Hello again my mysterious friend,
Herein find The Dance of the Bubbles as well as the latest News and Tour Dates
for THE HANDSOME FAMILY. Be bold, gentle reader and continue...
A Graceful Ballet across the ethers of time and space...
You'll need a dry, cool day for this experiment and little white
leaves must be falling from a westward wind. Are dogs howling? Act quickly,
friend. First, add a little sugar to a bowl of soapy water and blow some bubbles
into it with a straw, a glass tube or a carved ebony pipe. This bubble mixture
will make jumbo-sized bubbles which are much less delicate than normal bubbles.
Don't be frightened of these gigantic bubbles. Nature’s ways are mysterious but
she is a benevolent host (save for a few bad apples and the carnivores and the
vicious food chain above and below the sea).
TOUR DATES: NEW MEXICO: APRIL AND JUNE, 2006
APRIL 29--SANTA FE at Club Alegria (Lower Agua Fria Rd. just east of Siler
Rd) 8pm opening for Son Volt. Tickets: 988-1234.
JUNE 24—ALBUQUERQUE at The Launch Pad with Fast Heart Mart and The Rivet
Gang
Friend, let your bubbles rise into the air. Catch them upon a
soft, dry wool or flannel cloth carefully embroidered with Mayan pictographs of
air and fire. Now let these soap windows rest and harden as you prepare to look
into the future. What would you like to see? The fate of the rainforests? Your
own death? The moment our sun explodes? The day that aliens return to reseed our
planet with microbes? Caution: do not attempt to see or hear the piercing note
of Shiva's bell that simultaneously destroys and recreates the universe. Serious
skin inflammation and permanent hearing loss may occur!
A NEW RECORD! At last we have a new record to be released in the UK in late
May and the rest of the world in early June. The record’s called, “Last Days of
Wonder” and we’ll be touring a lot to support it. Here’s a mini-site devoted to
the record (artfully put together by our UK label, Loose):
http://www.lastdaysofwonder.info/
UNITED KINGDOM TOUR DATES: MAY and JUNE, 2006
Fri 12 May - BIRKENHEAD PACIFIC ROAD ARTS CENTRE 0151 647 0752 /www.pacificroad.co.uk
Sat 13 May - MORECAMBE THE PLATFORM 01524 582803
Sun 14 May - SALFORD THE LOWRY (with ADEM) 0870 7875796 www.thelowry.com
Mon 15 May –EDINBURGH - THE CABARET VOLTAIRE:
(0131) 220 6176, 36 Blair Street, Edinburgh
Fri 19 May- EXETER PHOENIX ARTS CENTRE: 01392 667080
www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/
Sat 20 May - BRIGHTON DOME (support for HOWE GELB+VOICES OF PRAISE GOSPEL
CHOIR) www.brighton-dome.org.uk
Sun 21 May -DERBY GUILDHALL THEATRE 01332 255 800
www.assemblyrooms-derby.co.uk
Tue 23 May - LEICESTER MUSICIAN 0116 255 4854 www.themusicianpub.co.uk
Wed 24 May - WOLVERHAMPTON LITTLE CIVIC 01902 552121 www.wolvescivic.co.uk
Thu 25 May - LONDON SCALA 08700 600 100 www.scala-london.co.uk
Sat 27 May - YORK N.C.E.M CENTRE - YORK FESTIVAL 01904 658338
www.ncem.co.uk
Sun 28 May - FARNDALE, YORKS THE BAND ROOM 01751 432900
www.thebandroom.co.uk
Mon 29 May - NEWCASTLE EVOLUTION FESTIVAL free event
www.efestivals.co.uk
Wed 31 May - READING SOUTH ST. 0118 960 6060 www.readingarts.com
Thu 1 Jun BRISTOL - ST GEORGES 0845 402 4001 www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk
Fri 2 Jun - BRIDGWATER ARTS CENTRE 01278 422700
www.bridgwaterartscentre.co.uk
Sat 3 Jun - CHELTENHAM WYCHWOOD FESTIVAL 012242 227979
www.wychwoodfestival.com
I digress. What you wish to see inside your time bubble is your
own concern. Me, I'm going to ask to see the day that the squirrels rise up and
force us all to pile hazelnuts until we drop from exhaustion. Vive la revolution!
TOUR DATES: USA, CANADA, JULY, 2006
with meat puppet Curt Kirkwood (http://www.curtkirkwood.com/)
Nothing’s confirmed yet, but here’s a rough idea...
Denver, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal,
Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Charlottesville, Carrboro,
Atlanta....More details to come
To continue... Find a wool glove
left upon a mossy gravestone and slide it gently onto your shapely fingers. Now
hold a piece of thick paper in front of a fire or a radiator until it is quite
dry. Rub briskly with a stiff brush to give it a charge of static electricity.
Hold this electric paper over the largest of your bubbles. Lo! Watch as your
bubble turns from ball to egg as it stretches upwards to reach out to the dry
paper! On this perfect cold, dry day the paper will attract the bubble strongly.
Yes, friend, inside this window the future is revealed!
TOUR DATES: EUROPE, SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER, 2006
We’re working on some dates in other parts of Europe for the Autumn:
Scandinavia, Holland, etc. Also, we’ll be performing in Dublin as
part of “Came So Far For Beauty” a tribute to Leonard Cohen at The Point (October
4 and 5). It’s a show sponsored by the Dublin International Theatre Festival.
More details to come.
Careful! Hold the bubble balanced between the wool cloth and
the dry paper for twelve hours (preferably during waning moon) repeating the
words, "Reveal, Lucifer, Lord of Light!" until at the corners of your vision you
begin to see shadows dancing and hear the crackle of a large brush fire.
TOUR DATES: NOVEMBER, USA, 2006
We’ll be heading to the west coast in November. Details to come.
Stare into your bubble and be not afraid! Time is not linear.
All of this is dream even your fear of dreaming! See your heart’s desire and
your worst fears revealed. Are they not one and the same beast? Pass through
this bardo to tranquility. In rare cases catatonic stupor, strong smell of
burning hair, triangular skin scarring, pronounced limp and/or permanent loss of
equilibrium have been reported, but most side effects are not serious. Consult
your physician or seek out a good violinist if you develop the urge to dance the
tarantella for four hours or more.
Note well: IRISH TOUR DATES...
We may not be allowed by the Festival to do any other shows in Ireland while
we’re there for the Leonard Cohen tribute show, but we’ll definitely be back for
something big in mid to late January.
PAINTINGS..
I’ve been doing a lot of pet portraits lately. Have a look if you’re curious:
http://www.handsomefamily.com/paintingintro.html
There’s also a page that tells all you ever need to know about purchasing
paintings from me (commissioned or otherwise):
http://www.handsomefamily.com/paintingpurchases.html
Fear not the future. It’s already come and passed..xo Rennie
PS. For those stuck in a cubicle with naught else to do but surf this virtual
world. I just edited a collection of anonymously-submitted love letters: