Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Damien Rice - Cannonball - Official Video

So come on courage! Teach me to be shy...


1. Be Impeccable with your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the Word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your Word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally

Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.


This artwork is about feeling alone.

It wasn't easy to do. Kinda had to go to that part
of me that I really don't like to visit.
You know.
The fucked up part...
where shit's all broken and doesn't fit together anymore.

The part that people "pretend" I don't have. It's easier
to ignore it.
It's at that moment.

No one calls.
No one stops by...
No one see's how you are...

No one cares.

Then there's that moment
when you remember...
that someone was coming home.
That your dogs were there and they wanted to go for a run...
That if anything "escape" into some kind of life...
STILL EXISTED.

Then...there's the moment you do not know about.
The moment when you realize that its all gone. That none of that
is ever going to happen again.

Thats the moment that you find the float.

Because you are not grounded. You do not know who you are. You don't
know where the rent money is coming from...
You don't know if the eviction notice
or the divorce
or the fucking nasty neighbor
or the bill collector
or the police
the fire department
maybe an ambulance or two or three....
WILL BE AT YOUR DOOR.

You don't have a right to say to me that you are alone.
That you have nothing.

The net surrounding her is the hope that someone is there
to catch her when she falls.

The flower is for her grave because she knows no one
is there to hold the net....

Song: Cannonball
Artwork: Me

Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
Still a little hard to say what's going on

Still a little bit of your ghost you witness
Still a little BIT of your face I haven't kissed
You step a little closer EACH DAY
That I can't say what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannonball

Still a little bit of your song in my ear
Still a little bit of your words I long to hear
You step a little closer TO ME
So close that I can't see what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannon

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to cry
So come on courage!
Teach me to be shy
'Cause it's not hard to fall
And I don't WANNA scare her
It's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna lose
It's not hard to grow
When you know that you just don't know

Thursday, December 16, 2010

"Remember This" - Echoes


"Remember This"

Be good, but not too good-a little naughty, but not too naughty. Say a prayer if you feel that way, say Damn if it gives you consolation.
Be kind to the world always, if possible - yet if you must be unkind, smash right and left, get it over with and forget it.
Smile, always smile, have a smile ready even though sometimes it hurts. Grab all the happiness you can-wherever and whenever you can- don't even let a wee bit slip past you. Live, above all things, live, don't simply exist.
If you are blessed enough to know what real love is-love with all your heart, soul and body.
Live your life so that at any hour you will be able to shake hands with yourself and try to accomplish at least one thing worth while each day. Then when your nights come you will be able to pull up the covers and say to yourself- "I have done my best."
G. Stuart Engle.

This is what Talula lives by. Enjoy it. It was written by a guy named Stu Engle who ran a bar called Engle's Tavern many years ago on Absecon Blvd. at Indiana Ave. Dial 5-9858.
This statement will be attached to some part in some way of all of Talula's gallery and museum exhibitions.
It is also her holiday gift to you!
Merry what the fuck ever you wanna be Merry about.

Song "Echoes" by Pink Floyd

Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant tide
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine.

And no-one called us to the land
And no-one knows the wheres or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards the light

Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can

And no-one calls us to move on
And no-one forces down our eyes
And no-one speaks and no-one tries
And no-one flies around the sun

Cloudless everyday you fall upon my waking eyes
inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning

And no-one sings me lullabies
And no-one makes me close my eyes
And so I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky

Sunday, November 21, 2010

But whoever knew the voodoo you'd do?



Song: When It Hurts So Bad
Artist: Lauren Hill
Artwork: But whoever knew the voodoo you'd do?
Artist: Talula Love Bottoms

Note: Every artwork is always inspired by music. The music is the voice in the artwork...it is a mood, a feeling...an answer - it is often what you need it to be at that moment. For Talula...in this game of life; its usually the truth.


It seems as if the shorter the days
the louder the cries
none the less broken
none the more wise.
Where have you all gone?
What was it that I did so wrong?
Is it I tried too hard?
or that I tried at all
because I'm none the better
from the fall
and in the shadows where you lay
I hope that sadness never comes your way
that love never lets you down
that fear doesn't stall your path and
that understanding does not turn to wrath.

-----
When it hurts so bad, when it hurts so bad
Why's it feel so good?
When it hurts so bad, when it hurts so bad
Why's it feel so good?

I loved real, real hard once
But the love wasn't returned
Found out the man I'd die for
He wasn't even concerned
I tried, and I tried, and I tried
To keep him in my life
I cried, and I cried, and I cried
But I couldn't make it right
But I, I loved the young man
And if you've ever been in love,
Then you'd understand


What you want might make you cry
What you need might pass you by
If you don't catch it,
If you don't catch it,
And what you need ironically
Will turn out what you want to be
If you just let it,
If you just let it

See, I thought this feeling
It was all that I had
But how could this be love
And make me feel so bad?
Gave up my power,
I existed for you
But whoever knew the voodoo you'd do?
But I, I loved the young man
And if you've ever been in love you'd understand
What you want might make you cry
What you need might pass you by
If you don't catch it
And what you need ironically
Will turn out what you want to be
If you just let it,
What you want might make you cry
What you need might pass you by
If you don't catch it
And what you need ironically
Will turn out what you want to be
If you just let it,
If you just let it

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Burning Man...really?



Talula had a Burning Man lesson.
She was looking for inspiration and dug deep into her
Punk Rock memories and
POW!
There it was. A creative spark under the L train.

Shot in the dark...one in the eye - and

she became educated on burning man and the idea of
"it's just a bunch of naked people right...?"
Is gone.
Now...it's a mission. A project...
a reason!
Talula wants to earn her respectable tent spot and do what
she does best...
create. inspire. respire. WHO'S IN?

WHAT IS BURNING MAN?

here's the basis of what I learned from my tutorial -
Radical Self-Expression

Here's the Wiki Info:
Because of the variety of goals fostered by participatory attendees, known as "Burners," Burning Man does not have a single focus. Features of the event are subject to the participants and include community, artwork, absurdity, decommodification and revelry. Participation is encouraged.[27][28]

The Burning Man event is governed by 10 principles, which are radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.[29]

* Radical inclusion - Anyone who can afford a ticket is gladly welcomed and there are no prerequisites to be part of Burning Man.[29] All participants are expected to provide for their own basic needs and follow the minimal rules of the event.
* Gifting - Instead of cash, event participants are encouraged to rely on a gift economy, a sort of potlatch. In the earliest days of the event, an underground barter economy also existed, in which burners exchanged "favors" with each other. While this was originally supported by the Burning Man organization, this is now largely discouraged. Instead, burners are encouraged to give gifts to one another unconditionally.
* Decommodification - No cash transactions are permitted between attendees of the event, which is in accordance with the principles of Burning Man. Cash can be used for a select few charity, fuel and sanitation vendors as follows:[30]
* Radical self-reliance - Because of the event's harsh environment and remote location, participants are expected to be responsible for their own subsistence. Since the LLC forbids any commerce, participants must be prepared and bring all their own supplies with the exception of the items stated in Decommodification.[37]
* Radical self-expression - Participants are encouraged to express themselves in a number of ways through various art forms and projects. The event is clothing-optional and public nudity is common, though not practiced by the majority.[38][39]
The event is clothing-optional and public nudity is fairly common, though not necessarily practiced by the majority.
* Communal effort - Participants are encouraged to work with and help fellow participants.[40]
* Civic responsibility - Participants are encouraged to assume responsibility and be part of a civil society in which federal, state and local laws are obeyed and communicate this to other participants.[40]
* "Leave No Trace" - Participants are committed to a "Leave No Trace" event. They strive to leave the area around them in better condition than before their arrival to ensure that their participation does not have a long-term impact on the environment.[40]
* Participation - Burning Man is about participation.[40]
* Immediacy - Participants are encouraged to become part of the event, to experience who and what is around them and to explore their inner selves and their relation to the event.[40]

