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Some Melodious Plot

@somemelodiousplot.bsky.social

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‘I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.’ https://somemelodiousplot.blogspot.com/

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 19d

More from the Theatre Picasso exhibition at Tate Modern. Grey guitars, doves, and a cock and a pair of balls. And a more than welcome bit of Frank O'Hara.

@tate.bsky.social

somemelodiousplot.blogspot.com/2025/09/why-...

‘Why I am not a Painter’ - Theatre Picasso (II)

“If I knew Picasso, I would buy myself a grey guitar and play.” (Counting Crows, ‘Mr Jones’) * The first time that Picasso flas...

somemelodiousplot.blogspot.com

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 2h

Well that’s kind of timely. Great song.

Counting Crows and ‘Mr Jones’.

“If I knew Picasso, I would buy myself a grey guitar and play ….

www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

‘The vocals were on another level’: how Counting Crows made Mr Jones

‘It’s about the night me and my best friend Marty Jones hung out with a flamenco troupe, wishing we were cool musicians too – so we could talk to the girls a little better’

www.theguardian.com

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 14h

Mark Twain called the Venus of Urbino ‘the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses … it was painted for a bagnio and it was probably refused because it was a trifle too strong … in truth, it is a trifle too strong for any place but a public art gallery.’

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 16h

Today's favourite piece of Tuscany art (I'm back in Tottenham, but that doesn't mean I can't keep posting).

It's not a competition, but I can't stop flip-flopping over whether or not I prefer Titian's Venus or Velasquez's Venus (in London)?

Urbino v Rokeby?

Bluesky prude label inbound.

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 18h

I think I need to be clear that I didn't go and have a rummage either. Far too early in the morning! :-)

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 20h

Old Street filth!

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 21h

In light of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch's anecdotes about being forced to play her cello for Joseph Mengele in the death camps, I'm listening to Schumann's Träumerei over and over again, and willing the piece to take as much time as it needs.

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 1d

And Bradford City apparently.

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 1d

An utterly gorgeous and riveting piece on Kate Kennedy’s new book on the cello. Reading, with Jacqueline du Pré bowing majestically in the background. @lrb.co.uk

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Thomas Laqueur · A Different Life: Can cellos remember?

Cellists and violinists in particular are haunted by the musicians who played their instruments before them and those...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 1d

Drop off party for the boy, so the last Soho Square tin of the year? And Northern Monk? I might have been called that before! 😅

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 1d

Sunday mood! 🐈‍⬛

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 1d

And not just because it’s very funny … but in reaching for the euphemism, she’s only doing what Forster does.

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 1d

I love this Katherine Mansfield quote on E.M. Forster:

‘[He] never gets any farther than warming the teapot. He's a rare fine hand at that. Feel this teapot. Is it not beautifully warm? Yes, but there ain't going to be no tea.’

He certainly brings out the tea in ‘Maurice’ though.

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 2d

I like that. Getting the street kids into the Cardinal’s court. :-) Currently reading the arguments about whether the model is Mario Minniti or Caravaggio himself. I’m not buying the latter though.

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 2d

That red is glorious. Maybe that’s why I didn’t touch a drop of white on my trip. :-) Look at the distortion on the glass as well … I’m more and more convinced it’s a deliberate nod to drunkenness.

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 2d

Weird shallow glasses aside, I love the dirt caught in the ends of Bacchus’s fingernails. Wine coming from the ground and all that.

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 4d

It’s wonky … but maybe the wine has gone to Caravaggio’s head. 😅There’s arguments that it’s a self portrait and he’s painting himself in a mirror. Holding a glass of wine and painting would be trickier than painting the Sistine Chapel on your back.

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 4d

Today’s favourite piece of Tuscany art.

I’m drunk and it’s my last Tuscan night, so aptly it’s Caravaggio and ‘Bacchus’. A nipple and a half eaten pomegranate.

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 4d

I couldn’t even get my finger push selfie right … even before I’d had a drink, let alone do a tap dance.

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 4d

I ain’t finding it tonight. Two cocktails and a beer and I’m done.

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 4d

Currently in my cups trying to comprehend how Michael Riverdance Flately could tap his feet 35 times in a second. I’m trying it with my fingers and am somewhere between 7 and 8.

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 4d

Sundowners in Pisa. Chin Chin, shipmates!

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 5d

Have you read some of her books. Just Kids is magnificent. One of my student fundraisers was reading it back in spring and I thought we were about to have a great discussion about her music. “She’s a singer as well?” I sent her on her break early to listen to Horses. 😅

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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 5d

Haha! In retrospect I knew it was a trap. But I still leapt …

Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 5d

Those bastards at the New York Times …

Connections
Puzzle #851
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Some Melodious Plot @somemelodiousplot.bsky.social · 5d

I’ve just reread that poem and Jenny Joseph actually prescribes spitting when we get old! 😅

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