"Superstar" by Clark

Producer-composer-musician Clark has created a spooky, 21st century version of the song "Superstar," from his new album "In Camera."

The song was written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell, and the narrative is from the perspective of a sad, slightly deranged fan of an unnamed rock star. Considering the problematic issue of Parasocial Interaction on social media, the topic is timely. The Carpenters made the song famous in 1971, and Bette Midler recorded a heartfelt version in 1972 for her "The Divine Miss M" release. I recall hearing both versions at the time and they were sweet downtempo ballads until one realized the real story.

But this video for Clark's cover adds another layer to the story of fame and one's possible relationship to it. Writer-director Naqqash Khalid re-edited his debut film "In Camera" for Clark. The film stars Nabhaan Rizwan as an actor who is attempting to make a living at acting and become successful. But the industry at most levels does not encourage and support, it uses up and wrings out actors--especially actors of color who are only able to approach such a vicious industry on their backfoot. Constant rejection for a chance to start all over again from the bottom after each audition or job is wearing (I can attest to that from over 25 years of personal experience) and it seems "Superstar" is sung here to a distorted idea of success or, if one allows oneself to truly dream, stardom.

https://throttleclark.com/

"Letras" by Paco Versailles

Paco Versailles (guitarist/composer Vahagni and gorgeous songwriter/producer Ryan Merchant) sings "Letras"--and I am reminded of "Too Shy" and Hall and Oates and Fashiøn (previously here) and Parcels (here). I love this sound...soft jazz funk, blue eyed soul...

https://www.pacoversailles.com/

"Alone" by The Cure

Wow, what a surprise. The Cure have released a new song, "Alone" and it is lush, rich, and powerful. This lament of loss captures where I have been mentally and spiritually the last week or so...I recently found out that a place from my youth is gone, like so many other places, and the accumulation hit me a little harder than I thought it would. I know time moves on, and I have moved on and grown, but at least those places were there and held that space for me, should I choose to go back and touch it. But not now...places, people, almost nothing left.

https://www.thecure.com/

Remembering Robert Palmer

Today, on the 21st anniversary of his death, I am remembering Robert Palmer with fondness. I recall watching the video for "Looking For Clues" on a brand new channel called MTV...

Robert Palmer died in 2003 at the too-young age of 54 in Paris of a heart attack. He is buried in Lugano, Switzerland.

R.I.P. Robert, thanks for the music.

https://robertpalmer.com/

Chanel Beads Live

I have just discovered Shane Lavers' musical project Chanel Beads and I am delightfully reeling a bit from the sheer uncategorizable-ness of the sound, the band, the lyrics, the sense of the whole enigmatic thing. This stunning, urgent live performance of three tracks from their recent release "Your Day Will Come" features his bandmates Zachary Schwartz on electric violin (which adds an incredible texture to the tapestry of sound) and Maya McGrory on guitar and vocals. "Urn" opens the set, followed by "Police Scanner" and "I Think I Saw."

Incredible.

"Urn"

Sometimes I wish that we buried you now
Assigned a location to my grief somehow
But I know that you would think the cemetery is silly
It's dust to me
Your ashes move too quickly
It’s funny numbers have significance now
Yeah your birthday that kinda hurts me now
Like the day you died, the day you drank all that honey
Like the day you died, the day you got sick from drinking honey

"Police Scanner"

You owe it to yourself
Gotta believe in something else
Looking at the guilt
Cannot break before it ends
Self care
Self aware
Good people out of view
Soul to bare
Changes come
Something strange yeah something new
Police scanner

"I Think I Saw"

Black dog coming
He won’t disobey
Show you something
I'm not really brave
Creeping feeling
Flowers on the grave
Do it for the state, now I visit when it’s grave
You’re not supposed to be here, how’d you get in the gate
Culture’s on the repeat, if you’re lucky then it’s fate
I was in the movie, could have seen it but you’re late
I said something moving, could have changed you but it won’t
Sold out you stare
Wish I had something
To care for, a dare
I'll commit to you

https://www.instagram.com/chanel_beads/

"You" by RY X with Hermanos Gutiérrez

It seems there has been an unusual amount of good music being released recently. Here is a new track from RY X (previously here) with Hermanos Gutiérrez called "You." The guitars of the Gutiérrez Brothers add an extra layer to the usual gorgeous, dreamy, floating sound of RY X.

https://www.ry-x.com/
https://www.hermanosgutierrez.ch/

Memory and Understanding

“Most of our childhood is stored not in photos, but in certain biscuits, lights of day, smells, textures of carpet.”
--Alain de Botton

"3:42 p.m., 2010" | Photo by Alexander Harding

“The path isn't a straight line; it’s a spiral. You continually come back to things you thought you understood and see deeper truths.”
--Barry H. Gillespie

Happy Birthday "Oh, By The Way" 2024!

