A hero can be as simple as a man putting his coat around a child's shoulders and reassuring him the world hadn’t ended yet .BM

light up that dark jazz...

'The character is of men, never ever of mice' Q dropping Steinbeck. Like!

The following is an analysis I wrote some time ago after reading one of Joyce's most prized shorts titled, Eveline.

 “Think you're escaping and run into yourself. Longest way 'round is the shortest way home.”
― Ulysses  (really what James took from bicycling around Dublin before retiring to his office to write.)

You can find a link to the original text to Eveline here http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/959/  

Eveline – James Joyce analysis
The first two paragraphs describe/set the mood for the piece by giving us an idea of Eveie’s past. The death of her mother. The relationship she has with her brothers and with her father. She is expected to assume the role of ‘mother/woman’ before she’s even had a chance to experience girlhood. This sets the mood for the piece. Eveie’s situation can best be described as alone, isolated, unable to experience true love and leave with Frank due to her past experiences and social obligations. This adds to her alienation thus chastising her; in turn this highlights the pressures that a 19th/early 20th century woman faced/faces in a pre-feminist era and no doubt women and girls still experience today. Evie is drawn to Frank because he is everything that she has not-experienced. He sails the open seas, is eccentric and he’s seen lands and experienced things she can only dream of doing with him. The resistance to leave her old life; sever her ties and act on a leap of faith (journey to Buenos Ares) with him highlights her inner conflict. A great social chastity belt imposed on her by family and the social expectations of others.

The smell of cretonne in the curtains is a direct reference to her memories. The smell of cretonne (a chemical used in heavy cotton draperies in the 19th-early 20th century) give off a very musty, old book like scent that is not unfamiliar to those walking into and old bookshop or antique store. The scent is quite nostalgic and we remember, along with Eveline, the days of old and glory, when her mother was still alive, when her father was happy, and her brothers young and playful; innocence, comfort, peace and home.

The conclusion of Evie's story, or better yet her own epiphany, reveals that she is not ready to be with Frank or anyone, and even perhaps, must find her own way. She speaks innermost with God to direct her in the best path possible, but in the end something stirs her and she cannot bear the burden of being Frank’s burden on the voyage to Buenos Ares. She flinches and leaves him at the guardrail. He is left leaving in confusion, giving him no sign of love, farewell or recognition. She freezes up – and the sea cries out in anguish, which, as described in her monologue, can best be summed up by Frank’s cries…”Eveline! Evvvvvieeeee!”

These narrative devices possess the quality of the classic heroine…self/internal conflict; of the desires of others verses the desire for liberation and to break free – to be a woman, avoiding the extremities of martyrdom that Joan of Arc or Mother Mary had to meet. It’s about freeing oneself from the world of men, in search of something greater, becoming at last a holy woman, a mother. Perhaps, unlike the myth of the hero for males, the woman is cast down; and only through the hellfire of her past is she able to emerge and find the true love within herself.

A window into America's Finest Pity.

Hot nights and still air. Summer nights and a sinister moon sitting suspended over the city, blurred by a haze of pollution. Tonight's track from 4:47 onward is solitude. A fortress of power.

Success can only be measured by three things: failure, introspection and courage .Soichiro Honda

Long before the legendary NSX and s2000, Honda's first production 'vehicle,' was their bicycle powered by a 2-stroke motor.

I think I may take a short hiatus from this writing business and focus (at least for the next few days?) on music that breathes life into a lot of these empty nights. Nights that 'draw out like a long blade' as Red put it in Shawshank Redemption. Much of this stuff I find simply by digging around cyberspace, I don't really waste my time with vinyl, although that kind of digging is fun too. They come up to me with words of praise at the coffeehouse. They must really play a lot of crap in the bars and clubs. It's a great feeling knowing I have converted them to my cult of music taste. It would be cool to guest DJ, I think music can either make or break a small business, and it's important to set the right mood. Loud isn't always good. I found chill is always better, a 'less is more' kind of thing works best in trying to cultivate a social atmosphere. I play strictly what I listen to. Profanity and everything else. If it offends - it's obviously not for them. A butch lesbian was amazed the other night - "Is that Romeo Void?" their debut song, 'Say No' blaring in the tape deck. She was enthused. Like a strait man couldn't possibly like Riot Grrrl rock?! Well, Pre-Riot Grrrl in the case of Void. "Yes, yes it is" I reply to her through clenched teeth, as I'm reloading coffee hoppers. Her smile carries over into check-out time. Cobain once said he would have been, '...proud to have been a New Waver back in the 80s' during a chat with Much Music Interview. Thought the Wave really broke down some walls, no pun intended. In which case, I hope the music I play does too. I just hate the impersonal nature of pop music and how dulled people have become to the Starbucks treatment. It's a total buzz kill. For good listening, see the post below.

A super chill mix for tonight's ride.