Yesterday, I went to the doctor to make an appointment for an STD-test.
 

On the way there, I passed by a young mother and her toddler(?) daughter. Being fully aware of my everyday

responsibility

as a fabulously fabulous creature whenever I have to interact with humans, I

smiled

at them both with

all the love of the universe

(first at the little girl, then her mother).
 

As I walked on, I heard the little girl say:

"

Look, mom ... it's an evil woman!

"

 
I couldn't help but chuckle, then turned around, looked at the mother in pretended shock, as I was clutching my non-existent pearls.
 
When I continued on my way, I heard the mother say something to her daughter like: "

She is not an evil woman. She can wear whatever she wants, that doesn't make her evil

", or someting along those lines. I didn't really pay attention, I just thought it was funny, and that silly encounter actually put me in a good mood.  ;)
 

Also, I think, what the girl probably meant to say was "witch", which I always take as a compliment.

About an hour before sunset, I decided to go for a stroll.
 

As always, I headed for the local graveyard first, where they have these small "Gewann"-markers, which are in the shape of tiny headstones. I find them oddly fascinating, because not only is it a cute and cost- effective idea (a simple mould, just pour in some concrete, paint it, done) ... but also because the sight of their

mustard-yellow for gold letters

on a black background always makes me think of

CHRISTIAN DEATH

's album "

Only Theatre of Pain

".

Now that my mind was sort of on that subject, I began thinking about other

CHRISTIAN DEATH

related things that had randomly crossed my mind in the last few days, as I walked towards the fields...

Two weekends ago, I felt like re-reading

Constance Redgrave

's "

Black Box

", which I still had as an e-book sort of thing on my phone. But my phone is old and small, and after a short while of reading it gave me a headache, so I ordered a proper physical copy (it's available as a

print- on-demand

book by now, albeit only from an evil corporation, sadly).

It's a bit tricky to capture the effect with my old phone's camera, and I don't have a "before/after" photo either, but I hope this can still give you a rough idea of how well it turned out. -- So, yes ... if you ever run into a similar problem, a spray-can of varnish might do the trick.

It's an interesting read, and I do recommend it, if you are into that sort of thing.
 
However,

the print quality is for shit

.  Well, not the actual inside of the book. That's fine. Though, small and slightly blurry colour-photos printed on uncoated paper is never an ideal choice, but since this is not meant as a "photobook", it's all good. -- But, maaaaaan, I did hate the cover. It was uncoated paper as well (I think), which was unpleasant to the touch, and after I was finished reading, it looked DISGUSTING. It was now caked in my greasy fingerprints (especially on the black backside), which, due to the nature of the paper, couldn't even be wiped off.
 
Hoping to somehow "save" it, I used a cotton cloth to smear/spread out the fingerprints as "evenly" as possible, and then took a spray-can of varnish to give the entire cover a glossy coat. Much to my relief, it actually worked rather well:

When I tried to take the photo of the freshly varnished book-cover above, I was reminded that I still had a copy of

Mick Mercer

's photobook

"Christian Death 1984/1989

" stuck between my records somewhere, and I assumed that it would make a great companion-piece to "

Black Box

".

 
Well, turns out, it does!  :)

The black & white photos are once again printed on

uncoated

paper (at least they are with my old edition), but it's still good enough to enjoy. If you're interested, you can order a copy of the

Mick Mercer

book

.

In April was the premiere of

Nico B.

's documentary on

ROZZ WILLIAMS

, entitled "

Romeo's Distress

". I haven't seen it (yet). I only watched the trailer, and it made me feel physically sick. I don't know why. I cannot put my finger on it, but something about it felt "off". -- But, I don't know, maybe I'm just imagining things.

Anyway, the premiere took place at a theatre in Los Angeles, and it was followed by two concerts, of which you can watch a few minutes online (thanks to people having posted clips on social media and such). Original band-members and guest-musicians where performing songs from the albums "

Only Theatre of Pain

" and "

Catastrophe Ballet

" (the latter being my favourite Christian Death album, if I had a favourite).
 
It was ... interesting.
 
Actually, I found it to be

depressing

as fuck. Not because the performances were bad or anything like that. It's just ... almost EVERYTHING is "triggering" my anxiety these days, so I have to be careful with what I expose myself to. In this case, it was seeing Rikk Agnew in a wheelchair, looking so much like my friend, who died last year. It just sucked.  :(

The overall performances, however, were fine. In fact, I thought the music was pretty spot on. At some point I even mumbled to myself:

"Damn, those drums are just like on the album"

. -- A rather silly thing to say, I am sure, but I was thinking it, nonetheless.
 
As for the vocalists ... I know that some people (used to) have a problem with Eva O.'s voice in this context, but it has honestly never bothered me. After all, she

did

sing backing vocals on the original album, so it's not like her voice feels completely out of place. And I like the fact that she made it "her own".
 

Besides, I do enjoy her (trashy) look.  :)

 
Speaking of trashy ... back in 2007, they (as in Rikk, Eva & co.) were touring as

Christian Death 1334

. Back then I did not care for any of this at all (to put it mildly), but with everything being so horrible these days, being able to watch some of these 20-year old concerts on YouTube now is just absolutely delightful...

Seeing

Patrik Mata

as a stand-in for

Rozz Williams

for the "

Catastrophe Ballet

"-part of the show made me wonder:

"

What even is the point of all this?

"

...  and I am not trying to be a cunt. It's just...