Congratulations "Oh, By The Way," you are fifteen years old today!

Fifteen years ago, I had a dream in which I started a blog called “Oh, By The Way.” When I woke up that morning, I went to the computer and promptly started a blog called “Oh, By The Way.” Seriously--it was the first thing I did that morning, and yes, I often act out in waking life things I have dreamt.

"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/clothing or interior designer/model/singer/actor/gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/photo/film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/band... or, read this book/poem/inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”

Followers and regular readers: thank you so much! I hope you find this blog by turns fascinating, beautiful, interesting, moving, inspiring, informative, enriching, and uplifting. Welcome to the birthday party! This year I am virtually serving a delicious pistachio cake from Jules at Bonni Bakery.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY "OH, BY THE WAY!"

Happy Autumnal Equinox 2024!

Today is the official start of autumn, when our planet begins to tilt the other direction, tipping the northern hemisphere away from the sun. The days grow shorter and the nights grow longer as we move indoors and into ourselves for hibernation and introspection. Autumn is a time of harvest as the earth moves into hibernation as well. It is a beautiful time, a spiritual transition, a doorway between summer and winter.

HAPPY AUTUMNAL EQUINOX 2024!

(And for our friends Down Under, Happy Spring!)

"Matriarch" by Hiatus

This track, "Matriarch by Hiatus (the nom de musique of British musician/producer Cyrus Shahrad) is pensive and touching...he explains below:

"That’s my grandmother laughing in the breakdown. She passed a few years ago at an age well over 100 – no one is sure of the exact number, but she lived through wars and revolutions, saw kings crowned and dethroned, societies rise and fall. Towards the end of her life all she seemed to do was laugh, like she’d finally gotten the joke at the centre of existence. Originally this video was intercut with footage of her laughing, which was supposed to say something about female power in a world run to ruin by self-appointed tough guys. At the last minute I decided I couldn’t use those clips without her permission, so now it’s just a bunch of men beating each other up, which she’d probably have found hilarious. She loved these films anyway. She was the best."

https://www.instagram.com/cyrushiatus

"Eusexua" by FKA Twigs

FKA Twigs (previously here) is a singular artist. She has conducted her musical career according to her own powerful vision and I respect that immensely. So I am pleased to see her embark on another chapter by releasing a new album, "Eusexua" out January 24th, 2025. The single of the same name has a jaw-dropping video full of her usual high energy, geometric choreography and some incredible clothing (love the leather and steel banded corset, and do I see Rick Owens' inflatable boots in both black and white?). The narrative is self-explanatory.

She offers the following on her IG:
EUSEXUA has been my practice for the years that it has been in creation. it is my opus and truly feels like a pin at the centre of the core of my artist. EUSEXUA was birthed in chicken scratch, written on the back of my hand in a toilet at a rave in prague, ‘this room of fools WE MAKE SOMETHING TOGETHER’ and we do. we rave, we sweat, we kiss, we make love to the booming thud of culture.
EUSEXUA is a practice
EUSEXUA is a state of being
EUSEXUA is the pinnacle of human experience

She is, of course, speaking of a peak experience.

https://eusexua.fkatwi.gs/

"You And I" by London Grammar

London Grammar just released a new album, "The Greatest Love" and on the heels of yesterday's overwhelmingly emotional song "Black Poppies" from Underworld (here), this stirring, empathetic song "You And I" is a standout.

https://www.londongrammar.com/

"Black Poppies" by Underworld

I have a little lump of trembling emotion in my throat as I listen to this new song, "Black Poppies" by the divine Underworld (Karl Hyde and Rick Smith). From their album "Strawberry Hotel" to be released on October 25th, 2024.

The melody...I...Hyde's voice...I just...it's just so...it's so...

