T O O G

2012-02-03T16:11:00.004+01:00

- I always wonder if it's a good idea to not care about how it sounds.
- You mean… mastering?
- Yes! Does a good mastering help “ bout de ficelle ” music to sound better?
- That's not important! Music doesn't have to sound, music has to provoke imagination, create unprecedented levels of perception. The mastering has nothing to do with it. It is a “ bourgeois de province ” question.
- I'm a bourgeois de province, living in Paris.
- You think so?
- Kind of… What about stage acts?
- Right now, I'm into dancing. Dancing is becoming more and more important to me. Movement on stage creates a rare energy, some kind of trance. I feel like under drugs, a good drug coming from the body itself.
- So you're becoming a trance dancer?
- Yes… Let's go to see the dance exhibition at Centre Pompidou. Then we will try this Nanashi place.
- Then we will go to see the revolutions going on.

2012-01-30T21:40:00.009+01:00

The little miracle with Lana Del Rey is that without knowing me, she tells me that it's me, it's me, it's all for me, everything she does, she tells me all the time heaven is a place on earth with me, asking me to tell her all the things I want to do. I really don't know why she chose me as her special confident, this is the little miracle I was talking about. The Hollywood sad core singer with her home made song has almost 25 000 000 hits on Youtube. But this is nothing comparing to Justin Bieber and his 700 000 000. Toog is about to reach 1000. But I prefer to have 1000 different people watching one time my videos than the same 1000 watching compulsively 25 000 times the Video games song, or 700 000 times (Justin). That kind of compulsive fans are frantic and dangerous. The good thing about LDR is that, apart from telling me her secrets, she makes it possible again to deliver a slow and sad song while reaching a large audience. It seems that it hasn't been possible for about 25 years, since the end of the drama pop from the eighties. Does her success mean that the dictature of the beat is about to collapse? This is how Gerry Smithson, the famous Los Angeles Times music critic, interpretes the ouverture of Lana's video.

2012-01-27T15:08:00.004+01:00

Why did it take so long to have my own website? Because I couldn't decide wether I should make a Toog website (music only) or a triple head website (music, poetry, film). Also because my poetry work is in French, while most of the people who know me as a musician are not speaking French... I could not find a solution by myself. Eventually we found it: thanks, John, who had the excellent idea to imagine a Gilles Weinzaepflen website with 3 different parts. The more simple, the most difficult.

2012-01-11T14:46:00.003+01:00

Tiffany Koo aged 5, 7, 9.

I'm more Koo than Poon, she's more natural, less empruntée. Also happy to see some double oo's around, apart from T(oo)p, T(oo)l.

2012-01-10T00:21:00.005+01:00

Listening to my oldies, I found a cover version of Woodie Guthrie's "This Land without smoke is your land" sung by Flo. Here it is with images.

2012-01-07T15:15:00.021+01:00

« Mini don Grand don 3 » is the third 3 days event organized by the Japanese Parisians for the Japanese in Japan. On 13th january, you have « Tokyo Melody », wonderful documentary about Riuichi Sakamoto by Elisabeth Lennard, shot in a perfect time regarding his music career (1984). My musical set is also on friday and I'm bien entouré with Tujiko Noriko and also a theremin concert by Nori Ubukata. « Don » means bowl in Japanese, and donation in French.

2012-01-05T17:10:00.007+01:00

« Picnic at Hanging rock »: on Saint Valentine's Day in 1900, schoolgirls and their teacher disappear in Hanging Rock. A true story? Filmed in 1975, this Australian movie by Peter Weir is really good; the leading role is played by a silent piece of rock. It must have been an inspiration for David Hamilton.

2012-01-03T01:42:00.021+01:00

The new year smells like Scandinavia: watching the beautiful movie " Elvira Madigan " by Bo Widerberg, based on a true love story between a tightrope funambulist & a deserteur from the Swedish army, who commited suicide together in 1889, in Denmark. This excerpt is the best scene of the movie, with the forgive me message floating on the river. And look at the beautiful angel face of Elvira at 4'00"! The lovers are starving at this moment of their desperate story (Elvira eats red flowers & clover at minute 2). A tragic story sometimes has tragic bounces amongst the actors: the actress who played Elvira suffered anorexia after the movie. If she was knitting a red sweater that she will never be able to wear in the film, she has become a professional cushion maker in the real life. To sew is not a curse. This couple reminds me of the tragic couple in " Badlands " by Terrence Malick.

An other piece of Scandinavia: the Munch exhibition at Centre Pompidou. I forgot that Munch's Kristiania or Knut Hamsun's one (Hunger) is the same city as Oslo. A very intelligent & sensitive exhibition. Have you ever seen an exhibition in which the second room is (almost) a copy of the first one? A XIXth century painter who becomes after the visit, a pioneer of photographic self portrait, using the technique that we use with our mobile phones? Look at this B/W picture: this is Edvard Munch photographing himself. And so many extraordinary paintings, of course, but the one which imprisons this immense artist.

Munch is also present with his huge sun painting in the Oslo recital room, in many pages of the brilliant Norvegian novel " To Music " by the pianist and composer Ketil Björnstad. I was not able to read a novel for years, but this one changed my life: novels make me hard again! I finnish (ha ha ha) with Scandinavia with " How Come " by Hans Appleqvist, musician & super genius that I discovered through John Henriksson. Thanks, John!

2011-12-29T17:38:00.012+01:00

I wish everyone a very happy new year 2012, as active and cheerful as the halteria, as curious as the ‪chaetonotus! Creativity, generosity! A growing faith in all senses.

2011-12-22T11:10:00.007+01:00

An other voice of the ghetto: the director Charles Burnett, born in 1944, author of “ Killer of Sheep ” (1977) and “ My Brother's Wedding ” (1983). Both are Los Angeles movies with no Hollywood money. Permanent movies, maybe too permanent for Hollywood. The music at the end of “ My Brother's Wedding ” is stunning (“ Bear Dance ” by John Biggs Consort, University of California).

2011-12-21T11:30:00.010+01:00

The Church and its 2000 years history is not loved, generally for the same old “ crusades & condoms ” reasons. People deprive themselves of a faith (faith: someone to be trusted by instead of someone to be watched over), but also of a rich reservoir of stories. Most of my friends have no faith but they like stories. As a story teller, Luis Buñuel drew a lot from this well. His last movie in Mexico is an adaptation of Simeon stylites's life, an ascetic saint who lived on the top of a column in Syria. Roman ruins being used for the new faith: an other example is San Benedict, using an ex Apollo temple at the Monte Cassino, Italy.

2011-12-20T12:08:00.003+01:00

En tant qu'artiste, en tant que chrétien, je me devais d'aller au théâtre après les raidissements de mon Église, concernant deux pièces de théâtre jugées blasphématoires, sans avoir été vues! Roméo Castellucci (Sur le concept du visage du fils de Dieu) et Rodrigo Garcia (Golgota Picnic). J'ai été à la seconde, voici ce que j'ai vu.

« Golgota Picnic » de Rodrigo Garcia

La scène, d'abord: couverte de pains de hamburgers. Des milliers de pains de hamburgers. Une planète Mac Donald, avec dans un coin, 3 hommes plus une femme. Ce sont eux, le picnic du titre. Quelques minutes avant, à l'extérieur du théâtre, premier contrôle rapide du sac. Deux rangées: les hommes d'un côté, les femmes de l'autre, fouille au corps, déballage complet de toutes les affaires. Sas électronique, accessoires métalliques à part, comme à l'aéroport… Sur l'écran derrière la scène, un mot du metteur en scène, qui dit quelque chose comme: « J'ai honte de montrer mon travail dans ces conditions. ».

Un personnage parle. Il est question de chute. Sa propre chute, celle de notre monde, l'ange accusateur dans sa chute, sur l'écran, la femme entre ciel et terre, elle saute en parachute, le bruit énorme que fait le vent, la mer, la côte, chute libre, une petite station balnéaire quelques kilomètres sous elle. Elle porte un tee-shirt sur lequel on peut lire « ange déchu ». L'homme se souvient: sa voiture dans un précipice, la chute, son corps ensanglanté, entre la vie et la mort, une image se fixe alors dans sa paupière vacillante: un autre corps ensanglanté, sur une croix, les images qui le représentent depuis 2000 ans, une tradition picturale sanglante: celle de notre foi.

Violence des représentations de Jésus en croix, qui emplissent nos musées: que l'on brûle ces mausolées de violence, de guerre et de sang, que l'on détruise ce qui pousse l'homme à détruire. Comment ces images pourraient-elle susciter autre chose qu'un appétit mauvais? L'homme se calme. Il évoque la crucifixion de Rubens, note qu'au premier plan, le peintre a représenté son propre chien, que l'on voit aussi dans ses autres tableaux profanes. Sur l'écran, le toutou remue la tête, visiblement peu concerné par le spectacle de la rédemption qui se joue près de lui. Ce chien de Rubens, n'est-il pas à l'image de cette multitude de peintres qui ont commis la scène du Golgotha sans être plus concernés que lui?