Art

Art on the dry lake is assisted by the Artery, which helps artists place their art in the desert and ensures lighting (to prevent accidental collisions), burn-platform (to protect the integrity of the dry lake bed), and fire-safety requirements are met.[41]

Since 1995, a different theme has been created, ostensibly by Larry Harvey, for each year's event. For 2006, the theme was Hope and Fear,[42] and for 2007, it was The Green Man.[43][44] It determines to some extent the design of the Man (although his design and construction, while evolutionary, has remained relatively unchanged) and especially the structure on which he stands (an Observatory for "Vault of Heaven," a Lighthouse for "The Floating World"). These themes also greatly affect the designs that participants employ in their artworks, costumes, camps and vehicles.[45]

Burning Man primarily features outsider art and visionary art, though a great variety of art forms appear during the event. Creative expression through the arts and interactive art are encouraged at Burning Man. Numerous Theme Camps, registered and placed by the LLC, are created as event and residence centers by sizable sub-communities of participants and use extensive design and artistic elements to engage the greater community and meet the LLC's interactivity requirements. Music, performance and guerrilla street theatre are art forms commonly presented within the camps and developed areas of the city. Adjacent to the city, the dry lake bed of Lake Lahontan serves as a tabula rasa for hundreds of isolated artworks, ranging from small to very large-scale art installations, often sculptures with kinetic, electronic and fire elements.

Artwork is generally viewed as a gift that the artist makes to the community, although art grants are available to participants from the LLC via a system of curation and oversight, with application deadlines early in the year. Grants are intended to help artists produce work beyond the scope of their own means, and are generally intended to cover only a portion of the costs associated with creation of the pieces, usually requiring considerable reliance on an artist's community resources. Aggregate funding for all grants varies depending on the number and quality of the submissions (usually well over 100) but amounts to several percent (on the order of $500,000 in recent years) of the gross receipts from ticket sales. In 2006, 29 pieces were funded.

Various standards regarding the nature of the artworks eligible for grants are set by the Art Department of the LLC, but compliance with the theme and interactivity are important considerations. This funding has fostered artistic communities, most notably in the Bay Area of California, the region that has historically provided a majority of the event's participants. There are active and successful outreach efforts to enlarge the regional scope of the event and the grant program. Among these is the Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF).

While BRAF does not fund any installations for the event itself, it relies on the donations from the LLC for a significant portion of its funding, and does facilitate presentation of work created for the event in outside venues as well as offering its own grants for artworks that typify interactivity and other principles and traditions the event.
____________________________________________
I need a team and A5...I believe this is where the Sketch Holiday...Talula Love Bottoms wedding should take place...for arts sake! Let's get a Surfrider Sponsor.

xoxo

Monday, November 8, 2010

We need to turn Talula on...



Song: Abnormally Attracted to Sin
Artist: Tori Amos
Artwork: Abnormally Attracted to Sin
Artist: Talula Love Bottoms



Talula needs a show because she seems to be easily distracted by shiny objects.

Any ideas?
We need to turn Talula on...
she's been off her horse for a while..
but now; she's ready to ride.

Giddy the fuck up.

Impeccable peccadillo
You are off your guard
Pussy will calls there by the church "don't go in if you are abnormally attracted to sin"
Abnormally attracted to sin
She may be dead to you
But her hips sway a natural kind of faith
That could give your lost heart
A warm chapel
You'll sleep in her bell tower
And you will simply wake
Abnormally attracted to sin


Abnormally attracted to sin
Impeccable peccadillo
I know who you are
Tales of longing sway
Lost without a verse
Hymns of swing lay low
there by the church "don't go in if you are abnormally attracted to sin'

Monday, October 25, 2010

Often Suspense is Exaggerated....Cash/Money



In college...very little actually gave me pause.

It was your standard A,B,C...1,2,3 case scenario.
Until one elective, one lecture hall...one professor.

Sadly..I don't remember his name. I will call him Mr. G with
the missing Jaw. He had cancer and it left him visibly disfigured.

The class was Theater.

My idea of theater class was Broadway tunes and trips to TKTS in NY.
I never thought much about it aside from another vehicle to get me the hell outta there.

It alone is the most important class of my life thus far. (Aside from "How to Strip to the Oldies"..but that was just so I could earn some extra money during my one again off again unsuccessful career paths...it was short lived as well due to the age of my clients)...Anyhoot...

In short...the professor gave the students the opportunity to choose their grade. What? Someone actually allowed a college student to have an option. To ask themselves a question as to what it was that they wanted.

It was the first time I was challenged. It was also the first time someone let me
decide what I wanted.

I wanted an A+. I really for the first time ever wanted it...and I didn't even know why? It was a gift I thought. Something easy.

Ha.
Not easy at all.
What Mr. G with the missing Jaw presented to me was a valuable life lesson. Through theater.

In the curriculum you had to go see a few Broadway plays, off Broadway, local, and college...and then write about it and hand it in. E.A.S.Y.

Ha.
After attending said theater shows you would go back into the 100+ filled lecture hall and you would be called to stand and give your feedback. If it was not what he wanted to here he would tell you in a aggressive, horrid manner that you were fucking wrong...and you would flush red hot and hide your head for the rest of the class not understanding how you could have gotten this question wrong: IE;

Q: What exactly was Sweeney Todd angry about?
A: I believe it was the fact that he was wrongly imprisoned because the mayor was
secretly in love with his beautiful wife.
Response: That's wrong. Sit the fuck down, better luck next time fool.

And..I would be like "Wtf?..I'm not standing up ever again - this class is horrible"

Ha.
But then I would get my paper back with an A grade but a note on the top next to the grade saying that if I didn't stand up in class more then I wouldn't make it to my goal.

Ha.
The correct answer to the question I later learned would be...
A:
I felt that if in my life I was wrongly accused of something that
there would be no rest until order was returned. That the pain of losing
my freedom and my family would cause me an anger so great revenge would never be
enough.

Mr. G with the missing Jaw forced me to feel.
He taught me to feel and to be ok with feeling.

That what I was watching unfold at these performances ultimately was
about my life. About me.

And because of it...I have been able to see the world from this perspective however
painful it has been for me at times. I am lucky to have learned that so early on because it is one of the ruling factors behind Talula Love Bottoms.

I got an A+. Only three of us in the entire lecture hall which, after the number of students that chose the C grade and didn't have to go to class anymore, was about 30. It is still to this day noted as one of my greatest successes.

Ha.

