The Horrible fact of Human Trafficking

The heartbreaking reality of most suffering is that it occurs in silence, behind the closed doors of our neighbors, co-workers, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers. The horrible fact of human trafficking is that its victims are the most vulnerable amongst us. They become nameless statistics: faceless, voiceless, shocked into their new caged-in realities of unspeakable shame and horror, swept aside by the twin tides of silence and denial.

A few years ago, I saw the this photograph which - as great photographs do - illuminates a reality that would otherwise remain hidden from view. The purpose of Art, Poetry, Literature, Drama, is to lift the veil, peel away the layers, gnaw at the bone of truth so that the terrible as well as beautiful mysteries of existence can be gleaned and confronted, if not ever fully understood.

News reports on the terrible toll of human slavery should be commonplace, not sporadic. These websites provide updated information as well as personal accounts. Bookmark them, add them to your feeds, and contribute in any way you can:

BBC Special Report on Human Slavery

CNN News & Videos About Human Trafficking

PBS Photo Essay: Confronting the Problem of Human Suffering

Human Trafficking.org

The National Human Trafficking Resource Center

UNODC - Human Trafficking

The Campaign to Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking

Could X-ray scanners work on the street? 

High School Halloween, Music & Memory

"Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know, she's half crazy
It's why you want to be there..."

Leonard Cohen, from "Suzanne"

This year, Halloween triggered my memory of this yearbook photo from 11th grade which many of you viewed on Facebook (thanks to all for your insights, witticisms & ruminations)

I've always believed that we all hold inside of us, from an early age, the seeds of our eventual 'grown up' selves. Although I didn't intentionally set out to become a singer or songwriter, when I reflect on my past, there's the impression of a clear trajectory that led me to that career decision.

Many would argue that being an artist is something that is somehow programmed inside, that true artists do not choose their paths, that it is their fate or kismet that chooses them. But it can also be argued that, for some, there comes a time to decide, a crossroads. Andy Warhol began his career in magazine illustration and advertising. Robert Motherwell studied Philosophy before he changed direction and rigorously pursued Painting.

While I was at Vassar, I was declaring a major in Aesthetics until I transferred to Barnard/Columbia and declared a double major in Art History/Studio Art. It wasn't until my senior year when I studied Poetry with Kenneth Koch that I realized I had reached that crossroads.

I've always perceived of this monumental moment as metaphorically akin to the moment when Alice picks up the bottle and reads 'DRINK ME', and after confirming that it is not marked 'poison', swallows the otherwise unmarked liquid. Her decision, while not well-informed, is not precipitous. That decision to follow the untrammeled road and become an Artist is fundamentally based on that need to do as Alice did, follow her inner need to open the door into the enchanting and mysterious adventure and explore the sometimes treacherous new terrain, come what may.

It was during this time in High School that I began discovering & devouring music that was tapping into me on all levels of Poetry, intellect & emotion: Leonard Cohen, The Ramones, Blondie, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian, Joan Armatrading, The Go Gos, The B-52s, Pink Floyd, The Police. Soon after, I would discover Francoise Hardy, Julie London, Juliette Greco, Nico & The Velvet Underground.

My good friend, pictured above in the photo, was as much of a music hound as I was. I haven't asked her yet if she remembers that particular night of Rock 'n Roll debauchery... Halloween & Rock 'n Roll share a similar ethos: to find trouble where you can & head into that place which is at once thrilling & frightening. Everyone at some point in their lives plants the seed of who they are to become. For me, that moment is captured here, in this photo.

The Artist is all things: creator, witness, inventor, storyteller, gift giver, shaman, seducer, rule-breaker, Philosopher, thief, magician, myth-maker, bellwether With instinct as much your guide as intelligence, the Artist chooses to follow that unruly path of most resistance, hypnotized by that the ever-present temptation to metaphorically drink that mysterious, unknown & tantalizing essence.