Les monologues se succèdent, les danses, guitare électrique, piétinement des pains de hamburgers qui volent en tout sens, les personnages presque nus, peints en rouge, en bleu à mesure qu'ils dansent, orgie de postures, retour au corps et à ses fluides, à ses pulsions, à sa force, à sa fragilité, à son degré d'étrangeté mortelle, sans plus de mots, parfois. L'un d'eux dit que non, Jésus n'est pas Dieu, il n'était pas homme non plus, il ne savait pas rire, au commencement était le Rire puis vint le Verbe pour enquêter sur le rire. Ses paroles pleines d'assurance feinte, le doute d'un homme qui se questionne sur la nature du Fils de Dieu, à partir de son propre corps, humilié. L'ombre des danseurs ouvrant les bras dessine derrière eux, les suppliciés du Golgotha. Crucifié à venir, chacun est un fou désordonné et blasphémateur, dont l'existence bariolée à outrance, est un tableau votif espagnol, soit la vie elle-même.

Soudain, un piano à queue poussé sur la scène par un employé de Mac Donald, le personnage retire un à un ses vêtements d'esclavage, s'assied nu et se met à jouer l'intégralité d'une pièce de Joseph Haydn: « Les Sept dernières Paroles du Christ ». Peu à peu, des spectateurs outrés par cette fin de l'outrance, ces quarante cinq minutes de calme après la tempête, quittent la salle, à mesure que le pianiste égrène avec lenteur, sans appuyer, les différents mouvements. La sérénité retrouvée, toute révolte éteinte, les personnages, dont certains dorment déjà, semblent se préparer à ressusciter en musique, sous les traits d'un Christ apaisé, celui de Haydn. Dans la rue, des dizaines de CRS, des bataillons de gendarmerie, les intégristes peu nombreux face à cette armée, ce soir c'est la dernière, ils hurlent au loin, ils n'ont pas vu la pièce, heureusement, ils ne le méritent pas.

Théâtre du Rond-Point, 17 décembre 2011

2011-12-16T11:58:00.018+01:00

We met years ago through a common friend, Xavier. He played my music to you, you liked it. Later, you were needing a musician for your spectacles. We have been collaborating on 3 theatre plays since 2008, very interesting, creative and funny plays, where language is commanded to reveal its political & poetic functions, via your weird, pop and accurate direction. Working with you, I was compelled to reinvent myself. In fact, you were born under an artistic bonne étoile called risk, attending the best school regarding risk: Moncef Marzouki, a Tunisian human rights activist, who's been persecuted, your own father, has become the first president of the new Tunisia. It becomes clear to me that one of the most important component of art is of political nature: un geste libre dans la cité.

2011-12-15T11:32:00.007+01:00

There is something about animal defense that's never treated: the use of animal images in advertisement. Everytime an image is being used for an ad, there should be a fee payed to an animal society. But what about the use of dolphins for garbage cans?

2011-12-13T23:23:00.014+01:00

The image quality of the new legzoom is particularly good with respect to color reproduction. Its resolution is excellent, and decent at the wider end. It's very sharp considering its nature. This zoom delivers usable images, which are "good enough" for most purposes. It's fairly dense and thus not light as a feather, but not heavy enough to tire your legs during extended use. Most of the issues we've observed with this zoom can be corrected through basic post-processing procedures, by watching.

2011-12-12T12:40:00.007+01:00

I'm fond of the quality of silence in Tsai Ming Liang movies. In « I don't want to sleep alone » (2006), I think that there is no one word. Silence is distance, the characters are bodily alone in the extrem heat. Eros & sickness are the only ways to join or to be joined by the others. Silence is not loaded with threats (apart from this unique scene in the trailer) or non-dits, like in the French movies. Tsai Ming Liang's silence-distance is full of metaphysical hypothesis.

Here is a photo showing the real smoke that we can see in the film: Indonesian forest fires smoke travelling to Malaysia without passport.

Vive l'amour (1994)
The Hole (1998)

2011-12-10T20:17:00.012+01:00

Today I could have bought streets of Paris for a cheap price at Drouot, the auction place (9th arrondissement).

It's remarquable to see how the discours about the Islamic veil influenced the French painters who travelled in the old colonies.

Maybe I should buy some bits of Paris. But why? I live in Paris! The ancient metro wood seats were manufactured by people. Incredible!

Time to go to see the children in front of the vitrines de Noël at the Printemps store. This year, the theme is rock'n roll and it's very successfull: so many grown ups around!

2011-12-07T12:44:00.007+01:00

When I think of my hometown, Mulhouse in Alsace, I never have nostalgia; it questions me. I was born in a question city: a small protestant town near the German border, an autonom Republic under Swiss protection during 3 centuries, that turned French in 1798 for economical reasons (high taxes after the 1789 Revolution). Mulhouse turned German (Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen) after the 1870 war and the French decision to give Alsace-Lorraine to Germany (1871-1918). The city was French between 1918 and 1939, then German (1939-1945); then French since then.

William Wyler, nephew of Carl Laemmle, co-founder of the Universal studios, was born and raised in Mulhouse (1902-1981), when the city was German. His parents run a store that was still active in the 1950's. Wyler still had the Alsatian accent when speaking in French; he had a strong relationship with his hometown, keeping friends all his life, running his parents store from L.A. after their death. Is there a relationship between his youth in German-Mulhouse and his film career? Where can one see some of the identity / border questions he grew up in?

Ben Hur was written by Lew Wallace (1880), a general during the American Civil war. The South of the US (Judea) does not want to be swallowed by the North (the big Rome). Relating to William Wyler personal history, it becomes: the little Alsace (Judea / Ben Hur) conquerred by Germany (the big Rome / Messala). Messala tries to convert his old friend (or lover) Ben Hur to the Roman-German ideals. Ben Hur refuses assimilation, as the little Wyler's Alsace resisted the German temptation, preserving its French ideal for half a century. A Jew himself, William Wyler had at least 2 good reasons to identify with the Ben Hur story.

2011-12-05T16:36:00.003+01:00

Mon amour pour les machines agricoles m'entraîne aux quatre coins du monde.

2011-12-02T22:19:00.005+01:00

An inflatable art piece at the Biennale de Lyon. Is art inflatable?

It's possible to listen to 4 albums plus special projects by Toog here and here (go to “sets”). More to come soon if you like it.

2011-11-14T23:19:00.016+01:00

Option 1
When I created the Parisian Christian conservatory for mosses, this plant was about to disappear. I'm very glad to see that moss is developping again, after the many campaigns we did. In Rue de Chantilly (75009) for instance, a tranquil street which was free of moss, moss can live a peaceful moss life again between the cobblestones.

Option 2
In the tourist guide I would write about Paris, there would be an answer to the most usual tourist question: where can I see the best moss in Paris? Don't miss the moss rue de Chantilly (75009) and the interesting ones at the Père Lachaise, a beautiful place to go in autumn.

2011-11-10T00:06:00.007+01:00

For about ten days, I work on a short film. A Japanese story called « Ume no tane ». Since it has something to do with ghosts, we watched « Kwaïdan », Kobayashi's master piece again. I listened to the soundtrack carefully: an amazing piece by Toru Takemitsu.

A few hours before, after swimming 2 kilometers on my back, I felt fizzy and went to the Fnac store. I'm a little bit obsessed with Arthur Rimbaud right now, because Paul Claudel said that his conversion was due to the reading of Arthur's « Une Saison en enfer » and « Les Illuminations ». Many poets seem to have been conducted to faith by Arthur the mécréant. Arthur is a digger: he's able to reopen the buried junction between language and faith through his poetry. I'm one of his many victims too! There is an amazing Claudel's letter to Paterne Berrichon, the poet who married Arthur's sister Isabelle, saying: « NO MONUMENT FOR ARTHUR RIMBAUD PLEASE! IT WOULD BE AN INSULT! ». That was in 1911; Claudel had understood who Arthur was better than Patti Smith.

Tonight at the dinner I said that I still regret to not have been able to go to Aden, where Arthur lived, when we visited Yemen with my brother's friend Jeannot. There were two Yemen at that time (1990). I also recalled that we started to live in Marseille one century after his death, in autumn 1991. I check Arthur's exact death date in Marseille hospital La Conception: it is today: 10 november 1891! 120 years ago. I'm a little Kwaïdan myself.

2011-11-09T20:51:00.006+01:00

My wife is a masterpiece.

2011-10-31T23:02:00.006+01:00

« Quelle que soit l'ampleur du désastre
Les feux de forêt ont commencé feux de brindilles
Il n'existe pas de pompier de taille pour lutter contre
L'échelle est beaucoup trop haute
Impossible pour les Canadair de viser de si haut
Il faut attendre que les feux de brindilles soient devenus
Feux de forêt pour intervenir »

Les feux de forêt
Extrait de « Noël Jivaro »
Éditions le Clou dans le fer © 2011
www.r-diffusion.org
Lu à Paris, 31 octobre 2011

2011-10-27T15:02:00.004+02:00

Paris, terre d'aventures.

