If I Had My Way Three Times

Music, it will always be my solace. And I enjoy it to get people get acquainted with (for them) new music. Once again, this post suits perfectly with previous posts.
The three YouTube-movies below are all about the same song. Well, they are the same song. 'If I had my way' written by the Reverend Gary Davies (°1896, +1972), and what is the song about? ... Exactly! Religion! It seems it interests me in every way. But I think, faith-driven or not, one has to acknowledge the wonderful stories Christianity has produced. This is the story of Samson and Delilah.
Last year, when we were in France we visited Chalon-Sur-Saône, quite a large city in Burgundy. A city with shops! Musicshops! So I went inside one, a bought two cd's. One by Catherine Russell, which I knew as a backing vocal to Jane Siberry and David Bowie. And one by Bethany and Rufus, which I didn't know at all, but the songchoice was alright, so I took the risk.
Here's Bethany and Rufus with their version of 'If I had my way'. I think they made it a new song.



Peter Paul and Mary on the other hand tend to make this song a lot duller, a lot easier, a lot more drained from all drive that's inherent to the lyric.



And finally Rev. Gary Davies, the original.

The Cupboard of Holy Things... (in a James Mason voice, Eddie Izzard would say)

In addition to yesterday's post, I'll post some more relgious stuff. Below is the cupboard where I keep all things too precious, vulnerable or small to lay around. Books, figurines, little crosses, candles, cards, stuff like that. I also uploaded the picture to Flickr, where I put some notes on the picture with a little more information, you'll find it here.


On the same cupboard are three plaster statuettes. Two Jesuses, both of the Holy Heart. The left one holds a self rolled cigarette between his fingers. My brother put it there when I moved from my studentroom to my first house, now 14 years ago.
In the middle there's St. Josef with Jesus as a young child. I got it from Ms. W, who got it from her grandmother and didn't want to sell it on a fleamarket, but didn't wanna keep it (as she got way too much clutter.)


As you can see, I'm not exclusively into catholic imagery. Here's Mary next to a Jewish holy book (don't know which one, as I can't read Hebrew) and next to an oillamp with some Indian goddess on top of it.


Below is the pièce de résistance of my collection. It's a cross that used to hang in a convent. My brother worked there once, and he knows ofcourse of my collection. So when one day they were going to throw all these crosses, large and small, who were thrown into one room, away, he went to ask one of the nuns if he could take a cross with him for his brother. The nun agreed ofcourse, overjoyed with the devotion she witnessed within the young folk. Well, my brother took a cross, gave it to me, and ever since it's gracing the mantlepiece in my diningroom.


And ofcourse, this is also very much fun. The merchandise found in little shops, mostly selling fifties and sixties inspired clutter. They usually sell Jesus gadgets too. So I own some of those too.

Le livre d'heures des ames pieuses recueil de prières a l'usage des personnes du monde

Yesterday I arrived at Mr.S's place. There was a present of the girlfriend of Mr. S's brother, let's call her Ms. Hare. A while ago she was at my place, and I own a collection of religious artefacts. She said, something I forgot, she had a little churchbook which was lying around, so if I wanted it, I could have it. I said 'Yes!', and this was the moment. I have a lot these little books, and I'm a softie for these lovely patterns and drawings which are always to be found in these little books. This one was printed in 1910 in Braine-Le-Comte, France.


It looks like every book has a different pattern on these pages...


The little drawing on the right page is of an old beehive, which I think is really funny, because I work at a bee-center... Perhaps an idea to explore this kind of imagery within religious imagery. They are well known ofcourse, the most knowm example being St. Ambrose, who once was fed by a swarm of bees. In return he became the patronsaint of all beekeepers and their bees.

Buttonpeople

a little bit inspired by Roman Dirge's Mr. Gosh, the not-so-well-received-admirer of Lenore, the cute little dead girl

13 female singers

On Cats & Quilts Sabine explained how to make a mosaic with pictures on Flickr. So this is my first attempt. 13 pictures. 13 women whose music I buy without pre-listening. Nr. 1 is the big one, the rest follows right to left, top to bottom.

1. Issa/Jane Siberry , 2. Annie Lennox , 3. Diamanda Galàs, 4. Joan Baez, 5. Ute Lemper , 6. Cassandra Wilson, 7. June Tabor, 8. Sarah-Jane Morris, 9. Patty Larkin, 10. Kate Bush, 11. Mary Margaret O'Hara, 12. Stevie Nicks, 13. Holly Cole

Als Alle Anderen #2

I came upon this because I google myself sometimes... Another use of the 'poem' without (my) permission. Luckily it's used for a good cause.

