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tir.an.na ud nu-uh-šú mu.bí mar-ra-tum
meš-hu šá mul ki-šú ia-’-nu
I and Jessica Chappell, my fiancée, are OverMoon to announce that we are getting married in August 2012, in England. We first met at C93’s two London shows at the Forum in February 2010, and became very close very quickly. By February 2012, just before the small C93 tour of Europe, we were seriously discussing getting married. Unbeknown to Jessica, I had already commissioned my friend, the remarkable Amy Phillips (website • Facebook), to make an engagement ring for Jessica using red gold, platinum and moonstones, with Coptic text specific to us engraved on the inside and outside. Going down on one knee, I proposed to her on 8 April in Berlin at a Spanish restaurant called Vivolo at Am Zwirngraben 11–12. We were staying at the Park Inn in Alexanderplatz and wandered around looking for somewhere to eat and chanced on Vivolo. It was the night before C93 played the Volksbühne; I had considered proposing to her from the stage, but the rest of C93 thought it might be a little strong. However, I did announce we were engaged from the stage, jumped off it and ran to her seat on the front row, kissed her and then went back to carry on with the concert. I dedicated “Not Becuse the Fox Barks” to her on that night and the remaining nights of the tour as my now-fiancée. I want to thank all of those who have sent such kind messages to me and her when we announced our engaged status on our respective Facebook sites. We are both so moved and joyous.
We are delighted and honoured to be asked by Antony Hegarty to appear at his Meltdown on Saturday 4 August. Myrninerest perform our debut album “JHONN,” UTTERED BABYLON with our beloved friends Cyclobe co-headlining the event. Also shown will be some films by Derek Jarman which evoke the title of the evening.
Antony has chosen a wonderful and eclectic group of artists to appear including Diamanda Galás, Marc and the Mambas, Elizabeth Fraser, Kenbra Pfahler, William Basinski, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. And I know that more fascinating acts will soon be announced.
Tickets go on sale to Southbank members on 8th May and to the general public on 10th May. Click here to buy tickets.
Below follows the short press release and the long one.
Albion – Hypnagogue – Ghost: Hallucinatory Queer British Paganism (4 August, Queen Elizabeth Hall) brings together David Tibet of Current 93’s new project Myrninerest and Stephen Thrower and Ossian Brown’s Cyclobe, making their UK live debut. The evening will also feature four rarely screened Super-8 short films by Derek Jarman, with soundtracks especially composed for this event by Myrninerest and Cyclobe. The combination of Myrninerest’s harrowing and hallucinatory song-cycle about Coil’s Jhonn Balance and Cyclobe’s intense and psychotropic pagan landscapes will conspire with Jarman’s spectral films – described by the artist as “the best of my work” – to transport audiences into a sidereal reverie on England’s haunted Ær.
ALBION—HYPNAGOGUE—GHOST
Hallucinatory Queer British Paganism
MYRNINEREST
Films by DEREK JARMAN
CYCLOBE
ALBION—HYPNAGOGUE—GHOST
Hallucinatory Queer British Paganism
DEREK JARMAN: The evening will feature four magical Super-8 short films by inspirational filmmaker and queer artist DEREK JARMAN, opening with A Journey to Avebury, a haunted reverie on Englandʼs sacred past, followed later in the evening by his alchemical dream pieces Sulphur, Tarot, and Garden of Luxor. Soundtracks for the films have been specially composed for this event by MYRNINEREST and CYCLOBE. Jarman once described his Super-8 films as “the best of my work”. It is our great honour and pleasure to present these marvellous and rarely screened short films at Meltdown.
MYRNINEREST, the new Sphere formed by Current 93ʼs David Tibet, present, in their first appearance, the première of their debut album “Jhonn”, Uttered Babylon, a hallucinatory and harrowing work about the life and death of Coilʼs Jhonn Balance as seen through the eyes of his close friend and colleague David Tibet. With all music on the album composed and played by James Blackshaw, tonight Tibet and Blackshaw are joined onstage by Current 93ʼs violinist Aloma Ruiz Boada, Andrew Liles on electronics, and Comusʼ Bobbie Watson on harmonium.
As MYRNINEREST perform, a specially commissioned new film by Davide Pepe about Jhonn Balance—using archival material from David Tibetʼs own collection and photographs supplied by Jhonnʼs father—will be projected behind them.
CYCLOBE present their first ever UK performance, and only their second show since forming in 1999. They will be playing music from their most recent album, the Pan-psychedelic dream-warren Wounded Galaxies Tap at the Window, alongside haunting and paroxysmal new works. Co-founders Ossian Brown and Stephen Thrower are joined by Michael J. York (tulum and border pipes), Cliff Stapleton (hurdygurdy), Ivan Pavlov (electronics) and Dave Smith (percussion), plus a very special guest performing a new collaborative piece. Visuals for the performance will be provided by acclaimed artists Alex Rose, Anna Thew and Fred Tomaselli, and include a number of specially made films created by CYCLOBE for the evening.
I was honoured to be asked by the wonderful White Columns to contribute a painting of mine for their 2012 White Columns Benefit Exhibition + Auction. My painting, a large A2 pastel on black paper titled Sun Sets Between Mountains At Æon, is one of my personal favourites. The list price is $2,200. Bidding starts at $1,100. It is Lot # 57. For more details on the auction, and to see the piece itself, go here. All artwork will be on view at White Columns from 28 April–12 May, and bidding has already started and will finish on 12 May. For tickets or more information please email or call 212.924.4212.
A new live CD, taken from the two nights C93 played at the British School in Rome in 2005 as David Tibet, John Contreras and Maja Elliott, will be available at the concerts C93 are playing in Malmö on 7 April and Berlin 9 April. José Pacheco compiled the CD and 1,000 copies have been made. It is also now available for pre-order from copticcat.com. Orders will be shipped on 10 April. The four panel digipak CD features new paintings by David Tibet. The CD costs £10 plus p&p. It will also be released as a digital download at a later date.
Click here to order from Coptic Cat.
I and all at Coptic Cat are stunned and OverPlanets to announce the new album by the unmatched and perfect COMUS, Out of the Coma, is out now.
