It gets dark here around 4pm so by 5 one can be easily confused if you’ve been in doors too long. It could be 10 and as cold as any night can be in central Europe.
The city is lit up for Christmas and I love it… It is cheerful, inviting and the commerce is no where near as crass as it could be.
Tourists, mostly Italians and Russians, flock to the city centre this time of year to sample the hot gluwhine and folk-art stalls that are in abundance. during the day light hours Russians buy up clothes, often Chinese made labels, which tend to be a kind of Ikea for fashion.
I watched the reflections of Christmas street lighting in shop windows and the against architraves of churches. decorative projections added a wash of colour to buildings otherwise sombre in their evening stone Gothic. trams drew all ends of the city together, from across the Mur to where I stood, listening to church bells sound on the hour.
And it was at some such a quadrant, amidst old stone, the sound of an accordion nearby, that I was reminded of Prague, May 1994, and the urgency of those times when I wrote God’s Tear’s Europa and Gone to Stone.
Here’s a performance of God’s Tear’s Europa from my first of the several Fierce Throat choirs I would put together in the years since Trance Plant… The Brisbane Power House never looked so good.
God’s Tears Europa from andrew garton on Vimeo.
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Shane
December 8, 2008
Glad to hear you enjoying the snow….”even the garbage looks beautiful with snow on its lid”. Wait till you can’t see the garbage or your own home covered in fifteen feet of snow …. that to can be beautiful …. but the digging. No thanks, I have paid my dues.
As for the lights around this time of the year and as it draws closer to Christmas …. you will renew you belief YES!! there is a Santa Clause. Enjoy, be creative and keep warm.
Am drawing for a new series, never been so excited about these new works to be given birth in the new year. Say hello to all. Till next time …. Love you… Shane.