Cash/Money
by the Beautiful Girls
(not the whole song..just the part I think applies)

Going, my boats leaving today.
Gonna get down to the water,
gonna wash these blues away.
Man this city's taken too much from me,
gonna head out to the country,
find a place where I can breathe.
I've been working 9 to 5,
trying to lead a gracious life,
but my hard work only ever went to keeping me in strife.
Gonna take another road.
Gonna find myself some soul.
Gonna do my best in ever way,
to pay attention as I go.


Cash Money aint got no use for you
unless you can buy me true love
And it's funny
how many times they've proved
that the only true fortune you can save,
is the truth.

Bottoms up. xoxo.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Windows to Doorways...Time to move on




Window closed.
Doorway open...
Guess it's time to move on.

Bob Dylan Standing In The Doorway

I'm a-walkin' through the summer nights
The jukebox playing low
Yesterday everything was goin' too fast
Today it's moving too slow.

I got no place left to turn
I got nothing left to burn
Don't know if I saw you
If I would kiss you or kill you
It probably wouldn't matter to you anyhow
You left me standin' in the doorway cryin'
I got nothing to go back to now.

The light in this place is so bad
Makin' me sick in the head
All the laughter is just makin' me sad
The stars have turned cherry red.

I'm strummin' on my gay guitar
Smokin' a cheap cigar
The ghost of our old love has not gone away
Don't look it like it will any time soon
You left me standin' in the doorway cryin'
Under the midnight moon.

Maybe they'll get me, and maybe they won't
But not tonight and it won't be here
There are things I could say but I don't
I know the mercy of God must be near.

I've been ridin' the midnight train
Got ice water in my vein.

I would be crazy if I took you back
It would go up against every rule
You left me standin' in the doorway cryin'
Sufferin' like a fool.

When the last rays of daylight go down
Buddy you're older or more
I can hear the church bells ringin' in the yard
I wonder who they're ringin' for?

I know I can't win
But my heart just won't give in.

Last night I danced with a stranger
But she just reminded me you were the one.

You left me standin' in the doorway cryin'
In the dark land of the sun.

I'll eat when I'm hungry
Drink when I'm dry
And live my life on the square
And even if the flesh falls off of my face
I know someone will be there to care.

It always meaned so much, even the softest touch.

I see nothin' to be gained by any explanation
There's no words that need to be said
You left me standin' in the doorway cryin'
Blues wrapped around my head.

Monday, April 19, 2010

To have something so big inside of you...


I wonder if anyone out there understands...
as I now do;
how difficult it is to be an artist.

To have something so big inside of you that it
veers you off every other path you've tried to take;
and put's you right back here.

In front of yourself.

I curse my struggle every day. I've wanted for so long
to not have this inside of me...this need to create.
To be creative...
To set my fears free. Expose myself to it all;
and accept the punches with the compliments as they
each have their place.

Accept my own punches and my own compliments -
that's a whole other unaddressable thing.

This urge to be an artist....has pretty much destroyed
everything in my life. I have become solely focused on just it.
On what it was going to take to get me to go deep enough
inside of myself to find out where it's been and/or is.

This is all because of a little book I read years ago.
Letters to A Young Poet by Rilke. I mention it often as it
is the reason for me getting to this point. Without having
read it I don't know if I would have ever truly understood
the question I was someday going to have to seriously ask myself.

I recently re-read the book on a train ride to NY to see a friend
I hadn't seen in too long.
I was truly looking for the page that posed the above question. After
numerous flips and turns...I decided the best solution to finding it was
to simply read the book; and enjoy it again. I'd say it had been a good
8 years since I read it last.

Everything was there.
Every single thing I had been through for the past year was
laid out before me.

I thought to myself...how could this possibly be true.
The want to create;
not out of need...but out of the
source that created the need in the first place.

Then to actually find that place; almost by chance.(or maybe not)
and have it give it all back to you.
The joy of that vision is unmatchable.
The feeling inside that you found the Royal Checker;
that you truly thought you had to look outward for inspiration,
for reason...for validation.
When it was really inward and you just needed to honestly;
whole heartily ask the fucking question...for real.

Does anyone else understand what I'm talking about?

Note:
The above artwork is titled "Piano Window".
Here's a few things I don't think I told anyone;
well maybe one person MIGHT know.
I accidentally glued the green box in upside down -
so the entire artwork suddenly changed; I suppose I didn't
realize it until the glue was dried.
Where there should have been panic (because I'm OCD, ADD, psychotic
whatever you want to call me)...was acceptance and excitement
that something new was going to happen.
This piece is my favorite in the whole collection.
Because of my "glue" mistake...it gave me the opportunity
to create The Jasper and Jill Window.
Probably my second favorite piece in the series.

The missing drawer in Piano Window gave me Jasper and Jill;
because I had this new opening in the bottom of the artwork
(that was completely unexpected)
I was able to make a hanging removable sculpture; that eventually
found its way into a little girls hand;
and a story that ended with Wanda Kline (one of the best
local landmark and coastal artists)
telling me I had made that little girls night
by simply letting the art be about her and not about me.

...and there was my Royal Checker.

(that little girl was the reason I was able to do what I did!
Because it's in there. It's exploding like a child imagination!
Of course this does in no way dismiss the other reason that I stated above...
which was (to clarify) that I don't seem to have too much of a choice
unless I give up on who I am supposed to be and
disappear into an existing...non-existence.)

No thanks. Read the book if you understand anything that I've
said...and also have this struggle inside of you. You just might
message me back that you totally understand what I'm talking about.
Either way. Message me back because this silly blog is much more
fun when people post good, positive (or negative) comments. As long
as it is in regards to art and music and appropriate context.

Next time I decide to open up this wizards box;
I'll tell you about the one and only professor I had
in college that truly changed my life. (insert suspense and
assumed interest here).

Oh..and the song (you thought you were getting away without one...
ha.ha...never! Is Echoes. By Pink Floyd.
Oh! I have been waiting for this one. You're welcome.

Echoes (this entire song is written throughout the entire
5 piece collection; the collection is titled
"In Search of the Royal Checker"


Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant tide
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine.

And no-one called us to the land
And no-one knows the wheres or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards the light


Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can


And no-one calls us to move on
And no-one forces down our eyes
And no-one speaks and no-one tries
And no-one flies around the sun

Cloudless everyday you fall upon my waking eyes
inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning (there needs to be !!! here)

And no-one sings me lullabies
And no-one makes me close my eyes
And so I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky


____________________________________
Epic. I have no other words to describe this song.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Talula in Rome " May your hands always be busy".


We have defined Talula in part....

and now she Travels. Let's talk about Talula in Rome!!!

Talula Roma is DARING!!!! We have not seen this Talula before.
She takes risks because she can.
She picked up her ""I can't travel" can't a long time ago...

She has quiet grace. A laughter that is never fake or forced.
A face that makes the Roseto Comunale perk up in competition!!!
though there is no ego.
No corner un-captured by her intrigue.



...and she will tell you to "Fuck Off" all day long and mean it; and
then turn around and make you dinner if she still decides to like you.

Though...she needs to like you a lot for you to steal her heart away from
good music, good food, arts and literature.

She will break your heart into a million pieces.
You will love her forever.
You will travel to the ends of the earth in search for that smile...
and
she
won't
stop
so
you
can
catch
up.

Oh Roma...you have no idea the gentle storm that approaches!!!
This Talula will dance in the ruins and leave you for Paris on a whim.
She will love you strong and deny it the entire time! And if you don't love her
back...she actually, honestly - doesn't care.