Who can handle who cares
And who never came, who cares
And keeps adopting, adapting and embracing change
And change you may feel a little strange at first
But keep changing

We got the best books and the best boys and the best buys
And the first the second will be last
And the dance floor is always full
To be it, to the rush
We got steps, well come in

You are, you are beautiful
You are, you are beautiful

Who can handle who cares
And who never came, who cares
And keeps adopting, adapting and embracing change
And change you may feel a little strange at first
But keep changing

You are, you are beautiful
You are, you are beautiful
You are, you are beautiful

"Cut a hole in the news
don’t make it complicated
we’re no longer alone
you may feel a little strange at first
Mr Mickey Marley
wild black and white
my eyes go crazy
keeps adopting, adapting
if nature is heaven
in her arms you live happy
glitter finger, numbering four weeks
studs like tiny stars
machines playing tunes to block out the life, block out the light
set fire to it if you want to see it go up in flames
follow the line to the rising sun
we are all of these things and more things"

Arranged for strings by Gus Nicholson

Violin 1- Will Clark
Violin 2 - Rocket Brooks and Sungeun Kang
Viola - Catherine McCardel
Cello - Maddie Johnston
Double Bass - Jonny Hayward

https://www.underworldlive.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Paolo Carzana

London Fashion Week is wrapping up and I am so pleased to end on this high note:

Welsh designer Paolo Carzana showed up on my radar last year. He is a newer designer but has already amassed some clout: he is a recipient of the British Fashion Council NewGen award and has BFC support money to put on shows, and is also an artist in residence at the Sarabande Foundation, the arts foundation supported at the bequest of Lee Alexander McQueen.

His vision is fairly singular, much like McQueen. While promoting his Fall Winter '23 collection entitled "Queer Symphony," he said, "It’s mainly related to this idea that everything I was ashamed of as a kid is now my strength. Up until I was 17, I would literally pray every night to wake up straight, and pray to be normal. And every single day, I was bullied in school, when I didn’t even know who I was."

It is a shared story among many of us in the gay community, one I have heard many times...surviving emotional, psychological, and often physical abuse and attacks to emerge on the other side, despite or probably because of it all, with a hunger and drive to create something beautiful, to express a force that could not be taken from us. I can attest to the truth of this from my own personal experience. So I feel great tenderness toward and interest in the creations of Paolo Carzana.

His sartorial vernacular is made of delicate fabrics tied and stitched together that seem like creations from some dream world, as if those wearing his garments should be lounging around on marble terraces in bright Pre-Raphaelite splendor, or in a lush production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The cuts feel like they are memories of historical clothing, like tattered remnants of a far-away homeland after a shipwreck, and his beautiful sheer, ripped, ruched tops and trousers seem like they belong on wood sprites, elves, fairies. There is a hushed beauty to the silhouettes and construction of the garments that casts a spell.

So for this SS '25 collection at London Fashion Week, whimsically entitled "How To Attract Mosquitoes," he showed his wonderful creations not on a catwalk at a flashy location but in his own back garden at his home in Hackney. He told British Vogue, "I feel it’s completely away from what is [typically] considered a fashion show. I’m not interested in influencers; I’m not interested in any of that. I [want] to offer a much more sentimental experience that isn’t about smoke and mirrors." Speaking to the collection's narrative, he said, "[Last season’s collection] was loosely set in heaven; this one [sees us] going to hell. It feels as if we have gone back to a really strong sense of vanity and not caring for others, not caring for the Earth, caring [only] for ourselves." The antidote he presents is the opposite of fast fashion, the opposite of glitz and bling for its own sake.

The cherry on the cake of his brand is his earnest commitment to sustainability. He uses deadstock or recycled fabric, and he uses plant dyes and spices to color his fabrics, including black walnut, Himalayan rhubarb, wild cherry bark, turmeric, tea, hibiscus, and apple wood. With that, it is so fitting that these lovely, enchanted garments were presented in such a bosky setting...

https://www.paolocarzana.com/ 

Singing Moon

BEAUTY: Clothing--Mithridate

Mithridate, the label founded by Chinese designer Demon Zhang, continues to mine creative inspiration from her home country. For this vibrant SS '25 collection at London Fashion Week, she looked at the heritage clothing from the Yunnan, her home province. She employed the beautiful patterns, colors, and embellishments of several different ethnic groups (hats from the Kucong and pom-poms from the Hani) that all bear some resemblance to the native dress of nearby Myanmar, Bhutan, and Nepal.