Collin Kelley, Storybook Burlesque, The Concretes

"Well, Ive been haunted in my sleep
Youve been starring in my dreams"

The Rolling Stones, from "Miss You"

I love this cover of 'Miss You' by The Concretes - played by the 'Storybook Burlesque' during one of their lovely & voracious performances on Sunday night at The Tank, NYC -



Novelist, poet and playwright Collin Kelley read portions from his much lauded new book 'Conquering Venus', which he lovingly signed - i'm eager to begin reading it...

iPhotos from event coming soon -

Vanessa Daou Blidget

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Announcing the Release of Daouhaus: The Classic Remixes

Daou Records in conjunction with Twisted Records

Exclusively on Beatport

google: rare obsolete words

google: rare obsolete words

psychomachy, conflict between the body and the soul
Eleutherommania, manic desire for freedom
Facetiae, term for books of inappropriate or lewd nature
Tuberous, yielding an abundance of milk
Otherguess, an old word for different
Reserate, an old-time word for unlock or open
Fabulist, one who invents fables
Ucalegon, neighbor whose house is on fire
Alectryomachy, cock fighting
Ailurophilia, love of cats
Chasmophilous, fond of nooks, crevices and crannies
Gynorikolobomassophile, one who nibbles on women's earlobes
Hydrophilous, loving or preferring water
Scopophilia, obtaining sexual pleasure from seeing things
Clinophilia, passion for beds

"etienne daho présente...." | A selection of songs selected and compiled by Etienne Daho with: Peter Doherty, Antsy Pants, The Last Shadow Puppets...

etienne daho présente....
A selection of songs selected and compiled by Etienne Daho with: Peter Doherty, Antsy Pants, The Last Shadow Puppets, Vanessa Daou, The Wave Pictures, Jeremy Jay, Goodbye Simone, Jeffrey Lewis, Pacific! , Girls, Music Go Music, Dirty Fields, Coming Soon, Stilts Hook, Howard Hughes, Mr. Ward, Violens, Sin FAng Boil, Brisa Rock, Phoenix.

etienne daho présente @ Fnac
myspace.com/etiennedaho

Daou Records

Essential Poetry: Collin Kelley - Meeting Jeanne Moreau

Music that moves me: Little Dragon - 'Twice'

Black Room Session: Little Dragon - Twice

"Hurricanes": Part III 'JOE SENT MDE' at MCCC

Part III: "Joe Sent M.D.E." at Mercer County Community College - "Hurricnaes" from Elixir Productions Theatre Co. on Vimeo & YouTube


HURRICANES

Soon life's knowing will come.
it will dust the mind like talcum.
Meanwhile, everyone will dream
at least once
of times they tried to run.
but their legs got stuck
in the ambivalence of love's mud,
in the imagination's straining.

Our days are drenched by hurricanes
entering sideways in our minds
with no warning.

It's gray where the thinking thinks,
where the radar blinks.
It's the surge of you
that burns me crimson.
I am asleep, asleep all day,
blood running,
an accident of treason.
((My mother was the one
who laughed from other rooms
while I cried, the division between us
multiplied a thousand times))

You say (and I quote) Don't do the math
(end of quote), italics mine.
(Quote again) just come here (end quote).

So what if I do? I go nowhere with you,
and everywhere.
I am subsonic, plutonic, woebegone,
forlorn, language forgotten, towel shared.
I am scared, scarred, scarlet letter 'A',
hermit, Hamlet, tragic, victorious.
I am soldier, souvenir, medal of honor
attached to your pocket. I am intrinsic,
entropic, order, chaotic,.
limited to this word
I have just finished,.
conception of the infinite.
Masculine, feminine, everything is division;
days, dollars, mortgage rates,
bequeathed estates.
Leave me with nothing
more than your essence.
Invisible lover, indivisible number,
only then will I remember,
remember with my lack of logic.

With you I am myth maker, glass breaker,
soul taker, hip shaker. I am techtonic,
ironic, sardonic. With you I am purified,
pornographic, protean, prolific;
for you I am problematic,
acrobatic. Yes, like I said,
every crevice that cracks in me
I spread for you since that first night.
in my bed when the flash of my life.
turned your blue eyes red.

And so the story always goes
ending before the author knows.

Our days are drenched by hurricanes

entering sideways in our minds
with no warning.

