Remembering Janus

First Night Buttons, Boston
Happy New Year to all!

I'd experienced my first "First Night" in Boston, on the cusp of 1983-1984 (yellow button). The whole city became a massive party, with performance venues ranging from the larger halls down to residential brownstones. Everywhere there was dance, music, poetry, art -- ranging from Indonesian gamelans to Mozart, Morris dancing to ballet. Shop windows became stages. Ice sculptures gleamed. Up and down the street, brightly-colored plastic horns longer than an arm lowed like a herd of festive moose. City Hall Plaza, largely underutilized the rest of the year, got to live up to its public space potential. Between 10 PM and 2 AM, cabs and the T's subways and buses transported revelers free of charge. My train home, after the fireworks in Boston Harbor, was a joyous sardine can.

Children's activities for the New Year began around 1 PM on December 31, and at 5 PM the Procession began. I'd marched in the Procession twice. The first time was 20 years ago today, on December 31, 1988, when I became the first woman to carry one of the Janus heads... (continued)

Journal excerpt, First Night 1988-89

I headed to the Hynes Auditorium, where I first came across a magnificent Janus head, set in a sunburst pattern and made of plaster of Paris. Smaller heads were mounted on ten-foot poles. One leaned alone, against a column; the others leaned against a perpendicular wall. Farther down were giant puppets. A woman in a double (Janus) mask and black cape gestured to a cop standing by a fleet of police motorcycles.

Animal masks. Banners and flags.

I stepped into a pizzeria for a late lunch. A couple of slices would power me through the march.

Around 4:30 I returned to the Janus heads and to banners proclaiming "History is Now" and "When the Fire and the Rose are One."

A woman approached me. "Are you here to carry something?"

"Yes."

I went to the Janus head leaning against the column and hefted it. By my estimate it weighed about 40 pounds. I've lifted piano actions weighing between 25-30 pounds, and based my estimate on that.

She asked, "How does that feel?"

"Manageable."

"I've been looking for women to carry a Janus head," she beamed. Later on I would realize why it had been traditionally carried by men.

I suited up in a white Tyvec suit over my jacket and tied on a light blue sash. Technically the pole should be placed in the sash, but mine never worked out that way, and I wound up carrying the full weight for half the Procession. Another woman had taken a Janus head to carry, but swapped it for a banner before the Procession began.

We lined up on the street. I was moved to the front row of our division, in the center. We started out down Boylston: animal masks, laser light, drummers, unicyclists, dancers, banners -- like something out of Carnivale. I felt wonderful, knowing we re-enacted a celebration that's gone back for thousands of years. Yes, we had high-tech implements, but other items could have been carried eons ago, and the sculpture I carried was one of them. One head faced toward the past, one toward the future.

We began to march shortly after sunset. The wind picked up, blowing banners and challenging my strength. I rested the pole against my thigh and in my crotch area when we stopped enroute, thinking It's a good thing I'm not a man or I'd be writhing in the street by now. (Stanley, whose sash worked and who carried a Janus head to my left, commented to me that he'd carried his son's sweater in a strategic place for his own protection.) My thighs sport complementary purple splotches -- but the black and blue marks were worth it. I felt proud carrying that Janus head, part of a grand tradition.

The wind, however, won. One stiff breeze and I murmured, "I'm in trouble." The head swayed to the right. A man came up from behind and straightened me out, trying to get the sash to work, but to no avail. "I can take that from you."

"Thanks," I said, "but let me see if I can take this a bit longer."

I did -- for two more march periods. At the second rest period I said, "I have no feeling in my fingers." This time I relinquished my trophy, dropping back to walk beside the woman who'd traded her Janus head in for a banner before the Procession began. My hands experienced some moments of agony as feeling returned to them. Then I took over a flag from a young girl whose arms were tired, and returned it when she was ready to take it on again. We waved to the throngs on the sidewalk, called out Happy New Year.

Back in the early afternoon I'd heard the "long horns," whose din increased during the march and which would reach an ear-splitting crescendo by midnight.

I picked up soda and Pop Tarts to hold me -- took in some of the exhibitions in Boston Common, then went to the Old South Church to catch the Old South Brass. They repeated their rendition of Louis Vierne's "Carillon de Westminster," which had thrilled me at the previous First Night. Afterwards I took off to hear the Evan Harlan Quintet, where I caught a dinner of Dim Sum and arrived early enough to get a stage-side table. I particularly liked "Bean's Bag," named after one of Harlan Evans's cats.

I made my way to City Hall Plaza to catch the Oracle: an impressive production that utilized, in a very clever way, the architecture of City Hall. Then it was on to Boston Harbor, where I warmed up in an office building lobby and where a very, very patient security guard kept telling people that no, there were no bathrooms available and no, they should stay outside the elevator bays. All the while she tried to understand a caller who was not speaking clearly on the phone.

Being at the front for the fireworks display gave me a terrific view of the boat that sent them up and made for a slow, shoulder-to-shoulder exit from the harbor.








