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Post by tannis on Jan 2, 2009 21:33:18 GMT
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Post by tannis on Jan 10, 2009 5:27:15 GMT
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Post by tannis on Jan 10, 2009 5:27:39 GMT
CALIGULA: "LITTLE BOOTS"
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (August 31, 12 – January 24, 41), more commonly known by his nickname Caligula, was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41. Caligula was the third emperor of the Roman Empire, and a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty which descended from Augustus.
Caligula's father, Germanicus, was the adopted son of emperor Tiberius and one of Rome's most beloved generals. As a boy of just two or three, Gaius accompanied his father, Germanicus, on campaigns in the north of Germania. The soldiers were amused that Gaius was dressed in a miniature soldier's uniform, including boots and armor. He was soon given his nickname Caligula, meaning "little (soldier's) boots" in Latin, after the small boots he wore as part of his uniform. Gaius, though, reportedly grew to dislike this nickname. When Germanicus died in Antioch in 19, his mother Agrippina the Elder returned to Rome with her six children, where she became entangled in an increasingly bitter feud with Tiberius. During the course of the 20s and 30s, many of Caligula's relatives, including Agrippina and two elder brothers, died in mysterious circumstances. Caligula withdrew to the island of Capri in 31, where Tiberius himself had retired since 26, and eventually succeeded his adoptive grandfather upon his death on 16 March 37.
There are few surviving sources on Caligula's reign, and although he is described as a noble and moderate ruler during the first two years of his rule, after this the sources focus upon his cruelty, extravagance, and sexual perversity, presenting him as an insane tyrant. While the reliability of these sources has been difficult to assess, what is known is that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the authority of the Principate, but struggled to maintain his position in the face of several conspiracies to overthrow him. He focused much of his attention on ambitious construction projects, annexed Mauretania, and campaigned against Britain, but was unable to conquer it.
All surviving sources, except Pliny the Elder, characterize Caligula as insane. The contemporaneous sources, Philo of Alexandria and Seneca the Younger, describe an insane emperor who was self-absorbed, angry, killed on a whim, and who indulged in too much spending and sex. He is accused of sleeping with other men's wives and bragging about it, killing for mere amusement, purposely wasting money on his bridge, causing starvation, and wanting a statue of himself erected in the Temple of Jerusalem for his worship. While repeating the earlier stories, the later sources of Suetonius and Cassius Dio add additional tales of insanity. They accuse Caligula of incest with his sisters, Agrippina, Drusilla and Julia Livilla, and say he prostituted them to other men. They state he sent troops on illogical military exercises. They also allege he turned the palace into a brothel. Perhaps most famously, they say that Caligula tried to make his horse, Incitatus, a consul and a priest.
The validity of these accounts is debatable. In Roman political culture, insanity and sexual perversity were often presented hand-in-hand with poor government On 24 January 41, Caligula was assassinated as the result of a conspiracy involving members of his own bodyguard and the Roman Senate. The conspirators' attempt to use the opportunity to restore the Roman Republic was thwarted, as the same day the Praetorian Guard declared Caligula's uncle Claudius emperor in his place. (wiki)Electro-pop singer Little Boots has come top of the BBC's Sound of 2009 list, which aims to highlight the best new music talent for the new year. Little Boots is 24-year-old singer and keyboard player Victoria Hesketh from Blackpool, whose influences include David Bowie, Gary Numan and Kate Bush. [The Sound of 2009 list is based on tips from 134 leading UK tastemakers, who named their favourite three new acts.]
There is a disco influence at play, and also the recent electronic pop of Roisin Murphy and Goldfrapp, though Little Boots is perhaps a warmer proposition, younger and a little less arch, not so high fashion. She is also a seamless mixture of low-brow and highbrow. On her MySpace page it says that her influences are “anything on the Radio 1 playlist”, but she borrowed her nickname from the Roman emperor Caligula (it means Little Boots) and wrote Mathematics, in which she sings beautifully about Fibonacci and Pythagoras, after reading a line from Sylvia Plath's poem Love is a Parallax: “... yet love/ knows not of death nor calculus above/ the simple sum of heart plus heart”.
Little Boots - Stuck on repeatwww.youtube.com/watch?v=Yizo6qbuh64
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Post by tannis on Jan 22, 2009 2:55:55 GMT
Yes I Can! ~ Sammy Davis Jr.www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZEBrZ7z22YYES I CAN: THE STORY OF SAMMY DAVIS JR, by Sammy Davis, Jr. and Jane and Burt Boyar (1966).Happy Obama Day! Historic Happenings! Congratulations, America! ...
