connexion: the selector

Sebastião Salgado, The Gisovo Tea Plantation, Rwanda, 1991


Download: Patti Smith Group, Distant Fingers
Buy the Album: Patti Smith Group, Radio Ethiopia

Everyone’s So Lonely, I Dig It, Part Eight

Clean Teeth, Dirty Streets, mysaliva; Tibet Road, Shanghai, 12 april 2009

The thing is,

I finally understand now that this isn’t my mess to clean up.

So now I wake up happy and just,

so much lighter every morning.

I am really, really happy, because I remember,

clearly

who I am,

the goodness of my heart,

and the unbelievable strength of my will to see things through.

It’s not my problem now,

none of this is my problem.

Tonight I smell of honey and green tea,

the windows and blinds are open wide letting the almost-summer air in,

the tulips are opening and reaching up to the sky,

and I will lay down in my soft bed,

headphones cupping my ears gently.

I will read my book with pencil in hand to underline and make notes in the margins

(and drawings too)

and I will feel good.

I will feel really, really good.

xoj

Download: Jane’s Addiction - My Time (Live), Rock & Roll (Velvet Underground Cover Live)
Buy the Album: Jane’s Addiction - Self-Titled

Everyone’s So Lonely, I Dig It, Part Eight

I know it’s been such a long time, babies.

I found this old mix and I haven’t been able to lay it down, so I decided to share it.

The funny thing is, I made it at least three or four years ago…

and I’ll be honest and say it may not be the most skillful mix I’ve ever put together,

and it really will take sitting down and listening to it front to back to understand how incredibly MAJOR it is,

but my god, this motherfucker was prescient.

00:00 “Obessions (Edit)” Joe Frank
00:28 “Transmitting Life from Mars” De La Soul
01:35 “The Boogie Man Song” Mos Def
03:56 “I Wanna Get Next to You” Rose Royce
07:44 “Sometime Later” Alpha
14:38 “She is a Rainbow in Curved Air” Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paradiso Underground Freak Out
20:15 “Arabesuku” Lily Chou-Chou
26:00 “How Long has this Been Going On?” Ella Fitzgerald
29:13 “Vibrate” Rufus Wainwright
31:56 “Noon Chill” Arto Lindsay
35:22 “I Came to Your Party Dressed as a Shadow” Piano Magic
39:31 “Cocoon” Björk
43:52 “Haunt Me” Arab Strap
49:30 “My Autumn’s Done Come (Lee Hazelwood Cover, Live at KEXP)” Tindersticks
53:35 “Look for Me (I’ll be Around)” Neko Case
56:47 “Since I Fell for You” Nina Simone
59:35 “You’re Still My Baby” Otis Redding

That’s right, I did it - I ended it with Otis.

What.

Download: filling in the spaces, the cover

Everyone’s So Lonely, I Dig It, Part Seven

artist unknown (but clearly completely rad.)

Good morning, Sunshine(s)!

I woke up this morning in the best mood.

You guys, there was a leetel birdie outside my window talking talking talking,

and she had a friend who was talking talking talking back,

they kept chirping the same melody back and forth,

it was like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the same tones going back and forth in different voices.

So lovely!

And then I got out of bed and got everything ready for what is bound to be a beautiful, sunny Friday,

and while I was hopping and dancing around my apt,

Amelia hopping and knock-kneed skipping around my sock-feet,

I thought I should share the songs that were making me so happy.

I don’t know, doods, sometimes you just wake up and all the right angles are set correctly against each other.

Download: Pee - San Salvador / Henry’s Dress - Jimmy / Holiday - Gent / Unrest - Winona Ryder (XX Version) / The Smiths - Rusholme Ruffians / Felt - Down But Not Yet Out
Buy the Album: Pee - Now! More Charm and More Tender / Henry’s Dress - Bust ‘em Green / Holiday - Ready, Steady, Go! / Unrest - B.P.M. 1991-1994 / The Smiths - Meat is Murder / Felt - Forever Breathes the Lonely Word

Everyone’s So Lonely, I Dig It, Part Six

paul newman

Starts and stops,

starts and stops,

start and stop.

+(Also - there is nothing that is not amazing about this picture. My favorite things?

His ankles.)

Download: Versus - Tin Foil Star, Flax, Morning Glory, Crazy Maker (I’m Still in Love with Your Eyes)
Buy the Album: Versus - Dead Leaves, Two Cents Plus Tax

The Things That Make My Heart Beat Faster, Twisted Up Edition, Part Four

catharsis

E-mail never sent, 19 June 2008:

things you don’t know about me:

- i get sad when the bruises get green and yellow and i can’t feel the soreness anymore

- when i look at basquiat my spine feels like it is exploding, one vertebrae at a time

- **you can write on me, and then cross out the words: in fact, i hope you do.

- i want to be a living basquiat; i understand saying it and then pulling it back, taking it away from you.**

- probably the thing i want most is for you to feel my pulse in my lips when my eyes roll back. you know how that feels. i know how that feels. i want you to take it away from me.

Download: The Velvet Underground - Heroin, Sweet Jane (Early Version), Love Makes You Feel Ten Feet Tall (Demo)
Buy the Album: The Velvet Underground & Nico (Deluxe Edition), Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition, Disc 2)

We Collect Our Small Moments Where We Will, Part Seven

peagreen boat by Yoneko, location unknown; 10 may 2009

My dreams have been incredible.

The best ones are when I am on the sea,

or a calm lake.

Last night I was in a small boat,

with a friend

and we were on a still, still lake.

My friend kept scooping up water because the water was just so calm,

and he wanted majesty,

he wanted water in our hair and pooling at our feet.

He threw the water in my face,

it was a sweet gesture, really.

The sky had big, ocean-like clouds,

we picked out rabbits and wolves in them,

and they chased each other.

His smile was pulled like a sweet cupid’s bow,

and I saw the wolves chasing the rabbits reflected in his eyes.

I picked up berries from our lunch basket and

I smashed them against his lips

and then mine.

We both blushed,

and I held his hands so tight that his hands were stained,

blood-berry red road maps,

secret itineraries,

to the soft places in each others hearts.

Download: Lily Chou Chou - Kaifuku Suru Kizu, Lily Chou Chou - Arabesuku, Debussy - Claire de Lune
Buy the Album: Various Artists - All About Lily Chou-Chou

Broken Wide Open

what if we just lay down here for awhile, seattle, wa; 07 may 2009

This is my one time to indulge myself like this.

I miss everything.

everything,
everything,
everything.

+the hardest part is when i wake up in the middle of the night,

not really awake,

and you are all over me

i can smell you,

half-alert

you are all over me,

and i can hear your voice in my ear reading to me,

how it was.

it’s so unfair

because at those times I don’t have control

and I can’t stop it.

No one’s ever known my heart the way you do.

I don’t know what it means that this means nothing, ultimately…

that my heart is just

disposable.

Download: Frank Sinatra - What’ll I Do?
Buy the Album: Frank Sinatra - Everybody Loves Somebody