5.6.04: Paris NY

Bush has, according to the papers, "apologized — sort of" for the U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners. Well, he didn't actually apologize — he said it would be investigated. AND he made this speech on an Arabic language TV station funded by the U.S. government. Needless to say, Arabs will not take anything broadcast on this channel seriously. Most will not even see it, as Al Jezeera is the most watched network and website.

So, although the "apology" was virtual, it created the needed imagery of Bush "apologizing" on an Arabic language network, and is duly reported as a real event by the U.S. media. The "apology" seems to have been made more for the U.S. media than for the Arab world - the Arab world knows the channel is a joke - it seems to have been done more to plug the growing hole in Bush's credibility before election days than to actually respect the perception throughout the Arab world that the U.S. is not and never was interested in democracy.

Last nights show in Paris went wonderfully. I only forgot the words in one verse of "I Zimbra," but since it's in an entirely made-up language, only the band could tell. The audience members - seated - were out of their seats by about the 4th song... and by the middle of the set the whole crowd was standing and dancing. Maybe because of this lively reception and the fact that I hadn't had much to eat I felt light on my feet and tried a couple of new dance moves. I have no idea how they look but they feel to me like my body has been gripped by the swing and is about to hurl itself to pieces, or just about. It's a great disorienting feeling, like being dizzy, and I realize that I can't do it for too long as I have to sing seconds later. I also realize that it may appear ridiculous, this primal choreography (Leigh and Tracy always chuckle) - but it feels so good that I try it a few times.

Of course "Psycho Killer," with its French lyrics, was well received; it was added to the set more or less specifically for the Belgians and the French. Mauro's suggested addition of the rave-up, guitar-solo ending satisfies more than my original understated version.

In the early afternoon I cycle in blustery weather down to Louise's apt and together we check out the shows at the Pompidou. An Italian artist has a big show. I love one piece in which he casts his hand holding the trunk of a sapling, then puts the cast hand and wrist in place, and, many years later, there is a photo on the now grown tree pinching a little bit of the trunk.

Sophie Calle recently had a huge retrospective here, and became more of a Parisian celebrity than ever. She comes with a friend to the Bataclan show and we have dinner afterwards with a group of other friends. She dominates the table with her stories and tales of projects in progress. A lot of conversation revolves around the use of tu or vous - in various combinations - using vous with a first name is a sort of combo approach. Sophie says she just broke up with her last lover and they always used vous, the understanding being that they would use tu when they didn't love one another anymore.

Another story is about a piece she did about being abandoned by a lover in Japan. She used this event as the subject of a piece but never mentioned his name. Years later, after the Pompidou show, he wrote a letter to the paper outraged that his personal life was included in one of Sophie's pieces - but he wrote it under his own name, thus revealing himself. His indignation seems a matter of male pride, and the rest of the table concurs.

Deanne (sound mixer) wants a revolution in the U.S. I'm not sure exactly what she means or what form she imagines. OK, I know she means massive change, a complete reorganization and reorientation, but how? The multinationals seem to be beyond any government regulation – the Bush admin gives a complete bind eye to anything the corporations do - both the tortures and a significant segment of the war are being fought by private corporations(!). There are more of these private troops than there are British. These mercenaries, and that's what they are, are of course not under any government control. So maybe Deanne is right - working within the legal and congressional system doesn't mean anything, at least not to Halliburton and their subsidiary, Kellogg Brown and Root.

Sophie mentioned an ongoing project, which I am sure will become one of her pieces - she hopes to "get to my future faster" so she is seeing a well-known clairvoyant and whatever the clairvoyant says will happen, Sophie makes it happen (barring murder and death, she said). It will take a number of years to realize, and one wonders if this very dinner was predicted as well.