Journey to Mesopotamia and Back again... without the umberella.ella.

I said it would be a mad ramble. Will anyone read this? "NO" you cry? LIES, shall we get back to the 'real' world? OK. MARCH; LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT.

MUSIC:: Is it back or is this some fierce ghost I see emerging from the watery depths of the Liffey? 'Who be you my ghostly liege?', 'I am the spirit of music past, and I have come to reclaim my throne.' AND HOW WE SANG! But then, the shudder, and with that, I was awake, back in the land of the 'living' with the clip clop shoes and cool hair. Things aren't as bad though, did someone heed my word or have I just lapsed back in the heroin cocoon of mindless boredom that we are all enveloped in? [IRISH] Reasons not to be manically depressed about music right now;

JAPE: Wins Choice Award, so what? Well, its a step forward for the Egan and a testament to the Rednack legacy.
BATS: SALEM be their temporary home and Kurt Ballou [Converge]be the sound desk merchant at the helm to steer them into a new album that will surely be an image of the MEGA RITUAL we all hope it to be. Picture mouths, watering.
Jenny and the Deadites: Although they've barely had a full line up for the last year or so, and their little Aussie leader is briefly returning to the land of Fosters, their recent support slot for Bats has been the best thing I've heard in a long time. Get on it.

OK, so only three so far, but good things come in threes, and I'm in work.

THIS IS THE VOICE THAT SHOOK THE EARTH!

AND LO! He returned from the lands beyond the hills aloft a giant beast! And his number was 7 and he came to reclaim the lands of the people around him, not to enslave, but to SAVE.

JAPE WINS, CHILDREN SING

JAPE WINS, LONG PRAISE JAPE, ALLAHU AKBAR! ALLAHU AKBAR! screamed the crowds filling the streets of Dublin, overjoyed at the victory of one Richie Egan and his alias, Jape, for succeeding in securing the Choice Music award for 2009. And all we can say to this is ALLAHU AKBAR. Personally I was worried about who the award could have possibly gone to, I honestly thought that the huge sales of Lisa Hannigan and Mick Flannery would take the accolade, pulling yet another victory back for the singer songwriter massif that proclaim; WE ARE NOT DEAD, BUT DRINKING TEA AND KNITTING.Pity my good friends MJEX were minus the B L O O D R U S H.

What the fuck is going on?!

I have been absent, in my absence I was afar, beyond hills and high mountains at a temple. While in deep meditation I was suddenly disturbed by the presence of a young mountain goat at my feet. My eyes opened slowly to meet his, he looked deep in my eyes and then, with a voice as penetrating as James L Brooks the young furry creature announced; 'BEHOLD, and look WEST back to the lands from which you emerged, things are going on there, things that need your attention, you must return, NOW'. The goat was quite serious, so serious that he instructed me to mount on his back so he could carry me back to Ireland, beyond the hills, and woods and beasts of many mythos that awaited me along the way. 'But I am too big' I said, 'I will surely hurt you?'. And with that, my small friend grew to a giant beast, far bigger than any of the trees that swayed below us, and together we rode back to the emerald isle.

At least that's what I think happened.

E X P E R I M E N T S

Visual and Aural experiments in the 'Avant Garde' must be needed now more so then ever. At the moment we are floating in a point of desperate nothingness that we need to arise out of and 'wake up'. It seems as though the public need to be tied down and 'subjected' to the likes of Throbbing Gristle or NON in order to have their minds wiped clean so as to see the forrest for the trees. Noise is important now more then ever as it will shock the masses into realising that art still exists out there, it's just hiding.

Thanks for all the fish.

