music

I Feel So Different

September 26, 2023August 29, 2024 by RasmeniaNo Comments

People crowd the street, most of them women with flecks of silver in their hair and lines on their face etching a map back to who they used to be: young women full of joy and anguish. Weird, creative girls trying to survive the constant pressure of what parents, friends, schools, and institutions said they couldn’t and shouldn’t do. Lonely girls who want to scream and dance and smash convention and patriarchy but feel powerless to do so.The music in the street gets louder and one woman in the crowd, a grandmother in leather and Doc Martens, pounds on her heart with her fist, eyes closed, oblivious to all those around her as she sings along with Sinéad:I'll remember it And Dublin in a rainstorm And sitting in the long grass in summer Keeping warm I'll remember it Every restless night We were so young then We thought that everything We could possibly do was right Then we moved Stolen...

In Defense of an Aging Rock Star with Shitty Opinions

January 14, 2021January 25, 2021 by RasmeniaNo Comments

Every day the Internet tells me which artists I'm not supposed to like anymore. As much as I don't want to enable anyone's shitty behavior, people have a right to say and do stupid things. I don't participate in public shaming mobs online. If an artist says an assholish thing that I can't abide, I simply stop giving them my time and money.But the work they did before that stupid thing isn't ruined for me. Mel Gibson is a shit bag, but I still love Lethal Weapon and Braveheart. Louis C.K. can fuck all the way off, but I still think Louie is a masterpiece and Horace and Pete is the closest thing we've had to The Great American Novel lately. Thriller is still a major part of my childhood soundtrack even though Michael Jackson is... well, you know.Sometimes, the offense is less severe, but more baffling. Like when punk icon Johnny Rotten goes full MAGA/Brexit. Or when Dave Mustaine...

Break Through These Times of Trouble

May 26, 2017June 1, 2017 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

This is a love story. It is not unique. I've lived others like it, and so have you. Like many love stories, this one ends with tears, confusion, and a lot of reminiscing about its beginning. Where it began was 1991, a time in my memory that is strange, dark, and forever distorted by a thick layer of time and smoke. It was an unhappy time, immersed in anger, abuse, and large amounts of cheap booze. My mother and my boyfriend at the time had a weird and wildly inappropriate thing going on together. When I'd catch them in the act, they responded by telling me I was crazy. I felt crazy. This was compounded by the fact that we three lived in the same house. I wanted him to leave. She did not. Every day, I was furious and frustrated. But, one day, just as 1991 was nearly at an end, on a not so very special day in...

Leaving for Paris

December 10, 2009December 1, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

Four years ago, I was in the midst of disassembling my life in Colorado. This is the only way to build a new one. There in my apartment, which was rapidly becoming a large empty space, I stared at the packed boxes. There were more and more of them every day.There were times when the packing and planning was exhausting. It was easier to chain smoke in the dark with several pints of Guinness and a blank page while listening to Rufus Wainwright. Of course, one song that I played over and over again was "Leaving for Paris."httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djpWPhv1tPU&feature=PlayList&p=6FD35315AB3D3572&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1It seemed so appropriate since that is exactly what I was doing. It had occurred to me that I might actually be out of my goddamn mind. Then again, this thought has crossed my mind several times throughout my life and has never really been a point of major concern. But, packing up my life to move to another country to marry a man who I...

The Monkeys Go West

October 4, 2007December 1, 2020 by Rasmenia Comment Closed

So, this past weekend, Olivier and I went to see Monkey, Journey to the West. If you have the opportunity to catch this show, I highly recommend it.The music by Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) was excellent. The animation by Jamie Hewlett (Gorillaz) was just as cool as one would expect, but the performers from China were incredible. Sword fighting, dancing and acrobats... of course, there was even a contortionist. Olivier and I were in awe throughout the entire show.Who knew that a night at the opera could be so cool?There was one small matter, though -- the entire show was in Chinese. Okay, no big deal. There were French subtitles illuminated above the stage.French?! Yeah, I got to practice my French, too. What a full night.Oh... and there are two other monkeys that will be making a trip to the west. That's right. Olivier and I will be spending Christmas in Colorado.Not only will we get to spend some time...