"God Is Alive Magic Is Afoot"

is something Leonard Cohen wrote in Beautiful Losers and Buffy Sainte-Marie sang on her 'Illuminations' LP. It is also something we say when it feels like amazing, special things are happening which make us feel good. Normally we're more or less on this guys side of this particular debate. 

While we don't necessarily believe that God is alive, we absolutely believe that Magic is Afoot.

Regardless of what you believe it's good when good things are happening right? We believe in the MAGIC of human kind, human endurance and desire to create and do good: to survive and then some. There are constant reminders to be happy to be alive and be grateful for each day, this is for sure. The previous post is one such example. 

All of the stuff for sale in  our SHOP is an example. We believe in the magic contained in these objects like other people believe in God. Seriously. 

Katy Flynn took some sweet photographs from last Mondays triple-threat match between Klaus Kinski, Silk Flowers & Foot Village.

And she also just got some amazing photos of IRMA VEP (more of each on her BLOG)

 which reminded us of this  photo of Box Elders

,who you may know are a band  whose music we care about very much and are so excited for their arrival here in a couple of weeks. Here's something we wrote about them for to promote the show, to persuade people to come and see them play, to share in the magic:

"From the first time we heard the first guitar lick of 'hole in my
head', one of four jammers on their debut 45 on grotto, we were
completely sold on their cocktail of Garage-y, surf-y, punk nuggets.
By the time we'd listened to that and 'One Foot In Front Of The Other'
-just over three minutes in total- we'd emailed them to ask them to
come and play here. This was September 2008. They couldn't make it
because of school commitments. And but now a year later and having
recorded and released their debut album 'Alice & Friends'-supposedly
named after their 'favourite cult-run korean vegan barbecue'- and
having played about a million shows with bands like Jay Reatard, Hunx
and his Punx, the Fresh & Onlys, NoBunny and having stole the show at
Goner-Fest in Memphis (which is no mean feat) they've finally embarked
on their first European adventure and we are so proud to host the
Manchester show. This will  be amazing. Like watching the clean
jamming out cramps songs, like going on a beer bust with the cast of
'Dazed & Confused' a year after the film was set and when Randy 'Pink'
Floyd has got his band together.
Box Elders offer a reminder of how irresistible Rock & Roll can be.
How it can quite simply make you forget about your daily woes and
chores, make you wanna grow your hair, get a leather jacket and throw
out all your other records- the one's you loved until you heard THESE
GUYS. This is what your grandparents were afraid of.

Oh yeah, the live show involves loin-cloths and a drummer
simultaneously playing keyboard: both of which are sights to behold.
Don't Miss This."

 Here are some things that other people have written about them:

"chock-full of mid-60s garage rock awesomeness"- the needle drop
"like the Black Lips’ unabashedly dweeby cousins"- SPIN
"raw energy that fuels a good house party"- pitchfork
"Stripping the fidelity off of mid-60's teeny-bopper pop, Nebraska's
Box Elders deliver a garage gem that's full of head bobbing pep and
damn near squeezable melodies." Raven Sings The Blues
"awesomely catchy garage pop sounds, short snappy songs"- VICE
"impossibly catchy and perfect pop gems...buy their records go see
their show, or you'll be sorry"- sailor jerry blog
"instantly classic songs" victim of time
"This sounds like something that John Peel would have liked, and if he
was still alive, I can imagine that he would have added this 7" to his
box of favorite records"-Seven Ten Twelve Press
"bratty punk meets Nuggets-era garage rock... box elders kick ass"-Brooklyn Vegan

"genuinely compelling...great pop songs...something special"-Boomkat

Is that enough to convince you to buy a ticket? Here's a video:

Just a few days after Box Elders play at the Corner, Ariel Pink is bringing his HAUNTED GRAFFITI back to Manchester to play at the DEAF INSTITUTE. Since the last time we had him play, in 2006, he's replaced the 8-track tape with an amazing and versatile band who play definitive versions of the old songs and have conjured a whole bunch of new one's which truly sound like no other band. It's almost as though the beautiful and abstract sounds in Ariel Pink's head have finally found, with this group, a conduit into reality. Now we can hear what he was hearing and it's pretty much the best music ever. Like all the best ART it accepts its place in the lineage (coming after what precedes it), in the never-ending narrative of sounds being shaped into music. Like John Cage (one of those depicted in THE REALEST VOL II ISSUE I) said 'There will always be sounds, one need not fear about the future of music'.

