Posts tagged selfportrait
Venice, November 2011.
I neglected to find out whose installation I’m in front of there. I’m sorry unknown artist. But your neon triangle was very special.
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LATER: just found out it’s done by an artist called Mai-Thu Perret.
I want you! (on my mailing list). First dibs on limited editions… bunch of useful/useless information and a whole lot more. I AM A CORPORATE GIANT!
I’d started the day in a bad mood, mainly because I had been expecting a student for another english tutoring session, and in the end the whole thing was unceremoniously cancelled. It meant there was two days of sitting around thinking this kid was gonna show at any time, until I was eventually told he would not be showing at all. Motherfucker. I’m in the middle of drafting the last few sets of lyrics for songs that may end up on the record; and in this particular phase, I’m especially cranky at potential distractions. I refer you to Larry David, who carries a similar hang-up. He doesn’t like anything obscuring his future calendar, so he never likes to commit to anything, ever; consequently never having any engagement coming up to annoy him. I do love you Larry. Anyway, I’d normally not really stand for such time-thievery, although here I was forced to make an exception, seeing it was a favor to my Uncle Georg, the man who has let me use his cabin for the last 2 1/2 months. As you can see, I was really not in position to complain. But this morning, the tutoring was eventually cancelled. And I was feeling pissed. Due to a lot of snow having melted in the last couple of weeks, it is now possible to drive (albeit only in a off-road vehicle) all the way up here to the cabin. And despite the tutoring cancellation, my Uncle Georg and his kids, my cousins, were still coming up to visit. In part to deliver a circular saw and maybe in part to check whether I had been looking after the cabin. Why bring the circular saw? Well, I had offered to cut up a whole bunch of logs and oversize bits of timber to help make some space in the yet unfinished stable section of the property. At present, that part of the building is used as a makeshift storage/junk lot, but seeing that it will be fully converted into a working stable this summer, (milking equipment, stalls, cow pissing troughs etc) it now needs to be cleared of all the timber and rubbish ahead of the construction. Knowing this, I’d offered to my uncle to cut up all that timber that is stored in there, so it can be stacked for drying over summer and eventually be used as firewood during cooler months. I’m pretty keen to attempt to repay his generosity somewhat, having just spent a very enjoyable few months up here at his grace. Plus, I like doing physical work - it feels good to (Naturally much more so if you’re doing it voluntarily) So the whole brood of uncle and cousins showed around 10 am and delivered the saw. I got a crash-course in using it and we then settled down for some tea in the cabin. Having become aware of the wildlife (especially the birds) I was asking a lot of questions about certain bird calls and behaviors and I also mentioned that I’d never seen a Birkhahn up here, even though I can hear their calls pretty much all day long. You know, I really am a bird novice, never previously having really taken an interest in them, so I imagine my terminology regarding birds to be amateur at best. But, the Birkhahn is a beautiful black rooster-like bird with a red comb (do they call them comb’s? - I don’t know) and a pure white undercoat. I know this because I’d looked it up a few days ago as my internet connection has considerably improved with the melting of the snow. And so even though I can hear a multitude of these birds every day, I mentioned to my Uncle and cousins that I’d never actually seen one in real life. There was a little giggling at my ineptitude, but then they proceeded to kindly teach me how to go about spotting one. I was handed a set of binoculars and then I was taught the imitate the call by which the Birkhahn is teased into revealing himself. There are two calls to be precise, one is a gurgling type sound, maybe imagine a pigeon, although one in possession of a much deeper resonant body. The second, a more peculiar sound, is akin to a long swooooooshh, but accented with a more high-pitched intro. My best phonetic take on it would be something like shweeeehhhhooooooosh…. (Remember those sections in Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’, where he describes going to some jazz bar, and pages thereafter are filled with his phonetic take on the music? I’ve always loved those bits). Note to self: 1) I am blogging. 2) I am blogging, even though I should be doing something else.. 3) I am blogging about bird calls. But anyway, we’re outside the cabin and I’m standing there, learning how to imitate the call of the Birkhahn. Uncle Georg and cousins Matthias and Georg jun. are all crowded around me; going, “NO! -more like this’… not “Shwoeeeshh”, but Shweeeeaaaoooshh” and so forth. Then my uncle whispers “look!” and hands me the binoculars… and fuck, there he is, sitting up high in a tree about 300 meters from where I’m standing. The glorious Birkhahn! I have a great view of him and I realize that the two separate calls he makes are also manifested in his physical form; the second more peculiar call meaning he expands himself to about twice his size and his pure white tail feathers are pointed upwards as he moves about the tree in a proud and pompous fashion. I am pretty thrilled at this point, having heard the fuckers for the best part of the last month, but like I said, never seen them. Uncle and cousins also seem to delight in the fact that they’ve shown me some new tricks and thereafter we say our good byes, and they leave. Since then, whenever I’ve been taking breaks from my work, I go outside and test my “Shweeeeoooshhhhh”; and would you believe it, there is like two or three of them calling me back from all direction whenever I make the sound. It feels, well, …..pretty, pretty…..pretty good. So, good bye from the King of the birds and thanks for reading. Heinz Ps: I was also caught in a freakish snowstorm on my post-breakfast walk. It was freezing and I was still pissed about the aforementioned tutoring fiasko. This is the picture.
Don’t know about you my fellow travelers, but whenever I’ve made records in the past, and I have written (and finished!) what feels like will be the last song on the track listing, that’s when I start to believe. This has just occurred and I thought it worthy celebrating with yet another self-important post/photograph. I’m raising my glass, to myself, once again. Ps: I’ve probably jinxed it now.
