The railroad tracks in Carrollton

Lindsey Stirling - Love Goes On and On ft. Amy Lee of Evanescence (Offic...

Lindsey Stirling - Love Goes On and On ft. Amy Lee of Evanescence (Official Music Video)

Lindsey Stirling - Carol Of The Bells (Live)

Sylvia Plath said it in good sentences

Sylvia Plath — “God, let me think clearly and brightly; let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences …”

A compilation by Kevin Dayhoff February 7, 2024

Sylvia Plath tragically died by taking her own life at the age of 30, on February 11, 1963.

She is one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. Her best-known works include the poems “Daddy” and “Lady Lazarus,” in addition to a collection of poems, “The Colossus,” published in October 1960,  and the novel “The Bell Jar.” 

Plath was known to starkly express a sense of alienation and self-destruction that resonated with many. The Bell Jar, written under the pseudonym, Victoria Lucus, was not overwhelmingly well accepted when it was first released.

The Bell Jar was a manifestation of her mental crisis. The well-known “fig tree” quote illustrates the paralysis of indecision.

An except reads, “I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. 

“One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet, and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. 

“I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet...”

However, Charlotte Ahlin calls to our attention in a piece she wrote on March 19, 2018, “This Quote From 'The Bell Jar' Is Always Used Out-Of-Context & It Changes The Whole Meaning.” https://www.bustle.com/p/the-fig-tree-quote-in-the-bell-jar-is-always-used-out-of-context-it-actually-changes-the-entire-meaning-8509944 

“Nearly every young person can relate to the fig tree: that horrible, suffocating feeling of indecision, the sense that every choice you make for the future means giving up on ten other choices. The knowledge that you can only move forward, and that if you choose the wrong "fig," the right fig might fall and rot before you get to it.

“There's nothing necessarily wrong with plucking this quote out of The Bell Jar — in many ways, it captures the crux of Esther's depression in a single paragraph. She feels inadequate, paralyzed by indecision, and unsure of what she wants. She's starving to death and yet unable to reach out and pluck a fig, any fig, from her tree. She can see future happiness, but doesn't know how to grasp it. She's numb to her own life. There's a reason that this quote resonates with so many people.

“But people rarely seem to quote the page after the fig tree.

“Esther has this disturbing vision while out on a date with Constantin, who's giving her a tour of the U.N. Being surrounded by all these accomplished, multilingual young people prompts Esther to start mentally listing all the things she's terrible at. She berates herself on her own flaws (she can't cook, she doesn't know shorthand, she's a bad dancer) until she spirals into the fig tree metaphor, sure that she will never live up to her promise as a gifted, scholarship kid.

“Then, however, Constantin takes her to a restaurant, and Esther has to sit down and eat. Then, there's this: ‘I don't know what I ate, but I felt immensely better after the first mouthful. It occurred to me that my vision of the fig tree and all the fat figs that withered and fell to earth might well have arisen from the profound void of an empty stomach.’”

In college - in January 1955, Plath submitted her thesis “The Magic Mirror: A Study of the Double in Two of Dostoyevsky's Novels.”

In 1956, while on a Fulbright Fellowship at Cambridge University, she married the British poet Ted Hughes after a whirlwind courtship. They were both ambitious, and hoped to become the leading poets of their generation. For Plath, it was a marriage mired with misfortune that rivals that of a Greek tragedy on steroids.  

Interestingly enough, in the later years of her marriage, Hughes and Plath kept bees, the topic of many of her poems.  

I always found it fascinating that in 1958 she worked, for a brief time, as a receptionist in the psychiatric unit of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Her novel, The Bell Jar, was published in London in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. Strongly autobiographical, the book describes the mental breakdown and eventual recovery of a young college girl and parallels Plath's own breakdown and hospitalization in 1953.

After her death, many of us can identify with Al Alvaraz, who later wrote, according to an article in The Guardian, “"I failed her ... I was thirty years old and stupid. What did I know about chronic clinical depression? She kind of needed someone to take care of her. And that was not something I could do…” At the time, Plath had been separated from Hughes for six months while he was having an affair with Assia Gutmann Wevill, who was pregnant with Hughes’ child at the time. In part, haunted by the death of Plath, Wevill took her own life on March 23, 1969. 

Plath’s tombstone reads: “Even amidst fierce flames / the Golden Lotus can be planted.” These lines are from Chinese literature, Wu Cheng'en's Monkey: Journey to the West – although other folks attribute it to the Hindu text from “Bhagavad Gita.”

All this - according to some old, disheveled notes and files recently found in the bottom of a box of discarded poems and short stories that were compiled and assembled from multiple undocumented sources over many-many years. Out of an abundance of caution - no claim to original authorship is either claimed or implied. As a young writer, I was always fascinated with the idea of having the opportunity to have interviewed Sylvia Plath. 

