Dear February all
C93 Channelled Baby Babylon as PickNick in London, 8 February
I and all of us would like to thank all those who attended, and worked at, C93’s London Channelling on Saturday, 8 February. I would especially like to thank Shirley Collins, Ian Kearey, MacGillivray and all of C93—Jack Barnett, James Blackshaw, Ossian Brown, Reinier van Houdt, Andrew Liles, Tony McPhee, Jon Seagroatt, Carl Stokes and Bobbie Watson. It was, of course, deeply moving, and a huge honour for me personally, that Shirley Collins returned to sing onstage for the first time in over 30 years. She had briefly sung with Bob Copper in Lewes some time ago, but this was the first time she had rehearsed songs and performed songs from her own back catalogue. It has been one of the highest points in my life to be the means of bringing Shirley back to sing on stage. As she acknowledged on Saturday, I believe, I have been asking her to sing live at a C93 concert since we first became friends in the early 1990s. And I am of course OverMoon to be working with Tony McPhee. His work, both with the Groundhogs and solo and in many other projects, has been one of the major influences on my own work. It goes without saying—so I will say it—that my admiration of, and love for, all those other 93s who also appeared on stage with me and their work is utter and eternal. And to all those other family members of C93, whether on stage with us or not, thank you and amen.
Many thanks, too, to those kind stars at QuJunktions who organised it—Mark Slater, John Stevens, Chiz Williams and Ralph Cumbers—and the honeysweet sound crew they brought it, Alan Burgess and Paul Bullimore, and the bricoleur for listening with 93 ears. Shaun Whitehouse for getting us there and back, over and over again. And everyone at the Union Chapel who were so kind and supportive. And, in no order other than disorder, Geoff Cox-Dorée (who kindly introduced Shirley on stage), Ania Goszczyńska, Davide Pepe, Miss Kat, José Pacheco, Adrian Pike, Nidge Ince, Danella Corcio, Selly Zilio, Gary Robertson, Roberto Martincich, Hugo Lundhaug, Victoria Tischler, Polly Marshall, Claus Laufenburg, Ruth Bayer, Lauren Winton, Dave Knight, Giorgio Cebrero and all of those at Burning Bridges. And of course I offer huge gratitude to all those many friends, known and unknown, who came—too many to name. Thank you all! And apologies for anyone I have forgotten to thank. You are all Last Fields.
A number of photos of the concert have been added to a gallery on the Coptic Cat website. Go here.
Photos shown here by Karolina Urbaniak.
Shirley Collins’ appearance mentioned in the Guardian, and guide to her songs
There were a couple of small pieces on Shirley’s return in The Guardian newspaper. Unfortunately, there were a couple of inaccuracies in the guide to her best songs. But who believes what they read in newspapers anyway?
Shirley’s live appearance • Guide to best songs
Shirley Collins: the forthcoming film
C93 Channel 7 purr Catland in England and Denmark and Germany soon
As we have mentioned before, we have a small number of Pussydom PickNicks coming up in the following months in the above-mentioned countries. We will be giving more details on them in our next update.
London Channel C93 material
As mentioned, there were a couple of items that were available only at the London Channelling. We will be adding the remaining copies to the online shop at DavidTibet.com once the huge backlog of orders we have for the new album and the lyric book are dealt with and sent out. The items are as follows, and they are in somewhat limited supply.
I:
2LP in pink transparent audiophile virgin vinyl
2LP in pink transparent audiophile virgin vinyl in silkscreened PVC cover with signed and numbered art print housed in silkscreened PVC cover.
Housed in the standard gatefold full colour sleeve used for the black vinyl edition, with all SPHERES on the front of the cover spot laminated and photos of the band in the inner gatefold. Inserted into a PVC sleeve that is silkscreened in pink with a different image/text on each side. Includes a folded A3 insert with all lyrics printed in pink ink on white paper (as opposed to black ink on white paper in the standard black vinyl 2LP). Each copy is accompanied with a pink and white silkscreened print (300 x 300mm/11 ¾" x 11 ¾") on 300 gsm Fabiano art paper. Each print is signed and numbered by David. The images shown here show the print itself, and how the gatefold album cover looks when inserted into the screenprinted PVC sleeve.
The recording and mix of this edition of the pink vinyl is identical to that on the black vinyl 2LP; the Norbert Kox poem on this version is THE END IS NEAR, as it is on the black vinyl. 193 copies were made. This will cost £39 plus postage and packing.
II:
2LP in pink transparent audiophile virgin vinyl (alternative version)
2LP in pink transparent audiophile virgin vinyl, containing a different Norbert Cox poem to the other 2LP versions. In silkscreened two-sided, three-panel poster cover housed in a silkscreened PVC cover.
Three panel silkscreened foldout poster cover in 300 gsm card, with different artwork by David Tibet on both sides of the poster, a different Norbert Kox poem to all other editions and different record label, with Chinese text for “The Spheres” and Chinese numerals on each side. Includes a folded A3 insert with all lyrics printed in red ink on white paper. Inserted into a PVC sleeve silkscreened in red with a different image/text on each side; one side of the screenprinted PVC sleeve differs to that on the other pink 2LP. The images shown here show both sides of the three panel foldout poster cover, and how that cover looks when inserted into the screen-printed PVC sleeve.
The recording and mix of this edition of the pink vinyl is identical to that on the black vinyl and other pink vinyl 2LP, but the Norbert Kox poem on this version is 2000 PIGS, and thus differs to the Norbert Kox poem on the black vinyl and other pink vinyl 2LP. 313 copies were made. This will cost £31 plus postage and packing.
Lyric book pre-orders
All those who ordered the book so long ago will receive, as promised, an accompanying CD, assembled by my dear friend José Pacheco, of demos and out-takes and oddities as well as a small additional item, signed by David, which we are waiting to arrive. All the books are being sent out this week. Some people have written in saying the address that is shown online for their book to be sent to has not been updated. However, we have received all the emails we were sent notifying us of address changes, and we will be confirming these addresses with you as we send the books out.
The lyric book is still available to order from DavidTibet.com.
General mail order comment about orders we have received
We have been inundated with orders—and still have around 1,000 to process—and so we are under great pressure. But we have started shipping orders already and sending out PayPal confirmation emails. The lyric book is being sent out to those who pre-ordered it, and to those who have just ordered it, this week, at the same time. Please bear with us; it is primarily myself and a couple of Cats who deal with sending out the items, so it will take us time to process them. But we are working as fast as we can—faster than the speed of light, and in a total eclipse of the heart.
‘Ušumgallu Aleph’
Apologies to all those who ordered UŠUMGALLU ALEPH. As I have said to you, in private emails, my workload at the moment is so excessive that I am finding it difficult to make time for all my projects. It is Very Imminent!
Forthcoming Tibettes
After clearing the order backlog, I will be starting on a large joint project with Norbert Kox. In addition, I will also return to finishing off my edition of the Collected Works of Count Stenbock and preparing a series of vinyl reissues of C93 material. I have also begun work on some other items that will be released on The Spheres in editions of between 39 to 93 copies each. I am very excited about all of these. I continue to study Akkadian with Thomas Sowards, as well as Coptic; in the latter Field, I have an edition and translation of a Coptic magical text appearing in a forthcoming academic volume of some of the fascinating Coptic texts kept in Strasbourg. I will give more information on all these projects as more information becomes available.
Coming soon: ‘Mighty in Sorrow’, a tribute to David Tibet and Current 93
Stories by Thomas Ligotti, Joseph Pulver Sr, Michael Griffin, and many others. Introduction by Andrew Liles. Cover by Aleksandra Waliszewka. Edited by Jordan Krall.
I am OverMoon to announce this beautiful PickNick Gift to me and us and our. More details, including all authors and their stories’ titles, on an update VeryVeryVery Soon.
A beautiful homage to JK Huysmans published
I am, as, no doubt, are many of you, a great admirer of J-K Huysmans’ work, and I wanted, too, to praise this beautiful edition by Zagava and Ex Occidente Press. Utterly and swiftly recommended. The publisher’s press release is below:
Transactions of the Flesh—a Homage to J-K Huysmans, edited by DP Watt and Peter Holman, published by Zagava and Ex Occidente Press
Published in December 2013, this anthology collects tales and imaginings of 17 authors related to, and inspired by, the many facets of Huysmans’ life and work – from his flirtation with darkest decadence to his immersion in Catholic thought. Huysmans is of course most famous for authoring the proto-decadent bible À Rebours, the model for Lord Henry’s Yellow Book and for influencing many other writers of the decadent movement, including Oscar Wilde.
150 hand-numbered copies; 254 pages; hardbound book in sumptuous black-bluish crushed silk; black book-ribbon; diecut spyhole to the front cover; illustrated endpapers; two colour printing inside, illustrated; head- and tail-bands.
The Key to Jerusalem by Mark Valentine • Pray to the God of Flux by Jonathan Wood • Endgame Aesthete by Jeremy Reed • Ziegler against the World by John Howard • Towards Nature by Douglas Thompson • In Our Deep Vaulted Cell by Derek John • Summer Dusk, Winter Moon by Berit Ellingsen • Ash Sun, Rasberry Sky by Adam Golaski • Angel Head by Harold Billings • Starless Mornings Find Me Older by Peter Holman • An Expiatory Pessimism by Eugene Thacker • The Red Seed by Louis Marvick • Indescribable by M.O.N. • The Sulphur Remedy by Oliver Smith • Salammbo and the Zaimph of Tanit by Colin Insole • Again, the Granite, or A 21st Century Secret Experiment in Devastating Ennui by Charles Schneider • A Hive of Pain by DP Watt • Pierrot the Sceptic (1881) by Leon Hennique and J-K Huysmans
The lettered edition was sold out before publication, but numbered copies, priced at £80 including trackable shipping, are still available from Zagava in Germany: books@zagava.de.
Coming soon: Happy Birthday to me!
Love to all,
David+++, Speller.