© 2007 Vanessa Daou

---

Joe Sent MDE website


Joe Sent Me-poetry

'Joe Sent Me': Review on PopMatters

"Opening with a menacing scrape of guitars, "Manifesto", the album's first track, gives way to a robust, near-hip-hop beat under the support of a rumbling bassline. The temperature of both exhilaration and desire rises right around the time Daou sings, "You’re a sexy gun," during the very moment a high-hat kicks in. The vocals are buried deep in the mix and give the impression that they were recorded under a suffocating heap of blankets, amplifying the sense of claustrophobia inherent in the song. Meanwhile, the electronicized cabaret-stomp of "Black and White" unfurls in a silver spray of ghostly piano licks and burlesque horns. In addition to being the album's most accessible track, it also features some of the most inspired lyrics Daou has ever penned."

Read full review by Imran Khan on PopMatters

Anji Bee's Chillcast #178: Classic Chillout

Hear 'Save Yourself' from JOE SENT ME on vocalist & podcaster Anji Bee's Chillcast #178: Classic Chillout

The lovely Anji Bee writes:

"I was torn between titling this one "Classic Chillout," "Classic Chillcast," or "Lovely Ladies." Today's show is exactly that, a classic Chillcast mix of lovely chillout tunes with Internationally diverse female vocals. My favorite! I've had quite a few high quality trance tracks sent in recently, but this week I was really in more of a mellow mood so what we’ve got here is a nice collection of downtempo, lounge, worldbeat, r&b, and one little drum & bass tune for good measure. Enjoy, baby!"




Link to Anji Bee

Artist of the Week | Anji Bee 5/09

After an 8 year hiatus, the lovely Vanessa Daou has returned with a delicious new album. Part smooth jazz, part experimental folk - Miss Daou paints an aural portrait of a smoky basement lounge where a sexy poetess performs side by side with a sensual chanteuse. Daou flows effortless between the two worlds of spoken word and song, and we follow along, held in sway by her siren’s call. Listening to 'Joe Sent Me' is like coming back to your favorite old haunt to find that time has stood still and preserved the magic of that first time you discovered it there, hidden just below the surface of the busy city streets.

Link to Anji Bee

Zipless/Vanessa Daou

"Vanessa Daou's 1994 debut album Zipless consists entirely of musical interpretations of the poetry of feminist writer Erica Jong, as found in her 1991 collection Becoming Light: Poems New and Selected. ... According to the description of the album on Daou's website, "Jong's emotionally complex and sexually-charged narratives radiated against the sumptuous backdrop of Peter’s masterful arrangements and Vanessa’s engrossing vocal caresses." Jong herself provided a vocal for the album, reciting her own poem on the track Smoke. The album's title alludes to a two-word phrase coined by Jong in her 1973 novel Fear of Flying, referring to a sexual encounter between two strangers, without emotional commitment or involvement. One of the words is "zipless." We're far too delicate to include the other word here."

Read original blog post at Classics Rock

1-900-SELFPLEX @ the New York International Fringe Festival

Jody P. Person (JOE SENT MDE choreographer) and Alex DeFazio (JOE SENT MDE dramaturg) have a show at the New York International Fringe Festival this August. The show is called 1-900-SELFPLEX; it premiers Aug 17th and runs through the 28th. The show is being presented by Elixir Productions Theatre Company, an independent group of theatre artists dedicated to developing plays and performances about gender, sexuality.

Interview with GirlieGirl Army Founder Chloé Jo Berman

Sultry Siren: An Interview with Vanessa Daou

"We were introduced to gorgeous Vanessa Daou via her Zipless, her seminal 1994 record. Zipless, a sexually-charged, feminist collection of pieces inspired by the work of her husband Peter’s aunt, the poet/novelist Erica Jong, has been touted as the ultimate sex record. world-over. In fact, we think it (much like kombucha, good red wine, or a little smoke-age) is a serious aphrodisiac - download it on itunes asap. Or at the very least watch the video for the single "Near The Black Forest."

Vanessa's early underground success brought her to the attention of Columbia Records/Sony which signed her to a seven album record deal in 1992. Together with her then musical partner, producer and husband, Peter Daou, on piano, the pair recorded as THE DAOU and released their debut album, HEAD MUSIC in 1992.