HAUNTED GRAFFITI are a really special band. One whom we find, as we should, especially difficult to describe. The best we've mustered thus far, in all these years of listening is to liken it to some heavenly fm radio where, no matter where you stop the dial, you're ears are confronted with a song that sounds both eerily familiar and completely alien, fully realised and yet enshrouded in mystery. Drenched in fuzz, misery and apathy and yet as joyous as any pop music could ever be. John Maus said  "Ariel exceeds the standardization of genre in that he is not reducible to any of the genres he uses" his records are an "affirmation of multiplicity". 

You can buy tickets for the HAUNTED GRAFFITI show HERE or HERE

Here's a new-ish video:

Another of the best things we did in the 2008th year of our Lord

was to play Settlers of Catan on this here 3-D game board that was handmade by our friend Tom Settle. It is an actual work of art.

Another work of art that Tom made in the 200th year of our Lord was this:

a scaled-down model of  the shack Henry David Thoreau built and lived in on Walden Pond.

A net of which, will be included in Volume II Issue IV of THE REALEST.

Oh, this saturday Tom will be playing with Former Bullies and Beach Fuzz at a Special Neil Young night at the Black Lion in Salford. 

THE REALEST is now on sale

at two actual shops. Oklahoma (74-76 High Street, Manchester) and FROM SPACE (142 Chapel Street, Salford). While each of these places is worth visiting and spending money in- you still get the best deal by paypal-ing us. Each issue is £5 postage paid in the uk. Currently available: THE REALEST VOLUME II ISSUE I BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE by LUCY JONES (from us, from From Space and Oklahoma), VOLUME II ISSUE II ISLINGTON MILL ART ACADEMY(from FROM SPACE or from us) and VOLUME I ISSUE I OR 15 MINUTES available from us on demand.

To order any of these paypal £5 to comfortableonatightrope@yahoo.co.uk (say which one you want).

If you click on the labels 'Lucy Jones' or THE REALEST' below you can find out more about that particular issue.
The Islington Mill Art Academy issue is the one we (Lucy, Laetitia, Perry & Julia) made in a week in Glasgow as an experimental documentary of the IMAA residency at the Transmission Gallery.

THE REALEST Volume I Issue I features essays, fiction, art and poetry all restricted to one A4 page and 15 minutes in which to fill it. Contributors included James Mansfield, Melanie Laurent, Jeffrey Lewis, James Arnold, Lucy Jones, David Bailey, Nick Ainsworth, Leah Bell, William Hesketh, J. Collin, DIane Cluck, Neil Burrell, Elizabeth Hysen and Lewis Green.

THE REALEST Volume II Issues III, IV and V are in varying stages of completion. Neil Robbins 4 x 4 is just waiting to be printed. This will be launched with a 'Book Launch Party' some time very soon.

We will be in Glasgow from Monday November 3rd

until Saturday November 8th with the Islington Mill Art Academy, who have been invited to organise a series of events at the Transmission Gallery as part of something called 'Moot Points'. We are to make Volume II issue II of 'The Realest' in situ and pretty much 'LIVE' before your eyes. The whole week, including the production of the zine will be very open and collaborative and we will welcome any contributions/ideas/assistance. This is exciting. Come.

The full programme of events can be found HERE

HEAR HERE SUNDAY 5th October 2008

WITH ANNI ROSSI & ROLLIN HUNT & SIC ALPS
The official launch of 'THE REALEST volume II issue I' by Lucy Jones
& MORE

£8 www.wegottickets.com

"Great design is simple...to be simple today is a social obligation"

is something said by Anni Albers at Black Mountain College c.1941.



Here are some photographs of the assembled (and assemblage therein) of the first forty (of one hundred) copies THE REALEST vol II issue I. It is officially launched with an exhibition at our second annual HEAR HERE festival, but you can order one now if you can't wait. Just Paypal comfortableonatightrope@yahoo.co.uk for £5 (post paid anywhere in UK; ask if further afield).
The magazine comes in the style of a 1960's French government-issue folio- with a wrap-around cover (all cut and folded by hand on thursday 18th and Friday 19th September) concealing and containing 13 portraits of Black Mountain College faculty members and alumni. In our humble opinion, 'tis a beautiful thing.