Forever Young

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.
,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

ToJMfromMPMHTheartB...
Travel Wise. Travel Safe. Be you - and live.
You already know you will be greatly missed;
but we would all love you less if you didn't go -
because then...you wouldn't be you now would you.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Dodging lions and wastin' time


Wow! There's a definite High then a Low...
after a show.
Needed to find my most favorite lyrics EVER...
and re-focus on Talula.

Because this is just the beginning!!!!


Bob Dylan
When I Paint My Masterpiece

Favorite lyric:
Oh, the hours I've spent inside the Coliseum,
Dodging lions and wastin' time.



Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble,
Ancient footprints are everywhere.
You can almost think that you're seein' double
On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs.
Got to hurry on back to my hotel room,
Where I've got me a date with Botticelli's niece.
She promised that she'd be right there with me
When I paint my masterpiece.

Oh, the hours I've spent inside the Coliseum,
Dodging lions and wastin' time.
Oh, those mighty kings of the jungle, I could hardly stand to see 'em,
Yes, it sure has been a long, hard climb.
Train wheels runnin' through the back of my memory,
When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese.
Someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece.

Sailin' 'round the world in a dirty gondola.
Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!

I left Rome and landed in Brussels,
On a plane ride so bumpy that I almost cried.
Clergymen in uniform and young girls pullin' muscles,
Everyone was there to greet me when I stepped inside.
Newspapermen eating candy
Had to be held down by big police.
Someday, everything is gonna be diff'rent
When I paint my masterpiece.



_________________________________________________


Thank everyone who came and supported me on opening night! It truly means
the world to me. My art is everything to me...and often...
it is my only thing. To know that you are on my side -
whichever side I fall; makes me so very proud of you...
for being exactly who you are. (and often...you are my inspiration, my drive,
my reason, my past, my future...so if my art is my everything - it is
because of you!)
I love you all very, very, very much!
Thank you!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

As so the transition begins....Introducing...



and so it was...
here I am.
Talula.
Talula.


Congratulate you
said you had a double tongue
balancing cake and bread
say goodbye to a glitter girl
Talula
Talula
you don't want to lose her
she must be worth losing
if it is worth something
Talula
Talula
she's brand new now to you
wrapped in your papoose
your little Fig Newton
say goodbye to the old world
ran into the Henchman who severed
Anne Boleyn
he did it right quickly a merciful man
she said 1+1 is 2
but Henry said that it was 3
so it was
here I am
Talula
Talula
I don't want to lose it
it must be worth losing
if it is worth something
Talula
Talula
she's brand new now to you
wrapped in your papoose
your little Fig Newton
and Jamaica
do you know what I have done
Mary M weaving on said
what you want is in the blood Senators
I got Big Bird on the fishing line
with a bit of a shout a bit of a shout
a bit of an angry snout
he's my favourite hooker of the whole bunch
and I know about his only Bride
and how the Russians die on the ice
I got my rape hat on
honey but I always could accessorise
and I never cared too much for the money
but I know right now
that it's in God's hands
but I don't know who the Father is
Talula
Talula
I don't want to lose him
he must be worth losing
if it is worth something
Talula
Talula
He's brand new now to you
wrapped in your papoose
your little Fig Newton

______________________________________
and in this transition is it important to know what is INTENDED.

Talula Love Bottoms intent is to allow everyone to "PICK UP THEIR CANT'S"...it really gets on her nerves when people say they can't do something.
Talula is going to give you the tools and the want to do it.

She is not a real person...
but who she is is who you want to be.
You get to be your own Talula...whenever you want!

Enjoy this ride...I have a feeling it's gonna be fast and long!!!
Hop aboard the Talula Train and let's see where it takes us!!!!

Much thanks to the constant support and inspiration.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Maryanne P. Maryanne H. Talula Love Bottoms.


I've been meaning to write a biography.
I sit down to do it and again....all this
nonsensical stuff hits the page and...

I walk away. From me. From it all.
Because I have no idea who I am.

Talula.

I guess it starts there.

What does one do when they realize that they
cannot possibly achieve their desired goals if they remain - themselves;
fearing failure.

What if...simply creating a character that has all of the things you
need; all of the tools - in fact...creates a freedom;
So that you can actually do it.

Pick Up Your Cant's.

My name is Maryanne Pappano. I sign my artwork Maryanne Hugues
because that is my maiden name. If that alone is not an identity
crisis I don't know what is.
I believe that inside all of us there is an artist waiting to
burst out in color, flavor, excitement and want.

Talula Love Bottoms was created because of that above statement.

But who does that make me. AKA.
I honestly have no idea what name to sign it under half the time. There will
be a time when it is hard to collect this periods work because of the inconsistency
of signage. Ha.

Obviously Maryanne is having issues across the board.

A biography. I have no real memory of where my love or need for art
started. I just got to a point in my life where I eventually had
to ask myself a serious question - and that question was.

Are you an artist?
I answered yes.

I wanted to be a mom. I wanted to be Fanny Brennan who
raised her kids and then became the artist she wanted to be
for herself. That's really who I wanted to be.

It's not who I am.

I am; however - the artist that is trying to find a place for all of
us who find a struggle in saying that we can, we are, and we will when
it comes to the arts.

And that term will be; "Put your Talula on".

We all have an inner Talula - and she will never be judged. She is
great no matter what. And she can.

Right now. That's who I am. I am my own Talula.


Maryanne Pappano
AKA Maryanne Hugues
AKA Talula Love Bottoms

Saturday, February 27, 2010

"Little Earthquakes"




At the start of the week...
Talula kinda knew it was gonna be a Tori week.
Either way -
Come the weekend...
Floating homes and
Thanksgiving
Sky Cafes, Cupcakes and Confetti

Having to say it out loud. That's the hardest part.

The beeping subsides
Artist mimicking and mocking
Insults that were handed out like chiclets at the Tijuana/California border.
SNOW

Non-emotional replies
Screams and cries
constant lies

In between all of these little earthquakes....
thankfully -

was laughter.
Without it Talula would be scratching at the dirt.




"Little Earthquakes"

Yellow bird flying
Get shot in the wing
good year for hunter
And Christmas parties
And I hate and I hate
And I hate and I hate
Elevator music
The way we fight
The way I'm left here silent

Oh these little earthquakes
Here we go again
These little earthquakes
Doesn't take much to rip us into pieces

We danced in graveyards
With vampire till dawn
We laughed in the faces of kings
Never afraid to burn
And I hate and I hate
And I hate and i hate
Disintegration
Watching us wither
Black winged roses that safely changed their color

Oh these little earthquakes
Here we go again
These little earthquakes
Doesn't take much to rip us into pieces

I can't reach you
I can't reach you
Give me life Give me pain
Give me myself again

Oh these little earthquakes
Here we go again
These little earthquakes
Doesn't take much to rip us into pieces

Thursday, February 25, 2010

And sometimes when you're on you're really fucking on....









