My buddy Austin Kleon texted to tell me that whenever I return to blogging this from Nick Cave should be the first thing I post. I felt that I had to begin by paying tribute to Ella; but having done that, here comes Nick โ Iโd like to quote the whole post, but letโs just do this, as good a personal manifesto as I have seen:
I am essentially a liberal-leaning, spiritual conservative with a small โcโ, which, to me, isnโt a political stance, rather it is a matter of temperament. I have a devotional nature, and I see the world as broken but beautiful, believing that it is our urgent and moral duty to repair it where we can and not to cause further harm, or worse, wilfully usher in its destruction. I think we consist of more than mere atoms crashing into each other, and that we are, instead, beings of vast potential, placed on this earth for a reason โ to magnify, as best we can, that which is beautiful and true. I believe we have an obligation to assist those who are genuinely marginalised, oppressed, or sorrowful in a way that is helpful and constructive and not to exploit their suffering for our own professional advancement or personal survival. I have an acute and well-earned understanding of the nature of loss and know in my bones how easy it is for something to break, and how difficult it is to put it back together. Therefore, I am cautious with the world and try to treat all its inhabitants with care.
Photo by the great Herman Leonard. Duke is delighted, Rodgers is bemused and admiring, and Benny is trying to figure out how she does it.ย
Iโm partly back โ with the help of the divine Ella Fitzgerald.ย
Stingโs song โAll This Timeโ plays a pretty significant role in my mental world. It came out a few months after my first trip to England, a trip centered on London and Oxford, and it alerted me to the wholly different texture of a Northern city, a Northern upbringing. And it made me imaginatively aware of what it might be like to grow up in a country with a Roman history โ for instance, in โan edge-of-the-Empire garrison town.โ It set me on a path of inquiry that made me highly receptive to what would become one of my favorite books, Susanna Clarkeโs Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Also, itโs one of Stingโs best songs. ๐ต
A record that has received a lot of love but never enough love is DโAngeloโs Black Messiah. Eleven years after its release it sounds as fresh as tomorrow. ๐ต
Interviewer: โYou look tanned and rested.โ Ange Postecoglu: โIf a manager looks tanned and rested, that means heโs out of a job, mate.โ Dudeโs kinda crazy but Iโm really glad heโs back in the PL. โฝ๏ธ
Leszek Koลakowski wrote about the
unpleasant and insoluble dilemmas that loom up every time we try to be perfectly consistent when we try to think about our culture, our politics, and our religious life. More often than not we want to have the best from incompatible worlds and, as a result, we get nothing; when we instead pawn our mental resources on one side, we cannot buy them out again and we are trapped in a kind of dogmatic immobility.
Thus Koลakowski appeals for what he winningly calls “moderation in consistency.”