NIK: Burg Herzberg etc.

[Keith Henderson]

Jon Jarrett <jjarrett at CHIARK.GREENEND.ORG.UK> wrote:
>One last thing I will say though is that I think the criticism
>levelled tha the dancer is unfair, bordering on prudish. The costumes are
>I grant you not wildly original, though Keith and Maxine both fail to
>mention those that are less than cliched (unless she's no longer doing the
>flapper girl with the I-dog), but I think this is again expecting too
>much. HW present an organised visual thing which is a part of the whole
>performance: Angie's doing it by herself. No band vision informs her, and
>they have no money, so she's just wearing fun stuff. I'm sure it's not
>supposed to be erotic; if she wanted to achieve that effect, she could do
>it because unlike many of HW's dancers of the past, not meaning Kris
>obviously whose gig is rather more spectacle than actual dance anyway, she
>can actually dance, rather than just shaking vaguely. I also think as much
>of what she does as possible is tied to the music, but that not much is
>possible for her given their budget. But by and large the dancing, hers or
>others, is one of the things I've tended to enjoy about SR
>performances. It's people who can dance having fun, what's the problem? I
>don't see the fuss about the costumes; surely it's just a laugh. If it
>makes me a pervert not being bothered by them, well, hey. Probably nothing
>new there.

I didn´t have anything to respond to about the musical comments, since I generally agree with all of them, though I didn´t find myself capable of having fun with this lot as compared to the earlier permutations of Space Ritual.  Anyway...

But about Angie (I think Nik called her Miss Angel, or something...but whatever).  First, you should note that as an American, I am completely unable to reason properly about anything regarding sexuality or nudity, because that´s just the way Americans are made.  One must study Orwell´s concept of Doublethink for enough time to earn several impressive degrees from some of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning to even get close to understanding the ability of the American populace to simultaneously be both horrified by the public display of, say, the female nipple and yet be consumed beyond anyone´s imagination with the desire to see as many of them as possible, preferably from close range and with some sweet confection pouring over them gracefully.  It´s an amazing thing, really, and I am awed by it, even as it still unfailingly consumes me here, all the while as I am surrounded by millions of those with a much more highly evolved understanding of all things sexual.  I
 hate these people.  :)

The first thing I remember seeing on TV in Switzerland was a commercial for some healthy, normal product featuring a naked, pregnant woman (from the side) reclining on a sofa or something and laughing.  This was on about five oclock in the afternoon.  That was my first indication that things in Europe were a little more relaxed than in, say, John Ashcroft´s office when he was Attorney General.  However, Switzerland is actually quite restrained and conservative in such things, but nevertheless, the average person on the street isn´t remotely put off by ´blue´ businesses in their neighborhood being in view of their precious children and such.  Given that the local sex shop was actually *attached* to the main grocery store in the little shopping mall.  But 38 years of brainwashing is hard to overcome, and I could live the rest of my life here (boy I wish) and still not be cured of my paradoxial view of all things sexual.

Which means that I´m both 100% prude and simultaneously 100% pervert at the same time, just as Schrödinger´s cat was 100% dead and 100% alive, or however that story goes.  And celibate too, which makes me among the most perverted deviants of all time!  :)  So, don´t expect any of my views to represent anything like normality or common sense.

But that said...regardless of whether Miss Angel was too sexually provocative, or not enough, the problem was I didn´t see much of any artistry, nor any connections to the music.  I might have been OK with her being much *more* provocative (after all, she showed absolutely nothing except a bit of bad taste, IMHO) if it had been artistically done, or at least something I´d never seen before.  As it was, it just seemed like no effort went into the routines at all, except off-the shelf costume purchasing.  (As far as the whole-band support idea for the HW dancers, note that I just praised them for their routines at Loreley that must had been largely ad-lib - at least the costumes certainly were, as they were accidentally left behind in the UK.)  And I didn´t see any evidence that she knew anything about HW music at all, which wouldn´t be so surprising given that the vast majority of it that Nik had anything to do with, was probably recorded before she was born.

But, whatever, I won´t slag anyone for thinking that she was ´fun´ to watch...that would be listening too closely to that ugly person inside of me that still thinks the human body is a source of neverending shame.  Damn Puritans.  And Rick Santorum, I´ll blame that SOB too, since he´s from (one of my) home state(s).  But nevertheless, I found her a distraction at best.  Oh, well, what do you expect from such a deviant?

>Anyway. In summary: the band sucks, but there are worse parties to
>be at than one of Nik's band's ones even if they are playing. Yours,
>Jon

Fair enough.  True enough.

Grakkl (FAA)

P.S.  What is an I-dog?  Is that some sort of new Apple MP3 product?  :)

P.P.S.  Unrelated question...What is the proper definition/translation of this British word ´twee´?  I thought I kinda knew, but I´ve recently seen it in totally different context and now I´m confused.



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