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've worked on this off-and-on all day, in between writing and watching a movie. Multi-tasking Tin is multi-tasking! This is a song that has been on my Vampire playlist for going on 13 years now. It has helped drive the story in various parts of The Vampire Relics so much, I really don't attribute it to any one character, more to the ambiance of certain scenarios. I can't remember how I got to meet Bruce McRae, though I'm certain through association with Barry at one time or another. He wrote the song, and he's a poet in his own right. Go look at his website for all manner of artistic goodness. I do remember how I met Carlo Asciutti, because of the song "Il Mystero del Tempo." He's like this mad Quantum philosopher who lets language guide him as much as anything else. Something tells me that he might have to smoke a pack of cigarettes after seeing Youth Without Youth. They both gave me permission to make the video, and I'm gonna create for them a page over on Facebook in order to compile all of the Thee/The Caretakers info, music, pics, and vids. I have one or two more songs, these by the core duo of Bruce and Carlo as Thee Caretakers. I'll be making vids for those too.



I'll be back shortly with some actual bloody writing.