The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

cartoon of lives

in a burst of acceleration and a rush of white bubbles

some beast released

the rocks scream out

the earth shrugs off its mantle

a new civilisation sweeps everything before it before it falls itself

greediness and lies can never prevail

it is the way of things

and righteousness can never prevail either

it is the way of things

heaving salt water fills my dream tank

drown in clear green air i fall slowly upwards into sky

miles above the sunken cathedral in the rhine

where the nibelung hammer out rivers of steel

in germany my doppelganger appears on a stage doped

the panther chases half heartedly the spring days

i am faint down in greece with a nymph of the sea

over the pyramids my ketamine dream of somewhere else

a swirl of vicious claws approacheth in the dim sparkled wine dark sea

hideous odour of monster unhinged like a pungent spell

we crouch on the sand spear in hand

my heart beats in another chest like a doom drum

the roman soldier with sunburnt shoulder rolls the boulder today

christ in paris during the plague is pulled away

in devilled tones the ominous drones drop away from bomb bay

in secretive tryst they have missed the gist of holy day

pendulum comes back and its crack of hell

swing to the side but if you decide too late

thing is war wont wait

i fought back in biblical times like a dog who climbs a tree

i swam like a fish through the glittering aegean sea and in galilee

i saw them nail up brothers who stole others in darkness

on the isle of madness it was i in a fever who saw what i seen

the brand new facade of impossible empire in the clouds

the veneer was penetrated by lovely little satan riding on a black steed

i need to calm down all around the sound i cannot heed

in pastures of paradise a studio lot has been set aside for me

acting out my shadow lives in far eternity

the swelling sea

the trumpets blister mournfully

the burning fleet off tripoli

the masked god of dumb loyalty

the mark of sustainability

the sword forged by necessity

umbrage with uncertainty

this was all a dream to me

left rite

i move from without

the tiniest fracture in the wing

the worm within adamant eves apple

achilles healing in afterlife will never surrender

i am the talentless son of a gun bitch

i see shudder within the abandoned egg of space

i feel the molten hybrid star of some new epsilon

i am the broken jar of the warmest reddest wine

the apology of midnight to noon

the film of some naked women with a cellular flaw

the united imagination of mankind could only produce

this squalid festering war-blown wreck of earth

careering along in time blind like a black plane in a storm

i am fears messenger with my eroded phrases of caution

this bastard desert was once a forest my little pigs

this underwater fallen god once a pinnacle of distant lemuria

this decaying boat washed up on a bed of dead salamanders

the bloodfish gather in schools of murder and they drool at the sight of me

my antennae quiver deep in the river of dirty orphan moons

my sonnets of gloom and boom capture no one but you

i connect to my inner whisperer who has faded almost to pink noise

that blurred chris cross electrical moss i took for my brain man

up to my eyeballs in the dross of gods honour i seized upon a spade

i dug and betrayed the ground on which i should have stood

my nettled brain unfettered finally in a paroxysm of the frame

i stood down from ceremonies where phonies gave trophies to phonies

never treat me like a some creature you never seen before

for a poet thats deplorable

for a fool adorable

my task is therefore laudable

SF intl airport

american adventure over

i did 2 shows

i did one exhibition

i did 3 rehearsals

i tramped around san francisco for 2 days

i ate about 10 meals at the veggie grill on sunset blvde

i smoked some medical jazz

i met groovy people like alain johannes and mark mcguire

who played with me and greg dulli

i hung out with thomas negovan and gail potocki who know their art

had dinner with John T my attorney at real food daily

i met davida and pablo and debby w

and casper von dj who i stayed with

i gave money to beggars and people with limbs missing

i cant believe the usa has money to bomb the middle east

yet in san fran the beggars are legion and crazy and suffering and cold and hungry

oh yeah i forgot that’d be socialism to take care of them

we cant have that , can we?

it breaks my fucking heart what can i say?

as far as the gigs went i believe i acquitted myself well

didnt make many mistakes and was pretty vibed up

who knows where this will eventually lead with me and GD…?