Mediocrity reigns in a world gone mad. Should be the slogan etched across the last line of my suicide note but I have no intention of committing suicide, so instead I'll have it etched on my grave when I die of natural causes at the golden age of 104. But hopefully then the words still won't ring true and some sense of individuality, artistic integrity, or just a little drop of imagination will have been reinstated in to the world. That's if us humans are still here of course, and a great Biblical Esq flood hasn't taken us to our watery grave. For the moment though, the opening sentence is so apt it frightens my future self. Music, Film, Fashion, well, everything, has now been officially replaced with middle of the road mediocrity wrapped in a nice little trendy package. Magazines spending 16 pages of their supplements talking about who's 'stylish' and why we should idolize them are testament to the shallow, inane, lifeless society that we have become. In honesty, do we really give a shit about who spends insane money on fashion, or who wears clothes made by Vietnamese soldier children? I would hope not. I hope, that out there somewhere other people, like me, are thinking about how those 16 pages could be used for something a lot more worthwhile, I know its a supplement geared to move away from 'real' news but perhaps the pages would be better spent looking at upcoming artists, musicians, writers etc, instead of bombarding us with glossy tripe, and pictures of people I'm pretty sure are mainly despised by most members of the 'normal' public. That's the problem though isn't it? The public, and the demand for counter intellectual numbing of the senses, all to dull the thoughts of the 9-5 office job they have to sit through all week. I guess I can't relate with that, yet, although maybe some day I too will be hemmed in behind some grey, placid desk, working five days to live for 2. I hope not, but it's scarily possible.

As for music, we're fairly doomed also. Look around you, every 'new' band is just an 'old' band, reconstructed with the latest fashion. Any music scene you see these days is A L I E. Don't buy into it, it's FAKE, it's a fraud, it is not music, it is an extension of fashion, anyone who buys into this current 'electro' trend thats sweeping Europe, quickly run to a bridge, jump off, and cry 'liberation!' if you are true to yourself, you will land safely, but if you truly believe that what your into now is good and not just all part of a brain washed fad, then you will land in a pit, with Hot Chip and all the other boring, lame bands, where you will rest for all eternity in your neon tennis shoes. Meanwhile, on Earth, we can reconvene and ban music and fashion from ever mixing again, at least 'high' fashion that is. The only breath of fresh air that has been recently ejected from the cacophonous womb of the music industry is Damon Albarn's latest project 'Monkey', the Asian Monkey Opera that just might suggest that originality isn't dead. I saloute you sir.

Obama and the great battle against the rednecks.

Last week in Denver we saw the attempted, or what seemed to be, the attempted assassination of presidential candidate, and black man, Barack Obama. This posed the worrying question of what exactly would happen if messrs Adolph and Johnson were successful. If this was one year down the line, or at least post election time, we would have a certain Mr Joe Biden stepping in at the presedential podium as succesor, but what would happen now if Senator Obama was to be shot, where does that leave the political struggle, and how would it affect those teetering on the democratic vote, unsure of Obama's abilities and 'experience' on the level of president. Some shouldn't forget that Obama's previous campaigns have seen him broke and washed up, only to come back fighting, and this time, with great success, so far.

But is this the first of many intrusions on Obama's life? The current President, Mr Bush, generally seems to need more security when he travel's abroad thanks to his not so hot foreign policy. But back in his homeland, although hated by many, he's not quite as troubled, with a rather large Republican stronghold watching his back, especially down south, with his litany of errors being somewhat prolific at this stage he is still supported by those towing the Republican party line, and for reasons unknown, to this somewhat 'rational' mind anyway, he's still even more popular then current Republican hopeful John McCain. Obama on the other hand, although the book makers favourtie, faces a tougher role then Mr Bush seems to have faced, and that's the battle on his home soil. Racism is still rampant across the USA and we've all seen how liberal upstarts and President's alike have been treated in the past, quite a few have ended up with a bullet in their head's. It seems that Obama, the oppositte to the current holder of the throne, is going to need more security on a domestic scale, surely the 'pinko' liberal's of my own European continent will embrace Obama with open arms, sadly I can't see the same happening across the pond, and this incident last week will hardly be the last of such attempts on the presidential hopeful's life.

That's if Obama gets elected at all though. Even with the [eventual] endorsement of Mrs Clinton as frontrunner for the Democratic party there still seems to be a general air of schism within the Democratic ranks. I know it seems blatantly obvious, but perhaps Mr Obama may have made a smarter move, if perhaps taking one on the chin at the same time, by selecting Clinton as the second in command instead of Biden. Maybe then the likes of P.U.M.A. or 'Party Unity My Ass' may not be so openly against Obama for President, even some of these Hilary die-hard's are voting for McCain out of resentment for Obama's leading role. Which is too hypocritical, well, at least for my minute, University educated mind. But we wouldn't understand, would we? Obama I wish you well.