Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Eating it

Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) once told a story about a young fan. The fan had written to say how much he loved his book and Sendak responded with a little personalised drawing and message for the boy. His Mother wrote back to thank him, but to say her son was so thrilled with the gift, he ate it. 

Sendak really loved this response, that you would love something so much you simply had to consume it. While I've never eaten an artwork, I do kinda understand this urge. To adore with so much ferocity that you want to somehow incorporate what you love as part of you.

Being a fully fledged enthusiast I thought I'd write down the things I've felt this way about lately (in other words; things I really, really like).

Laura Marling. Urgh. I will love her forever. I think she may be writing the soundtrack to my heart. Everything she does is perfect. Every lyric, every chord. And I'm seeing her live next week, possibly hanging backstage. It's almost too much.

Walks at night while playing loud music in my headphones. Possibly this is unsafe, but I'm not stopping. Stomping along in my own world, darkness and bright lights and cool air and my own thoughts is fabulous. It's a space to be dreamy or feel all the darker spectrum of emotions in privacy and seclusion. And then walk it off.

Spontaneity. Spontaneous nights out. Spontaneous chats with excellent strangers, spontaneous dances on bars, spontaneously changing plans, changing course, booking tickets, catching up and not every surprise being a bad one. Tina Fey once said to say yes to everything and figure the rest out later. I'm following that rule and it's brought a lot more fun than some of my careful plans.

While Miss Marling needed a special mention of her own, there is a lot of really great music that fills me up with joy. This week the list has included: Peer Gynt; the Alabama Shakes, Girls and Boys; The Heavy, the Grateful Dead; the musical Sunday in the Park with George, Alberto Ginastera, Sidney Bechet and Aretha Franklin.

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