Coraline by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury), is an extraordinary novel by a very gifted storyteller. Who is the strange, beautiful, welcoming woman Coraline discovers on the other side of the locked door? 'I'm your other mother,' she says - one of the most sinister introductions I've ever read. Adults find it terrifying; children lap it up. It's utterly original, and written with elegance and power.
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Saw Nigel Stonier play tonight. He's better known (well, he was to me) as Thea Gilmore's producer and partner. Good music.
Thea Gilmore is a staggeringly talented singer-songwriter who made my one of my favourite albums of the last few years, RULES FOR JOKERS -- smart, funny, melodic, special. She reminds me a little of the young Elvis Costello, although she doesn't wear glasses and is unarguably prettier. She's just released her three-and-a-halfth album, SONGS FROM THE GUTTER, which isn't available in shops. You can order it through her website -- theagilmore.com
I'll steal her description of the 2 CD Songs from the Gutter from her website (this is also typed as the CD cover art, not very legibly). From the dregs of songs from the bargain bin of the psyche. Here are two records one of them has songs (from the last few years) which I finished but possibly never meant to release and the other one has songs (from the last few weeks) that I'm releasing but possibly never meant to finish... one of them chronicles some obscure nooks and crannies 1996-2001 and some roads not taken...the other (my favourite) happened in May 2002 with a guitarist, bassist, drummer, a girl and her capo and a really good Chinese next door. Here are some recordings light on rehearsal and short on edits songs from the gutter bypassing the subtleties and the subtitles here is a record about abandon with a band on.
As I type this, Nigel's Brimstone and Blue CD is playing. It's really good. Literate, and quirky in all the best ways.
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http://www.thereader.com/createpage.asp?contentID=886 is a Coraline review...
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Cameras roll in 8 hours.
Goodnight.