The Cliffs of Insanity

Dear Lady, I can't believe I didn't post this here, but I can't find it, so apparently I did not. Bruce sent me the song "Phoenician" by Stic Basin. It's an early recording featuring Bruce, Barry, and Carlo Ascitutti. The later tracks are pretty much only Barry. Anyway, my first thought was Cadmus. Because the "historical" Cadmus was a Phoenician. Since this was a Barry-centric song, of course I went down that path and came up with this.



It's really quite a lovely song, so unlike "Pin."

Anyway, I garnered a discussion between the three of them, but this one was directed particularly at me, from Carlo. It was fascinating, and so well-told.

"Escaping the tyranny of her own Country, Elissa, an exiled princess of the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre, the future Carthaginian Queen Dido, commonly known as Alissar, founded Carthage, the "shining city" that ruled the Phoenician world.
Princess Elissa was the daughter of King Matten of Tyre (also known as Muttoial or Belus II). When he died, the throne was jointly bequeathed to her and her brother, Pygmalion. She married her uncle Acherbas (also known as Sychaeus), the High Priest of Melqart, a man with both authority and wealth comparable to the king. This led to increased rivalry between religion and the monarchy. Pygmalion was a tyrant, lover of both gold and intrigue, who desired the authority and fortune enjoyed by Acherbas. Pygmalion assassinated Acherbas in the temple and kept the misdeed concealed from his sister for a long time, deceiving her with lies about her husband's death. At the same time, the people of Tyre called for a single sovereign, causing dissent within the royal family.
Phoenician, a Canaanite caretaker previously working for King Pygmalion of Tyre, decided to move his residence to the mythical Carthage.
He also decided that, after so many years endlessly spent caretaking, he deservedly needed a loving bosom where he could comfortably rest his tyred body, i.e. a woman to cuddle, fondle and canoodle.
Not being satisfied with one, and wisely knowing that a bird in the hand is worth three in the bush, he fell in love with the whole lot of them : Elissa, Dido and Alissar.
As a result of too much stress and too much tyring caused by intensive physical labour, Elissa died. And with her, the other two readily followed.
Although some contemporary historians, as well as many modern scholars, think it might well be a typical Punic exaggeration, Phoenician, allegedly, cried so much for the loss of the threesome that his tears increased the level of the whole Mediterranean Sea.
(Legend has it that he might also have overflooded the Black Sea because of tears leaking through a strange hole in Costantinople).
Shocked, stunned and shattered by unbearable grief, Phoenician moved back to Tyre and decided to retyre.
All the rest is History.
The song "Phoenician" is a dirge built on this sad and true story centred on such a legendary and caretaking hero.
A Threnody, a Requiem, a Jeremiad, a Coronach, a Lament and an Elegy will be offered shortly.
Thee Caretakers will stay tuned to this Frequency for more happy-sing-a-long songs."

I replied with: Love how you tell this story. And..."A Threnody, a Requiem, a Jeremiad, a Coronach, a Lament and an Elegy will be offered shortly.
Thee Caretakers will stay tuned to this Frequency for more happy-sing-a-long songs." This is heartening to hear, being the carefree soul that I am. ;P

Of course, for me, it will always be for my primary Phoenician.

"May blessings be upon the head of Cadmus, the Phoenicians, or whoever it was who invented books." ~ Thomas Carlyle

<3 <3 <3

How I love these guys.

I'm writing an explanation about my obsessions, why I have them, and what impact they have made on my life. It has turned out to be gigantic, so much so, I'm gonna have to wait until tomorrow to hopefully finish it. Needless to say, I doubt anyone will bother to read it once they see how long it is.

Bruce McRae is a serious repository of pre-Shriek material. Since he was part of the original Restaurant for Dogs and is now one of the brains behind Thee Caretakers, he has information, music, and photos relevant to folks who are connected to him and to the Shriek Tribe and its satellite bands/artists. That said, I've been working with Bruce and Carlo Asciutti in an attempt to garner some interest in Thee Caretakers. Bruce has been sending me not just Thee Caretakers music, but also old Restaurant for Dogs material. He seemed to be impressed with my work on making the video for The (without the extra 'e') Caretakers' song "Dark Horses," so he's wanting me to make more videos for Thee Caretakers. Not sure if he wants any RFD songs done but, since that was essentially Barry's band of which Bruce and Carlo were a part, I figure we'd both need to get his nod before proceeding. That's down the road somewhere, if it's even on the road. We'll see.

So, in addition to sending me music, he has also sent me pictures of Thee Caretakers and some RFD photies as well. Not sure why he sent this one, but it'd be a nice addition to the Shriek site I'm wanting to reestablish, so that's where it's gonna go eventually. Eventually! I'm pegging this piccie to be circa 1980-81, definitely post XTC. Probably a RFD-related photo, or perhaps part of Fripp's League of Gentlemen. Wherever it came from, B looks like a teeny-tiny tot in this picture. Who knew he'd grow up to destroy the world? Joking.



In other news, I am watching the second season of Lie to Me, and I already have two Tutorials in mind. One especially is going to be great big gobs of fun. So that's my goal for tomorrow, other than going for another orthopaedic follow-up for my knee-knob replacement. Gonna go straight there and straight back, considering I am driving a gas-guzzling tank and I have to go to Greenville on Saturday for Aaron's consecration.

Be sure to check this space tomorrow for the "novel" I'm currently writing. I am pathetic when it comes to all this. Ha Ha.

I just finished the first story for The Harming Tree. Combined, the prologue and "Taking Isobel" gives me a word count of 10,195. I have an idea for the next tale, but I'm gonna let it percolate for a while. Stu sent me the new Jen Olive tunes and wants me to review them, so I need to focus on that. I also need to create a fan page on Facebook for Restaurant for Dogs and The Caretakers. Bruce gave me some tunes and pictures for that project, so I need to get cracking on that. Sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into. Ha!

Recently, I've been communicating with Bruce McRae, a long-time friend of Barry Andrews, and a formidable musician and poet in his own right. It's made me want to keep alive the work he's done in the past as he focuses on the present and future with his literature and poetry. I'm going to give it some hard thought before I pitch it to Bruce, but I'm hoping he'll be amendable to the idea. The idea is to create a Facebook page for both bands so that crossover fans will only have one place to have to visit when inclined. All I need is as many memoirs as Bruce can provide and poems that he'll let me use. Soundbytes would be good too, and pictures. Of course, there will be links to to the Shriek sites and any other sites Bruce would want includesd.

I think he'd be cool with the idea. He seems like a lovely soul and we've seem to really have connected. But he is Canadian and I've always had an affinity for Canadians, so this is an arrangement made in heaven. We shall see. And now I have another Quest! This excites me more because it's been over two years since I've had something to sink my teeth into. Who knew it'd be a Canadian Bohemian and his extraordinary talent this time?