Ok, so I just finished a scathing article for Butcher Queers about how I find people with cameras sinister, but like lots of complex phenomena there are positives as well as negatives. In this case, I believe photography can elevate the soul in the best possible way. I really thought that the photos of Double Rainbow from the LoveCats big event in the Village couldn't get any better.
The Lovecats' biggest show to date was, as you can see, pretty bloody good! Their twee antics were captured by Kate Turner's excellent camera-eye, producing some of the best live shots I've seen since Rick Taylor's images of Burlectro in the early days of that show.
I was going to write all these thoughts I am having on photography, but I'm going to save that. Last night at the Shazwanda show, my ecclesiastical nipple tassels fell off. Betty Buzz Killer! Good show though, of course! I'm a perfectionist, with and without nipple tassels.
Tomorrow night (the 5th Nov) at the Village, Wexford St., The LoveCats celebrate their first birthday with a massive venue, guest MC Joe Rooney (Remember Father Damo?) and of course, a fantastic Burlesque Showcase. Blackbird'sDoubleRainbow went down so well at Gateway Festival, that I've been invited back to DoubleRainbow-it-up yet again for the Birthday festivities! Tickets are €10 (If you want some email me owlbusyness@gmail.com) Doors at 7.30pm Dancing, Burlesque, Pole Dancing, Live Music, Prizes for Best (un)dressed
Then on Sunday the 7th Nov, I'll be hanging out of this young'in at her show, Shazwanda! It's like Open Sesame or Alakazam! Shazwanda! Ta-Da! She is tote great. Real good skin who puts on a terrific show. It's free entry and it's on in the Dragon on George's Street Show starts at 9pm The theme of the show is "Down with that sort of thing!" (another Father Ted reference, hear that Joe!) and it was inspired bySt. Blackbirdherself! So in a way, it's my show too... hehehe! Shazwanda saw the Saint and was delivered inspiration, she feltthe Passion! I'll be doing trips around Ireland next letting people touch the hem of my habit for health.
A gift from my Mammy. An email forwarded from her Sister.
I debated whether to post the words to which this image was attached, but I did post them and after a few days, I deleted them. Then, on Saturday night George Carlin made me regret deleting them, so I am re-posting them, with the video of the comedian extraordinaire below.
The story, it seems, is some sort of weird (the words are, and my Mammy agrees, "weird"), reductionist, christian oddity that someone has managed to pollute inboxes with because of the beautiful photos they have paired with their baffling text.
Carlin on the other hand, he is clev-er!
NOAH
In the year 2008, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States , and said: Once again, the earth has become wicked and over-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing along with a few good humans. He gave Noah the blueprints, saying: You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights. Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard - but no Ark. Noah! He roared, I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark? Forgive me, Lord, begged Noah, 'but things have changed. I needed a building permit. I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision. Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark 's move to the sea. I told them that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it. Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls - but no go! When I started gathering the animals, an animal rights group sued me. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. They argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space. Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood. I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew. Immigration and Naturalization are checking the green-card status of most of the people who want to work. The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark-building experience. To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species. So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10 years for me to finish this Ark. Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked, 'You mean you're not going to destroy the world?' 'No,' said the Lord. 'The government beat me to it!
I took a video and cranked up the contrast for dramatic effect (Aardvark made me music for it):
(13th September 2010) I feel compelled to state that I am aware of how awfully ham these doctored photos are, but that's ok. Just like the woman on the sex education video in 6th class said about periods. She said (lied), "It's just a few drops, a few drops, but that's ok, it's ok!". All this rainbow mush came about during the Electric Picnic festivities. Lets just say, as I have been saying, it was an exercise in anti-neurosis. Someone suggested that could be fodder for a new catch phrase - I see it now -
Electric Picnic: An Exercise in Anti-neurosis.
But I digress. An old, beloved friend of mine who I had not seen for a long time told me, in fact, performed for me, the Double Rainbow youtube video of the man who was moved. I had never heard of a double rainbow, let alone seen one and was overcome with excitement, somewhat chemically induced, BUT THAT'S OK! IT'S OK!
Anyway, I knew then that my performance at the Gateway Festival with the Lovecats would have to be a DOUBLE RAINBOW (those of you who see it will learn why this must be so) and eventually a friend commented that I had in fact left the building and been replaced by a double rainbow. Then on Tuesday - having never even heard of such a thing before the weekend - a double rainbow appeared before me and it was so cool! Before I get all cynical and embarrassed, yah I did think it was fateful and I did board that universal validation train, of course I did! I was screaming at passers-by to look at the double rainbow, grabbing the bins out of a man's hands and throwing them into the road, screaming and laughing and crying and smashing windows with love, shooting rainbow stardust and smiles from the top of my umbrella. Everyone enjoyed it. But it was always bound for the land of ham. I grew up with plastic purple ponies with rainbows on their butts, women like Rainbow Brite and later Mario Cart... Rainbow Rapids? Or was that an outdoor swimming pool in Dun Laoighre? No way! I just remembered Rainbow Rapids the outdoor swimming pool in Dun Laoighre! On a par with the painful and cold Clara Lara in Wicklow, remember? (Also closed for years but recently reopened).
This is what is left of Rainbow Rapids:
Aside: www.abandonedireland.com is an excellent website, full of very creepy photos of deserted, haunted and otherwise otherworldly places of human history, residue and absence.
Over all, the Double Rainbow sighting was an interesting and synchronicitous event. But, on the face of things:
Light Bends
The fundamental process at work in a rainbow is refraction -- the "bending" of light. Light bends -- or more accurately, changes directions -- when it travels from one medium to another. This happens because light travels at different speeds in different mediums.
