It's About Dublin

The Palm pilot is a might emptier this morning because I have finally finished reading Ulysses. It has taken me longer to read that it took Joyce to write it. Well it has been longer since I started reading it. I started again for this cycle but from some of my Blog entries you can see when I re-started. Reading through all of Molly Bloom's speech at the end I struggled to get over the 'what on earth is she on about' feeling but that soon became a powerful image of the inside of someone's mind. It ended exactly right and as the Preface says, despite many suggestions that it is unfinished it is probably the most concluded book ever. I was tempted to start on Dubliners but I think a break from Joyce is required. Actually, I was tempted to start Ulysses again after purchasing one of those companions which explain all the references and locations. Staring again should really be reserved for Finnegan's Wake shouldn't it? The bottom line is that often I was not quite sure what was going on (a bit like the John Peel show) but perseverance is worth it for the easy roll down the hill to the end. A great book. Read it in your lunch breaks and be amazed.

Talking about John Peel has reminded me of something I wanted to check. One of the great treats on his show was a session by Ivor Cutler who must surely feel a bit cut off now.

Listening to Dead Can Dance by the way. Very Loud.

Like some small gig at the Flying Picket it is, when the music was so loud it hurt and the band I knew stood in the spots making them burst over the walls. I took photographs and they were good, like the ones in the NME. They used one of them on their flyers. The bassist joined Electrafixion for a bit. We saw them in some small place in Liverpool. My friend was in the last few months of being pregnant and the music was too loud. She had to leave because the baby (now ten) was dancing along or maybe protesting. But Ian McCulloch looked good in his shades as always. I wasn't allowed to take photos then and the drink came like water until the eardrum buzz made the music like some repeating mantra, losing all its meaning and even melody, just feedback in the night and intoxicated students.

Take those headphones and press them into your ears to get the bass into your skull. It seems to blank out not only sound but vision as well, a rattle that becomes sight and sound.