Wednesday, May 05, 2010

...in our image, in our likeness....

7 comments:

Andy D. said...

Cello commentary:

I noted your "Low Strung" comment and was very curious about that album, so I looked it up online. Purely FYI, it says it is actually 12 players, rather than a quartet -- and that they are all cellos.

Further intrigued, I read on. The comment describing the album said it covers all aspects of the cello, specifically its "heartbreaking beauty, bone-crunching rawness, and everything in between."

Do you agree with that assessment? I haven't heard it yet so have no idea... I just was really engaged by the idea that a cello has "bone crunching rawness." Like a grizzly bear, crunching its way through a deer carcass? "Ahh, the cellist has really captured the sound of a garbage compactor squaring home its daily smashings..."

I was also wondering what else lies between those two cello extremes? Plaintive wails? Furtive depths? Depraved raunchiness? Low moaning of various types? Blue whale emulations, and good vibrations? Humiliating yearning? Good old fashioned fiddle dancing? I suppose that's the beauty of a spectrum, the possibilities are endless... Yet the announced end point of "bone crunching rawness" still most holds my gaze and interest.

Also the album lists 12 tracks, including (apparently?) Sympathy for the Devil, twice. The song so nice they played it twice?

Speak to us, cello man.

A.

Anonymous said...

Was this in response to finding a bad bean photo? The part in that man's hair is so distracting! Yikes! My desire to grab a comb and scrape it down the middle of his scalp keeps me from enjoying the warping of the bean.

Elisheba said...

Andy D- An excellent point filled with many good points. I too am confused by these comments. "Bone-crunching rawness" sounds like nothing so much as breaking someone's ribs with a frozen porkchop. However, since the endpoints are bonecrunching and heart-breakng, I postulate that everything in between must involve a body part being destroyed and some intangible attribute. So the First Sympathy for the Devil is filled with liver-ripping decrepitude while the second evokes viscera eviscerating invigoration.

Unknown said...

Once again. No intention toward anonymity. The shallow comment about poor hair styling choices is mine. I claim my stupidity.

Mike Bailey said...

Allz of yous guys is funny. I'll write a fuller response later today when I have more time. Finals week and all, you know.

Andy D. said...

S-S -- an awesome post!! Best acronym ever -- "liver-ripping decrepitude" -- shall now be known as "LRD"!! :) Just when I thought I had done pretty good with my list!

Julie -- errr, A3 -- errrr, YSYNTOWBIBYA ("you say you're not the Oprah watcher, but I believe you are") -- ok, my head is spinning!! Who is who, and who is where?? This is like an episode of a bad time travel movie, where you're not even sure the WRITER can follow the twists!

So your theory is we have several anonomites, plus yourself, and all of you are part of some heretofore slumbering "bean posse" that I have mistakenly awoken by challenging Cloud Gate?? And now you're all attacking me and my great theories slamming the bean?

For that set up, I had to respond. :) Go back to two posts.

AMD

Claudia said...

Based on the cellist I know and play with on a regular basis, I would say "depraved raunchiness" is right on the money!