FRIENDS,
TODAY IS GOING TO BE
AN ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS DAY
FOR ALL OF US
PEOPLE.
EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US.
LOVE,
TALULA LOVE BOTTOMS






"A Better Son / Daughter"
RILO KILEY

Sometimes in the morning i am petrified and can't move
Awake but cannot open my eyes
And the weight is crushing down on my lungs i know i can't breath
And hope someone will help me this time
Your mother's still calling you insane and high
Swearing it's different this time
And you tell her to give in to the demons that possess her
And that god never blessed her insides
Then you hang up the phone and feel badly for upsetting things
And crawl back into bed to dream of a time
When your heart was open wide and you loved things just because
Like the sick and the dying

And sometimes when you're on you're really fucking on
And your friends they sing along and they love you
But the lows are so extreme that the good seems fucking cheap
And it teases you for weeks in its absense
But you'll fight and you'll make it through
You'll fake it if you have to
And you'll show up for work with a smile
And you'll be be better you'll be smarter
More grown up and a better daughter
Or son and a real good friend
And you'll be awake and you'll be alert
You'll be positive though it hurts
And you'll laugh and embrace all your friends
And you'll be a real good listener
You'll be honest you'll be brave
You'll be handsome you'll be beautiful

You'll be happy

Your ship may be coming in
You're weak but not giving in
To the cries and the wails of the valley below
Your ship may be coming in
You're weak but not giving in
And you'll fight it you'll go out fighting all of them...

_______________________________
For Tara and Jill....
Thank you. My gratitude to you both is not
measurable through words! For the
love of music.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

....And little fascist panties tucked inside


Hi Tori...
Talula was missing you so she wanted to ring you up
on her new iphone.

Somedays just hand it to you....

She tried her best to take the higher road.
To remember gratitude. To be humble.
To be apologetic....
"Don't be weary", said a stronger Talula. (as she wisps off to NY then Rome for coffee and conversation)

But to "present" Talula
When she closes her eyes...
and sleep never comes;
It plays out like this:

Glass shattering around her.
She bends over to pick up her cant's...
and the shards slice her finger tips;
the struggle quickly turns to frantic frustration -
and everything starts closing in.
and she's broken....lying on the floor.


What's a girl to do?
___________________________

PRECIOUS THINGS
Tori Amos


So I ran faster
But it caught me here
Yes my loyalties turned
Like my ankle
In the seventh grade
Running after Billy
Running after the rain
These precious things
Let them bleed
Let them wash away
These precious things let them break
Their hold over me

He said you're really an ugly girl
But I like the way you play
And I died
But I thanked him
Can you believe that
Sick holding on to his picture
Dressing up every day
I wanna smash the faces of those beautiful boys
Those christian boys
So you can made me cum
That doesn't make you Jesus
I remember
Yes in my peach party dress
No one dared
No one cared
To tell me where the pretty girls are
Those demigods
With their nine-inch nails
And little fascist panties
Tucked inside the heart
Of ever nice girl
These precious things
Let them bleed
Let them wash away
These precious things
Let them break
Let them wash away

_________________________________

and just as always...a fine dose of a anger
serves it's purpose.
And Talula smiles as she drifts off to sleep;
and tells her demons to lay down next to her because
right now...
she's tired of fighting them.

Updike in a Train to Train Wreck Town



TIM CONNOR ON REMEMBERING JOHN UPDIKE
A woman friend once told me she read John Updike’s “Rabbit” novels to try to understand the way men think. “Did it work?” I asked her. “Well, yes..." she answered. "...and no."

John "Rabbit" Updike
I had been simultaneously fascinated & frustrated when I started reading Rabbit's story in the 1960s. I considered myself a member of the counterculture then, coolly above what I saw as Rabbit's crude sexism & unquestioning patriotism. Why, I wondered, had Updike -- who could make those beautiful poetic sentences -- written about such a loser?

Childish, lustful, materialistic , given to swings between self-aggrandizement & self-pity, Rabbit starts out a small town high school basketball star, gets his girlfriend pregnant, is forced into early marriage, runs away & finally returns to reluctantly, sullenly take up his responsibilities. In the later books, he weathers tragedy, inherits a Toyota dealership, has affairs, struggles with his difficult family & finally -- out-of-shape & overweight in his 50s -- dies of a heart attack brought on by a one-on-one basketball game with a teenage boy. Could anything sound less appealing?

Yet the Rabbit tetralogy is a masterpiece that will be read for a long time. Rabbit & Updike’s other male characters may not have given much comfort to my friend, but I have no doubt they were worth her attention. Unheroic – but not anti-heroic – Rabbit & his ilk are the kind of men who are thoroughly familiar to millions of Americans . Neither perfect suburban husbands nor hard-bitten outsiders, such men are caught in the middle, tugged in two directions at once. “I like middles,” Updike explained once. “It is in middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly rules.”

“…These men vacillate between duty and self-fulfillment, a craving for roots and a hungering after freedom.,” says critic Michiko Kakutani. "As the author [Updike] himself once put it, his heroes ‘oscillate in their moods between an enjoyment of the comforts of domesticity and the familial life, and a sense that their essential identity is a solitary one — to be found in flight and loneliness and even adversity...’ “

OK, but what about Rabbit's harsh prejudices, his ridiculous self-regard, his compulsive eating, his even more compulsive philandering? I found as I aged -- perhaps a decade behind Rabbit's fictional aging -- that these things became easier to understand & thus to forgive. Even as he drifts through middle-age toward right-wing politics, Rabbit [Updike] reveals an independent mind, an urgent spiritual life, & a steadily generous, if not always dependable, urge to do the right thing. I ended up caring about Rabbit, not in spite of, but because he can’t stop himself from self-destructively pigging out on salty snack foods or being tempted by every remotely available woman. He's a sinner, in short. If you don't like the religious connotations, choose another term -- flawed, insecure, neurotic, narcissistic. Whatever you call it, this is what makes him interesting.

Illuminated by Updike's brilliant sentences, Rabbit’s restless curiosity about everything from global politics to motel décor makes him a good companion, even as I sometimes disagree. Admittedly, he's not an exemplary man, let alone a righteous one -- but then, it turns out -- neither am I. And, after all, don't I -- don't you? -- nevertheless deserve love?

It's instructive to anyone who has found a portion of salvation in art to realize how much Updike the author loved his flabby blowhard creation. Perhaps Rabbit was a kind of ur-ego for the great author, the self Updike had stepped away from -- the self that had been refined away by education, travel, the company of the sophisticated. Perhaps writing Rabbit's life was Updike's way to forgive himself. To gratefully accept, as Rabbit does, his fate. In these books Rabbit's awareness continues to grow. He is not a thoughtful man, yet he comes to understand that his life is far from ideal. He embraces it anyway. He is tormented by regrets, afraid of pain & death, overmatched by the demons that beset his loved ones, unsure of his ultimate worth. Yet Rabbit tries -- imperfectly -- to make the best of his alloted time.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Talula. Talula. Talula.
Who are you today?
Who's mask are you wearing to hide your tears?

And are you even really crying?
Or is it just hot inside that Rabbit Head?





What's a girl to do?

_____________________________________________

We walked arm in arm
But I didn't feel his touch
A desire I'd first tried to hide,
That tingling inside was gone
And when he asked me:
'do you still love me?'
I had to look away
I didn't want to tell him
That my heart grows colder with each day

When you love someone
But the thrill is gone
And your kisses at night
Are replaced with tears
And when your dreams are on
A train to train wreck town
Then I ask you now, what's a girl to do?

