May 31, 2023

Placebo Live - I Know @ Sziget 2012


“I was living in New York, thinking about moving there instead of living somewhere in France where I had been living and where I was feeling very down. I don’t talk a lot of my private life, but it’s very well known and very ‘public domain’ that I was in a relationship during that time but it didn’t work. We really needed to take some time off. So I was in that big city and didn’t know anybody. I lost my home, my family, and I fell into a very deep depression. We had decided not to talk to each other but I couldn’t bear it anymore. I remember I picked up a phone in some phone booth in Broadway and called this person and said “see, I know I’m not supposed to be calling you right now, but I really need to talk to you.” The song is part of the conversation we had over the phone, there’s a lot of guilt in that song. “Blind,” included in Meds, is a somewhat alike song. The end of a relationship is kind like death. You have a life with someone and just suddenly, everything stops. The saddest part is that the world goes on and people go on minding their own business, without knowing the pain you feel. It’s very interesting for an author to write about that.”

               — Brian Molko

P.S. This version is the 2008 version of a faster song off the debut album, Placebo.

May 26, 2023

Dead Flowers for Her by Skywatchers

She cries on broken wings, she lies on all she's seen
Oh and you know I can change for, her ways
She cries well, still she cries
She dies from, broken songs
She lies on histories thorns,
oh and you know I can change for, love
She dies well, oh she dies
And i live on open seas,
and i drink down on my knees,
oh and you know I can change for, love
I die well, oh i die
For love


Skywatchers

May 25, 2023

I am a summer girl.

 


Some days I am yellow and warm-hearted, living in tune to place and people, eyes opened, soul stirring, skin pricked, attached to nothing and everything.  



Dear Diary,

This last winter and early spring was difficult, the worst times I've had since the winter John died and the following spring when I was so ill, I did not know if I would survive. That was 2016-2017. I posted this because I am painting my door this color. Smiling. And because I now feel like it is summer though that date is not officially here. But it's swimming temperatures, and I planted some very special yellow/orangey Petunias today. Although I face a few challenges, I survived the end of last year and the earlier part of this year and began work again on the first of April. Now I am pushing full speed ahead with several projects, including house repairs and painting.I've returned to my Brian Molko project, along with my novel and feel very confident in both efforts. I tend to thrive in the heat. Many people do not, but I was born and reared in the hot Mississippi Delta. We did not even have an air condition until I was about ten years old. An attic fan was all we used. Windows were screened but the glass was raised all late spring and into the summer until cold temps returned. I have been thinking of my childhood a lot this year and I had such wonderful experiences. It was a sort of freedom that many children do not know today. We lived outside as children, riding bikes, playing soft ball, jumping ropes, volley ball, kick ball, tennis. We swam in pools and lakes. First person out the door, last person in the door—that was me. Oh, how I wish I could still do a cartwheel. Maybe next year. This is not really a selfie. Someone took this photo because I am wearing my favorite yellow shirt which I got off a sale rack at J.C. Penney's for $9 last spring. Normally, I never get a deal. I love yellow. It reminds me of summer, of my childhood, and keeps me anchored in some kind of possibility. 

Placebo - Surrounded by Spies


I saw you jump from a burning building
I saw you jump from a burning building
I’ve seen you move like Elvis set on fire
I’ve seen you move like Elvis set on fire
This search for meaning is killing me
This search for meaning is killing me
This search for meaning is killing me
This search for meaning

Ping pong ball at the back of my throat
Ping pong ball at the back of my throat
And I won't be spoken to like that
And I won't be spoken to like that

Suspicious bag on the platform
Suspicious bag on the platform
Suspicious bag on the platform
Suspicious bag on the platform

Ex-drummer’s nose stuck in the past
Ex-drummer’s nose stuck in the past
Found dead behind the wheel of a car
Found dеad behind the wheel of a car

World leadеr going under the knife
World leader going under the knife
Stage four, stage two, stage three
Stage four, stage two, stage three

We go to Sweden in the back of a cab
We go to Sweden in the back of a cab
And every picture house is empty
And every picture house is empty

I gave my heart, now I want it back
Gave my heart, now I want it back
I gave my heart, now I want it back
I gave my heart, now I want it back

I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies

Dead fly on the national anthem
Dead fly on the national anthem
Dead fly on the national anthem
Dead fly on the national anthem

I see faces on the bathroom floor
I see faces on the bathroom floor
I see faces on the bathroom floor
Come on over and I'll show you more

Where are you now when I need you the most?
(Shut up)
Where are you now when I need you the most?
(Shut up)
Where are you now when I need you the most?
(Shut up)
Where are you now when I need you the most?
(Shut up)

I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies
I am surrounded by spies

Spies
Spies
Spies
(c) Copyright by Elevator Lady LtD. Placebo.

May 18, 2023

43 Years Ago on this Day, Mount St. Helens erupted.

 


It was 43 years ago, May 18, 1980 that Mount St. Helens blew its side out and killed at least 57 people. Dick Lasher was not one of them. If he had rounded the ridge not far ahead of him, he would have been caught in a wave of heat and ash and died. Thinking he was going to die, he took this photo of his red hatchback Pinto and motorcycle. It is an iconic shot. Lasher then turned around and drove, blinded most of the time by ash until he escaped the blast. Ironically he went back a few times trying to get more photos until he was arrested and jailed to protect him from harm. I imagine an event like this is overwhelming and really addictive. Robert Landsburg, a freelance photographer from Portland who often took photos of the volcano, was not so lucky. When he realized he was going to die, he rolled his film back up, put it in its case, then backpack, and finally on the backseat of his car where he laid on top of it to protect the photos he had taken of the blast. Seventeen days later, Landsburg was found in his car. He had died instantly in the pyroclastic cloud that engulfed the car and him. His film survived and has been published. David Johnston, a volcanologist, also died that May morning, after sending this message,"Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!"

May 1, 2023

May 1st is sunny.

"Those who prefer their principles over their happiness, they refuse to be happy outside the conditions they seem to have attached to their happiness. If they are happy by surprise, they find themselves disabled, unhappy to be deprived of their unhappiness."

         — Albert Camus