2011-10-14T12:52:00.007+02:00

Toog a composé la musique et créé la bande son pour le spectacle « Laissez-nous juste le temps de vous détruire » d'Emmanuelle Pireyre, mise en scène Myriam Marzouki. Un très beau texte qui parle de traders, vie écologique, monde bio, barbecue, confort, panne de cafetière, grand air, etc...

Avec Johanna Kortals Altes/ Stanislas Stanic / Pierre-Félix Gravière / Charline Grand

Mercredi 19 octobre à 19h30
Jeudi 20 octobre à 19h30
Vendredi 21 octobre à 20h30

Théâtre du fil de l’eau. 20, rue Delizy Pantin. Métro église de Pantin
Renseignements et réservations : 01 49 15 41 70

Jeudi 20 octobre, débat à l’issue de la représentation en présence de l’équipe artistique et d’Alice Le Roy auteur du documentaire « Ces catastrophes qui changèrent le monde ».

2011-10-03T22:17:00.010+02:00

Vilhelm Hammershøi's “ En ung brystsyg pige ” (1888) painting was my favorite one in the Fynen Art Museum, Odense. The translation says “ A young weak-breasted girl ”. I don't know about you, but I find this painting beautiful. And I don't see the woman breast weak at all! What was the regular size of a woman breast in Denmark, in the 19th century?
When this small painting is travelling, its name changes. When the painting was shown in Switzerland in 2005, it was renamed “ Portrait of a young woman ”. She is not a weak-breasted woman anymore, especially in Switzerland. Jane Birkin, Kate Moss, Charlotte Gainsbourg made small breast more sexy than big tits. Would Vilhelm Hammershøi's still call his painting “ En ung brystsyg pige ” in 2011?

2011-09-24T11:27:00.014+02:00

The Phono festival where I played the last week is in Odense, a city on the Fyn island, which is no longer an island: an amazing bridge links up Fyn and the Zealand island, where Copenhagen stands. Odensee is not a small city, but it is the typical town from which young people need to escape when they approach 20. The nice story about Phono is that it is mostly run by people who moved to Copenhagen, but who want to breathe the capital life into their hometown.

Having one day off before coming back to France, I spent it visiting Odense, where I really enjoyed an exhibition of old Danish landscape paintings at the Fyn Kunstmuseum. Then, approaching the house of H.C. Andersen, the prolific fairy tale writer who stayed a bachelor all his life, I had a first movement of rejection, since the museum must be like an Eiffel tower, the name of Andersen itself being almost a curse in Denmark, like Lars Von Trier. Eventually I came in and didn't regret it. The display is great; I visited one huge room with all Andersen's traductions, and that makes an incredible Babel tower room from many periods & diverse cultures.

Andersen was also an artist, making notebooks for children, filled with collages, drawings, papercuts. He was a master at it. Andy Warhol was fascinated by the figure of Andersen, but also by his papercuts. That fascination is a cue to understand the psyché of the American genius: something related to childhood, innocence & amorality (most of the fairy tales have no moral).

It's time to read Andersen, now.

2011-09-22T10:03:00.008+02:00

« Step across the border », yesterday; my first visit to the recently reopened La Gaîté lyrique, which used to be... a science fiction museum in central Paris! I remember having visited the site when it was still in its 80's colours and design. The movie follows the musician Fred Frith around the world, 20 years ago. A filmed portrait which is also an extraordinary piece of art.

2011-09-18T22:07:00.008+02:00

Doing a set at the Phono Festival in Odensee, Denmark, was really enjoyable. First of all, because I met a lot of people, stumbling across Joe Howe (Ben Butler & Mousepad), who I briefly met the last year in Berlin. Joe and his living drum machine Bastian Hagedorn gave such a great, inventive and powerful concert. The other surprise of the day was Debmaster, the French super genius moustachu who's living in Berlin and sometimes crosses countries by bike with his girlfriend. I was the man who had to « essuyer les plâtres » (start) at 7:30 pm. My new setlist did work well, mostly. Maybe I was a bit too long with slow piano tracks, I don't know, but people seemed to like the strange mixture I prepared: French poetry from my book on sounds, naked piano played with clothes, old tunes revitalized, 60 BPM heavy dark songs, comptines electro from the mid-nineties. That was an experimental set for me and I had a lot of fun doing it. I also had a choir of dancing mosquitoes on stage. The venue, an old abandonned and beautiful red bricks slaughter house, has become the home of these numerous nano-butchers, and we are the meat. Great time, great atmosphere, thanks to the volunteers, the promoters, the public.

2011-09-12T18:01:00.011+02:00

Today I was thinking about la majorité silencieuse, silent majority. Suddenly I realized that someone, some day, in some article or speech, in some conversation somewhere in the world, in some language, said la majorité silencieuse for the first time. This person is the Adam of silent majority, the genuine possessor of the expression. We don't know who he is and when it was… What if an advanced system would protect and secure our language inventions as soon as we do create them, so that every future user would have to pay us something for using it? Every human being would carry a chip in the palate that would list, minute after minute, the protected expressions we use while referencing and protecting the expressions we create in the process of speaking. An author society would collect, protect in real time the expressions, and edit the bills. Someone in China would pay a fee for using something I said to my boulanger. I would pay someone in Siberia for having said something about the wind that is familiar in the Taïga. What the talkers would shortly realize is that the poors get the huge bills, as usual. Having no job, they have more time for inventing language, whereas jobbers invention of language is worthless in a standardized world. So little by little, the poor would stop talking, being unable to pay their borrowings. Only the rich would talk without counting, with their impoverished lexicon.

2011-09-11T23:38:00.018+02:00

On 11th september 2001, I was rehearsing my songs rue des martyrs in Paris for the CMJ Music Marathon in New York (09/13), a great event scattered in many clubs. Ours was Fez, where our label manager, Matthew Jacobson, always organized a wonderful evening, full of concerts, friends and happiness. 2001 was my third participation. At the same time in Paris, I met Asia Argento, who told me about Apollinaire's poems to Lou, written during WWI. This is how I proposed her to make a record with me, in which terrorism, love and modern life would be associated. « Lou Etendue » (Karaoke Kalk, 2004) was mainly produced by Antonin Gaultier (Digiki). It is very dramatic, almost frightening, a strange and dark beauty emerges from the waves of temporary sound and voices. It is a strange coincidence that the 10th anniversary coincides for me with the publication of « Noël Jivaro » (cover to the right): a serie of 24 poems called « Low Frequency Oscillator », written in Paris and New York right after the attack, closes the book.

2011-09-08T12:56:00.004+02:00

Toog @ Phono Festival (Odense, Denmark)
16th september, 19H30

It's been years that I try to create a live setlist that would work as good as the ones I used when we travelled the world with my famous friend Momus. It is hard to propose something slow and calm; most of the people want to be entertained by beats. I guess that choosing slowness and silence is more risky than performing with an overwhelming amount of sounds and beats. Silence is the new punk.

Setlist

Les 9 portes (« Lou étendue », 2004)
Are Visages Electric (« Goto », 2004)
Cyclopé- haine (« 6633 », 2004)
Mon idéal (« 6633 », 1999)
La Chambre noire (« Goto », 2010)
Linge (unreleased track)
Le Genou des choses (« Ergroun », 1996)
Traffic jam (« Goto », 2010)
Le Petit jardin bio (unreleased track)
Le Jugement (« 6633 », 199)
The Dark side of le rire (unreleased track)

2011-09-04T17:38:00.007+02:00

The poet Max Jacob died from curiosity. This is what his lodger in Saint Benoît sur Loire, the doctor Persillard, said. Born Jew, Max worked hard on becoming a catholic saint after having met Christ. At the age of 45, he left his parisian famous friends and moved to Saint Benoît near the abbaye de Fleury, where he lived from 1921 to his death in 1944, in the Drancy camp. Max had visitors in his retreat. Everytime the bell rang, he took a look in the street. This was not the best thing to do in 1944, being Jew: his last visitor was the Gestapo, searching for human fuel.

The abbaye de Fleury in Saint Benoît, from which the monks had been expelled after 1789, became a monastery again in october 1944, six months after Max's death. Its story goes back 1500 years, when the relics of Saint Benoît (480-547) and his sister Sainte Scholastique were brought back from the Mont Cassin in Italy. Mommole, priest of Fleury, red the saint's portrait and miracles in a « book » written by the future pope Grégoire Le Grand (540-604). It's interesting to see that « books » could become best sellers and travel all around Europe in the year 500, in a time of invasions, at the end of the Roman empire.

One Grégoire's chapter reminds me of The Wicker Man movie: a jealous priest organizes a celtic round dance of naked virgins near Benoît's first monastery in Subiaco, for tempting the young monks who gathered around him. This is why the saint moved to the Mont Cassin. At the end of his life, Saint Benoît had a vision in which he saw the destruction of his second monastery, which happened shortly after his death. After closing this admirable book, Mommole decided to send two guys to bring back the saint and his sister bones. 1500 years later, the relics still are in the abbaye de Fleury's crypt.