Covenant, the first volume in the Deviations Series, is available from Aisling Press, and from AbeBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Territory, Borders, Buecher.ch, Buy.com, BuyAustralian.com, DEAstore, eCampus.com, libreriauniversitaria.it, Libri.de, Loot.co.za, Powell's Books, and Target. The Deviations page has additional details.


Jimmy Eat World - Always Be (Instrumental) (256kbps AAC / m4a) (Chase this Light Single)




Genre: rock, emo, alternative, alternative rock, indie
About: This is my favorite song off of their 2007 album, Chase this Light. Unfortunately the instrumental version is only available in Tiger Woods 2009. Ripped by myself through a 3.5mm cable and a Creative Audigy 2 sound card, converted from WAV to AAC through iTunes. I apologize since the quality isn't perfect but I tend to be an audiophile and it's acceptable to me.

Download

Planetary Dance Steps

The Moon, Venus, and Jupiter 1

I've continued to follow the Dance of the Planets, because I think it's cool the way Jupiter and Venus are slowly moving apart and changing angles to each other. The night following the triple conjunction, the Moon moved on toward different starry pastures. I took this shot from the road beside my house on December 2. Jupiter is almost directly to the right of and slightly above brighter Venus. You need to squint to see it here, but it's more visible in the large view.

More shots follow, including a conjunction series that shows the movement of the planets over time...(continued)

Jupiter and Venus will be within 5 degrees of each other through December 5. Says the Abrams Planetarium Night Sky Notes, "Jupiter is 2.6 degrees to the upper right of Venus. The Moon is more than 13 degrees to the upper left of the pair of bright planets. Look to the southwest an hour after sunset. The distance between Venus and Jupiter is now increasing. Each night, the two will be a little farther apart."

Here's a closer look at the three. The longer exposure brings out a bit of the Moon's Earthshine.

The Moon, Venus, and Jupiter 2

Here's how they looked above my house:

The Moon, Venus, and Jupiter 3

In Earthshine, the moon reflects light from two different sources. The thin crescent, such as that shown at left, is light reflected from the sun. In the image on the right, the larger, dimmer illumination, in which one can see some hint of the mares ("seas"), is reflected from the Earth, which itself is reflecting sunlight onto the moon. Hence the term "Earthshine." That dimmer illuminated part of the moon is doubly-reflected light.

Moon and Earthshine

I took the image at left at 5:51 PM ET, using a 1/40-second exposure at f/8. The image at right, taken 5 minutes later, uses a 4-second exposure at f/4.5.

That was on Tuesday night. The Moon's crescent had grown a bit by Wednesday.

Moon and Earthshine, 3 Dec. 2008

I took the image on the left at 5:44 PM ET, using a 1/30-second exposure at f/8. The image on the right, taken at 6:13 PM ET, uses a 4-second exposure at f/8.

The Moon's also put more distance between itself and the planets.

Moon, Venus, and Jupiter, 3 Dec. 2008

The planets are now 3.2 degrees apart. Note that while Jupiter was to the right and slightly above Venus on December 2, it has moved slightly below Venus on December 3.

Here's the series of dance steps, beginning on November 25 and continuing up through December 3.

Conjunction Series

Click here for the large view, here for full size. November 30 is missing on account of rain. Below each shot is the date and (where I know it) the apparent distance between Jupiter and Venus. You can see Venus start at around the 5 o'clock position if Jupiter were the center of a clock face, and then swing clockwise and closer to Jupiter, passing the 6, 7, 8, and just past the 9 o'clock position on December 3, by which time the distance between them has begun to increase. They'll be 4 degrees apart on December 4.

Says the Abrams site, "Even though the two planets look close to each other, the pair are very far from each other in space. Venus is about 92 million miles from the Earth. Jupiter is almost six times farther away from Earth at 542 million miles....Over the next few weeks, watch Venus climb higher in the sky while Jupiter drops lower. By the end of the year, Venus and Jupiter will be almost 30 degrees apart."








Covenant, the first volume in the Deviations Series, is available from Aisling Press, and from AbeBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Territory, Borders, Buecher.ch, Buy.com, BuyAustralian.com, DEAstore, eCampus.com, libreriauniversitaria.it, Libri.de, Loot.co.za, Powell's Books, and Target. The Deviations page has additional details.


Frozen Tear - White With Frost (1995)




Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Doom Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Black Metal
About: The first and only demo (technically second, there was a demo released under the name Thorny Wreath) from this rather amazing Melodic Death/Doom metal band from finland, with some raw black sounding influences. It is quite frostbitten, as the title suggests.

Download

Sad Legend - Searching for the Hope in Utter Darkness (EP) (2001)




Genre: black metal, melodic black metal
About: "Sad Legend's album was very different from this. It was mid-paced melodic black metal with that contained a unique mix of high clean vocals and harsh vocals. This album still contains that mix of vocals, but the music is very, very different. It's still mid-paced, but the riffs feel are a lot more simple, but that's not a bad thing at all. It still contains that huge melancholy feeling, which I totally admire.