OK, this

is

going sound cunty, but his phrasing was so off at times (at least in that

very short

clip that I saw) that I thought: "

Geeez, have they not practised this together?

" --  But then I realised that he must have been under an enormous amount of stress, because I am pretty sure that 50% of the people in the audience were thinking: "

Fuck this guy, I can do this better!

"...

 
...which in turn made me wonder:

How did they even pick a singer for this particular show?

I mean ... think about it ... if you have even an ounce of artistic integrity (or just plain modesty and/or taste, whatever), and you were tasked with finding a singer for this event, who the hell would you even consider??? After all, it

HAS

to make sense,

somehow

. -- Seriously, I wouldn't know who to choose.
 

On top of that, it is such an

ungrateful task

for

any

singer.
 

What are they supposed to do? On the one hand, if you try to sound as closely as possible to how Rozz performed on the album, that kind of makes it feel weird (like those endlessly dreadful Michael Jackson or Tina Turner "tribute"-shows are weird) ... but if you stray too far away from what people have in their heads, then the audience will hate it even more.

And what about the visual aspect?

What is the singer "allowed" to look like?

Who or what "look" would the audience accept???  You can't be too pretty or extravagant, because you

CANNOT

rival THE ICON

, the image/idea that people have of Rozz (especially since most of them probably have no sense of humour). --  But you also cannot be too plain and/or ordinary, because then people would see it as an insult to Rozz's art/memory. You just cannot win, really.
 

So, yes ... I guess Patrik Mata made the only possible choice:
to hide under a large hat and a long veil.
 
 
 
 

Urrrgh, whatever. It was probably all perfectly fine, and everyone attending probably really enjoyed the show quite a lot. The only problem is most likely just me being cynical and not liking concerts. That's probably all it is.

Anyway, this was just some of the nonsense that went through my mind, as I was strolling through the fields at sunset.
 

I also took these three snapshots:

DEAD BIRD

. (Pretty)

LONELY POPPY

. (Whatever)

PYRAMID-SHAPED CLOUD

.
(Oddly eerie)

What else? Oh, yes ... at the beginning of this week, I suddenly had the chorus of a song pop into my head that I had only heard

once

before ... on TV ... 30 years ago:

MICHÈL VAN DYKE

's "

Physical Now

".
 

It's on YouTube:

What a NIGHTMARE to have to perform on a TV-show like this, in front of these unappreciative snot-nose, and in broad sunlight no less. --  On the other hand, if you can awaken just

ONE

enchanted fairy-child through this,

somewhere

, that one day will blossom into something fabulous because of this...  - well, I guess that would make it all worth it.

Anyway, because I have no impulse control (and having a song stuck in my head drives me nuts), I went to look for a cheap vinyl-copy of this release online. I found one on ebay, but when it arrived, it become clear that the seller had used a discogs-photo in his listing, instead of a photo of the actual record.
 

Luckily, it was nothing that a black marker couldn't fix (sort of) ...

...and with this positive thought I will make a cup of tea and then go to bed.

Cult Epics is going to release a re-recording of

ROZZ WILLIAMS

' song "

Flowers

", featuring two original band-members (Rikk and that Bass-player, whose name I can never remember) and David Glass on drums. I have no idea where the vocal track/s was/were taken from, and it doesn't really matter, as long as it is done tastefully and with respect.

I thought about ordering a copy of the upcoming vinyl, but changed my mind, when I saw the coverart.

Who designed this?

(I mean, I know who did it, it's stated in the credits.)

First of all, it looks

cheap

. -- Putting dried flowers on the cover of a record entitled "

Flowers

" is not particularly creative to begin with, but ... hey ... whatever, art is subjective. But the dirt doesn't make any sense either. These flowers are

floating

in a white space, they are not lying on a surface (there is no shadow), so

what's the

dirt

doing there?

Did someone forget to erase it?
 
And then there is the backside.

Urrrrrgh

. Honestly, you just released an entire documentary (which, admittedly, I haven't seen, but still),

couldn't you find a better photo

?
 
I know, it's the music that counts ... and you probably had your hands full with the documentary and all, but ...

arrrrrrgh

... why is it so often just the bare minimum?!

Why couldn't this be made pretty?

This kind of thing tends to make me worry, because I am honestly wondering:

Am I being a total asshole about all of this?

But then I look at it again, and I think:
"Bitch, you CANNOT tell me that you

truly

believe that this is good work, when it's mediocre at best!"

Urrrrgh, I don't know...

However, if none of these issues matter to you, you can happily order a copy of the record

.

(I will purchase the digital release, once it becomes available).

Sidenote:

Fat Rikk was kinda sexy. Could have almost passed for a bear back then.

Oh, I completely forgot ... last month I stumbled upon

DEVO DEATH

on bandcamp.
 

I was just browsing and noticed the cover. I thought,

"What the...?!?"

because it looked like a crappy ripoff. Assuming that's what it had to be, I kept scrolling. But then the penny dropped, and I wondered,

"Could it be?"

So I clicked on it, and ... yes ... it's songs by

DEVO

, but done in the (general) style of

CHRISTIAN DEATH

's "

Only Theatre of Pain

"

.

It's fun

, for a moment, anyway (if you have a sense of humour about the whole thing).
 

Just don't look

up what these guys look like, it might (will) only ruin the illusion for you.

;)

Oh, and start with the first track, "Beautiful World", not with the one that's pre-selected.

June 14th, 2026