I’ve been reading the Adam & Andy comic strip for about a decade at this stage, after first coming across it when the strip was hosted in the same place as my very first website (Fortunecity.com – circa ’99 / ’01 kinda time). It’s always made me smile, and the old longer format version of the comics were published as a book by the strip creator James Asal Jr. I bought a copy of the book back when it was first on sale, and my copy now sits comfortably well read in the shOUT! lgbt youth group bookcase where those two wonderful characters can bring a smile to the face of whatever young LGBT person flicks through it.
But, randomly enough, James namechecked me in one of the recent strips, for no particular reason other than my name being in his head after some recent photos I put up on my Flickr. But it really made me smile, and made me want to share the comic strip with you lot. I’ve been reading the little short strips about Adam & Andy for longer than I’ve ever read any other comic. Only A Softer World by the talented duo of Joey Comeau and Emily Horne comes close. While I enjoy a softer world for the dark humour, wit, and zombies (amongst other things), what I love about Adam & Andy is the fact that they’ve been the longest running gay couple in my own personal media consumption. They’re a same sex couple I’ve been reading about for about a decade or so, and I like to check in and see how they’re doing. The utterly normality of their existence is a very simple, clear message, and there’s something about the strip that just works for me. Dig into the archives and root around in the older stories. The website archive only goes back to 2006, but you can see the style of the old format comics in the previews for the book.
The fact that the choice of the perhaps one of the most contentious pieces of 20th century classical music has garnered such support makes me really happy, even if the reasoning is along the lines of “I’d rather listen to silence than another bit of x-factor”. But then, I’d be in much the same camp.
Some of the quotes online are absolutely hilarious:
“Might blow your speakers! Cant wait for the Dubstep remixes :D”
But, in all seriousness, I’m a big fan of “silence”, and have grown to treasure it more in the last few years, though really I mean the absence of that constance background music that we’re bombarded with, and envelope ourselves in. I guess the more work I do in music, the more I need to be able to switch away from the constant background music that pervades life. I treat music as being more important than just having it on in the background, and I find it hard to not focus on music when it is playing, even semi-consciously.
You might then wonder how I can enjoy a piece of music that has no performed music? I guess it’s the intention of the piece. To force you to listen to all the other sound that happens around you – to take stock of the sound world you live in, and to not just wash it over with music. In a world where we rarely get to experience silence, it’s interesting that a piece that forces the listener into a place where they have to experience silence is one that is so divisive.
This post I came across on the social networking site Thingbox, explains the idea behind the piece quite well:
“cage went into an anechoic chamber and heard 2 sounds one high and one low. he asked the sound engineer about it and was told that the high one was his nervous system and the low one was his blood in circulation. he concluded that as long as you are alive there are sounds to listen to and 4’33’’ was part of his way of explaining this.
he’d been composing for percussion since the 1930s and after finding out about an indian philosophy saying that the purpose of the arts was to quiet the mind and make it susceptible to divine influence he started to include sometimes extended bars of silence partly so the sounds could better exist as themselves and also as a reflection of this particular way of thinking.
schoenberg was one of his teachers but serial music was a harmonic way of organising music but cage was interested in extra musical sounds so developed a form of rhythmic structure as a way of organising his compositions. he started using chance operations as a way of removing his own habits and tastes so that the music produced would be new and unusual to himself as well as other.
4’33’’ was composed in 3 movements as 3 parts of empty rhythmic structure. he was perhaps one of the 1st western composers interested in removing his ego from music and was inspired to actually compose this after seeing robert rauschenbergs white paintings. he’d been thinking about doing it for around 3 years.”
(posted by user: ivegoneswimming, 5/10/10)
Here’s the piece being performed in the Barbican Hall which was broadcast on BBC tv also (with some wonderful humour added by the conductor I’ve gotta say.)
I’m interviewed in “HomoTruths” column of the current issue of GCN, which also happens to be the 250th issue of the publication! It’s only a wee short piece about being a gay man in Galway which was formed from a phone interview, but I think Jeanette Rehnstrom got the gist of what I was saying pretty well.
GCN is a not for profit publication and registered charity that exists for one reason: to give LGBT people access to information about everything that is happening for them across Ireland, both politically and culturally and give them access to a sense of community.
“I want to say to the gentleman to my left, gay people who want to marry have no desire to redefine marriage in any way. When women got the vote they did not redefine voting. When African-Americans got the right to sit at a lunch counter alongside white people, they did not redefine eating out. They were simply invited to the table… We have no desire to change marriage. We want to be entitled to not only the same privileges, but the same responsibilities as straight people.” – Cynthia Nixon
Here’s the clip from New Yorker Festival’s panel discussion on “Love and Obstacles: The Case for Gay Marriage.”:
I came across some videos of Antony performing with The Metropole Orchestra, and was blown away by this song “I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy”, which is from the EP of the same title. I’d not heard this song previously, and this live rendition with the orchestra is just stunning.
The rendition of “Rapture” from the debut self-titled Antony And The Johnsons album is also sumptuous with the orchestra, and the subtle beauty of “Another World” is magnificently presented also. Also, if you’ve not heard Antony’s unique re-interpretation of Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love”, then you should really check it out.