He said he'd take me away
That we'd work things out
And I didn't want to tell him
But it was then I had to say
Over the times we've shared
It's all blackened out
And my bat lightning heart
Wants to fly away

When you love someone
But the thrill is gone
And your kisses at night
Are replaced with tears
And when your dreams are on
A train to train wreck town
Then I ask you now, what's a girl to do?

What's a girl to do?
What's a girl to do?
What's a girl to do?

________________________________________

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Arcade Fire - Haiti...Throw my ashes into the sea....



Haïti, mon pays,
wounded mother I'll never see.
Ma famille set me free.
Throw my ashes into the sea.

Mes cousins jamais nés
hantent les nuits de Duvalier.
Rien n'arrete nos esprits.
Guns can't kill what soldiers can't see.

In the forest we lie hiding,
unmarked graves where flowers grow.
Hear the soldiers angry yelling,
in the river we will go.

Tous les morts-nés forment une armée,
soon we will reclaim the earth.
All the tears and all the bodies
bring about our second birth.

Haïti, never free,
n'aie pas peur de sonner l'alarme.
Tes enfants sont partis,
In those days their blood was still warm

__________________________________________________

Talula Love Bottoms has been searching for something...
as she....will probably always be.

It just needs to be good.
She wants it to be good.
She wants it to have reason.
Meaning.
Value - not monetary.
But Genuine...Gritty Value.

A good view from a great window.
Laughter.
Rough Seas on a rainy afternoon.

It is such a great painting.
And the depth....unreal.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

"...But I shall not give up so easy"


"My devotion has a definition
Something in my mind kept me all the time
If it rains, or if the sun shines
Looking just for you baby, looking just for you baby"

"Music is a matter of struggle."

"A classical reggae should be accepted in any part of the world. Freedom, that's what it's asking for; acceptance, that's what it needs, and understanding, that's what reggae's saying. You have a certain love come from hard struggle, long suffering. Through pain you guard yourself with that hope of freedom, not to give up...""[8]

With all of the insincere and empty music constantly being pumped out of radios, televisions or even computers, it is reassuring to realize that there is no fluff or filler with Joe Higgs' music; instead, he poured every last drop of his soul and emotion into every note and syllable, to not only express his own spiritual voice but possibly as a way to better other peoples' lives as well.


"There's A Reward"
Everyday my heart is sore
Seeing that I'm so poor
But I shall not give up so easy
There's a reward for me, there's a reward for me
Though I'm bordered down with shame
There's no one for me to blame
But I shall not give up so easy
There's a reward for me, there's a reward for me
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
You know no one cares for me
I've never known sympathy
Sometimes I look to this world with a smile
Man you hear what I say

_________________________________________________________

Talula Love Bottoms understands the above idea...
"Music is a matter of struggle".

It is in this understanding and appreciation that
"There's A Reward" is an anthem to her as well.

It is not easy to say "I AM AN ARTIST"...and to try to live
as an artist in all that you do, in all that you say, and
all that you are.
It is a struggle. Talula's intent is to identify the struggle
within her viewers and sing:

There's A Reward.

In all that you do.
In all of your love.
In all of your kindness.
In every effort you make to generate positive energy.
To create. To give. To empower.

There's A Reward.

FREEDOM!

"We should all live as one, like the colors of the rainbow."
-Joe Higgs

Thursday, January 21, 2010

CAILIN CALLAHAN - BRINGS JOY!


Talula walks a tight rope through life with this person.

There are people so talented, so true to who they are...
so wickedly inspiring in their conviction -
that they speak your words...
while speaking their own.

And it makes you feel.

This musician is a wanderer.
But she is not lost.

She is kind, giving, honest and true.
In Talula's life...
treasured.
An inspiration I am lucky to also call a friend.

And she gave me Joy!
I wanted to hold onto it...
but Joy is not meant to be boxed up for later.
If someone gives you Joy...you
keep passing it along.

I try not to mention heartache. It is too real to
most of us.
This heartache that I have - I've been trying to give it away.

Because I don't want it. But in Contemplation -
It is in the heartache that I heal.

Joy by Cailin Callahan


its been days since ive missed you
its been hours since ive cried
well its been days since ive needed you
with each day i feel more alive

chorus:
you made me believe i meant nothing,
to no one
made me believe i was not something,
or someone
you told me i could never be, would never be....
but i am.
but i am.
well here i am.

mentally i feel free
physically im relieved
ive given myself time to heal
all these wounds you made bleed

___________________________________________

Thank you!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

OH NO! There's a Frog on My Toe!!!


Talula Love Bottoms
LOVES
to Laugh.

Today is a day for laughter.

If you grow old...and don't have wrinkles -
it simply means you haven't laughed enough.

I wish you all laughter.
And for those of you who don't have it -
I hope you find it.

It lessens the load...
fixes your broken road...

kiss a toad...
and he's still a toad...
guess what -
he's a toad.

TALULA's ALL TIME FAVORITE SONG EVER.
(art in the works...)

(but I just have a feeling...
someone out there might need this today!)



Poppa I know
There's a frog on my toe
Maybe I'll call him Jethro
Maybe I'll grow up to be
As wise and as good as he

And maybe I'll come back
After you're long gone

Poppa I'm sure
The worms have eaten you now
And Jethro's been on some Frenchy's plate
Long ago
Now I'm pretty sure
That I listen to every word
'Cause you're still here
Telling me still

Slap them boys when they're naughty
Make them crawl, make you haughty
Make you strong, little girl
You paint them toes the reddish colour

And you know one day
You're gonna be bigger than a flea
You're gonna be bigger than that old
Poison ivy tree

Now I'm pretty sure
That I think you'd come and visit
And talk sometimes
Kind of like Gidget and
A funny little chance
Like an Indian Brave
He said "We all grew fat
When the white man came"
But one day girl
You're gonna learn to make them crawl
Make them grow tall
But have the grace
To be a lady with disgrace
And you fry them 'taters
And you make them with ladies hands
I know you're my pappy's baby

Monday, January 18, 2010

Talula Love Bottoms LOVES head...Radiohead that is...




The Decade in Radiohead: Ed O'Brien on "Kid A" to "In Rainbows"
"What we're trying to do now is make art without fear"

(a segment from a Rolling Stone Interview that Talula is particularly fond of...)


Do you feel more or less empowered than you did in 2000 — as a musical concern, as a band trying to make art in a strange world?
On a more personal level, if you went back nine, 10 years, you'd find that external events exerted way more influence. Imminent war — things like that affected us much more. Now, I feel more empowered, that these things cannot create heaven or hell within me.

In terms of the band, we feel way more empowered in terms of our art and what we're doing. We have been rehearsing for the last four weeks, for this new record. And we are in a very different place, a very new place. I don't know if this is relevant, but I was talking with Philip [Selway, drummer] three days ago about this. We were saying, "What's different?" And one of the things is we do things without fear. A lot of where we come from — our education, our upbringing — manifests itself in the shadow of fear. I love that Talking Heads album title, Fear of Music. There has been a lot of that. And in a sense, I don't think it served us too badly. It kept us on our toes. It kept us trying to seek new areas artistically.