This is what Max Jacob said about Saint Benoît sur Loire: « Saint-Benoît is one of the most beautiful scenery in the world, the most beautiful balance between the masses of stone, the masses of greenery and the water mass. And do not forget that there is another mass: the silence. You see, there is the Trinity: stone, greenery and water. But the Trinity, we'll put it on four wheels by adding the silence. »

2011-08-16T10:31:00.009+02:00

By reading Rebecca Solnit's extraordinary book « Wanderlust: A History of Walking » (L'Art de marcher), I discovered the figure of Peace Pilgrim, the woman who started to walk for peace in 1953. She walked until she died, exactly 30 years ago. I recommend this hour long filmed lecture and also the documentary about her life.

2011-08-07T13:18:00.008+02:00

French nouvelle vague has never been my tasse de thé, apart from Louis Malle, who wasn't accepted by the nouvelle vague guerilla, even if he was pioneering it. My favorite movie from the French sixties is called « Les Grandes Gueules » (1965) directed by Robert Enrico, with Bourvil (also a singer), Lino Ventura, Michel Constantin amongst others. It was shot near the Gérardmer lake in the Vosges mountains, where we spent a few days; it is a story about wood.

Paul Newman shot a brilliant film close to « Les Grandes Gueules » in 1970, the fabulous « ‪Sometimes a Great Notion‬ ». Also a film about wood and the people who work in that industry. If you have a chance to see these two exceptional films, don't miss them. I hope that there is an English version of « Les Grandes Gueules » (the loudmouths); both films should be seen together.

2011-08-02T09:31:00.004+02:00

I will be visiting Odensee in Denmark the next month, for a show at the Phono Festival. Last year, I played Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf, speaking to Werner Herzog in absentia during the set, playing my music, inviting friends to join me on stage (Felix Kubin red a scene of Molière with me in Hamburg, Momus played a robotic keyboardist in Berlin). This year will be more piano based show, less talk, more music, calm inner spaces disturbed by a cat in search of electronic mice.

2011-07-31T11:59:00.002+02:00

People like me do love maps. But are maps real? Maybe one follows a path that only exist on a map but not in reality, trying to make the unknown familiar to be able to proceed.

2011-07-22T11:40:00.006+02:00

Finesse22 - posté le 16-01-2006 à 06:29:34

Est-ce que vous pensez que St-François d'Assise pouvait converser avec des animaux et les comprendre ? Ou bien qu'il souffrait d'un trouble mental, comme la schizophrénie ?

atom55 - posté le 16-01-2006 à 10:23:18

Il y a quelques temps, une équipe de Japonais a mis au point un collier qui est censé "traduire" les miaulements... Mais tu sais, les personnes qui ont l'habitude de vivre avec des animaux, avec un chat ou un chien par exemple, finissent par être capable de reconnaitre tel ou tel type de miaulement du chat quand il a faim, ou quand il a mal, quand il est content,ou quand il veut sortir etc...

Blueangel - posté le 19-01-2006 à 19:51:15

Bonjour,   tout dépend de ce que l'on entend par "parler". Un habitué peut parfaitement "dialoguer" avec un oiseau sur des thèmes courants ( "je suis là", je suis content", "c'est mon territoire", "ou es tu"). Les équipes spécialisés ont pû "décrypter" les principaux signes sonores émis par les pingouins. La science est par contre souvent très en retard par rapport a l'autochtone qui se base sur une expérience ancestrale et sur une vrai sensibilité.

Prolog - posté le 19-01-2006 à 19:59:56

Le cas de St François d'Assise a été considéré comme "spécial" davantage pour sa bonté envers les animaux je pense, à une époque où les gens avaient d'autres soucis que la mémère d'aujourd'hui et son petit-chien-adoré.

2011-07-15T12:10:00.009+02:00

Yesterday we spent a few hours visiting the Kerguelen islands (also called Desolation islands) on inamediapro.fr (sorry, restricted access), because there is a 3 months artist residence that has just opened there. It's one of the last place in the world where it takes time to go: no planes, no city, no airport, 2 weeks on the ocean to reach this extraordinary area. The last maps have been completed recently; we saw a TV program with a cartographer giving a lake his wife's name, Michèle. In the 1950's, Port aux Français inhabitants released a couple of cats for killing rats and mice in this small base. Now, there are about 8 to 10 000 wild cats on the island. And they eat annually one million bird eggs. Rabbits also grew exponentially after having been introduced by humans, eating the precious Kerguelen cabage, a very rare species full of vitamine C. This is the only place in the world where you can see elephant seals, penguins and cats together.

2011-07-09T17:00:00.004+02:00

It was funny, to see how, 35 years later, so many people left the cinema room, as if we were in 1975, as if the porno people from 1975 could not accept the terms of Marguerite Duras contract, a contract that's still difficult to assume, probably much more today, even if Marguerite has become a « brand », as solid artists become brands, and some people come because of the smell of brand, not because of the smell of art. Yes, it's difficult to keep the eyes open, to not fall asleep, to not feel overwhelmed by boredom, flattened by slowness, nothingness, but it is precisely because of these features that it is a very special piece of art. The people who left the room are from the beat era, Marguerite is from an other world, an other pace.

2011-07-07T14:42:00.006+02:00

Far from the place where you were born, you think of it without nostalgia, you see things, history, architecture, people, culture, with the right eye, like an easily moved stranger. This is how I see the frontier, the German border in Alsace-Lorraine (1871-1918) that determined my ancestors life: 4056 landmarks, running from Luxemburg to Swiss. About 280 kilometers long, a walk to make one day.

2011-07-03T10:12:00.001+02:00

I was born under a wandrin' star
I was born under a wandrin' star
Wheels are made for rolling, mules are made to pack
I've never seen a sight that didn't look better looking back
I was born under a wandrin' star

Mud can make you prisoner and the plains can bake you dry
Snow can burn your eyes, but only people make you cry
Home is made for coming from, for dreams of going to
Which with any luck will never come true
I was born under a wandrin' star
I was born under a wandrin' star

Do I know where hell is, hell is in hello
Heaven is goodbye forever, its time for me to go
I was born under a wandrin' star
A wandrin' wandrin' star

(Mud can make you prisoner and the plains can bake you dry)
(Snow can burn your eyes, but only people make you cry)
(Home is made for coming from, for dreams of going to)
(Which with any luck will never come true)
(I was born under a wandrin' star)
(I was born under a wandrin' star)

When I get to heaven, tie me to a tree
For I'll begin to roam and soon you'll know where I will be
I was born under a wandrin' star
A wandrin' wandrin' star

2011-06-29T17:51:00.002+02:00

2011-06-28T16:39:00.006+02:00

This was shot in 2008 at the Point Ephémère by our good friend Edwin Monsanto. Edited by Edwin with inspiration coming from the Passaic river (who also inspired famous poet William Carlos Williams - Paterson -). My job was to write one original song and rewrite (lyrics + music) a cover every week for France Culture. The program was « Zone de libre échange » by Xavier de La Porte. I made 32 songs within 4 months. This cheese song was famous in France, here is the original.

1980 - belle des champs par fifitou

2011-06-26T22:22:00.006+02:00

25 kilometers is a long walk. 40 kilometers is a very long walk. 150 kilometers is a very very long walk. Walking 450 kilometers is something that no one can do. Except 7 athletes, who walked this distance in less than 3 days. I went to see them. Here you can see Jean-Marie Rouault after 420 kilometers walking. Colmar is in sight after the vineyards hills, the Sisters of the Holy Solex are good angels.

Paris-Colmar is the oldest (1926) and the longest walking competition in the world. It used to be the 3rd biggest sport event in France. The most crazy one I've heard of, was 5000 kilometers long: crossing the USA.

2011-06-22T23:43:00.003+02:00

When the river Seine is on fire, we do have watermen.

2011-06-18T13:33:00.003+02:00

The next week, I will spend a night in a Maison Bulle by the Swiss architect Pascal Haüsermann. After decades of tentatives, the motel recently reopened. It is located in Raon L'étape, France.

http://archives.tsr.ch/player/inconnu-architectes

2011-06-17T00:14:00.019+02:00

This book is great. You should definitely read it, it's funny and intelligent. It's the best seller of my publisher, sold out. The book is based on small sequences about Cage's life and it is focused on the year 1935, as he was still searching for himself. He's having a hole in his head. At the end of the book, Cage disappears in a truck with Merce, he leaves his wife and son in New York and goes to California. The narrative sequences are separated by short propositions of performances, in which Cage becomes a character doing ordonated gestures.

Thomas Bernhard's book is depressing, but also very interesting. It's about the piano, how having learned piano with Glenn Gould when he was in Salzburg, in the early 50's, destroyed the narrator and his best friend's ambition, due to his dominating genius. I especially like the fact that Glenn achieved his goal by « becoming » the piano himself. Like in my script called « The prepared piano », the hero becomes the piano too.

2011-06-15T13:14:00.003+02:00

Jacno (1957-2009), from Elli & Jacno.

