Hello from your absentee blog host. I am sorry, to the few souls who will see this post, for my absence of late. I will heal the keenly felt rift in content with my favourite album of late, Virus, by Locura. This is the fifth studio album from the Argentine New Wave band Virus. It was released on St Crispin’s Day in 1985. There are several other albums of note from this band, including Vivo and En Vivo II, as well as 30 Años De Locura (En Vivo), but we shall leave these for another time. Locura means insanity in Spanish, also referred to as ataques de locura (meaning “madness attacks”).
A1 Pronta entrega 4:36
A2 Tomo lo que encuentro 4:19
A3 Pecados para dos 4:00
A4 Destino circular 3:46
B1 Una luna de miel en la mano 5:20
B2 Dicha feliz 3:36
B3 Sin disfraz 5:32
B4 Lugares comunes 3:13
There are only 8 tracks in this album, but each are unique, potent and full of wonderful inventive synth. Pronta Entrega for example starts with nice vocals from Federico José Moura (who sadly dies three years after the album’s release) followed by some sublime synth and guitar which form the base of the song going forward.
My other highlight from the album is Sin Disfraz. The title means without a disguise. The song is ostensibly about the narrator worrying about whether he appears to others like a liar and a nudist (!). But the music is superb. The insistent and hammering synth followed by the drumming and hypnotic, though silly in substance, vocals come together to make a cracking tune.
I’ll keep it short as this is my first post in a while, but suffice it to say this is a very special album. It falls squarely into my musical comfort zone. I am addicted to 80s synth pop and have made a playlist of my favourite tunes in this genre. Virus’ studio and live tracks feature heavily, as you can imagine. Get stuck in!
Amazingly, this painting is Millais’ first important religious subject. It shows the boyhood of Christ, of which not much is known. The gospels of St Luke and St Matthew speak on Christ’s childhood years. Christ’s dedication is at Luke 2:21-40 and His visit to the temple when He was 12 years old is found at Luke 2:41-52. The Gospel of Matthew includes a visit from some wise men. These stories precede Christ’s ministry. Nothing is known of what occurred between His dedication at the temple at eight days old, and His visit to Jerusalem when He was 12. Then nothing is known after this point until the beginning of Christ’s ministry. The painting depicts an imagined scene in the family’s workshop. Christ’s earthly father, Joseph, was a carpenter by trade. He is the patron saint of workers. The painting was exhibited in 1850 at first, with no caption save the below:
And one shall say unto him, What are those wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. (Zech. 13:6)
Christ in the House of His Parents (‘The Carpenter’s Shop’) 1849-50 Sir John Everett Millais, Bt 1829-1896
There are a number of astonishing details in this scene which are worth discussing. It prefigures the crucifixion. We can see that Christ has hurt His hand on a loose nail, His mother is comforting Him. There is a drop of blood on His hand which has dripped onto His foot. St Joseph is inspecting Christ’s hand lovingly. John the Baptist is bringing Christ some water to bathe His wound. All eyes are fixed on Jesus, including that of a flock of sheep which have come up to see what is happening.
Following the Pre-Raphaelite credo of truth to nature, Millais painted the scene in meticulous detail and based the setting on a real carpenter’s shop in Oxford Street. The sheep in the background, intended to represent the Christian flock, were drawn from two sheep’s heads obtained from a local butcher. He avoided using professional models, and relied instead on friends and family. Joseph’s head was a portrait of Millais’s own father, but the body was based on a real carpenter, with his rough hands, sinewy arms and prominent veins. The Virgin Mary was his sister-in-law Mary Hodgkinson, who also appears in Millais’s Isabella (1848-9, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool); John the Baptist was posed by a young adopted cousin, Edwin Everett; and Nöel Humphreys, the son of an artist friend, sat for the young Christ. Tate
The atmosphere of this painting is really striking. There is a real sense of time stopping, a moment of extreme importance which is recognised by everyone in the room. Christ is the son of God, his injury might not be significant but it would have been vital that it was seen to immediately. Mary knew what she was taking on when she said yes to God at Luke 1:38:
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Mary and Joseph are aware of the importance of their son, but they also love him as parents love their children. His injury prompts a loving response of care and empathy. It also seems to prompt some fear from his friend and cousin John the Baptist. The reaction of the animals is curious also. Many paintings depicting the birth of Christ show animals flocking around Him. There are no mention of animals in the Gospels during the birth, but there are a number of mentions of animals throughout the Bible, notably perhaps in Mark’s Gospel: “13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him.”. Though I suppose the sheep in this instance are closer related to Christ being the lamb of God, sacrificed for the salvation of mankind.
