T.S. Eliot - Hollow men

I was in like the Justin Nozuka mood and I watched this video where he was saying how he wrote his song Hollow men based on this poem so I read this poem and I fell in love with it. So I hope you enjoy it and I challenge you to get inspired and create something.

I


We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.


II


Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer --

Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom


III


This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this
In death's other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.


IV


The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death's twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.


V


Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow


Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom


For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Justin Nozuka interview

Hello World Again, so I have the honor to put Justin Nozuka on my blog. I got the amazing opportunity to interview Justin at his show at the 9:30 club right before his show. I had to leave school early to do it but it was worth it. When I arrived at the club I was actually 45 minutes early, so me and my cousin/ camerawoman had to sit on these little stools by the door and wait for 45 minutes, but actually I am glad I got to do that because I got to hear his sound check and it sounded just like the concert I had seen a few months ago. So finally after the waiting was over Justin came out greeted us and he was very polite. He asked me was I cold and would I mind going out side of course I said " Sure, let's go outside", when we got outside we saw this crowd of people waiting to get into the concert. So Justin turns around with this surprise look on his face and says "Wow, there's a crowd let's go around here", and gestures to the other side of the building and we move quite swiftly to the other side of the building. The interview was very interesting he was a very intuitive person to talk to. He had a lot to say and gave a lot of information in the interview. Justin has gotten so many hits online and has been asked by major record labels to sign with them but he has turned them down because he knows what he wants to do with his music and he wants to have to have control over how he sounds. You have to have respect for someone like that. Though he has turned down many opportunities that he felt like were not for him, he has mad his own. He now is doing a duet with the amazing India Arie and he has now been nominated for a Juno award. He is on my Artist of 2011 to watch out for and I think you should definitely look out for him.You all should definitely tune into episode 3 of "Artist of The World", you can find it hear if you go to the video page on this blog or you can go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q6hY1kNwYY. To watch it.

To stay in tuned with Justin and what he is doing you can go to many of his websites.

His website: http://www.justinnozuka.com/

His Bebo: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3823788065

His Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/justinnozuka

His Japan Website:http://emimusic.jp/intl/justinnozuka/

His Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/justinnozuka

His pure Volume: http://www.purevolume.com/justinnozuka

His radio CBC: http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/Justin-Nozuka

his reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/justinnozuka

His sonicbids:http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.aspx?epk_id=78180

His Uk website: http://justinnozuka.co.uk/

His Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/justinnozuka

Whooh that was a lot lol, I hope you all enjoy the blog post and the interview. We have 9 more episodes left in the 1st season of "Artist of the world", so stay tuned in.

~ Luv Mika

Screen Vinyl Image interview

Hello world So you all know that I am in the middle of shooting my interview series "Artist of The World", I am now on episode two which features this really cool Band Screen Vinyl Image. So I interviewed Kim and Jake Reid Before their concert at the Strathmore Mansion. I had such a great Time Interviewing them. I have to tell you these are the most genially nice people I have ever met. This band has kind of created their own genre of music.

Go to the video pages of this blog or go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQL1kzBQxHU

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptzm3wc1mG0

You all can also go to their website to check out when their playing in your town and how you can get their CD. http://www.screenvinylimage.com/ So we have 10 more episodes to go on this season of "Artist of The World", so please tune in for the rest of the season, Who Knows who will be on the next episode. So tune in.

~Luv Mika

Lucy Schwartz Interview

In between classes I had the chance to sit down in my my Math teachers room and interview Ms. Lucy Schwartz. Lucy is on tour with The Civil Wars and seems to be enjoying it. Her latest album life in letters introduces the young artist to some listeners but most people have already heard her. Her song "Darling I do", was in the movie "Shrek Forever After", and her songs have also been in films such as "Post Grad", "Mother & Child", (one of my favorite movies) "Adam". They can also be heard on numerous TV shows including "Grey's Anatomy", "Make it or break it","ER", "Brothers and Sisters", and MTV's "I used to be fat", I really enjoyed speaking with her and she had a lot to say.

Michelah Desnai: So Lucy You have an album called "life in letters", Do you want to tell us a little bit about that?

Lucy Schwartz: it's my new record, i've made two records the first one was was called "winter in june", Life in letter was based on life as a song writer.

Michelah Desnai: A song from your album "My Darling", was featured on MTV's "I used to be fat", How did that opportunity come about and what was that experience like hearing your song on MTV?

Lucy Schwartz:I wasn't there when it appeared on MTV but I've had a lot of experience in writing songs for things like that and it is a great way for your music to be heard.

Michelah Desnai:You recorded this album with Mitchell Froom, and you recorded each instrument separately, what made you decide to do that instead of having a band come in and play for you, and how much different was that than playing with a band?

Lucy Schwartz:um' well theres some music that feels like it suits a band and then there is some music that you feel like it needs to be more specific.

Michelah Desnai:You have a lot of ambitions what makes you so driven and how do you keep that drive, how do you keep from getting discouraged?

Lucy Schwartz:It is hard sometimes because it is a very slow process and it doesn't always feel like your going somewhere sometimes, and music is very much who I am, it takes a long time to record your song and get it out there, like I have written new songs and I want to get them out there now.

Michelah Desnai:You are a young artist living in LA what do you think makes you different from the other artist living in your town?

Lucy Schwartz:Well I think LA gets a bad rep for being a place where people want to be stars and I hope I standout for what I have to say.

Michelah Desnai: Your sound is very unique, how did you find your own sound, instead of trying to copy someone else?

Lucy Schwartz:It kind of came naturally and kind of changed over time and I'm sure I have been influenced by other artist, if I feel like a song doesn't fit my voice than I won't sing it . I found a song I had recorded when I was thirteen and it's kind of funny to listen to because it sounds like a completely different person.

Michelah Desnai:What was the first step you took to achieve you goal as a singer?

Lucy Schwartz:Well, thats a long process, I think I set my mind and was determined and made things happen ( laughs) and I wasn't afraid to reach out to other artist and ask if they wanted to collaborate on something.

Michelah Desnai: What do you want your music to give to the world?

Lucy Schwartz:I hope that it inspires other people and makes them feel something whether thats happiness or another emotion.

Michelah Desnai: What fact about yourself would you like your fans to know about you?

Lucy Schwartz:I'm very silly and I like to talk in different accents throughout the day.

Michelah Desnai: What advice could you give to young artist that you think will be most helpful in their careers?

Lucy Schwartz:I would say patience and determination and I'm on on tour with the civil wars and they were an independent artist for along time and now some great things are happening with them, but you have to keep at it.

Michelah Desnai:How is that tour going?

Lucy Schwartz: It's going great The civil wars are as nice as they seem.

Believer in yourself

I just want to write this to everyone who has a dream. Believe in yourself because no one is ever going to know how you feel about your dream and your goal the way you know how you feel. I recently had an experience today about how someone wanted to question how much I wanted my dream. I have realized that no one is going to give you what you want you want ,you have to go and take it and you have to love what you want to do to your soul in order to do what you want because if you don't you will lose interest in it. It's not enough just to want to do something you have to need to do it. You have to have to be willing to bend over backwards and jump through hoops for it because believe me people are more than willing to ask you to do so. I have had some minor success this year but nowhere near what my ultimate goal is. I hope that this helps anyone who is thinking about giving up on your dream.

~Luv Mika