https://mithridate.com/

BEAUTYY: Clothing--Simone Rocha

For her SS '25 collection at London Fashion Week, Simone Rocha looked to legendary choreographers Pina Bausch and Michael Clark as inspiration for a runway full of dancers in their off-time, getting ready for a show or just coming off stage. This was a co-ed collection and the women sported lots of tulle but so did the men! And as a reference to Bausch's piece "Nelken (Carnations)" in which dancers perform on a stage blooming with 8,000 carnations, Rocha embellishes tops and jackets with embroidered or jeweled carnations. The entire affair feels calculatedly romantic, but the appearance on a tee shirt of a grotesque reimagining of Edouard Manet's "Olympia" by artist Genieve Figgis intriguingly skews the sense of the collection to something slightly darker...

https://simonerocha.com

BEAUTY: Clothing--Qasimi

It's London Fashion Week! The September schedule is a nice bridge between the January-February and June-July shows. So let's take a look...

Khalid Al Qasimi, an Emerati royal, founded his fashion house in 2008, and the brand quickly gained prominence in the fashion world. But after his death of a drug overdoes in 2019, his twin sister, Hoor Al Qasimi took over the house, and has done a great job of keeping the vision of the brand alive.

Hoor continues Khalid's language of the Middle East with garments that are loose and breezy to combat the heat. These looks for her Spring-Summer 2025 collection approach a more casual, streetwear sense than in the past, and she has included some interesting prints. But the last look featuring wearable art jewelry is a bit of a surprise for the brand. I like it.

https://www.qasimi.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Nuba

The talent incubator Fashion East has been a fantastic force in the fashion world. Founded by Lulu Kennedy MBE, Fashion East has nurtured the likes of Kim Jones, Craig Green, Simone Rocha, Martine Rose, Wales Bonner, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Per Gotesson, J.W. Anderson, all of whom can be found featured on this blog! The organization takes on three designers at a time, and allows them to show three collections before rotating out to a different cast of designers.

Among the current crop is a new brand, Nuba, helmed by Jebi Labembika and Cameron Williams. Their Spring-Summer '25 collection shown at London Fashion Week is called "Smoke" and is based on Afro-Caribbean cultures but to my eyes, it looks as if they are simply enjoying working with their medium. Much like an abstract painter can create a work that explores and celebrates the element of paint, just letting it do what it is going to do on the canvas, the Nuba duo seem to be reveling in how fabric drapes and how pieces join to create shapes. Geometry alternates with flowing folds, creating a beautiful statement that is both contemporary and classical.

I can't find a dedicated site for their brand, but it looks like Ssense is an on-line stockist.
https://www.ssense.com/en-us/men/designers/nuba/clothing

BEAUTY: Clothing--Olly Shinder

The talent incubator Fashion East has been a fantastic force in the fashion world. Founded by Lulu Kennedy MBE, Fashion East has nurtured the likes of Kim Jones, Craig Green, Simone Rocha, Martine Rose, Wales Bonner, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Per Gotesson, J.W. Anderson, all of whom can be found featured on this blog! The organization takes on three designers at a time, and allows them to show three collections before rotating out to a different cast of designers.

The current crop of talent at Fashion East includes young designer Olly Shinder (previously here) who showed his SS '25 collection--his last under the Fashion East wing--at London Fashion Week. Shinder is inspired by his interaction with the underground gay fetish world. He told Vogue UK that his fascination lies in uniforms, and this collection, while still letting the fetish world peek out, was definitely more centered on the idea of a uniform being a vehicle to remove any traces of individuality for membership in a tribe or corps.

https://olly-shinder.com/

BEAUTY: Collage--Waldemar Strempler

Loving these recent collage creations from German artist Waldemar Strempler. The use of antique paper, vintage books, and bits of worn ephemera adds a fantastic texture.

https://stremplerart.tumblr.com/

WINNER!

And the clear winner from last night is Kamala Harris. Her opponent only displayed his typical childish petulance and rambling incoherence.

Since I am a California resident, I have had the pleasure of voting for Kamala Harris several times already--in primaries and elections for both State Attorney General and State Senator--and I will have great pleasure voting for her again.

https://kamalaharris.com/

"To Line"

Here is a delightful video from Atelier RZLBD, a boutique art and architecture practice based in Toronto founded by Reza Aliabadi, about the concept of a line. A line can be drawn, a line can be made of objects, a line can be a crease, an interruption, a line can be shadow, a line be the destruction of something and the creation of something else.