Looking at the whole picture, it shows a scene of the Holy Family in their workshop, in an ordinary situation where a child has injured himself. This is why the painting prompted such fury. The Holy Family were seldom if ever depicted in an ordinary scene. The Times called the painting ‘revolting’ adding that there was “no conceivable omission of misery, of dirt, of even disease, all finished with the same loathsome minuteness.” Charles Dickens was one of the most vociferous in its opposition, he described the young Christ as ‘a hideous, wry-necked, blubbering, red-headed boy, in a bed gown’ (Household Words, 15 June 1850). I think it is a masterpiece. It is provocative, to be sure, but Millais was one of the greats in the Pre Raphaelite brotherhood and an exquisite painter in his own right. This painting is moving for its simplicity and its humble brilliance. Seeing it, I felt a surge of excitement and awe both at the subject depicted, and at the bravery of the artist painting it.
It is in the Tate Britain in London, free for any and all.
Picture the scene: Charlotte, Colin, Soyful and I are driving up to the Merry Maid, up through Five Ways, up the Belgrave Middleway, then up the back of Dunelm. We parked opposite the restaurant, which is situated between Priestley Road and Athole Street. During the short five minute journey, both Soyful and Colin are making various and escalating pre-emptive apologies about what we are about to experience. Their apologies are in the aesthetic vein. The food, we were assured, would be top quality. The locale, building, clientele, atmosphere and even the way into the restaurant proper were to be forgiven. So far so good.
We entered via the main entrance, past a gaggle of revellers, via an airless corridor with no windows, but two bathrooms. Between the two bathrooms there was a sign stating that management had the right to search anyone on the premises at random. Presumably not for stolen poppadoms. But then, at last, Xanadu. When we least expected it, we found a room filled with what sounded like about 100 people, but was perhaps about 60, all eating the most divine looking curries, naans, pakoras, grilled meat and poppadoms. The smell was admittedly beautiful. We were directed to our table at the very back of the back room. There were a number of gentlemen playing pool directly behind us with their phones perilously close to a monstrous speaker. It was only a matter of time.
We sat down, and ordered the mixed grill, chicken biryani curry, poppadoms, a chili paneer and a cheese naan. It all arrived within about ten minutes. The below photograph does not capture the full magnificence of the meal. The lighting was quite poor.
The food arrived steaming and smelling very inviting. The large grill comprised grilled chicken wings, kebab meat, drumsticks and lamb chops. Every little morsel was suffused with flavour. The curry itself was fresh, hearty and well balanced. There were large and numerous chunks of chicken, which is always welcome. The popadoms were paper thin and crunchy. They went very well with both the mint and yoghurt sauce (thought this was served in a squeeze tube, disturbingly). The paneer was also excellent, smoky, chewy and a generous portion, even though it was a starter. We feasted all the way through and barely left anything. Every tenth bite, one of the more muscled pool players directly behind us would crack the pool cue against the ball with such force that the entire ground would shake. Car alarms could be heard in the distance. This was swiftly covered up by the second more muscled pool player switching on the monstrous speaker aforementioned and releasing into the restaurant such torrents of dreadful rap music that both of my ears fully fell off.
Colin, ever the pragmatist, brought his own Tupperware and packed the rest in. We left, filled to the brim, with a renewed and more pronounced tinnitus, but ultimately very pleased. Please do go, it is worth it!
This 1620 painting took my by surprise this morning. I was wondering out of my room about to prepare for the day and Nicholas showed me the Universalis painting today. Universalis is a wonderful app for Catholics with the Divine Office and Mass readings for the day, as well as the Angelus and Rosary prayers (and much more). Each day the app has an ‘About Today’ section where you can learn about the Saint of the day. Today is the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Joseph does not say a single word in the Gospels but he is a very important figure in the life of our Lord. He was Christ’s earthly father and looked after Him, indeed taught Him carpentry, before Jesus went out on His ministry.
Guido Reni was an Italian Baroque painter. His works have been compared to those of Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. Below is his 1620 work, St Joseph and the Infant Jesus.
This painting is moving for a number of reasons. Nothing is known of St Joseph, other than that he was a carpenter, he brought up Jesus, he supported his wife Mary (indeed, marrying her after she had conceived a child by the Holy Spirit), and accepted the will of God. He has been the subject of countless religious works. He is the patron Saint of artisans who honourably do good works with the gifts God has given them. In this wonderfully rendered painting, Saint Joseph looks tenderly down at his son, while his son looks adoringly up at him. The colours of St Joseph’s garment are striking, as is the softness of his hair, and the precision of the rendering of his beard. In the background, one can see an angel frolicking about.
This is a very tender work, which moved me rather. It is a source of inspiration to parents, and those soon to be parents, on the venerable and loving regard one should have for their children.
I first heard of this band on Toast of London, when Steven Toast was dating Clancy Moped. Clancy was a ‘weather girl’ and was telling Toast her favourite bands over dinner: “the Weather Report, Snow Patrol, Earth Wind and Fire, especially the Wind bit”. On the day of writing, Spotify suggested an album by the Weather Report, Heavy Weather, which I listened to intently. It is a jazz fusion album which was integral to the genre.
The cover is really quite interesting, with a brimmed hat hovering over a city, with a cloud coming from the top and lightning from the bottom. The cover is quite striking and describes the title of the album This is the most striking album I have seen so far this month. And the album is not half bad either.
