FOLIO TEN

I hope I’ll get a chance to tell the story that’s associated with this image. The origins of the tale itself has got to be one of the most interesting of all time. And the event it describes - well, it just baffles the mind and terrorizes the soul. Have you heard of the ‘Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ - the one which features the ‘headless horseman? This story took place across the river from that happening and makes it looks like trifle in comparison. It’s not a Halloween-like story, though - it is one of midsummer fire, and for all the elements of the fantastical - there is little mystery in it - it’s spookiness comes from the fact ‘that it really happened’ - that world events and the most powerful people from ancient and modern times are associated with it, and yet - like so many important subjects, it has remained a secret.

But for now, let’s looks at some pictures - here’s one which is an experiment in blending 'real,’ constructed, and ‘virtual’ textures and effects. For instance - the ‘teal blue’ color in the top right corner is a faithful photo of painting I did (real), whereas the dark ‘paisley’ shape in the middle is a purely digital image reminiscent of the form of a woman by virtue of effects added in.

This image (above) foreshadows the opening scene of the story on the title page - before the little girl (on the far right, and grown a little older on the title page) is orphaned by the dragon (fire spirit - ‘salamander’) they discover hidden in the mountain.

Here’s some more images from last year’s folio -

So here’s this week’s song, but what a snafu it is. For one - while I enjoyed the process of putting together this Folio I was aware that it has very little ‘new Substack stuff’ from you all in it - so I attempted to accomplish this in the song. Instead of putting snippets of conversations and “Notes” in the Folio - I put them in the video and then I improvised singing about it. But it came out terribly! So I went out and got some beers and did it all over again and it was even worse! I guess I learned a lesson though - you can never include (favorably) more than a couple people in a song.

I ended up scrapping all the Substack-specific stuff and ended up using footage from an old cartoon and singing lyrics from a 1920’s song ‘Crazy Rhythm’ instead. When I ‘rendered’ the video I saw that I forgot to remove one image. I’ve left it in because I was tired and out of time but what was meant as a quick nod - a little inside joke - looks a little ridiculous to me now but perhaps serves as a good reminder of how difficult it is to balance attentions here. Yes, I’ve always thought it was the epitome of cringe of how often performers express their love for the audience as a single entity. Isn’t that a direct admission of Luciferianism? But at least now I can understand there’s almost nothing in between ‘individual attention’ and group attention when doing music. Telling a story - sure - folios - absolutely - playing a game - that’s essential - but not music - it’s either one or all - so this one’s for you, Mr. Primm.