Update since this post. I’m pretty much done transcribing No. 1 Green Street [Scroll down to listen to track. Download does not seem to work for Firefox, only for IE] from his album Green Street. Like 98% done. Just need to remember what I transcribed, practise and “catch” the last descending chord sequence.
Check out the reviews of Green Street here and here and here.
I’ve been obsessed with Grant Green lately. Tried to get as many of his albums as possible even though I haven’t had the time to listen to them carefully. Ok, time to sleep.
A new book reveals that Hughes’s lover, Assia Wevill, was ordered by him not to have lie-in, wear her dressing gown around the house or take a nap during the day. Wevill told friends the poet’s lovemaking was so ferocious that ‘in bed, he smells like a butcher’. The claims are made in A Lover of Unreason: The Biography of Assia Wevill, by two Israeli journalists who have spent 15 years researching her story.
…The book also reveals that Hughes and Wevill starting sharing Plath’s bed in the London flat where she died within two days of her suicide. Wevill, a German-born Jew, was probably already pregnant by Hughes and used the same bed to recover from an abortion six weeks later.
Their affair had started after Wevill and her husband, David, visited Hughes and Plath at their home, also in Devon, in 1962. The biography tells how Assia claimed that Hughes had kissed her when they were alone together in the kitchen. Five weeks later, Hughes hurried to a London agency where Wevill was working, scribbled a note and left it with the receptionist. It said: ‘I have come to see you, despite all marriages.’
Koren and Negev continue: ‘Having always preferred rough waters to smooth sailing, she couldn’t resist the thrill of responding – but she wanted to do it in striking, memorable fashion. From her office window, she noticed that a gardener was mowing the lawn below – and found her inspiration. She went down, picked up a single blade of the freshly cut grass, dipped it in Dior perfume and sent it to Ted. Three days later, an envelope arrived at Assia’s office: in it, the blade of grass lay beside one from Devon.’
Betrayed and desperate, Wevill’s husband took an overdose of sleeping pills but survived. The book claims: ‘While David lay semi-conscious on a stretcher, [Assia] was ruthless enough to announce that Hughes had raped her… After a taxi took them home that Sunday evening, [David] composed a short note to his rival: “If you come near my wife again, I’ll kill you”.’
But the Wevills were destined to separate and Assia joined Hughes in Plath’s old flat. ‘Assia did not make any secret of Ted’s ferocious lovemaking when it came to her office friends. She told Edward Lucie-Smith: “You know, in bed, he smells like a butcher.” ‘
The couple parted in 1968 after Hughes embarked on another affair. The following year, at the age of 42, Wevill gassed herself, just as Plath had done. In a diary entry, she blamed the ghost of Plath for making her suicidal.
Chloe showed me this video. Very funny and like what Hossan Leong promises, it’s a concise history of Singapore. But to fully understand all the references and the humour, you probably would have to live in Singapore for quite a while. Nonetheless, the two paras after the video would help in explaining some of the lyrics of the song (in italics) to some extent.
Singapura very strong
Big guns all pointing wrong
Japanese came on bikes
Invade us from our backside
IMF must smile more
Want to protest go indoor
“SINGAPORE: Civil Society Organisations have expressed disappointment with the 14 by 8 metre space allocated to them for indoor protests within Suntec Singapore.
Police say the IMF/World Bank joint secretariat had been consulted when choosing the site.
The area, demarcated by four poles, is where protests will be allowed during the Annual Meetings.
Police say a sizeable number of delegates who come in coaches will have to pass through this security checkpoint before entering the convention hall, hence giving the civil groups ample visibility.
Over 500 civil society organisations have been accredited by the IMF World Bank, but the police does not expect the majority of them to stage an indoor protest at the same time.
The police added that even though demonstrations are allowed here, they will move in to control the crowd if the crowd got too rowdy.
Wooden placards and metal poles will also not be allowed for safety reasons, and police will provide cardboard and paper poles.
This protest space is offered on a first come first served basis.”