The trouble is, as you get older, fear is not a great motivator. If you have fear, you can't relax. [The 2007 album] In Rainbows definitely hints at that. The way that album sounded actually goes against the grain of those two years, the gestation period. That was fear-based time. But the album didn't turn out that way. And certainly the gigs after it hinted at a different way of being. What we're trying to do now is make art without fear. You're relaxing. There is more joy in what you do.

FEAR.
What a great topic.
In this idea...this creation of who Talula is...
in all of this -
has been surrounded by fear.
NOT EVERYONE WILL LIKE TALULA. NOT EVERYONE WILL UNDERSTAND TALULA.
NOT EVERYONE LIKES RADIOHEAD...NOT EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS RADIOHEAD...
but they move forward in experimenting, challenging themselves and
practicing. rehearsing. executing.

Talula Love Bottoms is on this same level - in understanding...

AND WITHOUT FEAR!!!!

"if you want me, fucking come and get me...I'm ready"

________________________________________________________
The artwork is Titled "Black Holes and Revelations"
It is industrial...like Radioheads music.
It is complex like their instrumentals....

It starts out with a ridiculous fucking drum intro...
like rain pounding on tin roofs..

But it is sad, it is broken and it is trying at the
same time to be beautiful. Like Talula.

"Packed Like Sardines In A Crushed Tin Box"

Friday, January 15, 2010

Talula is so Vicky Cristina Barcelona





Talula Love Bottoms goes to the movies.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a 2008 American/Spanish drama romance film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film stars Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall.

The plot centers on two American women, Vicky and Cristina, spending a summer in Barcelona, where they meet an artist who is attracted to both of them while still enamored of his mentally and emotionally unstable ex-wife María Elena. The film was shot in Avilés, Barcelona, and Oviedo, and was Allen's fourth consecutive film shot outside of the United States.


Plot

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) visit Barcelona for the summer, staying with Vicky's distant relative Judy (Patricia Clarkson) and her husband, Mark Nash (Kevin Dunn). A narrator (Christopher Evan Welch), present throughout the film, describes the two friends: Vicky is practical and traditional in her approach to love and commitment, and is engaged to the reliable but unromantic Doug (Chris Messina). She is in Barcelona getting her masters in "Catalan identity". Cristina, on the other hand, is a nonconformist, spontaneous but unsure of what she wants from life or love.

At an art exhibition, they notice the artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem). Cristina is impressed with him at first sight, and grows intrigued when Judy and Mark tell the girls that the artist has suffered a publicly violent relationship with his ex-wife. Later that night, the girls notice him across the room in a restaurant. He approaches their table and quickly invites them to join him for the weekend in the city of Oviedo, in the small plane he flies himself, for sight-seeing, drinking wine, and (Juan Antonio hopes) sex. Cristina accepts the brazen offer almost at once, but Vicky refuses, strongly resenting his assumption that the two of them would agree to go to bed with him after less than five minutes' acquaintance. She eventually decides to accompany her friend anyway, mainly as she says "to protect Cristina from making a big mistake".

At the end of their first day, Juan Antonio asks both women to come to his room. Vicky refuses, but Cristina agrees, though she falls ill before any love making happens. For the remainder of the weekend, Vicky and Juan Antonio are forced together while Cristina recuperates. During their trip, he tells her about his ex-wife and his tumultuous relationship with her and takes her to visit his father, an old poet, making Vicky change her negative first impression of him. After more wine over dinner and an intimate guitar concert, Vicky succumbs to his charms and sleeps with him.

The next day, Juan takes them back to Barcelona. Vicky, feeling guilty, does not mention the incident to Cristina, and the two begin to grow apart, Vicky throwing herself into her Catalan culture studies and Cristina taking up photography. Soon Juan Antonio is dating Cristina. Meanwhile, Doug unexpectedly telephones Vicky, suggesting that they get married in Spain. She agrees, with unspoken misgivings, and he flies to meet her. Cristina and Juan Antonio grow closer and move in together.

One night, Cristina and Juan Antonio are woken up by a call, learning that Juan's ex-wife María Elena (Penélope Cruz) has attempted to kill herself. Since she has nowhere else to go, Juan Antonio brings her home, and she moves into the guest room. Though initially María Elena distrusts Cristina, she soon grows fond of her and her photography.

Cristina soon realizes that the ex-spouses are still in love, and María Elena confides that their relationship was always loving but unstable because they were missing something, a mystery element neither of them figured out. María Elena now suggests that the missing link is in fact, Cristina, and the three become polyamorous. Cristina discloses the events of her life to Vicky, who appears secretly jealous of her friend's relationship with Juan Antonio, and to Doug, who disapproves.

As the summer winds to a close, Vicky realizes that she is unsatisfied in her married life, and is still attracted to Juan Antonio. She learns that Judy is also unhappy in her marriage, and confides in the older woman. Judy, who sees Vicky as a younger version of herself, decides to bring Juan Antonio and Vicky together. Meanwhile, Cristina becomes restless and announces she is leaving Juan Antonio and María Elena. Maria does not take the news well and breaks down. Cristina spends the last weeks of the summer in France. With their "missing link" gone, Juan Antonio and María Elena break up again.

Attempting to pair up Juan Antonio and Vicky, Judy arranges for them both to be at a party. Juan Antonio begs Vicky to meet him the next day. After lying to Doug, Vicky, against her better judgment, goes to Juan's home for lunch, after which Juan tries to seduce her again. She is at the point of consenting when María Elena bursts in with a gun and begins firing wildly. As Juan Antonio tries calm his sobbing wife, he accidentally shoots Vicky in the hand, wounding her slightly. Vicky shouts at both of them, saying they are insane and she could never live like this, and leaves.

When Cristina returns from France, Vicky confesses the entire story to her. Cristina says she never knew that Vicky felt that way about Juan Antonio, and she (Cristina) wishes she could have helped her. Doug never learns what truly happened. As the three Americans return home, Vicky goes back to her married life and Cristina remains where she started, knowing only what she doesn't want. Since Vicky chooses to live her rigidly planned ("perfect") life, and Cristina chooses to live without making predetermined plans, they end where they began.

*****The movie featured several paintings by the Catalan artist, Agustí Puig.
(see first painting at top!)

_________________________________

Talula is all of these woman.
Right now she is Maria Elena. (someday...just you wait - i'll get Penelope to be Talula at an opening...)
Irrational, insane....crazed!!! But...true. honest. and real.
Her art drives her.
People call her crazy.
People try to make her think she's crazy...
but she's just ALIVE.
She's emotional and at the same time...
true and strong in her love.

Next week she'll be Christina....

and...Vicky - a bit dull and controlled...but applicable. You'll just have to
wait and see.

MORE PAINTINGS TO COME IN THIS SERIES.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

"we do what we need to be free"



Damien Rices influence on Talula has been significant
to say the least.
He is so raw.
Talula yearns to be raw.
To have her emotions on her sleeve,
on her chest, dripping down her stomach,
to her thighs...and in between it all.

Damien - does that to her.

His lyrics are so real...you almost think
he didn't really just say that...
but he did.
And he meant it.

