Music is my boyfriend.

At least it's about to be. I just downloaded Spotify. It's saying hello to America. So I figured the least I could do in the name of America, was say hello back.

I'm looking forward to seeing how/if/when the new service changes the way I consume music. Like, perhaps I'll start to appreciate Gaga or something. Though probably not.

Coveting: Death and the Maiden

Perhaps it is not every girl's desire to hang a 34" portrait of a skeleton in full embrace with a svelte blonde above her desk. But something's got to fill the space left by the removal of what was once a 5' tall upside-down Jesus which proudly and with great Jesus-like stoicism graced my now barren wall panel for nearly 4 years. And what better to replace one painted icon which made people incredibly uncomfortable than with another--equally awkward, if not sacrilegious--piece of art.

I want this print by Edward Walton Wilcox. I want it now. I want it framed and wrapped in a black bow that offers just a hint of the gothic nature of the subject inside. I want to enter my studio and fall asleep each night with the image of undying--or already dead as the case may be--love reminding me of life and living.

Death and The Maiden
giclée on canvas
edition quantity: 25
28” x 34”

Available at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery.

It's Saturday and your life is not that bad.

It's Saturday morning and I'm in Florida and it's humid as a sauna in a broke down spa in the Tropics. And I've complained a bit, I'll admit, in the last 36 hours about the temperature and the permanent dew that has affixed itself to my face and the hairs that won't stop frizzing, even on my arms.

But then I saw this picture this morning--from my air conditioned accommodations--and understood [though I already knew it] that the heat in Boca Raton, Florida is not that bad. At least not when you're merely hopping from hotel room to convertible to manse on the water.

The caption beneath this photo in the LA Times...

Peshawar, Pakistan — A young girl with her head partially covered with flies stands outside her family home on the outskirts of the city, in northwest Pakistan.

To be in your wee years, and to know flies on your small head--that is bad. That is terribly, cruelly bad.

[Image Credit: Fayaz Aziz / Reuters via LA Times]

Aug 'On The Nail' Reading: Upstairs@Foleys, Tues 5th Aug 2011

Limerick Writers' Centre Present

Tuesday 9th Aug 2011 8.00pm



Aug 'On The Nail' Reading

Upstairs@Foley's Bar, Sarsfield St, Limerick

(Limericks Newest Live Venue for Music and the Arts)



Organised by The Limerick Writers' Centre this popular monthly reading and open-mic continues to attract audiences with a mix of poetry, prose and music.



This month we launch issue 20 of Revival Literary Journal plus our guests are George Harding, Adam Wyeth and Gary King.



Gary King was born in Galway in 1963, where he still lives. His poems have appeared in magazines such as Poetry Nottingham, The Burning Bush, Poetry Monthly, Revival, Crannóg, West 47 and The Journal. A chapbook of his poems, Ambiguous Lights, was published by Over The Edge in 2004. He has been a featured reader at the O'Bhéal, White House and Over The Edge: Open Reading series. He was runner up in the 2007 Poetry Grand Slam at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature. In December he won the 2008 North Beach Poetry Grand Slam and his first collection of poems Pluto's Noon Sky was published by Doire Press in 2009.



Adam Wyeth, born 1978, lives in West Cork. He was a recent prize-winner of the Fish International Poetry Competition, 2009 and a runner-up in the Arvon International Poetry Competition, 2006. His poems have been anthologized in The Fish Anthology, Something Beginning with P , the Arvon 25th Anniversary anthology and Landing Places. His work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Poetry London, Magma, The Stinging Fly and The Shop. He was a featured poet in Agenda and selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series, 2007. He teaches Creative Writing and is on the Poetry Ireland Writers in Schools scheme. Wyeth also writes a regular column for the Southern Star. His first collection, Silent Music, was recently published from Salmon.



George Harding is a Corkonian who divides his time between Cork and Kinsale and was formerly in involved in the bicycle business in Dublin and Cork. His poems have been featured in various publications here, Britain and America. He is an environmentalist, bibliophile, and hurling fanatic. He is married to Nuala and has 3 children. His first collection 'My Stolen City' waspublished by Revival Press in May.

Everyone is invited to take part in the open-mic after the main event, poets, storytellers, musicians and writers . Even if you don't write you are welcome to bring something along to read. The night begins at 8.00pm and admission is free. So join us on the night and make this event something special.

NOTE: Our special authors book table will again be in operation, so if you want your book, CD's etc publicised make sure you are represented on the table. Contact Dominic Taylor at 087 2996409 to make arrangements.

The Limerick Writers' Centre acknowledges the support of The Arts Council of Ireland.



Further information contact: Dominic Taylor 087 2996409 email limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com web http://onthenailreadings.blogspot.com To view videos of the May reading go to: http://www.youtube.com/onthenailreadings

The Limerick Writers' Centre acknowledges the support of The Arts Council of Ireland.

Kate Bush danced like she wanted to.

30 some odd years ago, the music video hadn't yet developed its affinity for special effects, half naked girls, and cameos by film stars. It was unrefined and shot in one take in the woods with its star in a modest, long red dress and dancing like she's never danced before [and thankfully not many have danced since].

Questionable dance moves aside, the song is beautiful. And beauty's something modern day music doesn't always promise nowadays either.

The spectacular Ryan McGinley and his subject's spectacular butt.

Take away the spectacularness of the buttocks of the man pictured above and what you're left with (those of us who are decent and good and not completely sexually deviant and can take our eyes away from such perfect buttocks) is the spectacularness of this photograph by Ryan McGinley on display now at LA's new OHWOW Gallery.

Group Exhibition: Post 9-11
June 30 - August 27, 2011

OHWOW Gallery
937 N. La Cienega
Los Angeles, CA 90069