In 1994, the duo decided to launch Vanessa as a solo artist with Peter as co-writer, producer and arranger. Vanessa's newest record Joe Sent Me is another foray into the breathy, transcendental plane of Daou's endlessly sexy voice, brilliant mind, and sophisticated beats. Plus, the gal is no dummy; as a Visual Arts and Art History major at Columbia University, Vanessa has always approached her art as a synthesis of sight and sound, written word and song. The Windy City Times writes: "Electronica, smooth jazz, drum-and-bass, poet, chanteuse, painter. Vanessa Daou is one artist who thrives on not being pigeonholed."GirlieGirl Army Founder Chloé Jo Berman recently had a quick chat with the glamorous chanteuse about her music, green living, and what she simply cannot go without."


Full interview @ the eco-glamorous & always informative GirlyGirl Army

"The Hook" Part II "Joe Sent M.D.E." at Mercer County Community College

Part II: "Joe Sent M.D.E." at Mercer County Community College - "The Hook" from Elixir Productions Theatre Co. on Vimeo.

THE HOOK

We learned all the pleasures of the tongue
before we knew each other's names,
long after all the pain had come.
Imagine the shock of a fish
when the hook finds its mouth
Then the sigh it heaves
When it shakes it out

Our first kiss was like this
And there's the hook

I used to swin wild and free
but like a lazy cod I took the bait
Now I'm like a shark in the dark
I never close my eyes anymore

I twisted like an unruly marlin
so I'd love you this madly.
I knew just how the story would end
and I'd miss you this badly

And in the end I'd do it again
And there's the hook


© 2007 Vanessa Daou

Hear Raul Vincent Enriquez' audio interpretation of THE HOOK

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Joe Sent MDE website

Joe Sent Me-poetry

Joe Sent MDE & The Hidden Language of the Body

Excerpts from "Joe Sent M.D.E.": "Black & White" from Elixir Productions Theatre Co. on Vimeo.

Dance is language expressed by the body.

On 'Joe Sent Me', I set out to explore the hidden potential in poetry, the nuances of breath, recollection, regret, hesitation, the illicit, the many shades of meaning of Jazz and its secret coded language locked in its Prohibition-era inchoateness.

In 'Joe Sent MDE', choreographers Janell Byrne and Jody Person explore a myriad of physical as well as verbal murmurings, facial gestures and hieroglyphic movements that combine the contemporary with the historical to convey meaning. One aspect of Joe Sent MDE that resonates so much with my own aesthetic is how their combined choreographed language froths and fulminates but never fully boils over. Like seduction, it's the gestures that are hinted at, the implied movements that hover, the lingering moments that matter most.

About 'Joe Sent Me', I've written: "For me, music is a response to the world, and the voice imbues the words with life and gives them breath. I'm especially interested in the idea of recording as an act of preservation of experience. To be a recording artist is - quite literally - to make a record of sounds, voices, words, and breaths. Every record I create, I plunge into the depths of life in all aspects of experience: sound, images, dreams. Music is a time capsule, capturing, distilling and preserving the essence of what it means to be alive. The role of poetry, of words and language, is to remind us."

The role of Dance is to embody and set into motion those truths that are locked inside of us. Like our imaginations, our bodies can move in many, often opposing, directions: they stretch, stir, stagger, surge; this can be expressed beautifully, forcefully, ironically, irrationally, improbably, impulsively.

In dance, as in life, once a movement is made, it makes its indelible impression in time, space, and in our minds. 'Joe Sent MDE' reminds us that our physical selves are wrapped up in our mental selves, and that each generation holds within it a unique capacity to convey its own set of beliefs, motivations, dreams, & fears, as well as those of the past that continue to cast their shadows on the theatre of our collective memory.

---

Joe Sent MDE website


Joe Sent Me-poetry

NYTimes slideshow on speakeasies & "Joe sent me" code words

View full slideshow here

From the article "Bar? What Bar?"

eye_present on 'black & white': mp3jackpot winner

Black and White

by Vanessa Daou
pop, urban/R&B, jazz

eye_present says: Vitaminsexia, what a stupendous MP3. Vanessa Daou is soo cool. Everyone knows how famous Ms. Daou is. I saw her when she appeared with Jamiroquai. A free song from her new CD "Joe Sent Me" is really great. This song is a collage of slow-burning smoky jazz, hazy Delta Blues, radiant electronic pop, and sultry soul you hope you'd find in a lounge in Paris.

mp3jackpot.com