"A drawing is simply a line going for a walk."
--Paul Klee

Over a charrette, Atelier RZLBD pursued an open series exploring the act of drawing an analogue line. We present 64 lines, each created to push the boundaries of how we understand line.

As computer aided drawing takes over the art and architecture disciplines, traditional methods of design, sketching, and drafting have become a lost art. A digital line is defined merely by a start and end coordinate, existing in an infinite realm with no character or imperfection. Lacking any sense of scale, a computer can generate a line of any length instantly. To some, this is an ideal – a sense of perfection, mathematical precision, efficiency, and reliability. However, the complex interaction between humans, tools, intentions, motivations, expressions, purposes, cultural customs, cognitive routines, techniques, and materials cannot be forgotten.

A drawn line is not merely one-dimensional. By the touch of a human hand, each line is drawn through the intimate interaction of a tool onto a medium; we are bound by the limits of these materials. The medium has a distinct size, coloration, and consistency, while the tool has a specific thickness, function, and agility. Uniting two contrasting materials creates texture, intricacy, detail, and uncertainty. How you draw a line determines the outcome. The expression of the line reflects the lived experiences of its creator and the material itself, making every drawn line unique with its own personality.

A line is more than precision and efficiency – it carries time, space, weight, and spirit. A line is the first act of creation. A line is a verb: a performance, a process rather than a result. And last but not least, a line has a soul, like the one who draws it. _ RZLBD

http://www.rzlbd.com/

Currently watching...

..."English Teacher" on FX.

I love Brian Jordan Alvarez. I have since his early days of creating content for his Youtube channel. I thought his webseries "30s" was utterly brilliant, along, of course with his series "The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo." He is a wildly talented actor and his instincts for writing comedy and drama are pitch perfect. (And I would be remiss if I did not mention his dancing, previously here.)

So when it was announced that his new project which he created and wrote would be premiering on FX, I was very excited. If anyone deserves success, it is Brian Jordan Alvarez.

And the first two episodes of "English Teacher" that just debuted delivered everything Brian Jordan Alvarez can do. He stars as Evan Marquez, an out gay high school teacher in Austin, Texas navigating not only his students who are, like most young people now, both too savvy and too clueless at the same time, but his fellow teachers. It has the makings of a classic sitcom that one would be forgiven for passing by but in Alvarez's hands, it becomes a fly-on-the wall study of life that is neither aiming to show how stupid or silly the players are (I have a dislike for shows that revel in potshots at characters we are supposed to laugh AT and not with) nor how angsty and torn their lives are. It already reminds me so much of his past work, and I am so glad to see his longtime collaborator Stephanie Koenig playing his friend and fellow teacher, Gwen Sanders (she wrote episode two, the hilarious "Powderpuff"!). The comedy is subtle, effective, and brilliantly connected to a meaningful sense of humanity and truthfulness.

I can't wait to watch every week and see where he will take us. "English Teacher" airs Monday nights on FX.

Congratulations, Brian!

https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/english-teacher

"Superman" by Wunderhorse

Wunderhorse, fronted by musician/actor Jacob Slater (he played Paul Cook in "Pistol," the biopic of the Sex Pistols directed by Danny Boyle, previously here), have released a new album and this moving track, "Superman" is among the many highlights.

I feel like I'm drifting
Out of this office
Up through the ceiling
Over the buildings
I spread my arms
Just like an eagle
I am an eagle
A beautiful bird

My friends and my family
They'd never believe me
They think that they know me
They don't know me at all
I wish I could show them
The power inside me
I wish I could show them
The things I can do
And how I save the world

I'm over the clouds now
Passing the airplanes
Fire all around me
Rеaching maximum speed

Superman

https://wunderhorseband.com/

BEAUTY: Painting--Michael Angel

Australian-American artist Michael Angel creates some wonderful abstract works, but its his pieces which blend portraiture and figurative work with abstraction, reflecting how the paint moves, that attract me.

Top to bottom: Everything In Its Right Place; Family Tree; High and Dry; The Look Back; Man In Chair; Off Sunset; On The Hill; Portrait; They Held Hands; untitled; untitled

https://michaelangel.net/