Human Racing

- "Human Racing" by St. Vincent, from Marry Me (2007), performed on NPR's Bryant Park Project (2009)

Retrospectively

It sounds like an overwrought and clichéd story: tortured artist kills himself after the death of his girlfriend.

This was the case for Jeremy Blake, who allegedly walked into the ocean and drowned himself. A week earlier, he'd found his girlfriend, blogger and video game designer Theresa Duncan, dead in the apartment they shared above St. Mark's Church (which has its own fascinating history). According to friends, the couple had been acting erratically. They told stories of being followed and harassed by Scientologists, and went so far as to make their friends sign loyalty pledges to ensure they weren't agents of Scientology. In short, she and Blake were both scared, and they didn't seem to be in good health. Their loved ones were worried, but no one had expected their deaths, just a week apart in July of 2007.

Blake and Duncan in Venice, CA, photographed by Bret Haller

It would be impossible to sit here and give a concrete reason for their suicides, which, like most, are shrouded in uncertainty. The mystery behind their deaths has overshadowed any creative successes they achieved, as evidenced by not only this blog post, but several trendy magazine profiles published after they died. (Here is one from Vanity Fair, and another from New York Magazine.)

The work they left behind, I'd argue, is a far more compelling and enriching glimpse of what and how they thought. With that in mind, here are pieces of their work: a series of video games produced by Duncan for young female audiences, and a digital video made by Blake and inspired by Sarah Winchester.

- - -

Rhizome and the New Museum present:
Chop Suey, Smarty, and Zero Zero
 - - -

- "Winchester Redux," by Jeremy Blake (2004)

Into Eternity

- "Into Eternity" by Jens Lekman, from Night Falls Over Kortedala (2007)

No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti

I heard this song covered by live performers at least three times in Spain, during all of which the audience passionately sang along. My lovely host mom Carmen, who explained to me many aspects of Spanish pop culture, said that this was the music her generation loved.

The band who originally recorded this track, Los Ronaldos, formed in Madrid in 1987. The lead singer, Coque Malla, has also embarked on a seemingly successful solo career, and he rerecorded this song by himself in 2009. The title means "I can't live without you," approximately. If somewhat unoriginal thematically, the lyrics are also very impressive. One of my favorite verses is:

Yo me quedo para siempre con mi reina,
Su bandera,
Ya no hay fronteras.

Me dejaré llevar a ningún lugar.

My translation skills are far from apt, and I think the Spanish is so much prettier, but the rough English equivalent is below:

I stay forever with my queen,

her flag,

there are still no borders.

I don't let myself go anywhere.

I rather like Coque Malla's acoustic rearrangement, so here it is for you to experience and enjoy. Fair warning: I'm not entirely sure what's going on in this video, but the music's what really matters, right?

-"No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti" by Coque Malla, from La hora de los gigantes [The Hour of the Giants] (2009); originally released by Los Ronaldos on 4 Canciones [Four Songs] (2007)

I Have News For You

This is a poem by Tony Hoagland. I did not write it. I just read it and thought it was amusing.

***

I Have News For You

There are people who do not see a broken playground swing
as a symbol of ruined childhood

and there are people who don't interpret the behavior
of a fly in a motel room as a mocking representation of their thought
process.

There are people who don't walk past an empty swimming pool
and think about past pleasures unrecoverable

and then stand there blocking the sidewalk for other pedestrians.
I have read about a town somewhere in California where human beings

do not send their tuberous feeder roots
deep into the potting soil of others' emotional lives

as if they were greedy six-year-olds
sucking the last half inch of milkshake up through a noisy straw;

and other persons in the Midwest who can kiss without
debating the imperialist baggage of heterosexuality.

Do you see that creamy, lemon-yellow moon?
There are some people, unlike me and you,

who do not yearn after fame or love or quantities of money as
          unattainable as that moon;
Thus, they do not later
          have to waste more time
heatedly defaming the object of their former ardor.

Or consequently run and crucify themselves
in some solitary midnight Starbucks Golgotha.

I have news for you--
there are people who get up in the morning and cross a room

and open a window to let the sweet breeze in
and let it touch them all over their faces and bodies.

(Tony Hoagland, 2010, from Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty, Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota. I hope this suffices as a disclaimer of ownership to The Faceless Powers of the Internet)