2011-06-13T20:19:00.008+02:00

Ce matin nous sommes allés à la mosquée près de chez nous, pour discuter du pardon, avec des croyants et des non croyants, avec une responsable bouddhiste, un prêtre catholique, une femme pasteur protestante. La rencontre a commencé par une psalmodie du Coran. J'ai regardé le prêtre, il fermait les yeux. Parce que la psalmodie du Coran est une incitation à la prière, au recueillement. J'ai demandé si les notes de musique étaient improvisées, il m'a dit oui. Dans le Coran aussi, le pardon prime sur le droit à la réparation. C'était vraiment très bien d'être là, dans la mosquée, à discuter avec nos voisins, en plein Paris, le vrai Paris. Sur la photo, mon frère et moi au marché de Tel Aviv, près de Jaffa.

Today we went to the mosque near our house to discuss the pardon with believers and nonbelievers, with a Buddhist leader, a Catholic priest, a Protestant pastor. The meeting began with a recitation from the Koran. I looked at the priest, he closed his eyes. Because the chanting of the Koran is an incentive to prayer and contemplation. I asked if the notes were improvised music, he said yes. In the Qur'an also pardon premium on the right to reparation. It was really nice to be there in the mosque, talking with our neighbors, barefoot or in socks in downtown Paris, the real Paris. On the picture, my brother and me at Tel Aviv market near Jaffa.

2011-06-11T23:58:00.003+02:00

Something strange happened when we drove from Tel Aviv to Haïfa. I gave my DV camera to Flo and the sound broke instantly in her hands. I didn't realize it before we got back home. How sad! My brother Julien travelled with us. He doesn't use a camera, but he made a cassette recording. 7 hours! Sound, image: something could be worked out!

2011-06-09T00:28:00.018+02:00

Jerusalem is not only famous for its unique way of using nails, but also for its unique way of using plastic chairs as carpet pegs.

2011-06-04T17:26:00.012+02:00

The purpose of this website is to provide high quality information, tips and resources to help you form a good knowledge-base for poetry as a long-term investment. You will learn about an investment opportunity that less than one in a million people know about or understand. And more importantly, you will satisfy the pressing need to protect your current and future wealth. You'll also find everything you need to buy poetry and get started investing in poetry - also a good place to begin and follow the fascinating journey of money. We'll also show you how to find the right poetry and where to keep it safe. You're probably a lot like us: You want to protect what you have as well as the people you care about.

And you're interested and open to opportunities that are not mainstream.

Just as you know the sun will rise tomorrow.

By investing in poetry, you not only have one of the last chances to protect what you have, but you also have the additional opportunity of holding a severely under-valued and increasingly scarce asset - and one that could explode in price anytime - despite the threat of inflation.

2011-05-31T15:24:00.002+02:00

Je suis invité par Éric Hazan des éditions La Fabrique au Festival de Lasalle, dans les Cévennes gardoises, pour présenter « La Poésie s'appelle reviens » et participer à un débat. Le coin a l'air très beau, le festival a une excellente réputation, ce n'est pas loin du village de Saint Quentin La Poterie où j'allais en vacances; que du bonheur!

2011-05-29T12:39:00.005+02:00

A poet waiting for his clients/readers, Marché de la poésie, place Saint-Sulpice, Paris. I'll be there today from 4 pm to 7 pm. Noël Jivaro is a lovely 128 pages book, and it costs 16 euros + port.

(picture by Rémi Gérard-Marchant)

2011-05-26T10:47:00.025+02:00

J'ai le plaisir d'annoncer la parution de « Noël Jivaro » aux éditions Le Clou dans le Fer, dans la collection « Expériences Poétiques » que dirige Michaël Batalla. Ce livre de 128 pages recueille dix années d’écriture. Je vous invite à le découvrir au stand 609 du Marché de la Poésie, place Saint-Sulpice à Paris (du vendredi 27 mai au lundi 30 mai). J'y serai pour une signature le samedi 28 mai de 17 heures 30 à 18 heures 30, suivi d'un pot pour fêter les autres sorties de l'éditeur.

Venez nombreux!

« Quelle que soit l'ampleur du désastre
Les feux de forêt ont commencé feux de brindilles
Il n’existe pas de pompier de taille pour lutter contre
L’échelle est beaucoup trop haute
Impossible pour les Canadair de viser de si haut
Il faut attendre que les feux de brindilles soient devenus
Feux de forêt pour intervenir »

« Whatever the scale of the disaster
Forest fires have started twig fires
There is no sizable fireman to fight against it
The ladder is much too high
Impossible for the Canadairs to aim from so high
One must wait until the twig fires have become
Forest fires to intervene »

(sorry for this bad google translation)

Mail de l'éditeur: experiencespoetiques@lecloudanslefer.fr

2011-05-24T09:28:00.006+02:00

C'est en se perdant à l'entrée de Jérusalem, que nous nous sommes trouvés face au mur. Nous sommes restés deux heures non loin de ce monument provisoire, dans un restaurant palestinien ouvert depuis 1942. Nous avons compris ce que signifiait le mur en discutant avec le patron: de 5 employés, il est désormais seul à travailler, faute de clients. Il ne peut aller voir sa famille à 2 minutes de là, de l'autre côté, à moins de faire 20 kilomètres de détour et d'obtenir un permis. Aucun parc où jouer pour ses enfants. Ce mur qui emprisonne fait monter la colère, il me fait douter de l'avenir d'Israël.

On découvre que ce quartier où nous sommes acceuillis comme des amis, salués par tous (Florence est invitée à visiter un centre d'abattage de poulets!) se nomme Al-Eizariya. L'antique Béthanie. La route coupée par le mur mène directement au Mont des Oliviers et à Jérusalem.

Béthanie occupe une place importante dans les Evangiles: Jésus y séjourne chez Lazare (d'où l'appelation arabe Al-Eizariya) et ses soeurs Marthe et Marie. Marthe fait le ménage tandis que Marie écoute le Christ (elle a choisi la meilleure part). Lazare dont il va pleurer la mort avant de le ressusciter.

De Béthanie part la montée du Christ à Jérusalem, qui donne lieu à l'épisode des Rameaux, à l'approche de Pessah et de ce que l'on appelle la Passion. C'est encore à Béthanie qu'a lieu l'épisode de la femme qui verse du parfum sur les pieds du Christ, chez un homme appelé Simon Le Lépreux. Sans oublier l'Evangile de Luc, qui situe la dernière apparition du Christ ressuscité sur le chemin de Béthanie, où il accompagne ses apôtres, juste avant l'Ascension.

2000 ans plus tard, le chemin est coupé. Le Christ ne peut plus accompagner les apôtres d'Al Quds (Jérusalem) vers Al-Eizariya (Béthanie), ni dans un sens ni dans l'autre. Ce mur qui est un blasphème contre les hommes, l'est aussi pour les chrétiens.

2011-05-21T21:35:00.012+02:00

Depuis les hauteurs de Nazareth, on peut voir le port de Haïfa et la Méditerranée à l'ouest, le Golan et la Syrie à l'est, la Galilée et les sommets du Liban au nord, la chaîne de montagnes qui descend vers Jérusalem au sud. Ce qu'on appelle la vie cachée du Christ (30 ans où le Créateur se met à l'école de la créature, dixit le Père Hourcade qui nous a logés), est déjà une vie avec vue sur le monde. Rien à ce sujet dans les Evangiles; quant au trafic...

From the heights of Nazareth, we can see the port of Haïfa and the Mediterranean sea to the west, the Golan and Syria to the east, the Galilee and the mountains of Lebanon to the north, the mountains coming down south to Jerusalem. What is called the hidden life of Christ, 30 years where the Creator goes to the creature school (father Hourcade's word, who accomodated us), is already a life with a view of the world. Nothing about it in the Gospels, and nothing about traffic.

(Nazareth one century ago vs today)

2011-05-04T19:26:00.005+02:00

Dans le cadre du Festival de poésie Bipval dans le Val de Marne et à Paris, une projection de mon film La poésie s'appelle reviens, suivi de lectures et de performances.

2011-05-02T21:43:00.008+02:00

La mort de Ben Laden ne me fait pas plaisir. Ce qui m'aurait fait plaisir, c'est que cet homme comprenne que le Dieu qu'il prétendait servir ne demande pas la mort d'innocents, mais la recherche de dialogue et de paix. L'argent investi dans la violence, s'il l'avait été dans la construction de ce dialogue, aurait certainement été plus utile. Justice est faite? Certainement pas: cette justice-là n'appartient pas aux hommes, il faut des mains beaucoup plus propres que les notres pour la pratiquer.

Ben Laden, c'est un homme lié pour ce qui me concerne, à la musique: un voyage et un concert annulés le 12 septembre 2001 à New York, ces images terrifiantes sur les écrans en descendant dans la rue, le concert reporté au mois suivant, un disque qui naît à partir de cet événement et de ma rencontre au même moment avec Asia Argento. C'est aussi le départ de NYC de mon label, un peu la fin de mes aventures de musicien aux Etats-Unis. C'est encore une série de poèmes nés à cette époque, qui vont paraître dans quelques semaines dans mon livre « Noël Jivaro » (toujours cette manie de l'auto-promotion).

