Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes

Guess what.  I’ve finally moved.

Come to Geekland and the new 42 at 42.gibkeeg.com.

Join me and David Bowie at my new home for Music Monday.

FlashBack Friday – Magdalen Bridge

Sadly, I have none of my own pictures for this post.  Trust me, I wish I did.

When I was in college I did a junior year abroad.  I went to St. Anne’s College, Oxford University to study British history and literature.  It was an incredible experience and there are many aspects of that trip that I will discuss in future FlashBack Friday posts.

Today, the day after May Day, I want to talk about the ‘traditional’ Oxford May Day celebrations.  (I say ‘traditional’ in inverted commas because there is a bit of doubt about this fact.  While some claim the Magdalen Bridge jump is a tradition, others vehemently claim it began only as recently as the 1960s.)  But first, let’s take a look at the May Day holiday (because I’m a hopeless pedant, that’s why).

May Day is traditionally marked as May 1st and is the  half way point between the equinox and the solstice.  Many countries have some form of May Day celebration.  France celebrates May 1st with a tradition of presenting people with Lilies of the Valley as a sign of spring.  It is believed that this tradition began with Charles IX in the mid 16th century.  In Germany Walpurgisnacht is a a celebration on the night before May Day that includes dancing around a May Pole and lighting bonfires.  Hawaii has its own version of May Day, called Lei Day, on which traditional island culture and cultural rites are celebrated.  Ireland (and by Gaelic extension, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and the Isle of Man) also has a may Day celebration.  It is called Beltane.  Beltane marks the beginning of the planting season and marks the opposite end of the ancient Celtic calendar, the fall being marked by Samhain.  While the custom of celebrating Beltane has largely fallen out of practice, one can still see windowsills and doors decorated with May boughs.  It is also still possible to spend an evening by the Beltane fire or decorating the rowan or hawthorn bush.  And, of course, no Beltane night is complete without some drunken revelry.

And yes, I promise that I will soon talk about my years in Ireland during my FlashBack Friday ramblings.

Back to Oxford:

Oxford England has had a custom of celebrating May Morning for years.  Of course, the night before May morning is  spent (at least by the people *I* know) drinking in the long hours before sunrise at a pub lock-in.  This, admittedly, was a tradition I was more than willing to play along with as it extended my birthday revelries. 😉  As the sun comes up, hung over, still drunk, or as sober as monks throngs of people gather on the High Street and the Magdalen bridge to hear the Magdalen College Choir sing the Hymnus Eucharisticus.  It is a beautiful sound, as it should be.  The Magdalen Choir has been singing the in celebration of May Day for over 500 years, obviously not with the same choir members.  What is really amazing is the vast differences in types of people standing on the bridge listening in near silence to the music.  Shoulder to shoulder you can find monks, punks, towns and gowns (terms used to refer to the rivalry between attendees of the University and the local population), people in faerie costumes or togas, women in formal gowns and men in tuxedos, and people of both sexes in pajamas.

But of course, that’s not the exciting part.  Although the bridge jumping escapades may be fairly new in their execution, while I was living in Oxford in 94-95 they were in full force.  Let me tell you, the river is not deep, but it sure as hell isn’t warm either.  After a raucous night of drinking heavily I found myself amidst a crush of friends on the bridge neither seeing nor thinking clearly.  Sure!  Sounds like a great idea!

photo courtesy of BBC NEWS

Only one other time in my life was a shocked back into sobriety as quickly and that was also due to hitting icy cold water from a height of several meters… but that’s a story about Ireland and for another time.

The rest of the day was spent with the hair of the dog at various pubs around town, once we had all gone home to change into something a little less wet and cold followed by a long nap on the college green.

Want to play along? FlashBack Friday posts can be any medium you choose, photographic, video, music, or just a story. Share your flashback on Fridays and link back to me. Visit other participants and get some dirt on your fellow bloggers.

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33

We’re in This Together

I mentioned on Friday that Nine Inch Nails is my favorite band.  Oddly enough I haven’t yet featured NIN on a Music Monday post.  I don’t  know what’s come over me.  Today I will rectify that error in judgment.

Nine Inch Nails released their first album, Pretty Hate Machine, which  started out as a series of solo demos, in 1989.  Since then Trent has released, with the assistance of various musicians but rarely keeping the same artists from album to album, 8 major albums and many singles and remixes.  In fact, it is for his remixes that Trent is probably best well known.  His singles and his willingness to have his fans play with his music.  Trent has released his music into the wild and encourages his fans to work on it and release it back.  His latest album was available for free download and he has asked his fans to create a body of video art to go along with it.

I like to call him an Open Source musician.  He even encourages his fans to stick it to the record labels and go out create bootlegs and illegal copies of his work.

Now,  how can you not think that’s cool?  Fuck the RIAA!

However, today is a very special Monday since it is CableDad’s 40th birthday. No, we are not having a party.  What’s the point?  He’s not 42 yet.  But, in light of CableDad’s special day I wanted to dedicate a song to him.

Perhaps it might seem a bit odd that I’d choose a NIN song for CableDad’s birthday.  After all, I’ve already mentioned that I have a not so secret lust for Trent Reznor. Not to mention the fact that Trent’s music is the epitome of angst ridden computerized/industrial metal, not exactly what most people might consider romantic.

Ok, I’m not most people, but even I will admit that most of NIN isn’t the best wedding party music:

I’m drunk and right now I’m so in love with you

and I don’t want to think too much about what we should or shouldn’t do.

Lay my hands on heaven and the sun and the moon and the stars

while the devil wants to fuck me in the back of his car.

Nothing quite like the feel of something new.

That said, there is one song in particular that I think is perfectly fit for such an occasion.  As much as he drives me crazy, as much as he makes me want to rip my hair out sometimes, as angry and frustrated as he can make me on occasion, I love my CableDad.  I might want to kill him sometimes, but I love him to pieces.  I committed myself to him seven years ago and I’m not going anywhere.  We’re in this together now.

I mean, that’s downright warm and fuzzy for Trent.

After a particularly rough sparring session at Kung Fu I am

bruised.