Godzilla our God

 
 

This project came out of a careless comment I made to our Dean.


“..maybe you should tape record us together instead of pictures.  How about a return to sound? Images are getting congested. someone said (and I agree) Radio is good, Film is evil.  Should we make a record together? Godzilla and the Can-Can Dancers. I'm into it; say the word..” 


Now is the time to  put into practice, yes, a really social practice, our idea of a tape recording of Godzilla and the Can Can Dancers; yes, it's coming to fruition. The idea is to make it clear to the rest of the world that Godzilla is coming on strong, in a  compassionate way.  There we are, we two, at a table mixing down the latest version of the song (of which only you have the title),  while in the background, you can see Godzilla and his/her Can Can dancers roiling it out in the hot sun in the hazy background, yes; Like a slow Kabuki dancer, this Godzilla shimmies and sways he is doing the work of a true guru turning this way and that to do his dance;  he dances for all of us, embodying our bizarre turns of fate, our merciless anger our stunned rage our hurting hips our blazing natures fiery is he: radiates fire like the sun, the air slowly burning as he turns, builds bridges of mind and tears them down needless as he is. it A soft fire burning softly and quietly the air painstakingly on fire to burn to the last crisp any residue of your evil thought your unthinking tendencies your merciless judgement, burn them to a crisp.  And the Can Can dancers, that's you and me right, or is it that multitudinous flow of invisible dancers who seem to appear as your mind switches off, but look at them straight on, they were never there; they are the best-and Godzilla's got 'em!


To watch is to become enlightened, if that has any meaning now , we look into the mirror of space and see our phenomenal self as it is, without any meaning attached, pure energy form and we know: we have to buy this record.


The music: I'm thinking of an inconclusive collage of middle eastern, and transylvanian melodies that never resolve in any key with a slow steady bash on the drum; disconnected bassline that makes no sense. The whole thing has to make no sense if it's going to recreate the feeling for us, the sense of it all.  Godzilla's famous howl will be the high point of the recording, and the timbral blueprint for the architecture of the sound events the bassline will be like broken splinters of balsa wood joists of the houses underfoot; the drums are a question.  And you will write the lyrics (lyrics?).


The Video: No one can fill Godzilla's shoes, it's more of a state of mind proposing G as a ur-icon embodying unreconstructed drives and instinctual urges as a fiery energy dance, the openness of the expression leading to transformation and enlightenment - see Tibetan tankas of deities - hence Can-Can dancers. Actually the words just flew into my head at the moment. I'm thinking of a studio project, if performance there should be no musicians onstage, just actors. who wants to see musicians? What should the actors do?Well, who can capture big G on tape anyway?  We will try to make an animation for sight's sake, but who can say?  I'm thinking there is no way to capture the ineffable, and no one wants to see us musicians, our ugly mugs only serve to divert attention from the music, so:


Here is the video:  a bare stage, the actors (that we hire) standing around on stage and then cleaning up.  Putting away any props left, folding the chairs, sweeping, mopping the stage and straightening out the backstage area; putting all things to rest.  And then leaving. Then the lights go out one by one, the spots will go off and the video comes to an end.