stellaluna

There are few things more demoralizing than opening the door, seeing the dog start to get all perky and excited...and then having him see who you are, realize you're not Daddy (and never will be), and then go utterly blank-faced and flop back down with a heavy sigh.

I discovered this morning that there's a colony of feral parrots nesting in one of the trees directly behind the house. I counted at least six, and there may be as many as eight altogether. Their cries are distinct from those of the ubiquitous neighborhood crows, which is how my landlord noticed they were back there in the first place.

twincy requested increased participation in music swap Tuesdays, and while I'm at the office and don't have access to my full music collection at the moment, I'm happy to offer two tracks from Nick Cave's Murder Ballads, which is sitting in my drawer.

Nick Cave - Stagger Lee

It was back in '32 when times were hard
He had a Colt .45 and a deck of cards
Stagger Lee
He wore rat-drawn shoes and an old stetson hat
Had a '28 Ford, had payments on that
Stagger Lee

Warning: Possibly the most profane version of "Stagger Lee" ever recorded. For serious. Proceed with caution and for god's sake wear headphones.

The history of this blues song and the legend behind it make for fascinating reading.

Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue - Where the Wild Roses Grow

From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
As she stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
That grew down the river, all bloody and wild

Business as usual: love and death and murder. I have another version of this song at home, recorded during a concert, in which Cave's duet partner is Bad Seeds member Blixa Bargeld. It is, quite possibly, one of the slashiest things ever recorded. It's also, at least going by the time I saw them at Irving Plaza several years ago, when the two of them performed the same song, amazingly -- and disturbingly, given what they're singing about -- sexy.

And now, back to writing boykissing porn explicit depictions of intimate relationships between men.