The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

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)

collect call

in july 2013 i did a tour

with these guys remember?

well now heres a 5 song vid download for your delectation

acoustic and intimate as all get out

you will love the violin n cello

good on ya

sk

https://sellfy.com/p/uDmv/

i said caption i said what

lot going on

trying not to fall behind

much stuff coming up

started writing memoirs

so far have covered a teenage holiday and making of starfish

have a book deal n everything i think

playing at a benefit for cora james who is in van park

she plays my love interest the delectable gypsy fire

coras been a bit unwell and we are having a night for her 29th august

a benefit gig

ok please come its a very good cause

meanwhile

sk plus hoffmenn plus strings attached are coming to hobart melb adelaide and sydney

we are also looking at a show in brissie if we can find the right gig

that will definitely bee a mazing

i have an exhibition in LA on the 5th october

and many other things in the works

including ongoing work with frank kearns

and with hu dost

and a load of other stuff!

anyway

thats it

behave yourselves

sk

throwing the book atcha!

just when you thought it was safe to get your credit card out again

comes uncollected

which is

earthed my 1986 book

plus nineveh and the ephemeron

which were originally released as a booklet in 1998

(much thanks for that to trevor boyd!)

plus fruit machine

from about 2006 or 7

a booklet about rocknroll

then a whole bunch of poems from all over the place

plus the best poems from my blogge

its 420 pages of poetry and bullshit

it all depends ‘pon how you look at it.

anyway its pretty much the definitive read

if you wanna read some stuff by me

earthed is a funny old book

trying too hard and not going with the flow

still theres some ok things there you may well enjoy

my main memory of earthed

is sitting in the kitchen banging it out on a typewriter

a hash joint burning in the ashtray

the rain hitting the skylight overhead

the rain tapped my fingers tapped

i listened to jon hassel and harold budd

the gas fire burned on through the night

i was too greedy

i am having a stab at sci fi and prose poetry and experimental

all at once

sometimes an interesting melange

sometimes a bit of a hodgepodge

nineveh is a good little cycle of poems

i became obsessed with nineveh

which is a biblical city

i half imagine half remembered these words

it was a mystical experience

it was written in sweden in 1997-8

i was on the gear

i was sad and lonely

perfect for transmitting this poetry

man the snow swirling around me in my apartment on bastugaten

making this stuff up….

the ephemeron came with nineveh

tho it had nothing to do with it at all

it was …oh i dont know what it was

poems and stories from different perspectives

about the life and times of erskine the magician

some shabby charlatan type and his wife

once again its like earthed

it could have been more thought out and less made up

but there you go

i am erskine i would say

erskine seems to do the things i would do

there are some brilliant little bits in there i think

some mediocre stuff too

you decide

and there is all the misc. stuff

stuff i wrote here n there on this and that

about such and such

good stuff mostly-ish

some other things about erskine

and all sorts of things

this book is now ready for order

the first hundred will get a copy of my pamphlet eden thrown in

all books will be signed and if needed dedicated…

and i’ll come round yer house and cook yer dinner and mind yer kids too

anyway you can order uncollected  right now if you want

should get it within 2 weeks one would think

good on you!

