For I feel it slipping away, again now, between my fingers, this fragile passing cheer. Though it’s already the day after Christmas, I’m consoled with the gift of knowing that the poet Zachary Schomburg spent part of his Christmas yesterday listening to Santa Loved You.
Listen to this beautiful cover of Paper Bag, by the polymelic ALGAE & TENTACLES (a.k.a. Tucson-based musician John Melillo & friends). Algae & Tentacles is also generating faithfully on Bandcamp, MySpace, SoundCloud and Twitter.
I’ll Never Smile Again, a film by Zachary Schomburg. Song by Cactus Cooler. Featuring the poet Dot Devota. Shot by Zachary Schomburg in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, June 2012. See also Steve Fitzgerald’s 1998 film for I’ll Never Smile Again.
They’re Coming For You, a film by Zachary Schomburg. Song by Cactus Cooler. Shot by Zachary Schomburg in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, June 2012
Christian Filardo’s Holy Page Records introduces CACTUS COOLER VOLUME I, a seventeen-track compilation of songs by Cactus Cooler, the ghost of a youth, who roamed the northeastern states during the 1990s. All songs were improvised and recorded between 1996 and 1998, in Connecticut, Maine and New York. You can download individual tracks, or the entire compilation here: http://holypagerecords.bandcamp.com/album/volume-i.
Holy Page’s Filardo says: “I am very honored to have these as apart of the Holy Page family. For how simply they were recorded these songs have more emotion than anything I have heard in awhile. Cooler messes with tape speed, sampling, and lyrical hooks. The songs all have a melancholy feel to them but all reach out to something super real and raw. Cooler will probably get the comparison to songwriters like Daniel Johnston and Elliott Smith, but he is a different bird. Songs like “Whale of a Friend,” “Animal Wishes,” “Please Leave Me Alone,” “Japanese Girls,” and “Volcano,” all really stand out. One of my favorite internet discoveries music wise, ever.”
THESE SENTENCES ARE NOT A POEM, a video collaboration between poets Dot Devota, Emily Kendal Frey, Caitie Moore, Laura Theobald and Kate Greenstreet, and featuring Cactus Cooler’s DIRTY BALLOON, among its sounds and images. Currently appearing in TYPO Magazine #16
An (in-progress) exhibition of the Collected Songs of Cactus Cooler, the ghost of a youth, who roamed the northeastern states during the 1990s. All songs were improvised and recorded between 1996 and 1998, in Connecticut, Maine and New York.
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Cactus Cooler was the nom de guerre of artist and writer Brandon Shimoda, and owed a life debt to close friends and fellow artists Eskimo Ron, Joey Blister (a.k.a. Joey Bluesplosion) and Seatbelt. For information, write hello to: cactuscoolersongs@gmail.com
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NOW AVAILABLE: Cactus Cooler, Volume 1 (mp3 mix), featuring 17 songs. FREE. If you'd like to be emailed the mix, please email: cactuscoolersongs@gmail.com, or go directly to: http://holypagerecords.bandcamp.com/album/volume-i (courtesy of Christian Michael Filardo)