Great Lies To Tell Small Kids

Taken from the very funny book by Andy Riley

Jane Siberry / Issa

Jane Siberry, Canadian, singer-songwriter, independant artist, well... my favourite. Lately she wants to be known as Issa, but apart from the name few things have changed. First stumbled upon her music when she released 'When I was a boy' in 1993, and ever since became a dedicated fan. Met her in 2006 for an interview (which I probably should publish) and a few weeks later for a guided tour in my hometown, a photoshoot and dinner. Lately she's been finishing her new album, which she started while staying in Belgium in 2006. Interested?
Her official site
The Sheeba Store
Her myspace

Still on our little holiday

In our backyard we have a lake, the front yard is an orchard.


This little fluffy fellow apparently likes to be surrounded by flowers.


An exhausting afternoon requires a little nap. Look at the arrows on the soles of his shoes...

Mr. S's Birthday

Yesterday I took half a day off at work, because of Mr. S's birthday. I left at noon, and first went shopping. He didn't know that his mother and brother and my parents would arrive in the afternoon so we could have a small surprise-party. When I came home the children who took a sailing-tutorial were already busy ... euhm... sailing.


A bit later Mrs. B arrived, a longtime friend of Mr. S, and as we were temporarily very much in the neighborhood, she paid him a birthday-visit. The cat was still very much afraid to go outside and watched everything from way up high.


And then in the evening we had that small surprise-party. Raclette as a meal and afterwards a small cake with 46 (forty-six!!!) candles, which Mr. S blew out straight away.

Als Alle Anderen

Every now and then I search the net for this. Every now and then a new use of this poem pops up...

A week of house- and animalsitting

Last Friday we got a phonecall from Mr. S's brother, asking if we were prepared to stay a week at his house. He was leaving for Italy and home & animals needed to be attended to. And for us it's like a little holiday not so far from home.
This is the view of our backyard-for-a-week.


Inside we were welcomed by this dragonfly...


... and this butterfly.


The animals who need our care: Papito, the dog, who happens to be blind and smells like a huge pile of ... well... feces. Mona, the mothercat, and some kind of fluffy little fellow of which we do not know a name.


And ofcourse we brought our own cat, Poeske Kom, along. Though she was a guest in this house in the past, she wasn't eager to go outside. Instead she chose to watch everything from behind the glass and in the comfort of a leather sofa...

Amy Gamy

Quite stupid game, but the animated Amy looks swell...

Games, Bells and Drinks

Yesterday it was a national holiday, so the whole family gathered together for what has become a yearly event. A trip of some kind with the sole purpose of being together for a day. This year we went on a small tour in the South of West-Vlaanderen. The tour went from place to place (mostly cafés and restaurants) and was done by covered wagon. Near the end of the day everyone was numbed by the bells from the horses rigs.


At the beginning we all received a blue kerchief (one of my mother's ideas) so we could recognize the members of our group (as if we didn't know eachother).


In every place we stopped we were served either food or drinks. And we also had to play a game, old folklore games.


This game below was probably the hardest to play. Large wooden cheeselike flat balls were to be rolled just to get near the center of a circle drawn onto the playground. In this place we also had the most drunk and irritating audience.


This last game was an indoor version of bowling, which was quite nice to play though I feel one couldn't put much effort in, luck seemed to be the main player.

wonderful clip & music

Once famous with 10000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant became much more interesting when she went solo.
Ophelia:

Carnival:

Break Your Heart:

Holiday

So... We stayed two weeks in Fretay, Savigny-Sur-Braye, France. A wonderful house, large garden with a lot of trees, and the most amazing wallpaper in a lot of rooms...


The wallpaper and highly religious mirror in our room


The kitchen and a table full of vegetables


The hallway at the backdoor


And always something to read on the toilet

Even tickets look grand!

Nice entrance tickets to castles we visited last month in France. In Belgium you usually get a ticket torn from one big roll, which gives you the impression you're going to a country fair dance and drinking party...

Rows and flows of angel hair...

Clouds recently shot in Fretay, Savigny-Sur-Braye.

At the beginning of the fortnight they were very white, woollike, transparent...

... but two weeks later, they became fire in the sky.

And this picture... well I thought it was a really good picture.

Painting walls and getting rid of stuff...

Last week we started painting my appartment. While putting things back I decided to move around the furniture. I also chose not to put every little tit and tat back where it was before we emptied the room. Lots of stuff will be put in boxes or given away. Must learn to live with less clutter...