now im sitting here waiting to fly back

the flight here was a shocker bumpy and scary

please lord let this be smooth

i arrive home on my twins eve and auroras 14th birthday

scarlet turns 8 on the 17th as well

yeah ok thats it

hopefully see ya all back in sydney soon

sk.. some mexican place at airport

renaissance ponce

here in LA

worn out and knackered

tonight my art show

spent last night at gallery with thomas negovan the owner

he really believes in my art and i am so happy for that

he gave me a crash course in the art gallery scene

i was amused to find it contains many of the music biz’s contradictions

thomas digs many of my arts facets i was unaware were so interesting

he thinks being a pastellist is in itself unusual..he has never handled pastels before

when i first started painting it was watercolour

one day my beautiful sister in law amy showed me pastels and erasers

i can still remember watching her  pushing round the colour with her fingers

and then showing me how you could erase back through the colours

something in  my mind said “yes, this is for you just like bass guitar is for you”

i never looked back

holly jordan has since laid all kinds of pastels on me

huge box sets and specialty pastels like iridescent and pan pastels

pan pastels are applied with sponge applicators and are very intuitive to use

and then there are pastel pencils too

and demi pastels with no paper wrapper you can use sideways

i stumbled into everything i do

thomas told me he likes my use of colour

and the way i mix up psychedelia and classicism

the way i do in my lyrics

all of it i have naively fallen into..none of it part of a plan

he has been watching me awhile..now i am ready

yes i am ready

i met gail potocki there last night

she is one of thomas’ main artists and she is unbelievably good

i was flattered to learn she liked my stuff

google her or century guild to see her incredible work

brilliant painting and brilliant concepts

she is almost a living master

i predict in the next five years she will be huge

anyway seems i got lucky and found an original style for myself

just like in music

my childhood  obsessions fuel my art

the greeks n romans, the bible, the ancient world where i belong somehow

and chuck on top of that my experiences with drugs n dreams

and all the books and stuff i devoured

it all comes pouring out somehow

guided by intuition i have slowly developed my schtick

working in pastel on top of black gouache

fiddling with the fixes

rubbing and erasing and building up layers

just like in music i am finding my own thing in there

its exciting

i am happy to be where i am today

i hope i sell a few paintings to justify thomas’ belief in me

and a big thanks to those who have supported me along the way

those who bought my stuff etc

and especially holly who believed in what i could do all along

it is impossible for me to be here without her support in numerous ways

anyway wish me some luck

these are unknown waters for me

tomorrow i begin working with greg dulli n band

rehearsing our show for wednesday night

at least i am on familiar ground with a bass in my hands again

but the pastels are becoming comfortable to me like the bass

just a lot damn messier

if you are in LA please come

7 tonight culver city

see you maybe

sk ,hollywood (gee!)

 a me in the past

a me in the past knocked this all up

i’m just here today looking around

the view in my skull endless and dim

the purple shades of tipsy evening

still vibrating still expanding

out there the sea again i can smell its swelling waves

the darkening waters through the trees

endless caravan park of flimsy shades

a comet flashes over the showerblock in the bush

and christmas evenings we are still children

the grown ups drink beers and play cards

dad makes em all laugh ha ha ha

we run away away we run away

all around nature prevailing

down at the beach an albatross  crashed exhausted

and lay there turning into sand itself

the jungly path full of knotted roots illuminated by a bonfire on the shore

the threatening storm hovers in memory

we talked to some girls who remained in darkness

up in a dune lying close to escape from the wind

they told us of whales that walked on the land

and a summer snow storm which iced up the fish

and the frogs who appeared on the lawns of the great garden

and black roses with thorns of silvered workings

and drops of blood like crimson paint on my poor finger

the comets tail rained down cosmic rays

and fish writhed in watery agony beneath a black and twitching surface

and all shattered by the fighting birds screaming from the roofs

when i creep home alone its 2 o’clock and i sleep in the annex

i dream of flying flaming over a great city

as i burn up in an atmosphere like this

my mind becomes beautifully empty

bob

fiddle about

yeah i had a big strange week

the orchestra thing is shaping up to be huge

at least in musical terms

i really hope anyone in sydney will/can come along

its a once in a lifetime gig i reckon

then we have bard of bondi which’ll be the complete opposite

intimate and fun (i hope )

