The Endless

We are back from what felt like a somewhat long trip. We went with my dad on a cruise on the Queen Mary 2...

We are back from what felt like a somewhat long trip. We went with my dad on a cruise on the Queen Mary 2 from New York up the East Coast to Nova Scotia, Canada. It was a really interesting experience. Cruising is strange. Here are a couple of pictures:

In Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine

The huge ship (don't call it a boat, people will get mad)

When in Nova Scotia, please don't hit Santa's flying reindeer.

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

St. Martins, New Brunswick

We then spent a few days in our old stomping grounds, NYC. While there, I had a bit of a mystical experience at the MoMA with a piece of art that just grabbed me by the throat. Edvard Munch's The Storm.I don't recall noticing the painting in the past. You never know when or why art is going to hit you. Even looking at this here online doesn't have the same emotional impact (reproductions rarely do). You never know when or why art is going to hit you. There was something about that moment, in that space, that broke me. I was shaking. I love Munch's work. He evokes for me a sense of beauty, isolation, and terror that can be overwhelming. This woman in the night on this dark path - I understand her. I want to know what she's going to do. Where she will go, because clearly she is outside the circle of women and way out side the warmth of the house lights. Yet she carries her own light.

I'm always grateful for moments like this because I feel music in them. I feel a song, a story, or just the shape of something that I can pull up a month or even years from now in my writing. Visual art is a primary way we both get inspiration to write. It works differently for David because he gets inspired by structure/color/light and I get inspired by the story. Which is great and why we work so wonderfully together.

Right now as I type this, David is recording guitar and MIDI parts for the 2009 Holiday Single. The holiday single is always fun. I feel it's a way to be a bit care-free and do things outside the normal "Endless-y" way of writing. I hope you'll like what we're up to this year!

In other news, the music video for "Lit From Within", directed by Bob Blunden of Bath, England, is scheduled to debut on December 1st. Look for it here!