Gloomy Sunday

Dear James,

Two weeks ago Ian sent me a whole load of youtube clips in the middle of the night, which may or may not have been intended for the blog. Most of it was avant-garde nonsense such as Derek Bailey, but now and again he comes through with a couple of gems, such as Diamanda Galás here, who is the friendly face of avant-garde and sometimes sings proper songs like what Billie Holiday did.

Last night we saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Valentines Day programming at the cable company) and Funseeker was right, it does get better the second time around (the film, not marriage). Then we thought of secretly getting baptised as Greek Orthodox so that we could a) do something vaguely George Costanza-ish and b) get married in St. George's Cathedral here in Palermo, which is Greek Orthodox and has a lovely golden dome. We could then go across the road to Los Andes bar for a game of pool and a cheap lunch. Anyway, I mention all this because our Diamanda here is Greek Orthodox. As is Maria Callas, which surprised me. I thought all opera singers had to be Catholic.

Billy Holiday's version of this song was banned by the BBC because it was a bit, how shall we say, gloomy. Read more here, including details on the Dead Milkmen's (Theme From) Blood Orgy of the Atomic Fern.