i spent tuesday sitting in a bar with rob younger from radio birdman/new christs

we were paid to sit and drink bourbon and talk about rocknroll

nice work if you can get it

neither of us got pissed

rob younger is a warm and self deprecating guy

radio birdman were a terrific australian band that started in about 74 75

the english press were not kind tho they shoulda been

i loved birdman myself

rob and i were surprised to have so much in common

we listened to same records and we loved the same people

dolls iggy etc

the whole conversation will be edited down to a five minute sequence on VICE tv

whatever that is

it was a fantastic day

work offers continue to pour in

i am falling behind again

so i should go and keep painting for my exhibition in LA

thanks for yer attention

aloha you screaming ninnies

sk

not easy being green

hello my ninnies and ning nongs

wow i have been neglecting my blog

its boring to say how busy i am all the time

i mean why bother?

but next week for example

2morro i am rehearsing at 100 for charity gig in waterloo

then at 6 till 9 with orchestra

then do charity gig round 10

next day i get up at 6 to fly to melbourne to film an interview for something (not sure eggs actly)

then up early next day to fly to brissie where i am help produce some stuff for 2 days

friday i do interview for orchestral thing

which is on

saturday, yes will be spent rehearsing soundchecking with orchestra and finally doing gig

meanwhile i try to paint on and on

times running out and im trying to get a certain number done

i am also playing a doctor in a short film sometime somewhere

as well as all this other stuff and im losing track

thanks for the birthday wishes

theres two ways a looking at it

one is yer lucky to be alive so shut up about yer age

the other is

what a drag it is getting old

oscillating between these two things i go forward

59 years old …who woulda thunk it?

still writing my memoirs too

and all kinds of other things coming up

seriously tho

i ask every single one of my sydney fans and maybe mobile melby fans

or even brissie fans to come down and see the eighty piece orchestral gig

21st september at the great hall sydney uni ..it will be something

anyway thats it for now

i gotta keep on going here

love on ya forever

sk

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday Mr Kilbey. All the best for the year ahead, from your church family.

its not about me

the show in LA has sold out

the orchestral show is on 21st september the great hall sydney uni

i believe tickets are going fast

its gonna be huge

i am guest at brisbane writers festival from sept 4 to sept 8

i will be playing reading and blah blah blah-ing over numerous events

my art exhibition is on in LA Oct

its called the ancient world like my song

gods and geezas and gurls from the good ole days you know

its on at Century Guild (great name!) Culver City

Yes i will be there

meanwhile

i have a tendency to bring out the worst in people

my genius and idiot are too irreconcilable i suppose

i am constantly confronted with baffling ethical problems concerning my work

remember this

i am self taught in everything i do

i figured it all out the hard way

i worked long and hard at all my crafts

and i aim for being the best

although i can never achieve it , my aim remains so nonetheless

i literally dreamt all this up

it may surprise you that i encounter much turbulence as i try to deliver

a lot of it of my own making

the idiot and the genius get it mixed up from time to time

its not easy

just cos you can write some songs doesnt mean you know how to do the right thing

sometimes there is no right thing

just a lesser of 2 wrongs things

at age 4 i could recite probably 5 grown up poems complete with emphases

i was thrust onstage at age 6 to recite poetry in the wollongong town hall in 1962

