Nick Cave’s epic poem The Sick Bag Song opens with a leap into the abyss. “A boy climbs a riverbank. He steps onto a railway bridge. He is twelve years old,” it begins. Walking on this bridge, the boy stands at the middle, gazing down at the river below with a “half-felled tree” that creates … Continue reading
*blows party horn* *shoots confetti cannon* Ahhh…Happy New Year, dearest Filthy Dreams readers! Get ready for that champagne hangover after battling the hoards of amateur drinkers on these final days of 2019! …or 2020. What year is it? Did we have a year? Or is this still some cold sweat alcohol-poisoning fever dream after choking … Continue reading
Why hello there, scariest, most devilish, and deviant Filthy Dreams ghosties, ghouls, goblins, and Goths! You know what time of year it is…the scariest time of the year…ELECTION SEASON! *shudder* Ok, ok, it’s also Halloween, but really, is there anything else to do other than sit in your box of an apartment waiting, calculating various … Continue reading
“Once there was a song. The song yearned to be sung” –Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “The Spinning Song” What makes art relevant, particularly during a global pandemic as complex as COVID-19? What does it look like to speak to a moment when creating seems useless and inadequate? How can culture have an impact … Continue reading
I am a crooked (wo)man and I’ve walked a crooked mile…what’s that? Oh, I’m just practicing for my inevitable prison crooning after getting pinched for petty larceny aka having some sticky fingers, the same ones that tattooed E.V.I.L. on his brother’s fist (that filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist). I mean, that … Continue reading
Last week, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released their devastatingly beautiful album Ghosteen, inspiring wracking sobs and the discovery of emotions we didn’t even know we still had. Since both your faithful co-founder Emily Colucci and contributor Adam Lehrer are longtime Nick Cave stans, we dried our tears and decided to talk it through … Continue reading
“As I walk these narrow streets where a million passin’ feet have trod before me, with my guitar in my hand, suddenly I realize nobody knows me,” dryly sings Nick Cave in the beginning of “The Singer,” his take on Johnny Cash’s “The Folk Singer” on Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ 1986 cover album … Continue reading
“Now Orpheus, crawl, O shamefaced fugitive, crawl back under the crumbling broken wall of yourself, for you are not stars, sky-set in the shape of a lyre, but the dust of those who have been dismembered by Furies!” –Tennessee Williams “Orpheus Descending” In his ongoing Q&A newsletter The Red Hand Files last week (#20 if … Continue reading
Why hello there, faithful Filthy Dreams readers! What’s that? You’re in the mood to rank moments from the past year with no real basis except for your own fervently subjective but strongly felt opinions? Me too! I’m ready to get zealous and list, wrap-up and rank anything and everything that happened in 2018 with fanatical … Continue reading
Well hello there, ghosties and ghoulies! Are you feeling creepy crawly? Me too! All I need is a big cup of our World Famous Pumpkin Punch and I’ll be ready to lunge into an audience of hand-waving disciples and kick them in their eager faces with my pointy-toed patent leather shoes, shrieking about reading diaries … Continue reading