For additional context, read: “'I realised Sylvia knew about Assia's pregnancy - it might have offered a further explanation of her suicide' In a heart-breaking new twist in the story of the lives and deaths of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Sigmund recalls a moment of terrible realization” from The Guardian, April 22, 1999. https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/apr/23/features11.g21 

For a brief introduction to Sylvia Plath, be sure to watch a short “TED-ED” on YouTube,  “Why should you read Sylvia Plath? - Iseult Gillespie.” Find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCWl8ZIgCHk 

Find an interview with Sylvia Plath from 1962, on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2lMsVpRh5c And a great collection of pictures of Sylvia Plath Here: “Sylvia Plath reads November Graveyard:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7ujeHnrT8A (About the graveyard in Heptonstall. in which she was buried in 1963.) 

+++ Dayhoff Art +++

Kevin Dayhoff for Westminster Authority Caroline Babylon, Treasurer.

Carroll County Times: www.tinyurl.com/KED-CCT

Baltimore Sun Carroll Eagle: http://tinyurl.com/KED-Sun

Westminster Patch: https://patch.com/users/kevin-e-dayhoff

Facebook Dayhoff for Westminster: https://www.facebook.com/DayhoffforWestminster/

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Kevin Dayhoff Time Flies: www.kevindayhoff.info | https://kevindayhoff.wordpress.com/

Ambient Chillwave, Synthwave, Retrowave Music | VANGELIS Inspired Relaxing Music

#amwriting

https://youtu.be/2U8U8vuvMFE?si=pDTApXvss9PMcQUS

If you like Ambient Chillwave, Synthwave, Retrowave Music, and love BLADE RUNNER, then this music may be something for you. It is inspired by the master of Ambient Synth music, Vangelis. This Vangelis Inspired Relaxing Music is a 1 hour long loop. (Channeling Joe Vigliotti)

A Flock Of Seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away) (Video)

“Is it true that 'I Ran,' by a 'Flock of Seagulls' is one of your favorite music choices?”… “I walked along the avenue. I never thought I'd meet a girl like you; Meet a girl like you. With auburn hair and tawny eyes; The kind of eyes that hypnotize me through; Hypnotize me through. And I ran, I ran so far away. I just ran, I ran all night and day. I couldn't get away… [From an interview transcript from 1982.]

Taylor Swift - Lover (Official Lyric Video)

Taylor Swift - Lover (Official Lyric Video)

HALLELUJAH: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song | Official Trailer (2022)

HALLELUJAH: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song | Official Trailer (2022)

Directed by: Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine

Selections: Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and more

Featuring: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, John Cale, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Glen Hansard, Sharon Robinson, Rufus Wainwright and many others

Synopsis: HALLELUJAH: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song is a definitive exploration of singer song writer Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, “Hallelujah.” 

This feature-length documentary weaves together three creative strands: The songwriter and his times; the song’s dramatic journey from record label reject to chart-topping hit; and moving testimonies from major recording artists for whom “Hallelujah” has become a personal touchstone. 

Approved for production by Leonard Cohen just before his 80th birthday in 2014, the film accesses a wealth of never-before-seen archival materials from the Cohen Trust including Cohen’s personal notebooks, journals and photographs, performance footage, and extremely rare audio recordings and interviews.

YouTube url address: https://youtu.be/11IPQYZMXjc?si=fe1SQfsYkAcG5XiV 

HALLELUJAH: Leonard Cohen

HALLELUJAH: Leonard Cohen

Friday evening, January 5, 2024 Caroline and I had the opportunity to view the first film in FLICC’s January Documentary Series:– “HALLELUJAH: Leonard Cohen” at the Carroll Arts Center in Westminster at 91 West Main Street, Sponsored by: JeannieBird Baking Company.

HALLELUJAH: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song. According to a review on the Carroll Arts Council website, “is a definitive exploration of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as seen through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, ‘Hallelujah.’

“This feature-length documentary weaves together three creative strands: The songwriter and his times; the song’s dramatic journey from record label reject to chart-topping hit; and moving testimonies from major recording artists for whom “Hallelujah” has become a personal touchstone.

Approved for production by Leonard Cohen just before his 80th birthday in 2014, the film accesses a wealth of never-before-seen archival materials from the Cohen Trust including Cohen’s personal notebooks, journals and photographs, performance footage, and extremely rare audio recordings and interviews. It was released in 2021; the screening time was: 1 h 58 m; It is rated PG-13.

