this is the third and final piece in a series chronicling three of my favorite crazy dreams, the other two being cane (2013) and It’s 5:00 Everywhere (2013). in this dream, by far the darkest of the three, i sit with a big group of friends (none from real life) at a loud local watering hole around a big round table. looking up, i see two mannequins, one being one of those anatomical models found in med school (visible internal organs, expressionless face), and the other with a very lifelike, intense expression on his face as he looks deep within the “soul” of the former. he has one arm around the shoulders of the Visible Man, their faces only inches from one another, and in the other hand he holds a beating heart. i can see that it is made of rubber, but otherwise still appears very real. when i see these two, i wonder whose heart it is- is this a heart that’s being given, or taken away? i notice more friends surrounding our table then, standing against the wall. it is clear to me that they are all friends who have passed on (also none from real life), and when i see them i start to levitate over the table. adrenaline rises from my feet up to my chest, and i know that it’s the moment of my own death. even so, i look at my friends staring up at me and say i’m fine. “it’s easy. you can do this too, i’m confident.”
mid-life crisis, anyone?
credits
from Venimus, vidimus, audivimus vocem (NOC 6/21/15),
released June 21, 2015
JEFF HUDGINS wrote "Mannequin Heart" for string sextet and soprano. It’s played by Patti Kilroy and Hubert Chen, violins, Jeanann Dara and Karen Kanana Correa, violas, Loren Dempster and Pat Muchmore, cellos, and sung by Kamala Sankaram
A brain-melter from Belgium’s Joeri Chipsvingers, this album goes full Beefheart on contemporary classical music, turning it inside out. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 19, 2020