Talula steps aside...and the real artist steps forward.


rootless tree


what i want from you
is empty your head
they say be true,
don't stain your bed

we do what we need to be free
and it leans on me
like a rootless tree
what i want from us
is empty our minds
we fake a fuss
and fracture the times
we go blind
when we've needed to see
and this leans on me
like a rootless...
so fuck you
and all we've been through
i said leave it
it's nothing to you
and if you hate me
then hate me so good that you can let me out
let me out of this hell when you're around

what i want from this
is learn to let go
no not of you
of all that's been told
killers reinvent and believe
and this leans on me
like a rootless...
so fuck you
and all we've been through
i said leave it
it's nothing to you
and if you hate me
then hate me so good that you can let me out
let me out of this hell when you're around
let me out...
and fuck you, fuck you, i love you
and all we've been through
i said leave it
it's nothing to you
and if you hate me
then hate me so good that you can let me out
let me out...
it's hell when you're around

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Down by the sea...So many people




This song gives me chills.
It runs right up and down my charcoal thighs.
Beck.
Seriously.

"Chemtrails"

I can't believe what we've seen outside
You and me watching the jets go by

Down by the sea
So many people
They've already drowned
You and me watching a sea full of people
Try not to drown

So many people
So many people
Where do they go?
You and me watching a sky full of chemtrails
That's where we belong

All I can take from these scars is hope
But all I can see in this night are boats sinking

Down by the sea swallowed by evil
We've already drowned
You and me watching a sea full of people
They've already drowned

So many people
So many people
Where do they go?
You and me watching a sky full of chemtrails
Watching the jet planes go by

You and me watching
You and me watching
The chemtrails is where we belong
That's where we'll be when we die in the slipstream
We'll climb in a hole in the sky


A random Copy and Paste Bloggers description that I believe relates to
Talula:

"Down by the sea / so many people falling in time" I think refers to a New York/Los Angeles type, or in general to a city on the brink of disaster, either real or social. "Try not to drown": don't get caught up in the modern race which ends in isolation and destruction.
"So many people / Where do they go?" reminds me of Elenore Rigby: "All the lonely people / Where do they all belong?".
"All I can take from these skies is fog / And all I can see in this light: a boat sinking": I look for God in this dark city, but all I find is evil.
He wants to escape through the holes made in the sky by the jets.

As Talula reaches for freedom and acceptance in herself and her artwork...
She too - finds it is only in the escape that she will succeed in this.

The artwork...solitude - yet the numbered sides suggest...time, planning and
organization.
Movement creates energy.

My best and favorite collector owns this! In completion of the artwork...
Talula knew that there was no better buyer for it!!!
Thanks Sean (and I love your girlfriend..I hope that's cool!!!)

Friday, January 8, 2010

The headless doll owned by Morticia Addams in The Addams Family is named Anne Boleyn, Wednesday Addams's doll is named Marie Antoinette.


Music & song
Anne is referenced in Tori Amos' song "Talula" on her Boys for Pele album with the lyrics 'Ran into the henchman who severed Anne Boleyn, he did it right quickly a merciful man. she said 1+1 is 2, but henry said that it was 3.'

Anne Boleyn is referenced in Roger Waters' song "Watching TV" on his Amused to Death album.

She is also referenced in a song titled "Old Age", written by Courtney Love and performed by her band Hole: "Someone please tell Anne Boleyn, Chokers are back in again." The song appeared on their outtakes album, My Body, the Hand Grenade.

The headless doll owned by Morticia Addams in The Addams Family is named Anne Boleyn, Wednesday Addams's doll is named Marie Antoinette.

The song "Transylvania" by McFly mentions Anne Boleyn and is portrayed by Dougie Poynter in the music video.

Anne Boleyn is mentioned in Blues Traveler's song "Hook".

Tori Amos' song "Talula" includes a verse about Anne Boleyn.

In Ugly Betty,Betty Suarez wears a replica of Anne Boleyn's necklace.

In a dream sequence at the start of Kevin & Perry Go Large, the teenage character Kevin is reading a book on Anne Boleyn for his homework, but instead his mind wanders to a sexual fantasy in which Anne (played by Natasha Little and speaking in 20th century teenage slang) convinces her executioner (Kevin) that to kill her would be a waste of her beautiful body and in return gives him oral sex.

The ghost of Anne haunting the Tower of London is the subject of the comically macabre song "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm", originally performed by Stanley Holloway and later recorded by The Kingston Trio.

In his 1973 album The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Rick Wakeman titled the fifth track "Anne Boleyn".

In British TV series The Office, the main character speaks of a club in town that had a bowling alley inside called the "Anne Boleyn" alley. Also there was a washroom in this club with a sign stating "Mind your Head," and "Don't get your Hampton Court (pron. caught)".

The Dutch symphonic rock band Kayak issued a single called Anne, about Anne Boleyn, from their album Periscope Life (1980).

In "Gossip Girl" (2009) , season two finale, Blair tells Jenny that "Anne Boleyn thought only with her heart and she got her head chopped off. So her daughter Elizabeth made a vow never to marry a man. She married a country.". Blair says this in order to make Jenny understand that if she wanted to be Queen Bee of Constance Billard School she needed to be cold.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

"it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, and the major lift"



Leonard Cohen

For four decades, Leonard Cohen has been one of the most important and influential songwriters of our time, a figure whose body of work achieves greater depths of mystery and meaning as time goes on. His songs have set a virtually unmatched standard in their seriousness and range. Sex, spirituality, religion, power – he has relentlessly examined the largest issues in human lives, always with a full appreciation of how elusive answers can be to the vexing questions he raises. But those questions, and the journey he has traveled in seeking to address them, are the ever-shifting substance of his work, as well as the reasons why his songs never lose their overwhelming emotional force.

Cohen's lyrical poetry and his view that "many different hallelujahs exist" is reflected in wide-ranging covers with very different intents or tones of speech, allowing the song to be ""melancholic, fragile, uplifting [or] joyous" depending on the performer:[1] John Cale, the first person to record a cover version of the song, promoted a message of "soberness and sincerity" in contrast to Cohen's dispassionate tone;[1] Jeff Buckley's cover is more sorrowful and was described by Buckley as "a hallelujah to the orgasm";[1][2] Allison Crowe interpreted the song as a "very sexual" composition that discussed relationships;[1] Rufus Wainwright offered a "purifying and almost liturgical" interpretation to the song;[1] and Guy Garvey of Elbow anthropomorphised the hallelujah as a "stately creature" and incorporated his religious interpretation of the song into his band's recordings.[1]

Well, maybe there is a God above,
But all that I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you.
It's not a cry that you hear at night,
And it is not somebody who has seen the light
It's a cold and it is a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

TALULA's Hallelujah:

takes all of the written interpretation and portrays what she believes
Hallelujah looks like and feels like via Leonard Cohens original idea
that many different uses of the word exist.
In this artwork Talula takes the common known visual of "the cross"
(IE: Tori Amos's lyrics - Get off the Cross; I need the Wood)
and pays tribute to the person in her life she has put on a pedestal.
Hallelujah means inspiration and how hard it is to stay inspired...
and what it takes to tie that inspiration to you...

Well, your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah


and pain. Because with it all...there is always heartache....
But in the end...or the beginning...
You can always escape!


Well, baby, I've been here before.
I've seen this room, and I've walked this floor.
I used to live alone before I knew you.
But I've seen your flag on the marble arch,
And love is not a victory march,
It's a cold and it is a broken Hallelujah


RING THE BELLS - I HEAR FREEDOM!!!