under the covers #29

Medicated Night Vision
The 1920's and 30's are often referred to as the Jazz Age.    That time when jazz music gained national and worldwide popularity.     There's a great TV series called Babylon Berlin (so far 4 seasons, with a 5th and final season yet to be broadcast).    Babylon Berlin takes place in the late 20's early 30's Berlin, Germany which saw the rise of the nationalist Nazi Party.    It is great drama against that backdrop of jazz and changing political and social times.  

Many performers have been chameleons throughout their careers with the prototype being David Bowie.
With Berlin Babylon we see the emergence of another chameleon. At the end of the first season and into the second (and I believe third season) Bryan Ferry, of Roxy Music (and solo) fame appears in the series. He performs Roxy Music songs completely re-imagined as Jazz Age classics.

And so we come to the them of "cover versions". It's not often when a musical artist so transforms their own work so that it not only maintains the integrity and hints of the original while become a stand alone work of art on its own. He is given credit in the series as the Bryan Ferry Orchestra. And they have recorded a couple of albums in the style of the Jazz Age.

Here again, I'm going to post 2 tracks. First is the popular Roxy Music track AVALON released in 1982 and sent back to the 1920's/30's for a complete imaginative rework. And below that DANCE AWAY from the 1979 album Manifesto. Enjoy.

sunday verses #11

4 haiku for the end of Autumn.


(12/01/21)
Leaves begin their fall.
Colors changing while you watch
autumn's rich pageant.

(11/27/19)
Cold, dark, windy night;
trees shudder; dead leaves unchained 
make fierce their escape

(12/01/21)
Distant in the dark.
Sweet sounds the soft piano.
Music in the night.

(12/01/21)
Chill'd, damp autumn night.
Sleepless bare trees sway slowly.
Unwrapp'd, expos'd heart.

el camino

*el camino translated to english means “The Way” – more than a vehicle.

EL CAMINO

Out in the wilds

in my rusted 1969 El Camino

pulled off the side of a desert road

the only light

a cigarettes glowing ember end

the stars my only friends

“Buenos Noches From A Lonely Room”

on the radio

quiet like

listening outside to inside conversations

yet here I am alone

staring off into the night at

a glow

far off on the horizon

the site of an alien invasion?

just another boring city

that never sleeps

I decide to NOT “go toward the light”

comfortable under the shadowy blanket of night

resting in my inspired darkness

sitting in the bed of

El Camino

even more haiku on lightning, rain & thunder

Weathers town crier
Thunders crashing box of rocks
announces the rain.

*******

The pink noise of rain
With distant lightnings white noise
A cool breeze for sleep

*******

Music in the night
This ambient symphony
A chorus of rain

3 more haiku on lightning & storms

Restless dreams at night
Toss’d ’bout on flashes of light
Ships on stormy seas

*******

A thunder not heard
The storm can’t hide its approach
Bright lightning flashes

*******

The quiet of night
Static on the radio
The rain comes lightly

3 haiku on lightning

Across the night sky
A visual symphony
Heat lightning flashes

*******

Disturbing the night
Punctuating the darkness
Heat lightning dances

*******

Dark blanket of Night
Heavens dome with light flashes
White doves in dark skies

coastal haiku

gulls flight in the night
coastal lights guiding their slumber
humans haunting sounds

————————————–

seagulls on the prowl
dive-bombing at lunch in hand
McDonald’s french fries

From The Coast

Night Rain

Night Rain

Splashes and Rivulets.
The rain dances then flows
washing, cleansing the
streets and sidewalks
by lamplight
while the city sleeps.

The sins of Winter
washed into the gutter and
time moves slowly.
I stare impatient
by the window
waiting for repentant Spring.

… on… a thousand fading stars….

Night comes darkly
Bringer of dreams and nightmares
Floating in space

A Thousand Fading Stars

Flash of excitement
A thousand stars fading from view
Dreamers wake to light

Your music moment is by Mazzy Star – FADE INTO YOU
from their 1993 album So Tonight That I Might See.