There is a lot happening

is something we might say right now if you were to ask us what is happening. In the part of time the english speaking peoples of the world call 'Future' there is even more happening than in the part of time we call 'Past'. That is a good thing. Do not be afraid.

On Tuesday 9th of September KELLEY STOLTZ is in town to play at the Deaf Institute. It will be a special night. We will be playing amazing records in between the amazing bands and your ears will like you for attending. As well as Kelley Stoltz's 2008 take on the San Francisco rock idiom, you will get to check out SEABEAR (from Reykyavik, morr music), GREAT GRAND SUNS (MO: write really beautiful melodic songs;play them really fast and overdriven) & Butcher the Bar (also morr music). It will cost £5. It will start at 8 'o' clock.

DAVID BAILEY, he who drew the poster above, has a brand new comic for sale. Entitled ROCKNROLLA, it is an hilarious re-imagining of the new Guy Ritchie film of the same name. You should definitely buy it here


THE REALEST volume two issue one is done and very nearly dusted. Some home-printed prototypes were sold at the momentous Manchester Zinefest. The master copy is currently in the hands of the master printers MARC and we are seriously excited. It consists of 13 portraits of Black Mountain College alumni by Lucy Jones bound in the style of a 1960's French Government Folio with a drawing of the Studies Building of said institution on the front. Like love, It is a beautiful thing. Like a miracle, it is a sight to behold.

If you paypal comfortableonatightrope@yahoo.co.uk £5 you can be the proud owner of one of the one hundred available copies.

The magazine BREAD is still very much available from Golden Lab and selected retailers. It has a story by one of us (R L Perry).

THEN, Saturday September 20th we head back to the Klondyke Snooker, Bowls & Social Club on Burnage Range in Levenshulme for a triple-threat of returners. THANKSGIVING is out of retirement and playing first ever solo manchester show. Everytime Adrian Orange opens his mouth to sing, the history of the world is rewritten; everybody is equal, the future is beautiful. The last sentence is an attempt to out-do previous Thanksgiving/Adrian Orange/LYLLYS/AJO hype. It is difficult, he is amazing. Check K recs and marriage for free songs.
Rozi Plain has a new album, she will sing from it and from elsewhere. We are delighted to welcome her back.
The last time we asked Former Bullies to play Nick had surgery on his knee. It was to fix an injury but we think he might have had a nip/tuck-type thing done too. His legs look like David Beckhams. Maybe he'll wear shorts. Maybe not. The sure thing is that Former Bullies are a sure thing.

Oh, a heads up for Phoning It In, the radio show where Nadav calls people up and gets them to play songs over the phone. Not just anyone though. Many of our absolute favourites: Simon Joyner, the Bruces, Julie Doiron, Thanksgiving, Kath Bloom... And they just added Diane Cluck's appearance which you can listen to for free and which might well be our favourite music ever. Check it out.

One last thing, HEAR HERE 2008 is ON. SIC ALPS, ANNI ROSSI, ROLLIN HUNT & more. + LOOK HERE- our first ever art exhibition and a screening of a very special film. Sunday October 5th at Islington Mill.
More of this and that to follow. Life goes on. YES!

THE REALEST VOL II ISSUE I

is being made right now. Contrary to earlier reports it is to contain drawings of BLACK MOUNTAIN college alumni 1933-1957 by Lucy Jones. It is Beautiful. It will be available to buy soon. Very soon. Check back. Also we have a show to promote: NISENNENMONDAI AT THE DEAF INSTITUTE WEDNESDAY 30TH JULY. BELIEVE. THIS WILL BE AMAZING.
Before then check out the launch party of BREAD, a magazine and compilation cd from Golden Lab. It will be a special night of music, poetry, readings and reading.

THE REALEST or fifteen minutes

this is a photograph of a 'zine we made, January 2007. It is called 'THE REALEST or fifteen minutes. It was launched with a party at Islington Mill in Salford. Two of our favourite bands played; FORMER BULLIES and THE ROYAL WE. Both are kind of not around anymore but the music, the joy, the memories remain.

Volume I Issue I is also not around anymore, we sold out. Issue II is on the way very, very soon and will feature, exclusively, the drawings of Neil Robbins. Then we're going to make Issue III and then we are going to make ISSUE IV and so on, and much more quickly. We will reprint Issue I too.

Email us for details of how/where to buy it: comfortableonatightrope@yahoo.co.uk