire: Je suis à Tanger est aussi improbable que Le peintre est entré dans son paysage".

Emmanuel Hocquard, "Terrasse à la Kasbah", C.I.P.M. (12/2006)

..........................
The Hotel Amour is not in Tanger; it's near my house. It's very trendy but not too expensive and the location is perfect. François Truffaut grew up in the same street, N°33.

HOTEL AMOUR
8 rue de Navarin - 75009
01 48 78 31 80
Chambres de 90 à 150 €

mercredi, janvier 17, 2007

I thought that the bird Cagesan was the only bird in the music industry but, thanks to our Apop friends in Missouri, I found out that there is a deathmetal band called Hatebeak with a singer named Waldo: "the band I speak of is a punishing death metal cabal boasting a human drummer, a human guitarist, a human bassist … and a fucking Congo African Grey parrot named Waldo as their mouthpiece. Separately, they are humble minions of the Ever-Reigning Supreme Lord of Darkness."

mardi, janvier 16, 2007

"The first collection of records to be called an "album" was Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, released in April 1909 as a four-disc set by Odeon Records." (Wikipedia, "album")

One century later: what will become of the 'album' in the near future? Album was born when the object called album was invented. Since the album as an object doesn't exist in the future, or seldom exists, there won't be albums as passage obligé for all musicians. Thus, the album term should remain as a special format, chosen for a very special reason (like an artistic reason). It will be probably the reign of songs, solitary songs instead of albums. More Patrick Hernandez in the future. This is for industry. Art should be more creative about new formats. I imagine an album of 200 songs, for instance. Or 69.

lundi, janvier 15, 2007

In the past you had mainstream culture, indie culture (which was an ironic position for auteurs), underground culture. I see the future of western culture with no indie culture. You only have industrial culture and a new genre of underground, which has nothing to do with contestation anymore, contestation meaning 'dialog'. There is no dialog possible between these two remaining categories. This future underground is a new word for art. A place where the art is very pure, poor and detached. So if you're not strong enough for art nor commercial oriented, there is no indie rubber ring anymore. Art or industry: you decide. (Be careful: sometimes industry is picking the abandonned indie outfits, wears it and pretends that it's still alive.)

vendredi, janvier 12, 2007

logo2

En Marge is a lovely place which is a gallery, a book shop, a record store, an alternative art space, a venue for small events, all in about 40 square meters in the Oberkampf area, not far from Bastille. It's open for about 11 months. The owner (his first name a Jean-Pierre like the street where he works, which sounds very old for a young man) proposed me to play a show there. It's tempting but right now I have no show; for the Goto album maybe, let's say in the summer 7002. Click their agenda and you'll be surprised to read the name of a famous american duet who play a gig there the next week... In the same street you still have an other alternative space called Nuit d'Encre. The gallery Nuit d'Encre is being run by Sébastien Gindre, a good friend who wants to make Dyonisos and the Dandies join together. Will he succeed?

The bird Cagesan is having his debut album being sold at Colette, the most selective shop of the select shops. Cagesan and Karl Lagerfeld's album on the same shelf. The first reviews are here and here

dimanche, janvier 07, 2007

nice

If you go to the Toog myspace (link on the right), you'll be able to listen to the song "Cher Saddam", about the longterm friendship between our President Jacques Chirac and Saddam Hussein, when Jacques was selling weapons and nuclear to Irak. Jacques has always been as good as a weapons salesman as he is now as a peace champion. I hope you will enjoy the sublim solo de sax... The lyrics are here:

Cher Saddam, je suis désolé
On t'a jugé comme tyran
Moi je serai toujours président

Cher Saddam, je suis attristé
Toi mon seul ami d'Irak je te dis
Bon voyage de Jacques Chirac

Cher Saddam, j'ai longtemps été
Confident des dictateurs gardien
De leur folie des grandeurs

Chorus

Saddam descend de Saladin
Quelle salade pour les historiens
A Babylone semant la mort
Comme le roi Nabuchodonosor


Cher Saddam, je m'souviens d'un été
C'était aux Baux de Provence
Tu m'as dit aimer beaucoup la France

Cher Saddam, je t'ai dévoilé
Nos secrets les plus nucléaires
C'était pas pour faire la guerre

Cher Saddam, quand je t'ai livré
Mes armes les plus meurtrières
C'était pas non plus pour faire la guerre

Chorus

Saddam descend de Saladin
quelle salade pour les historiens
A Babylone semant la mort
Comme le roi Nabuchodonosor


Cher Saddam, pourquoi n'as-tu pas
Préféré l'exil chez moi
Comme l'a fait Bokassa

Cher Saddam, toi mon copain hirsute
Avant de perdre la lutte
Tu aurais pu te peigner l'occiput

Cher Saddam, je suis attristé
Toi mon seul ami d'Irak je te dis
Bon voyage de Jacques Chirac...

jeudi, janvier 04, 2007

Diego Gravinese is a magic photographer from Buenos Aires. If you're not sure about the meaning of this old word, full of wrinkles, check his pics! He's one of the best photographer I have seen, and of course he's from Argentina! Diego is also a painter... What better illustration for my previous Lolita post than his images?

... Yesterday in the metro there were 2 girls, post Lolita girls, but not far from. I was holding the bar at its top, since I'm tall. The first Lolita said:

Lolita 1: Oh, it's soo (malsain) nasty.
Gilles: ... What's nasty? Are you talking about the germs on the bar?
Lolita 1: No, it's like a pole (and she starts to turn around it).
Gilles: Ah...Hum hum... Do you know how to make pole dancing?
Lolita 2: Do you think I have a big head?
Lolita 1: Are you a fashion designer? No, you're a publicist... A teacher?
Gilles: I'm a teacher, an everything teacher.

Then the 2 girls vanished.... I didn't realized how nasty my answer was, when I said that. Sometimes the unconscious speaks a tongue we don't understand, even when we're awake.

lundi, janvier 01, 2007

This poem is from a serie called bonjour la poésie, which has 2 meanings: the first is hello poetry and the second means bloody poetry. It's an antiphrasis. I hope the translation is ok.

poetry loses
it loses so much
it loses all what it gets
poetry loses all what it gets
but it has absolutely nothing

to lose

I'm obsessed with the idea of poverty in poetry, two words which only have one letter different. The idea(l) of poverty in poetry means to not produce artificial brilliance: the object itself, the poem, has to shine with no effect at all. Poverty in poetry is poetry without. And without is not an effect: it's before effect.

poetry has no limits
it knows its limits
but doesn't have them

Minimalism probably comes from my lutherian ancestors (mother's side). And twisted from the catholics (father's side). The lutherians are much too strict for becoming twisted: wether they turn mad or they keep the path. The catholics have enough room for twist.