As I stroll through the Couch Potato garden of unearthly delights,
chameleons run across my feet as my boots sink into the ooze formed on the
murky dank path. A small glimmer of light catches my eye from underneath an
undernourished rose bush. I pick up the small missive revealing its true
form to be a small white publication. The cover is adorned with the
beautiful image of a black haired siren covered in blood and dressed in a
blood splattered muscle t-shirt, with the words smeared in blood, "I did it
for You".
Correlating the two requirements for life, "Blood Sugar", this collection of
poems by spoken word artist Nicole Blackman is one that will cut you with
her sharp tongue and heal you with her brazen sensuality. "When I am gone
your pillows will smell like me"
However these are just words printed on a bleached parchment. Her breathy
spoken words need to be heard to be appreciated and absorbed into the
psyche.
I step into another dimension through one of the many gateways in the
garden, and am transformed back to 1996. Musical pioneers Bill Laswell and
Anton Fier are working on their latest "Golden Palominos" CD "Dead Inside"
and have enlisted Nicole Blackman to do the vocals and provide the text. It
is an exciting and chilling departure from conventional music, a masterwork
of spoken word.
Laswell and Fier provide a background soundscape that works extremely well;
an electronic soundtrack to an aural movie. The sounds compliment and never
detract from the wispy, demanding and sensual words of Nicole Blackman.
Blackman is no stranger to the "F" word but never have I heard it used so
effectively to create an emotional response. Her pauses will leave you
hanging...waiting for the next breathe or the next fuck.
The first track, "Victim", tells the tale of a kidnapped femaol, and starts
the cd off with a intense track that at once conveys the fear of violence,
as well as the regrets of not doing the things in life we want to do and
finding out it is too late when we are facing the moment of our death.
"The Ambitions Are" starts out as a psuedo political piece, "The angels all
have guns now", and turns into an indictment on modern society bridging the
corporate world with our own discontentment and wanting. "The ambitions are
wake up, breathe, keep breathing".
My favorite track in "Holy", chronicling the thoughts of a girl who has
apparently disappeared into hers own thoughts and frees herself from the
pain of living. "I could feel the slow drips of pain before swirling inside
where my lungs should have been. Now I'm clean inside". All quotes © Nicole
Blackman
A thorny branch swipes across my cheek, drawing blood, and brings me back to
the present. I commence down the dark garden path until I see a frog shaped
pedestal with a static filled tv coming to life.
The moving images portray the weird workings of renowned fantasy artist John
Bolton in the DVD, "Neil Gaiman's A Short Film about John Bolton". A creepy
short film that marks author Neil Gaiman's first directorial attempt. I can'
t give too much away, but I was too stupid to get it the first time I
watched it. Nuff said.
The extra feature of a live reading by Neil Gaiman of some of his short
stories was a joy to watch. I did not think I would enjoy it, but Gaiman is
humorous and interesting as he reads his own tales, obviously with an
intimacy that no one else could invoke in his tales.
The small video screen in the garden goes black as a small sparrow flies
past my head before crashing into the mirror. I take this as a sign and
retreat out of the garden back to the safe confines of my dungeon.
"Couch Potato Confessions" is ©2005 by Vinnie B. Couch Potato main graphic by Vin Blesi and Nolan Canova. Webpage design and all graphics herein (except where otherwise noted) are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2005 by Nolan B. Canova.
