Art – Page 20 – George Blamey-Steeden

ZOOLON’S SCANDINAVIAN ‘NOIR’

HIDDEN BENEATH

HIDDEN
Flesh & bone under water
Soul flying away
Which will be reborn?
No one can say

Is she in the dark river
Or lost to the sea?
Only the ghost knows
The ghost that is she

Staying with the ‘dark’ theme, here’s a new piece of music I’ve composed, aimed at the Scandinavian ‘Noir’ Murder TV/film market. It’s titled ‘Hidden Elsewhere’ and will also be on my forthcoming album, out soon. I hope you enjoy;

https://soundcloud.com/zoolon/hidden-beneath

Below, the link to my ‘Dream Rescuer’ album;

ZOOLON’S NEW SHIRT

french connection

The faithful Strat needed new strings, so I went to the city to buy some. I was on my way back to the car when I saw the ‘20% OFF’ sign in the window of the French Connection store. They sell OK shirts so I bought one. After I’d paid for it the girl at the counter put it in one of their posh bags for me. Nothing out of the ordinary there, except looking at the bag I couldn’t help but ask why it had dead bodies printed on one side (see above). The counter girl said, “Do What?” so I pointed to the pic on the side of the bag.

She has a good think, then says, “I think they’re just asleep.”

I say, “That’s what my mum told me when the dog was put down. Besides, they still look dead to me.”

“No, they’re just asleep.” I think she was anxious for me to leave.

A little further up the road is the street market. They sell all sorts of stuff there. As I was walking toward the fruit & veg stall I couldn’t help but spot two of the perfectly formed girls who work the stall each holding an, ‘Easy Peelers’ sign. My random thoughts were in overdrive, until I realised that the signs related to the mass of small oranges on the stall and definitely not for what I was thinking.

This week I found myself writing a lot of lines about death and guns. Out of respect I won’t make this a song, at least not until the time feels right. Here’s just a few of the less angry verses. You’ll get the drift.

THE 59

Old Boy Wonder, with a shotgun

Stood where angels charge top rates

And dollar’s change hands in gaming machines

In the land of many States

The ones he killed don’t want your pity

Be they queens, or babes, or nuns

Or heterosexual alpha men

With penis extensions in the shape of guns

Politicians look the other way

Bank rolling firearm sponsorships

They quote the 2nd Amendment

Another name for apocalypse

I apologize in advance to my American friends. It’s nothing personal. It’s just my hate of guns and pointless death whether it’s in the US, UK or any place else.

Time for a bit of music. I’ve a whole mass of new music coming soon, but for the moment one of mine called ‘Time Out’ from the album. Just a short piece that fits my mood right now;

Next a tribute cover of Cohen’s ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ from magical Aurora. If you don’t know her work, I suggest you try it out. She’s very good.

ZOOLON & THE FESTIVAL

mari2

In a world where Trump and his like make a good fist of scaring people the best they can, it’s good to know that surreal, kindly lunatics are still alive and well. I just got back from a biannual festival of puppets, the Festival Mondial de Marionnettes de Charleville-Mézières, The Ardennes, France and thought I’d share a few photos of the event.

However, before anything else I should explain that I make no claim to be a photographer – although you’ve probably worked that out for yourselves. What I’ve tried to do when taking these shots was to avoid the generic stuff and go just for things that caught my eye.

mari1

This pic above is of one particularly swoony type lady who was trying to balance a regular ladder in order to be able to climb it. She failed of course, but I was told it was all part of her act. What she was trying to do was climb up to the ‘things’ in the header image and become ‘at one’ with them. In fairness, I think the bloke who told me that might have had too much wine. I should have run with my Plan A and had a word in her ear, recommending she go to a DIY store and buy herself a regular stepladder. The world would be her oyster then.

mari7

Here she is again, still having a good swoon and harming no one.

mari6

Also, she made this out of sand during a swoon break. I think she’s a pretty good artist even if she is on the cusp of innocent madness.

mari10

Here’s a half decent piece of graffiti. I’m guessing that whoever’s house this was painted on has gone up in value a good few euro’s. If I could have remembered what Banksy’s signature looked like and had a black paint spray can on me I might have increased the property value some more.

mari11

It’s a shame I never got to see the person who lives in this caravan. By the size of the entry door I’m guessing that whoever it is doesn’t eat too often at Subway or McDonalds

mari9

I’ve no idea why I took this shot. Someone had set it up in a back alleyway for no apparent purpose. The world is a safer place when people do things like that.

mari4

The girl on the right had a face like thunder. I guess every picture tells a story – even one of mine!

mari5

One market trader discussing the merits of the glove puppet when compared with the string version?

mari8

Last but not least, another shot away from the main event. I took this as the border collie in the pic is a dead-ringer for my old dog, now deceased ‘Skipper’. I wrote a song about him once. It appears on my Dream Rescuer album. The song is called ‘Pain’. I’ve always preferred animals over most people. I hope you enjoy it.