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Post by tannis on Jan 24, 2009 20:48:03 GMT
It'll End in Tears was an album released in 1984 by 4AD using the name This Mortal Coil. Fyt and Fond Affections both use synthesized whips (or fishing rods... ). Fyt also uses synthesized helicopter sampling.This Mortal Coil - FYTwww.youtube.com/watch?v=WV6cn1Fo8UM&feature=related
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Post by tannis on Jan 26, 2009 13:00:34 GMT
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Post by tannis on Feb 2, 2009 22:44:54 GMT
New British female pop singers plan to take over the world in 2009 - there's so many of them it's getting a little scary. Marina & The Diamonds is one of our favourites and we think she's going to crap all over Florence & The Machine's expected party. Recently signed to 679 Records (home of the equally brill Little Boots and citing Vivienne Westwood as one of her biggest influences, her wobbling and creepy vocal makes you sit up and notice and conjures up ideas in our head of Regina Spektor doing a dance of the seven veils with Kate Bush.londonist.com/2009/02/listen_up_marina_the_diamonds.phpObsessions - Marina and the Diamondswww.youtube.com/watch?v=np3QLrHJmRA
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Post by tannis on Feb 15, 2009 23:33:19 GMT
Tori Amos-American doll posse-Secret Spell www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMun0SuYGT4&feature=related Images from the new Tori Amos album American doll posse of Tori, Santa, Clyde, Isabel and Pip! Enjoy.Maybe she's been exploring sub-personalities in a transpersonal psychology programme, maybe it's just a way to organise her own fractured artistic landscape. Whatever the rationale, this time Amos has produced a work as towering and as complex as The Who's Quadrophenia, Kate Bush's masterpiece Hounds Of Love or Bowie's superb mid-90s comeback 1.Outside. Inside the doll's housewww.amazon.co.uk/American-Doll-Posse-Tori-Amos/product-reviews/B000NVLJR4
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Post by tannis on Feb 16, 2009 12:00:44 GMT
Fotheringay (Sandy Denny) - Banks of the Nile (1970) www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKWBEXyLWHE
This is the only traditional song on Fotheringay's self-titled album, Fotheringay. It is given a stunning interpretation by Sandy Denny with Jerry Donahue, electric guitar; Trevor Lucas, acoustic guitar; Pat Donaldson, bass; Gerry Conway, drums. In this song a girl wants to go to sea with her man, who prevents her by taking shelter behind naval regulations. Other sailors must have been less persuasive or less obedient, since women were by no means strangers to navy ships in Nelson's day. At the battle of the Nile itself, women helped with carrying powder to the guns; some were wounded, and one gave birth to a baby.Kate Bush - The Handsome Cabin Boywww.youtube.com/watch?v=sDn_3VysILs
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Post by tannis on Feb 16, 2009 13:27:44 GMT
June Tabor - Lisbonwww.youtube.com/watch?v=M_l13JntizUfrom Ashes and Diamonds (1977)June Tabor is probably the finest female traditional British folksinger of the late 20th century -- if not the best British folksinger of her time, period. What links her to Britain's past traditions is the chilling and emotional qualities of her voice. What links her to the British present is her fine taste in material, arrangements, and backing musicians, along with a willingness to try different things and interpret work by contemporary songwriters.
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Post by tannis on Feb 19, 2009 21:00:34 GMT
DREAMLAND
In a plane flying back to winter In shoes full of tropic sand A lady in a foreign flag On the arm of her Marlboro Man
The hawk howls in New York City Six foot drifts on Myrtle's lawn As they push the recline buttons down With dreamland coming on Dreamland, dreamland Dreamland, dreamland La, La ...
African sand on the trade winds And the sun on the Amazon As they push the reline buttons down With dreamland coming on Dreamland, dreamland Dreamland, dreamland...Joni Mitchell - Dreamland (1975 demo recording) !STEREO OPTION!www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYMnDapMv4A
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Post by tannis on Mar 22, 2009 0:00:18 GMT
A Robin Singingwww.youtube.com/watch?v=LZOKPPf0CsQRobins are territorial all year round; during the spring and summer this territoriality is for breeding, but at other times individual robins hold territories for feeding. Robins will defend their territories to the death, and so in the poem "Who killed Cock Robin?", another Robin rather than a sparrow would be more likely.
Robins are rarely seen or heard during midsummer (July-August) when they are moulting and become rather retiring. At other times they can usually be heard singing their melodious warbling song from strategic perches, often quite high up; it sounds like "twiddle-oo, twiddle-eedee, twiddle-oo twiddle". In the winter, it can sound wistful, some say mournful, but around Christmastime the song becomes stronger and more passionate.
They will sing all through the night and this often leads to them being incorrectly identified as a Nightingale. This has been thought to be caused by streetlights making them believe it is still daytime, but the latest theory is that they are singing when it is quieter, when the hubbub of urban life has quietened and their song can be heard.
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Post by tannis on Mar 24, 2009 19:27:15 GMT
Sweet Toronto ("Don't Worry Kyoko") www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqrHZYdAeOc Ladies and Gentlemen..."the Plastic Ono Band!" Featuring John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, Alan White, and Yoko Ono Filmed in September of 1969 during the "Sweet Toronto Peace Festival" by D. A. Pennebaker.
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Post by tannis on Mar 26, 2009 4:27:41 GMT
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Post by tannis on Apr 13, 2009 11:44:05 GMT
TWO SUNS and YOU ARE GOD
Medley: Morning Star/Evening Star-Jesus Was a Androgyne-Anima/Animuswww.imeem.com/people/5P0OVn/music/Z-HTeu7C/dory-previn-medley-morning-starevening-star-jesus-was-a-an/when i was a child you know how children are i wanted to be like the morning star morning is so innocent trusting and fair with mother love and angels reflected on your hair oh morning star how warm you are let me be like you
as i grew up the morning star faded into space then i saw the evening star standing in its place i tried to turn away terrified to find father love and demons entangled in my mind but despite myself i saw this other me oh evening star how cold you are it's you i've come to be
but you see that once i thought them different as the moon and sun but now but now i know the morning star and the evening star are one
mortal immortal icicle and flame feminine and masculine and i i am the same
so i hereby take myself my soul doth take my heart to honor love and cherish till death do us part i will i will accept myself with hope and fear and wonder and what i have joined together let no one put asunder let no one put asunder...
jesus was a androgyne jesus was a he and she jesus was a freako baby just like you and me jesus was a pagan jesus was a priest jesus was a beauty jesus was a beast...
give me your poor your tired your pimps your carhops your cowboys your midgets your chimps give me you freaks and your hollywood signs and your beasts and your beauties give me your androgynes
don't you see that you are all the mother you are all the son you're the daughter you're the father you are all in one
you are the least you are the most you are the holy you are the ghost you're the question the answer the even the odd you are jesus you are mary you you are you are you are you are god...
from Dory Previn, Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign, (1972)
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