Find the trailer for the movie here: https://youtu.be/11IPQYZMXjc

https://www.facebook.com/kevindayhoff/posts/pfbid0Af6UisErhrMxiySDNEq51jKvCcdP8awefqoPB51bL6Ec6Xnta2HqkUUrNsFsLZGhl

+++ Dayhoff Art +++

Kevin Dayhoff for Westminster Authority Caroline Babylon, Treasurer.

Carroll County Times: www.tinyurl.com/KED-CCT

Baltimore Sun Carroll Eagle: http://tinyurl.com/KED-Sun

Westminster Patch: https://patch.com/users/kevin-e-dayhoff

Facebook Dayhoff for Westminster: https://www.facebook.com/DayhoffforWestminster/

Facebook: Kevin Earl Dayhoff: https://www.facebook.com/kevindayhoff

Dayhoff for Westminster: www.kevindayhoff.city

Dayhoff Soundtrack: www.kevindayhoff.net

Dayhoff Carroll: www.kevindayhoff.org

Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoff.com/

Kevin Dayhoff Time Flies: www.kevindayhoff.info | https://kevindayhoff.wordpress.com/

Andain - Summer Calling

Andain - Summer Calling

Oh, when it hurts for me 

I never felt so empty 

Then the rain has its way 

Falling... 

Falling... 

Those summer mornings 

You kissed me out of my next dream 

Then, without warning 

It goes away 

And then it goes 

And then it goes 

And then it goes 

Searched to find you somewhere 

As winds began to sway 

Got in my car and just 

Driving... 

Driving... 

Those summer mornings 

I danced inside your warm embrace 

You hear me calling 

And now you're gone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LbVLLWZ_mE 

Mavie Marcos (Andain) - Artist Mix

Mavie Marcos (Andain) - Artist Mix 

Tracklist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh_alK6b3xk 

0:00 - Andain - Turn Up The Sound (Xtigma Remix)

5:30 - Andain - Once You Told Me (Angelli & Nelson Remix)

11:00 - Andain - Much Too Much (Mike Shiver Remix)

17:10 - Andain - Promises (Myon & Shane's Summer of Love Remix)

21:33 - Andain - Beautiful Things (Daniel Skyver Remix)

27:46 - Andain - You Once Told Me (Walsh & McAuley Remix)

35:24 - Andain - What its Like (Sneijder Remix)

42:43 - Andain - Summer Calling (Airwave Remix)

Andain - Much Too Much [Zetandel Chill Remix] (Official Music Video)

Andain - Much Too Much [Zetandel Chill Remix] (Official Music Video)

Andain - Beautiful Things (Taken from Tiësto In Concert)

Andain - Beautiful Things (Taken from Tiësto In Concert)

One of the biggest trance classics taken from the Tiësto In Concert DVD, recorded May 10th 2003 in Gelredome, Arnhem.

Andain - Turn Up The Sound (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)

Black Hole 454-0

Andain - Turn Up The Sound - Jul 6, 2012

1. Original Version

2. Tristan Garner Remix

3. Gabriel & Dresden Remix

4. Stratus Remix

5. Zetandel Chillout Mix

6. Radio Edit

7. Gabriel & Dresden Radio Edit

Andain present an extensive remix package of their brand new single "Turn Up The Sound" on the Black Hole imprint.

Andain (Josh Gabriel and Mavie Marcos) have a history of divine electronica, spine-tingling lyrics and considerable patience. The band began in 2000 and after their first single "Summer Calling" and follow-up "Beautiful Things" (best known for the Gabriel & Dresden Remix, now a classic, sporting over 20 million views on Youtube) their name was launched into instant celebrity.

Andain just finished working on their brand new artist album and already released the successful single "Promises" which appeared on many compilations, and reached #13 in SiriusXM's BPM Top 51 of 2011. In support of the album, the single "Much Too Much" was released, accompanied by a beautiful video directed by Jamie Redford. The third single was handpicked by Andain and now "Turn Up The Sound" sees the light of day in a state of the art remix package.

The original version of "Turn Up The Sound" is a powerful production with a deeply emotive character and the perfect canvass for Mavie's soaring vocals. For this remix package, Andain approached such highly acclaimed producers like Tristan Garner and for the occasion Gabriel & Dresden reworked the original into a gem featuring their trademark sound. Not to mention of course that Josh Gabriel is both band member of both Andain and Gabriel & Dresden. Now "Turn Up The Sound"!

Supported by: Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Judge Jules, Paul Oakenfold, Markus Schulz, Pete Tong, Matt Darey, Richard Durand, tyDi, Above & Beyond, Myon & Shane 54, Ruben de Ronde, Cosmic Gate, Solarstone, Gareth Emery, Bobina, Mike Shiver, Mark Sherry, Mark Ateson, Menno de Jong, Fabio Stein, Ben Gold and MANY more!