Ben Laden, c'était aussi une étrange ressemblance physique avec mon père, qui lui aussi était barbu, avait des traits de visage similaires, surtout le regard. Les ouvriers qui travaillaient chez lui l'avaient d'ailleurs surnommé Ben Laden, ce qui l'amusait et en même temps, l'énervait. Du coup, il était devenu plus exigeant avec eux et ils avaient cessé de la charrier sur sa ressemblance.

Ben Laden et Bush Jr partageaient des points communs, comme le fait d'avoir pour père une figure écrasante, quasiment indépassable, un boulet qui avait provoqué chez eux une perversion de l'agir, une caractéristique que je peux comprendre, ayant eu moi-même un père à très forte personnalité, peu amène vis à vis de sa progéniture. J'ai compris ce que cela provoque chez un homme, un père absent ou peu aimant. J'aurais pu suivre le même chemin d'inconfort que ces deux-là, quelques étages plus bas, mais j'ai rencontré cet ami dont j'ai parlé.

J'espère que la mort de Ben Laden va être pour les artisans de haine, l'occasion de réfléchir sur leurs motifs, et pour ceux qui les combattent, l'occasion de réfléchir aux motifs de cette haine qu'ils suscitent. J'espère que les États riches vont cesser d'intervenir dans les affaires des pays pauvres, que les régimes autoritaires vont continuer à être renversés ou bien apprendre l'ouverture (oxymoron), ce que l'Égypte, la Côte d'Ivoire, la Tunisie et d'autres encore s'apprêtent on l'espère, à découvrir.

L'avenir est à la démocratie et à la non-ingérence: ne créons plus les monstres qui nous ressemblent.

2011-04-28T11:31:00.013+02:00

25 years ago, I was on my way home in Bastille, after a boring day in the real estate business school. My room was very small, I had no window but a single vasistas, no toilets, only cold water inside. I had a view on a charming church called Notre Dame d'Espérance, which had been demolished. On Sunday morning the bells were ringing and I felt like living in a small village. Of course, I had no contact with what was happening inside; this was stuff for the old persons, for the catholics, people with clenched smile and joie dégoulinante.

On my way home I saw a yellow postal box, and on the top of it, a little blue form (yellow and blue are the colours of the Crédit Lyonnais bank, and also Castorama and Ikea stores). I picked up the blue object; it was a small book, kind of a Bible. I went home and read the John gospel. It was the first time that I red a talking book, the book was talking to me.

From step to step, visiting various assemblies in different parts of Paris, I ended up in that same little church I could see from my window. I had become part of the old persons and people with clenched smile and joie dégoulinante, after having made a rencontre on a yellow box.

25 years is a long time. I didn't think of an anniversary when I proposed Florence and my brother Julien to go together to Israël. Our trip is spiral shaped, including Tel Aviv, Haïfa, Nazareth, the Tiberiade lake, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem via Be'er Sheva. In a few days, we will see what he saw and feel the interaction between landscape, people and faith.

2011-04-26T08:50:00.003+02:00

The idea of plugging fruits as an energy / sound source.

2011-04-21T17:24:00.021+02:00

C'est drôle de lire dans le journal Le Monde comment la Fondation Vuitton ainsi que la Fondation Cartier, deux puissances de l'art français, nient le fait d'avoir un lien avec l'exposition dans laquelle le « Piss Christ » de Andres Serrano a été vandalisé. Ils sont comme Saint Pierre reniant le Christ la nuit de son arrestation (cette nuit). Alors que c'est le moment d'affirmer leur solidarité avec cet artiste et son galeriste. L'église catholique un tout petit peu éclairée est favorable à Serrano, qui essaie et fait ce qu'il peut. Comme le dit Jérôme Alexandre: « Aucune oeuvre d'artiste, si volontairement blasphématoire soit-elle, n'atteint le niveau de scandale qu'est le Christ crucifié. »

Pour ma part je suis allé écouter une conférence au Louvre, juste avant l'ouverture de l'exposition Rembrandt et la figure du Christ. J'ai appris un tas de choses, parmi lesquelles une m'a particulièrement touché: Rembrandt a cherché un modèle juif dans le quartier juif où il vivait (Amsterdam était une ville d'immigration au temps du peintre, à cause de l'Inquisition et des pogroms), pour représenter le Christ: une révolution dans la peinture, le Christ ayant eu jusque là dans son aspect humain, quelque chose de non pas divin mais de surhumain. Merci Rembrandt pour cette incroyable modernité: à partir de ce visage, Dieu se fait mieux voir.

2011-04-19T00:30:00.007+02:00

Apart from catching occasionally sight of Joan of Arc during my solitary trekkings in the bassin lorrain, I really love the last Monte Hellman film, « Road to nowhere », an ode to the mise en abyme process, to the cinema, to the actors, to Shannyn Sossamon.

2011-04-15T10:19:00.011+02:00

Avec David Fenech, « Poésie-Rock », une manifestation autour de la poésie et du son par le CIPM et le GRIM. Le son de la vidéo est un peu saturé, désolé. Le poème s'intitule « Dèche », on peut le lire en entier ici.

Nous avons eu la chance d'être les rescapés d'un programme lourdement allégé en raison d'une coupe budgétaire (Jean-Claude Gaudin aime la poésie!). C'était l'occasion de passer un bon moment sur la scène et dans les backstages de l'Embobineuse et d'y rencontrer Eugene Robinson, qui était en duo acoustique avec Niko Wenner (OXBOW). Eugene est un spécialiste du combat à mains nues. Il considère que tout homme a les capacités de se défendre, ou de défendre. Mais nous avons délégué cette capacité à la police. Il était en résidence au CIPM pour écrire... un texte poétique, qui est semble t-il, devenu une pièce de théâtre.

Poetry-Rock, an event around poetry and sound by the CIPM and the GRIM. The sound of the video is a bit saturated, sorry. The poem is called "Dèche" (Broke). We had the chance to be survivors of a heavily reduced program due to budget cut. It was an opportunity to have a good time on stage and backstage meeting Eugene Robinson, who played an acoustic duo with Niko Wenner (OXBOW). Eugene is an expert in street fighting. He believes that every man has the capacity to defend himself or defend the others. But we have delegated that capacity to the police. Eugene was in residence in Marseille to write a poetic text. From poetry to street fighting: this is Eugene Robinson.

2011-04-13T10:36:00.006+02:00

Pour moi il n'y a aucune différence entre un gouvernement qui interdit à un groupe humain le port d'un signe religieux distinctif et un gouvernement qui oblige un groupe humain à porter un signe religieux distinctif.

To me, there is no difference between a government prohibiting to a group of people from wearing a distinctive religious symbol and a government that forces a group of people to wear a distinctive religious symbol.

2011-04-06T17:16:00.002+02:00

Avec David Fenech, une lecture à Marseille (sans s) à l'Embobineuse. Chic!

2011-04-06T13:43:00.006+02:00

I received my first Youtube account via Sacem, the French author society! The Toog music videos made a total of 10 000 views. And for my pocket, it's... 3 euros! Thanks Youtube, I will buy a tarte au flanc.

2011-04-05T15:30:00.005+02:00

Really happy to see that easySousmarin (the French name for easySubmarine) launched their new service from Paris. Now it's possible to reach central Budapest by water, surrounded by Dutch fishes. It takes a little bit more time, but it's a great trip, worth the money. The sousmarin on the picture used to be Le Redoutable, a nuclear submarine; I made a plastic model of it when I was a child.

2011-03-29T23:27:00.007+02:00

Mon documentaire « Prélude au sommeil » sur Jean-Jacques Perrey sera projeté 2 fois ce dimanche (17H30 et 18H30) au Trianon à Paris, pour les Qwartz (prix de musique électronique, marché et concerts, gratuit). J'ai également proposé que soit montré un film de 35 minutes tourné au début des 60's dans la fabrique de cloches électroniques de Constant Martin, le grand-père de Michel Gondry. J'ai aussi demandé que l'on sollicite Lorette Jenny, la fille de Georges Jenny qui créa le premier synthétiseur commercialisé au monde: le fantastique Ondioline (1938). Elle fera une démonstration à 17 heures avec le musicien David Chazam.

And here are a few covers of French songs by Toog.

2011-03-27T21:10:00.016+02:00

A wandering soldier filmed by François Brunet.

2011-03-27T18:24:00.003+02:00

Pourrait devenir la couverture de mon livre: une tête géante qui est pourtant une tête de jivaro.