ZOOLON & THE FESTIVAL

puppets

Most likely I will only have time for irregular visits to the blog at best for the next week as I’m going to be at the Festival Mondial des Theatres de Marionnettes in Charleville-Mézières.

I’ll catch up when I get back.

Random Thought: Before I sign off I have to say that I was in town a bit earlier this afternoon when I overheard this girl saying to her mate, “My mum don’t believe in The Internet.” I got to wondering what her mum puts on the national census form under the heading, ‘Religion’. Having said that, I’ve got a brother who wrote ‘Jedi’ on his form. Enough people did the same and Jedi is now an accepted religion in these parts.

Regards,

Zoolon aka George

ZOOLON & A SHADOW

Ballerina-With-Blue-Hair-Dancing-in-a-Surreal-Warehouse-127877

I wrote this song, ‘Just a Shadow on a Wall’ in 2012 and recorded this demo version early in 2013. It lives its time out on my old Soundcloud page from uni days. Whatever, I think this song is a good example of how a lyric differs from a poem; of how in some ways, like say the scope for repetition and dressed up in a melody my job as a lyrist is often a little easier than that of a poet. Poets have to write their stuff without anything to hide behind.

JUST A SHADOW ON A WALL

You draw a line; a line in the dirt,

I ask you what it’s for,

You tell me I can cross it,

You should have told me more.

You tell me that; you tell that it’s time,

For you to set me free,

Unshackled from these chains,

I might find my destiny.

Nothing is so precious,

That it cannot be undone,

By word or by the dagger,

Or a step towards the sun.

She’s just a shadow on the wall.

You tell me you; you tell me you got bored,

With the game that we play,

The game we that play,

That you want for me to move on,

You’d be grateful anyway.

I ask you if; I ask you if you’ll grant me,

Just one final wish,

‘Can the dancer travel with me?’

You take some time out thinking,

Then you treat me like a fool,

You laugh as you remind me,

She’s just a shadow on a wall,

A shadow on the wall.

She’s just a shadow on the wall,

She’s just a shadow on the wall.

I had posted just the song without the lyrics when I started blogging last year. It was only when chatting with the fine poet Mick E Talbot at https://mickhispoetry.wordpress.com/ the other day I got to thinking about the difference between our art forms.

Here’s link to my album ‘DREAM RESCUER’. It costs not much, and is available worldwide. If you fancy buying it and feel able to post a review on Bandcamp, I’d appreciate it.

WHITE ROOM, DARK PLACE

folk

Sometimes I look at art and I wonder if it is really ‘art’. If it gets a reaction then I guess it is. When I first spotted this piece in Folkestone, my random thought was, ‘not a sculpture for the accident prone to climb on, especially the skinny ones’. I took a photo then read the notes and it is Will Kwan’s sculptural screen frame view of the English Channel, reflecting, ‘the still heavily trafficked route linking Britain and China. His sculpture also plays on the architectural design of the ‘chinoiserie’ style’. Odd. I’m still not sure I’m getting it. Anyway, a work-in-progress lyric for one of the new songs I’m working on.

WHITE ROOM, DARK PLACE

White room,
Dark place,
Kiss stains on his collar,
No smile upon his face

Blindfold,
Blood stain,
A bullet to the temple,
He never felt the pain

Helicopter,
Overhead,
Just checking out the area,
To make sure that he’s dead

Mystified,
Paralysed,
He let her read his fortune,
No tourniquet applied

Ice Queen,
Never lied,
The day the truth caught up with them,
They called it suicide

Snow white,
Gravestone,
Empty coffin, no donations,
Spilt ashes and methadone

Epitaph,
Nothing to say,
The remnants of two lives’
And a dandelion bouquet.

Next, a piece of sound art using samples I wrote a while back. I think it just fits the mood of the words above. It’s called, ‘No More a Vendetta’.

If anyone is interested in having their poetry put to song then below is the link to my previous post explaining how it can be achieved;

https://zoolonhub.com/2017/08/16/when-a-poem-becomes-a-song/

Also, Here’s link to ‘DREAM RESCUER’. It costs not much, and is available worldwide. If you fancy buying it and feel able to post a review on Bandcamp, I’d appreciate it.