There all is order and beauty,
Luxury, peace, and pleasure.
“
—
Poem L’Invitation au voyage, from Charles Baudelaire’s volume Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil):
Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté, Luxe, calme et volupté.
Luxe, Calme et Volupté is an oil painting by Henri Matisse. It was painted in 1904, after a summer spent working in St. Tropez on the French Riviera alongside the neo-Impressionist painters Paul Signac and Henri Edmond Cross.[1] The painting is Matisse’s most important work in which he used the Divisionist technique advocated by Signac, which Matisse had first adopted after reading Signac’s essay, “D’Eugène Delacroix au Néo-impressionisme” in 1898.[2] Signac purchased the work, which was exhibited in 1905 at the Salon des Indépendants. Matisse subsequently abandoned the Divisionist technique.
Q: Last but not least, any musical guilty pleasures?
A: There is no such thing. Guilt and music don’t go together. Feel guilty about treating the ones you love like shit. Feel guilty about driving your car to the corner store. Feel guilty about living in the west. But music never hurt anyone, never lied to anyone, never did anything except make people feel something, good or bad. So why would I be guilty about what I listen to? Better vulgar art than no art at all. And for real, if a Celine Dion record was the last album on earth, I’d fight to save it. If on the other hand it was a Black Eyed Peas album…
“
—
Torquil Campbell, Stars/Memphis/Dead Child Star and sometimes Metric and BSS
“No One is Born to Be Lonely” by Dead Child Star - new album from Torquil Campbell of Stars.
Cold Hands, Warm Heart by Dead Child Star is the new album from Stars singer Torquil Campbelland features the likes of Julian Brown, Andrew Whiteman (Apostle Of Hustle, BSS), Jimmy Shaw (Metric) and Minotaur Shock.
Dead Child Star is Torquil Campbell in collusion with Julian Brown Aided and abetted by David Edwards, Daniel O’Connell, Andrew Whiteman, Jimmy Shaw and That Petrol Emotion.
Stars - “Dead Hearts” live in Minneapolis at First Avenue
I love that Stars wears their heart on their sleeve. They are dramatic pop music because being in love and passionate is dramatic. Share your passion. What’s more important than to love and be loved?
Stars backstage First Avenue - 10/27/10. Torq Campbell of Stars dedicated “The Comeback” to The Replacements. On a music fandom geek level, backstage with Stars was up there with meeting Paul Westerberg for me, too. Although we had a much more in depth and personal experience talking with Torq, Amy and Stars. Torq talked about how much Minneapolis means to him because his parents met working at the Guthrie Theater. We talked about how when you invest in art in a community, the payback is much greater than most people realize. I can’t site the specific studies but it wasn’t just the Jameson talking.
Stars played many of our favorite songs including “Reunion”, which Campbell talked about how personal it was to him. Stars have been changing their set list up quite a bit to keep it interesting. The set we heard was pretty spot on to my wish list. I’ve seen the band live three times and this was my favorite, the best concert of the year.
Evan Cranley: “Your (business) card has an owl with a beer, wait, and a robot with a mustache…You guys have cool jobs.”
Set list, I think:He Dreams He’s AwakeElevator Love LetterThe PassengerWasted DaylightTime Can Never Kill The True HeartHow Much MoreUndertowBitches In TokyoComebackAgeless BeautyThe WoodsDead HeartsTake Me To The RiotWe Don’t Want Your BodyFixedSet Yourself On FireYour Ex-Lover Is DeadOne More NightCelebration GunsI Died So I Could Haunt YouReunionMidnight CowardSoft RevolutionChanges
Stars live video of “Set Yourself on Fire” at First Avenue, Minneapolis, on Wed, Oct. 27th, 2010. I shot it with a Flip Mino HD which did a pretty decent job for being so close to the amps and the size of a phone. It was an amazing show and night as we got to hang out backstage with the band. They were incredibly nice and down-to-earth. Torq Campbell has an 18 mo. old daughter and Amy Millan is pregnant (with Evan Cranley, bassist and more) due in mid-March. Mama and I were the only two people backstage for the first half hour and then three more people joined the party. But we were treated to a very intimate evening with the band. They were totally interested and complimentary about Books & Bars and Mama being a yoga instructor, too. It was funny to hear them say we had cool jobs. I mean, they’re rock stars! Even actors wish they were rock stars. It was an unforgettable experience. More to come in the next posts including video and photos.
Stars @montrealstars play @firstavenue tonight. I’m as happy as I can remember being in a long time. I can’t want to hear my favorite song from The Five Ghosts loudly and lovely. And then we’re going backstage for the post-show party.