sk

‘Uncollected’ poetry book

pen sieve

i am so gone i am back

knocked straight out unloaded

my clock face with its tic

so afraid of how you will miss me

let me sleep for awhile let this night pass

let me find you in warping dream

no dancing on clouds

no descending black velvet curtains

no violins describe my fall

a thing has whispered to me

i have felt its weight upon an empty bed

the membrane is shot it cant keep these things out

the stairs are busy theres no body home

my cat my familiar black like midnight

you are opium in the red heart of my room

you are treacle congealing in cold milk

and now you are the taste of some powerful liquor

made from black herbs and moss

the prints of darkness

gray havens

sunday in august

incredulously i check myself

i am still alive

i wake up i’m almost sixty ive made all these records

two ears one eye does not work

my teeth are all falling apart

look in mirror

cant see properly but doesnt look good

as far as i can see the wreckage of a life

outside its warm in the sun cold in the shade

i live at bondi beach and sunny sundays is packed to the nines

freaks and hipsters

big old families  in from the outlying suburbs

surfer girls all bleached and slim

shopkeepers counting the dough

petrolheads in nissan skylines

yeah you heard it all before

back at my place i take stock of situations

dont ask me about such and such

i dont know

i excavated my brain for poetry and music until it collapsed

now i am some old empty fakir

a dummy half

bill impostor

fingers go tap tap tap

clock goes tock tock tock

ears go ring ring ring

eyes go cloud cloud cloud

mind goes blank blank blank

heart goes beat beat beat

and time is silent

it makes no sound as it rapidly elapses

tight as groan

so i’m walking along and suddenly bits of the journey are missing

shape of a leaf but it moves like a rat

i hear shadows i see whispers

the streets are fields roamed by un-men

someone is trying to tell me something

someone not there

well i dont remember waking up yesterday morning

the stuff i used to take can do that to you

like a few pages have fallen out of a book

like a few squares have faded from the board

time on its own terms can be a jolt or a mystery

i expect its never what you imagined

the warp and woof of the years

revealing a flaw in the flow

behind us the mountains have grown

the slag heaped industry ghost town in the clouds

theyre talking trash at the sugar shack boyo

we can never go back there again

under these ark lights an uneasy peace falls on the great cats

everything is vibrating and shuddering only you cant see it

wives quarrel in the galley as the world drowns

i have determined my own loss of velocity as time

i have located my own demise in dream

i have negotiated the hastening martian day and the thudding venereal night

as atoms explode into earths and earths implode into atoms

death is nothing

our best virus cannot penetrate it

the universe at dawn goes in between the trees

appearing soon

jesper kroon in vermilion corduroy in his library of reeds

he is the prince of cranes he is the ace of wands

dancing with the owlish people of the marshes

little moongirl and giant tess

jesper kroon hes a total immersion in love

with his archon revolving out there in space

and his pyramids which generate heat and light

and his crystal slam way of doing things

oh jesper thou art the one

with the antlers of uncle summer under your hood

goodness knows i am now in your ancient woods

where the weasel black eyes piercing and adder slithering

and the lake is as of iron

i dive into reflection

under the cold water i cool my gills

kroon i envy you your evenings with lovely courtesans

the expensive substances navigate the bloodstream to the heart

the tinctures from the south sea haven where the blue girlflowers grow

kroon the illegal trade in the harness of angel

kroon i see you smirking in the fumes of spent desire

kroon you sit there waiting while i walk right past my destiny

under the water i am an extinct monster

my teeth are razor like shaving small fishes

my nails are claws and i grip onto the rocky lakebed

my eyes see through kroons curtains

my tongue can taste the places he was seen

the crackle of twigs around a great eagles nest betrays the dead rat

the leaves blow around saturday night like blank captions

jesper kroon you duck down eider down luxurious room

backstage your kissing the floor you must cross and bear

kroon i can hear you from here

after the sound will appear

kroon i’m a mad sick thing coming for you

jesper please be careful of lurking in green pools or soft edge

in jungles vines and lee anna twisted around green alligator

my hands stutter a song out about you kroon

soon…

they sing

soon…

io ishtar one $

when the delirious days of july fall out

the valley signs of an early prima vera

the chancy skyfull of air over there

then arrows of love then fist of sulk glove

i am chastened as i hastened to hide away

down on lawns unkempt where some grim dog watches

neither never or forever just now

my book is a song

a wonderful life a throng of admirals

oh the summer in winter

behind the clouds shine so surely

the golden leaves the myriad light

every cloud is the shape of racing animals

unicorns and crocodiles stretch across oceanias heavens

the bright hammer of thunder

the twin black birds of odin doom

the hideous depths writhe with unspeakable horrors

let us be glad to be in this world of warm colour

familiar as cat with magical thought

understood and over wrought

i think im gonna think another thought