The first song is the one that sounds more like older Sad Legend. Slower Melancholic parts mixed with high and low clean male vocals, and with simplistic keyboards on top. Not too outstanding, and also lacks a bit feeling. The second song is way better, it feels like a transformation from old to new. The riffs are excellent, yet always remaining very simple, and the feeling is huge, as usual. The only problem is that it's just NOT heavy at all... the first minute is just ocean/seashore effects, and the rest is just clean vocals with a few riffs. As a whole it could've used more harsh vocals and heavier riffage.

The finale song is awesome, and heavier. It has the unique mix of harsh and clean vocals, and the riffs are way faster, and better. If you liked older Sad Legend you'll probably like this song a lot.

Overall.... a big change, yes, but still incredibly amazing, and hopefully the next release will sound as good.... if there is one."

-stolen from metal-archives.com


Download

Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream (2009) (plus My Lucky Day video!)




Genre: rock, classic rock, singer-songwriter, folk
About: Bruce Springsteen returns from a continuation of his work from his last album, released in 2007. He sounds better than ever.

This is one of those albums that will likely need to grow on you. All that means is it is a completely original work and so your brain needs time to adjust. You may hate track 4 but then come back and like it then the third time love it. Etc.

My Lucky Day Video:

My Lucky Day


Buy - Amazon.com

Download pt 1
Download pt 2

Celestial Triangle

Moon-Venus-Jupiter Conjunction 2, 1 Dec. 2008

Earlier tonight I thanked Mary for locking herself out of her truck, and I wasn't being sarcastic. Her call ended up being a great stroke of luck for me when it came to catching tonight's Jupiter-Venus-Moon conjunction....(continued)

The call came as I was working in the studio. Mary wasn't far away, having stopped at our local gas station on her way home from a chiropractic appointment. Fortunately, she'd made her extra set of truck keys easily accessible, and soon after her call I hopped into my car and tooled the short distance to unlock her door. She proceeded to head home while I took a jog to the supermarket, now that I was on the road.

It was still light outside in late afternoon. I could see the crescent moon, but the planets hadn't peeked out yet. By the time I'd finished my shopping I could see the trio. My tripod was still at home, but I had my camera with me and took this shot freehand on the Auto setting:

Moon-Venus-Jupiter Conjunction 1, 1 Dec. 2008

Auto gave me a 1/30-second exposure at f/4.5. Venus is near bottom center. Jupiter is above and to the right of Venus.

When I got home minutes later I pulled my groceries out of the car. Mary put the food away as I raced for my tripod and set up on the driveway, clicking shot after shot on Manual while fiddling with aperture size and shutter speed. Four seconds is my camera's longest exposure time. Its aperture ranges from f/2.8 (wide-angle) and f/4.5 (telephoto) to f/8.

I wanted to catch the Moon's Earthshine (see this shot for an explanation of Earthshine) without making its crescent into a blob, and did pretty well for the most part. The shot at the top of this entry used a 3"2-second exposure at f/8.

The one below used a 4-second exposure at f/5.

Moon-Venus-Jupiter Conjunction 3, 1 Dec. 2008

I took this shot from the road by my house. Note the clouds on the horizon here. They completely covered the sky within a half hour of this shot. Note also that my neighbor's holiday lights aren't shining yet. Thanks to Mary's mishap I was out taking pictures earlier than I had planned.

How lucky is that? Here's the shot I took of the trio, with my roof in the foreground, using a 4-second exposure at f/5:

Moon-Venus-Jupiter Conjunction 4, 1 Dec. 2008

Here's a shot taken from that same location a half-hour later, with its balance altered so that I got something other than solid black on my screen:

Sudden Overcast!

That's Mary's silhouette on the driveway. I shone a flashlight on her to get my camera to focus, then asked her to hold still for the 4-second exposure. And about three hours after that shot, the sky opened up into a steady downpour.

According to the Abrams Planetarium Night Sky Notes, Venus and Jupiter are 2 degrees apart. "The three brightest objects in the night sky are within 4 degrees for this spectacular gathering." See this article at Space.com for more info.

I'd been keeping my fingers crossed that I could catch tonight's show, especially because the night of November 30 was a literal wash-out:

Called on Account of Rain

I took this balance-altered shot from my front porch, standing underneath the overhang during a steady drizzle.

Today I was heartened to get a message asking for permission (granted) to use several of my earlier shots in Ravi Dixit's article, "Smiling Moon of Hope Shines down on Mumbai," over at NowPublic. Reporting from Mumbai, Dixit writes, "It seems that the moon aided by the two planets are trying to give a message of hope and assuaging the injuries that the entire population of this bruised city suffered in the last few days." Indeed, when west of the planets, the crescent Moon appears in Dixit's photo as a smiling mouth and the planets appear as eyes. In the shots I took tonight, the Moon has moved east of the planets.

My shots took the lemon of a locked truck and made lemonade, but that doesn't compare with the power of Dixit's message.








Covenant, the first volume in the Deviations Series, is available from Aisling Press, and from AbeBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Territory, Borders, Buecher.ch, Buy.com, BuyAustralian.com, DEAstore, eCampus.com, libreriauniversitaria.it, Libri.de, Loot.co.za, Powell's Books, and Target. The Deviations page has additional details.