2011-03-23T15:09:00.012+01:00

In Ōarai Ibaraki, where you can find Joyo, which is Japan's first fast reactor, there's a latin quotation engraved in the power plant slab. And it says: « Veniet tempus, quo posteri tam aperta nos nescisse mirentur ». Translation: « The time will come, when our ancestors will wonder why we did not know such obvious things ». Lucius Annaeus Seneca

2011-03-19T15:48:00.005+01:00

Today I went to see a French movie from 1990 by F.J. Ossang: « Le trésor des îles Chiennes ». I met one time with the man, when we were preparing the first issue of « Minimum Rock'n Roll », a litterature magazine with a couleur rock. Ossang shot in 1997 a feature film with Joe Strummer called « Docteur Chance ». He's having a new movie out: ‪« Dharma Guns‬ ».

The movie I saw today was a beautiful b/w sci-fi movie. Having been involved in the French punk scene, there's something remaining in Ossang's atmosphere from the time when music turned dark (end of 70's); he was also influenced by expressionism. But my big surprise was about the story itself: radiations in an island, danger coming from a fission: the movie functions like a countdown.

Maybe this is the appropriate time to see again « Stalker » from Tarkovski. Or to go outside and enjoy spring. Spring made a short visit in Paris 2 days ago, but flew away. It's also the time to visit the architect Shigeru Ban's website or the Japanese red cross. In Paris, there is a Candle Night tomorrow.

2011-03-18T13:41:00.003+01:00

C'est très étrange de constater que les photos de la page d'acceuil du site web du journal Le Monde, devenues énormes durant la création du choc médiatique japonais, sont revenues à leur taille normale. Khadafi est de retour, il est remonté en tête de la course. Idem sur le site du journal Libération et sans doute, dans un grand nombre de médias étrangers. C'est ainsi qu'on oublie très vite Haïti, bientôt le Japon, les révolutions toutes neuves et presque enterrées, comme le sera peut-être le réacteur de Fukushima. C'est ainsi que l'histoire devenue information, entre dans l'ère du jetable, que le « durable » naît: les fenêtres qui s'ouvrent et se referment sont faites pour durer.

2011-03-16T11:56:00.003+01:00

C'est étrange, cette correspondance entre ce qui se passe au Japon et sa propre histoire. Si la catastrophe du tremblement de terre et du tsunami ne pouvait être ni prévue ni évitée (à moins de remodeler des siècles de développement urbain, portuaire, modifier l'implantation de l'habitat près des côtes), il en va autrement du risque que font courir les centrales nucléaires endommagées. En 2006, un rapport d'un sismologue japonais, Ishibashi Katsuhito prévoit le scénario actuel. Personne ne l'écoute. Plusieurs accidents mineurs lui donnent raison quelques mois plus tard, avant que ces jours-ci, son pire scénario ne se concrétise.

Comment peut-on d'un côté, bâtir des buildings capables de tanguer comme des arbres sous « le vent qui vient du sol » et de l'autre, fabriquer de véritables bombes impossibles à contrôler quand « ça souffle » sous terre?

En 1945, « ces choses là ne nous arriveront pas » donne les deux explosions que l'on connaît, qui mettent un terme à la guerre. En 2011, « ces choses là ne nous arriveront pas » déclenche une catastrophe dont on ne perçoit pas encore les conséquences. Apprivoiser le nucléaire civil était sans doute, pour l'inconscient scientifique japonais, prendre possession de 1945 et le domestiquer. Le laxisme qui consiste à le domestiquer « sur un sol qui tremble », n'est-ce pas allumer un feu de camp sur un champ de pétrole? Pourquoi cette inconscience? Peut-être qu'on touche là à la blessure la plus profonde du Japon, une blessure qui en 55 ans n'a pu cicatriser.

Quand le romancier Ôé rencontre le docteur Shigeto à Hiroshima, en août 1963, celui-ci lui raconte comment le hasard catastrophique fait parfois bien les choses: en 1945, Shigeto venait d'être nommé responsable adjoint de l'hôpital de la Croix Rouge d'Hiroshima et sa spécialité était la radiologie; c'est ainsi qu'il a vite compris la véritable nature de la bombe. Le médecin raconte ensuite à Ôé qu'un jeune collègue désespéré choisit de se pendre pendant ces journées terribles. Mais lui, Shigeto, travailla sans relâche tout un mois dans ce paysage troué, avant de partir se reposer chez lui, dans la verdure. Les radiations? Sa femme disait qu'avant la bombe, il était fragile et tendu. Il était devenu beaucoup plus décontracté et résistant.

C'est donc bien que c'est « le geste qui sauve ».

« Ni trop d'espoir, ni trop de désespoir » (Kenzaburô Ôé, A Healing family, 1995).

2011-03-14T11:25:00.011+01:00

Yesterday I briefly put this image on this blog. I don't know why I had this childish image in my mind and made it. In front of the screen, watching images of the devastation in Japan, I feel like a spectator in Roma Colosseum watching people die, while eating pickles. This is why I want to become an elephant, the spectacle is also a danger. Elephants leave the city and go to the mountains, they leave the zone of derealization and go to a safe place, where it becomes possible to sympathise and pray for the victims, for the nuclear accident not to happen.

2011-03-01T18:12:00.014+01:00

It's a very strange movie we saw at the Pompidou center. It's called « The Luminiferous Aether ». It was screened as part of an exhibition. So we were in the exhibition room, seated on gradins. The film is about a female physician who's experiencing the limits of human thought activity. She decides to go on an island where to find peace and stop the machine à penser. An extraordinary film, made by only 3 people: the director, a young man born in Texas and called Chris Kelly Immel, his beautiful actress Christèle Cervelle (her name means « brain »), and the musician Travis Weller who made the music instruments to make the music.

And here is a short presentation of my documentary film about the life of Jean-Jacques Perrey for an austrian TV. It's funny, kind of a remix. Good to see that life can go faster.

2011-02-05T10:41:00.003+01:00

People say that Jenny is crazy to have spent 3884 dollars buying a steadycam for walking our cat Misty. Of course this device is designed for professional cinema, but using it as an accessory for walking Misty, we'll save money. As Jenny says, the chéri:

- is not having a rough trip
- is less tired after his daily promenade
- is eating less.

Eventually Jenny and me will have more money to spend on our anniversary.

2011-01-30T15:23:00.002+01:00

L'ouverture de la chasse, ses excès.

2011-01-27T13:13:00.003+01:00

If you have a chance to see « Close-Up » by Abbas Kiarostami (1990), it's a merveille. It's based on a true story. The funny thing is that I was into Nanni Moretti recently, and saw his short film called " The première of Close-Up " but didn't know it was a real film. After this film, your idea of cinema will be changed forever. Also, it's interesting to see an other point of view about Iran: here, you see a trial. The judge, an imam, proposes the litigant to pardon the guilty man after the discussions, as a legal part of the trial process. This is an attenuating circumstance, that's diminishing the prison term. Incredible!

2011-01-25T18:27:00.010+01:00

Our friend Nina made a gift to herself: Flo's Carré Hermès.

2011-01-15T13:02:00.004+01:00

Very sad to read about the death of the singer Trish Keenan (42). One of my 2 favorite songs in the world is the Broadcast's song « Echoes answer ».

2011-01-13T11:55:00.005+01:00

« La Poésie s'appelle reviens » (« Poetry: thy name is called return »): This is my new documentary film, about French contemporary poetry. It's a 54 minutes long one, produced by Les Films d'un Jour, same producer as the « Prélude au sommeil » .

Avec Jean-Marie Gleize, Noura Wedell, Éric Pesty, Dorothée Volut, Antoine Dufeu, Christophe Manon, Géraldine Chognard, Ivar Ch'Vavar, Yves di Manno, Paul Otchakovsky-Laurens, Stéphane Bérard, Nathalie Quintane, Anne-James Chaton, Rudy Ricciotti, Julien Blaine, Jacques Demarcq, Charles Pennequin, Myriam Marzouki, Jean-Pierre Balpe, Bernard Girard, Michaël Battala, Véronique Pittolo, Christophe Tarkos, Lucien Suel, Jérôme Mauche

2011-01-08T21:55:00.008+01:00

If you want to make an exceptional gift, please check Hermès new silk scarf « Bride de Gala en finesse », design by my wife Florence Manlik. Beautiful work based on Hermès classic « Bride de Gala » (1957).

2011-01-01T19:05:00.006+01:00

Two marvelous pieces of art for the new year. One is called « Max mon amour », a French film by Nagisa Oshima (1985), in which Charlotte Rampling has a love affair with a chimp. Very Bunuel, which is normal: the script was written by Jean-Claude Carrière. I saw Carrière several times when I lived rue des Martyrs, because his home is an ancient brothel in the same street.

The other one is a book: I eventually found myself able to read Flaubert's « Bouvard & Pécuchet » (1880). My first attempt was about 20 years ago. This is an amazing book, so actual and incredibly funny. Flaubert could see the zapping civilisation from the XIXth century, portraying two very and over-curious gentlemen. My family name, Weinzaepflen (little wine cork), also sounds a little bit like « zap » something; I'm a little bit B&P myself, like everyone is.

