Trans Alpine
I came across a curious thing while browsing last week. Before I could think of any intelligent frame to place it in, an open ended train of thought had already linked up and headed out. You make your journey with the train you leave the station in. I was sorting through the press on Lebanon. Three generations of Gemayels assassinated now,
Chilling Echo for Lebanon, Mirror of Regional Tension - New York Times? I've lost track. I had a Lebanese housemate one year. A marionite, he was an engineering grad student studying pre-stressed concrete. He seemed pre-stressed. Assassination, it's how you make a point apparently. A twofer: get the U S's attention and murder your political opponents at the same time
Jim Hoagland - Realism, and Values, in Lebanon - washingtonpost.com. No wonder the king of Jordan believes the Middle East is heading towards multiple civil wars
Three civil wars loom, says Jordan's king | International News | Reuters.com. In some circles it's fashionable to say Hezbollah can never run a government - running things just doesn't suit such fanatical groups. They are going to give it a try anyway. Hezbollah, as part of its all-points public relations blitz, is circulating stories of Ghost Warriors (this article itself has appeared in several papers) who took active part in the "Divine Victory" TM last summer. Sounds familiar I thought, while writing a post on Arthur Machen last spring - this was after reading Hill of Dreams set in his home town Caerlon Wales. I had read of the Angels of Mons story and his part in it
Angels of Mons - Wikipedia. Briefly Mons was one of the critical battles in the opening weeks of World War I. The British army held up a much larger German advance at Mons Belgium for a day or so towards the end of August 1914. About half a year afterwards persistent tales of Saint George, angels, and supernatural soldiers from Agincourt appearing above the battle field to drive the German assaults back circulated through Britain. These stories were remarkably similar to a short and trite piece of fiction, the Bowman, Machen had published a month later at the end of September. Machen tried pointing this out, but it had a life of its own by then. A bizarre obscurity I felt then, but maybe not so much. Turns out; century-old British occultism is just what Hezbollah is looking for. About this same time last spring I was somewhat startled to hear a song called Arthur Machen which is done by a band from California called [the]
Sic Alps. I'm not sure what kind of band the Sic Alps are? I know what low-fi is (more or less), and would inclined to regard what the Alps do as more sub-fi. They have a new record out, Pleasures and Treasures, so recently I have heard more of what they do, if only on selected radio stations. They do a song called the Battle of Breton Woods. They have a nice video for the song Semi-Streets. Hezbollah is lining up for their copy. A small coincidence here. It seems that one of the members of the Sic Alps has a side project called The How, who have released a single on
slumberland records of Berkeley California. I had to laugh at this, Slumberland was an endeavor of a group of people I knew at Maryland: Archie, Dan, and Mike Schulman. I can remember when it was just an envelope of photocopied cut-outs of Little Nemo being arranged on a piece of paper. King Morpheus calls now, so I'm off. I will dream of Joanna Newsom singing a ballad of the Alps' VW bus's epic drag race showdown with Flipper's panel truck. But then I dream that every night.
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