Reading Henry Miller

I'm enjoying my time with "Tropic of cancer" by Henry Miller. This is the first book I am reading from him. I was so enthusiastic to start it after I watched "Henry and June" last year.
The edition I have, has a fantastic introduction by Karl Shapiro and a preface by Anaïs Nin. Reading the introduction, I couldn't not share some parts with you.
"Morally I regard Miller as a holy man, as most of his adherents do-Gandhi with a penis!" Shapiro says. He quotes Miller from his different books which makes me want to read even more from this great American Author. Who knows, may be he becomes another guru for me, sitting beside Oscar Wilde.

This is from "Tropic of Capricorn"
"to walk in money through the night crowd, protected by money, lulled by money, dulled by money, the crowd itself a money, the breath money, no least single object anywhere that is not money, money, money, everywhere and still not enough, and then no money, or a little money or less money or more money, but money, always money, and if you have money or you don't have money it is the money that counts and money makes money, but what makes money makes money?"

"Everything was for tomorrow, but tomorrow never came. The present was only a bridge and on this bridge they are still groaning, as the world groans, and not one idiot ever thinks of blowing up the bridge"

He says about America:
"Combating the system is nonsense. There is only one aim in life and that is to live it. In America it has become impossible, except for a few lucky or wise people, to live one's own life; consequently the poets and artists tend to move to the fringes of society. Wherever there are frontiers. The American way of life has become illusory; we lead the lives of prisoners while we boast about free speech, free press, and free religion, none of which we actually do enjoy in full. The price of security has become too great; abundance has become a travesty." 


Shapiro says: Do we really have a high standard of living? Miller says not, as most poets do. If living means appreciation of life we have the lowest standard of living in the world, in spite of the fact that it costss more to live in America than in any country in the world. Miller says:

"The cost is not only in dollars and cents but in sweat and blood, in frustration, ennui, broken homes, smashed ideals, illness and insanity. We have the most wonderful hospitals, the most fabulous prisons, the best equipped and highest paid army and navy, the speediest bombers, the largest stockpile af atom bombs, yet never enough of any of these items to satisfy the demand. Our manual workers are the highest paid in the world; our poets the worst..."


There are yet innumerable wise words from Miller but they don't fit in a single post. So I finish here.

Live music at Flèche d'Or in Paris

When I went to a gig or concert, I wanted to enjoy listening to music rather than filming or taking photos. I thought I would never want to ruin the enjoyment of music.
But when I started photography, things became a bit different. I told myself that I want to give it a chance to capture those moments when musicians play with zest and are spurred on to give the best of their performance.
I enjoy small gigs by indie musicians whom I discovered in the course of time. There were quite a few places in Paris offering these musicians a place to play, and music lovers, a modest ticket,  to come, enjoy and recognize these artists. Most of these places have a pub-like or bar-like ambiance, with a small stage not far from the audience. One of these places was Flèche d'Or. It was near where I lived. I took a bus and I was there in 10 minutes.
I went there several times to take photos. Here are some of them. For all photos on each gig, you can click on the link on my flickr page.

Here are two from "Plants and Animals", a Canadian based indie rock band from my new city, Montreal.

Listen to "Lola who"and "undone Melody on their myspace page.

The following three are from "Band of Skulls". They are from London and are alternative. Their debut album "Baby darling doll face honey" has quite a few good tracks including "Fire", "honest" and "cold flame". You can listen to the first 2 songs on their myspace page and I will include the third one below the photos.

Emma, was the first female bassist I saw.

It was one of those very crowded gigs at Flèche d'Or that I even had to get permission to take photos.

And here's "cold flame"



"Viva and the Diva", a Paris based experimental band is comprised of Maxime Delpierre, Sir Alice, Arnaud Roulin and Mark Kerr. Their performance was perhaps the most hardcore I had seen. Do check some of the experimental jazz works by Delpierre and if the band has a gig, don't hesitate to go.
Here are some photos from the frenzied Sir Alice.

If you're in Paris, check out the programs on Parisian, l'international and Flèche d'Or. The 2 latter are venues and there are often good shows there.