« Many authors leave behind unfinished works when they die. Far fewer leave behind unfinished works that can be considered masterpieces. Gustave Flaubert’s last unfinished novel Bouvard and Pecuchet is without question his masterpiece, even in its unfinished state, towering above the more famous, but less enjoyable, Madame Bovary. »

Happy new year for everyone in this tiny « réseau de connivence ».

2010-12-23T12:32:00.004+01:00

1.

le prophète élie se rendit
chez la veuve de sarepta
il y demeura 3 ans
la sécheresse rendait la
vie difficile
il multiplia farine et huile
dans les jarres
guérit l'enfant de la veuve
le ressuscita
en se couchant sur lui et
invoquant yahvé

2.

il alla à la rencontre
des prophètes de baal
au mont carmel
à l'épreuve du feu baal
ne montra pas sa force
élie se moqua de baal
endormi dur d'oreille
il égorgea
les prophètes de baal
au nombre de
quatre cent cinquante

3.

très en colère jézabel
femme du roi achab
le menaça
élie s'enfuit au désert
demanda à être relevé
de ses fonctions
comme autrefois moïse
comme autrefois jonas
comme autrefois christ
que cette coupe passe
loin de moi puis

4.

élie marcha vers l'horeb
la montagne de dieu
il s'abrita dans une grotte
la terre trembla
un ouragan se leva
le feu se mit à pleuvoir
ni dans le feu
ni dans l'ouragan ni dans
le tremblement de terre
yahvé vint dans une brise
brise légère

5.

yahvé retira élie du désert
pour préparer la punition
d'israël celle d'achab
de son épouse jézabel
qui fit périr nabot
celui-ci ayant refusé
de lui céder son champ
élie obéit à yahvé il parla
puis il ouvrit le jourdain
avec son manteau
traversa à sec avec élisée

6.

sur l'autre rive un char
des chevaux de feu emportèrent
élie vivant dans la splendeur
depuis on dit il est ici
ou là il revient c'est
jean le baptiste ou bien
le christ les apôtres
pierre jacques et jean
ont vu élie et moïse
conversant avec le christ
sur le mont thabor

7.

sur le mont carmel
yahvé frappa
sur le mont horeb
yahvé parla
sur le mont thabor
yahvé manifesta
la gloire de son verbe
celle des prophètes
moïse et élie
pierre jacques et jean
en furent les témoins

2010-12-08T12:17:00.005+01:00

" GOTO " from Gilles Weinzaepflen .

Today, I have decided to share“ Goto ". " Goto " is a filmed diary shot in the USA (2006). It was supposed to come out with Toog's " Goto " record on Karaoke Kalk (may 2010), but it wasn't possible.
" Goto " is an eleven days trip, prepared like a script: interviewing artists, visiting incredible places on purpose (Prada Marfa, the Congress "bats" bridge in Austin, etc…), or discovering remarquable spots by chance, like this abandonned military base in Wendover, Utah.
Thanks to all friends, people and artists filmed and interviewed; thanks to Tapestore for the wonderful music at the end, to Momus and others.
" Goto " will be online until the end of january (it's a paying service). Hope you will enjoy this 69 minutes long journey.

2010-12-04T11:49:00.007+01:00

This morning I was listening to a little project I recorded with Kumisolo years ago. 11 kawaï and cute never released pop songs. We called it "Justice sauvage". I was surprised how lovely it does sound. In the track 3, I didn't tell Kumisolo that "Con" means "Pussy" in French, so she was like France Gall singing "Les Sucettes à l'anis", a Gainsbourg song about fellatio hidden behind a naïve meaning. I will put one of the song on Toog's myspace, track 9.

1. Johann
2. Alphabet soup
3. Le Con japonais
4. Donne-moi la main
5. La Tour de Pise
6. Lady of the rings
7. Je t'aime
8. Vivian girl
9. Les Bandits de grand chemin
10. Petit bateau
11. Les Beaux draps

2010-12-01T21:41:00.001+01:00

Comprendre les hommes.
Partager leurs joies.

2010-11-20T23:19:00.004+01:00

I really think that my imagination is moon-oriented. Especially the day before, and then the day of the full moon. Yesterday, feeling strange, I wrote 14 poems at an amazing pace, and continued today. So, I wrote 28 poems in about 3 hours. Of course, I don't have the distance to say that the poems are good, but I can feel it already thanks to my experience. So, many thanks to the moon for becoming full sometimes. If you're feeling the same, a bit strange because of the full moon approaching, take a pen, open your pc/mac, catch a musical instrument or a brush. This can be a good opportunity if you're experiencing dryness when facing creation: the moon can break resistances. Then, you'll feel free, you will feel like a god, a full mooned god, a moon fulled dog, a moon dog.

The last night, I had a dream. There was a massif of blackberries. I wanted to eat them, but noticed that they were not ripe enough, still red, still hard. I warned the two women I was with (Flo and her mother), saying: "you'd better have to wait 3 more months". Then I added with a smile: "Personnally, I'm not sure that I will still like blackberries in 3 months", and I started to laugh, alone, about my joke. A strange dream, a strange joke, as if time was becoming short, as if there was no time to wait, it's today or never.

2010-11-03T21:39:00.007+01:00

Francis Alÿs

2010-10-26T23:55:00.005+02:00

Le grand tabou, c'est la transcendance de Dieu. C'est une catastrophe artistique, de ne pas avoir pas de créateurs désireux de renouveler son expression, selon des canons critiquement recevables aujourd'hui, aussi éloignés de la suspicion et du soupçon que d'une candeur ou d'une euphorie par trop pucelle (une certaine « joie » catholique ). Je crois que Dieu est simple; c'est sans doute une des raisons pourquoi la plupart des intellectuels ne le reçoivent pas: à quoi bon penser si l'extrême de la pensée ne se pense pas, mais se reçoit?

2010-10-25T18:29:00.007+02:00

Endlich habe Ich ein bißchen Heidegger gelesen. Es war zwei kürze Texten: "Bauen, Wohnen, Denken" & "Dischterisch wohnt der Mensch". Nicht alles verstanden, aber "Dischterish wohnt der Mensch" (von Hölderlin) ist die einfachste Schwierigkeit. Of course, I wasn't able to read it in German. It says that poetry (not the poem, but the poetic capacity of the man) is the only unit of measurement for him to plan, build, establish, care about his temporary house here. It's not the unit of measurement that the economic people who rule the world prefer. This is why genuine and selfless géomètres are always needed. "Poetry, thy name is return." (thanks Momus, for the translation of my next documentary film title).

2010-10-24T10:50:00.006+02:00

« C’est en 1903 que Charles Heudebert, artisan boulanger, a l’idée de griller une seconde fois le pain invendu de sa boulangerie familiale, après l’avoir tranché. Il vient alors d’inventer la biscotte. » Il est intéressant de noter que sur les paquets de biscottes Heudebert, le terme « invendu » qui figure pourtant sur le site de la marque, disparaît. On obtient: « C’est en 1903 que Charles Heudebert, artisan boulanger, a l’idée de griller une seconde fois le pain (-) de sa boulangerie. Il vient d'inventer la biscotte! » Par la magie de l'élision, Charles Heudebert devient un inventeur, une sorte d'artiste et non plus un simple commerçant avide de recycler du pain sec.

2010-10-14T18:44:00.016+02:00

At Zhang Dali's exhibition during the Rencontres photographiques d'Arles, I was surprised to discover the methods used by Chinese Communists to deify Mao, or exclude enemies out of the photographic frame. I happened to know that a few survivors of this Chinese service work here. They are mostly very old men, around 95 years old. They were drawn from a peaceful retirement to learn photoshop and work for the French government, using the same methods. I had a chance to buy some rejected images through a friend who works in the service, making coffee and photocopies. It must be remembered that Sarkozy mocked Zapatero, saying that he "is perhaps not intelligent."

2010-10-11T20:02:00.006+02:00

La porte de l'armoire du petit garçon était dans la rue avec d'autres éléments de décor devenus obsolètes. Pintu peti dari anak kecil telah menjadi usang di jalan dengan unsur-unsur dekorasi yang lain. The cabinet door of the little boy was in the street with other decor elements become obsolete. درب کابینت از پسر بچه ای منسوخ در خیابان با عناصر دکور دیگر تبدیل شده بود. Die Schranktür des kleinen Jungen war auf der Straße mit anderen Dekorelementen obsolet geworden. 少年のキャビネットドアは、他の装飾要素と通りに廃止になっていた。

2010-10-04T11:42:00.010+02:00

My new album “Goto” is now available in North America, distributed by Forced Exposure (CD & LP).

The LP looks fabulous (this is the back cover art by Florence Manlik). It also includes a download voucher for the entire album. The next step for Toog is to come back in North America and play some shows, probably in San Francisco, Chicago and Miami. When? This is an interesting question: maybe when the winter cold goes down; this usually happens when spring and winter shake hands and spit melted snow or snowy rain together on the soil.

2010-09-14T15:18:00.006+02:00

« CABEZA DE VACA » (Nicolas Echevarria, Mexico, 1991)

"A very good habit is the foot of the rabbit" (Diego Maradona)