i wrote my first song at 10

i wrote my first good poem at 16

ive been immersed in this long and hard

i get in a lot of disagreements and stalemates with people

heroin knocked me out of the ring for 10 years

a lot of things happened i just looked on

almost everything i do involves someone feeling upset about something

i upset em rehearsing

i upset em painting

i upset em sleeping

i upset em waking up

when i lose win or draw someone somewhere is upset

yet i am the bloke dreaming this up

however i am neither firm nor unfirm but wavering

i prevaricate second guess i get it right sometimes wrong

i cant be good at everything and i am certainly not

sometimes i think of alexander and the gordian knot

well i have had to move forward or like a shark i will drown

some things change

somethings remain the same

all of you who read my stuff presumably because you like me

none of you know how hard the idiot in me fights other people

so that the genius’ good ideas can be heard

sometimes i dont even know who or why or what i’m fighting

other times i am simply stopped in my tracks by something or someone

it takes me a long time to get liftoff velocity but now again i have it

remember this too

from the very get-go i have had people telling me how to do it

and people tell me how i shouldnt do it

skeletons in closets , dirty laundry , half a century of blab

theres a lot of creating and theres a lot of fighting

ive done my best

i did my best

and  i decided i aint listening to anybody

i dont come round your place and tell you how to do what you do

sometimes i have to assess things and make unpopular decisions

but they are decisions about my own affairs and you gotta trust me

or not

actually whatever you like

my ONLY allegiance is to my own muse

if that is stymied then i have to change things

but no one not even me has all the facts

in fact sometimes it is an unpopular way or no way at all

whatever anybody in this world says or writes about my own stuff

i will do it my way

and when i decide i am doing it i am not gonna stop

and thats the end of it now

for the time being

robbery with violins

STEVE KILBEY & GREG DULLI

TEAM UP FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY IN LOS ANGELES

An Evening With Steve Kilbey & Greg Dulli

 To Perform At The Echo On Wednesday October 9^th

August 27, 2013 – Steve Kilbey and Greg Dulli will team up for one special show at The Echo On October 9^th.  Tickets will go on sale this Thursday August 29, 2013 at Noon PST.  Tickets can be purchased here: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/361577?utm_medium=bks

A special fan pre-sale will begin this Wednesday at Noon PST.  The passcode for the pre-sale is: KILBEYDULLI

“An Evening With Steve Kilbey & Greg Dulli “ will feature the duo performing a stripped down set.  Kilbey & Dulli will perform a wide selection of songs encompassing both of their careers along with debuting several new ones.

As long time fans of each other’s work, Dulli met Steve Kilbey at a Church show several years back in Los Angeles and struck up a fast friendship with him.  The two have stayed in touch over the past few years and have begun working on material together.  During last year’s Afghan Whigs Australian tour, Kilbey joined the band on stage to perform the Church classic “One Day” in Sydney. You can watch that performance here: http://www.messandnoise.com/news/4498993

As the lead singer and bassist for The Church, Steve Kilbey has been making music since forming the group in the late 1970’s. The Church have released over 30 albums and have garnered massive international success.  In 2010, The Church were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame. Kilbey has also released thirteen solo albums and has collaboratively written, engineered and produced recordings with the late Grant McLennan of the Go-Betweens, Stephen Cummings, and Kev Carmody among numerous others. Kilbey was inducted into the Australian Songwriters Association Hall Of Fame in 2011.

Greg Dulli began his musical career as the front man and guitarist for the pioneering band The Afghan Whigs in 1987. Praised by critics and fans alike, the band released six studio albums, before originally disbanding in the late 90’s. Dulli went on to form The Twilight Singers, who have released five albums including the critically lauded Blackberry Belle, Powder Burns and Dynamite Steps in 2003, 2006 & 2011 respectively.  In 2008, Dulli collaborated with close friend Mark Lanegan to form The Gutter Twins. In 2012, Dulli reformed The Afghan Whigs who embarked on their first world tour in thirteen years.  In 2013 The Afghan Whigs made a surprise appearance at this year’s SXSW performing with Usher.  Dulli also performed a solo set at this year’s Sub Pop 25^th Anniversary Festival in Seattle in July.

For the most up to date information on both artists please visit:

www.thetimebeing.com (Steve Kilbey)

www.theafghanwhigs.com (Greg Dulli)