Wednesday, February 25, 2015

WHAT A RAT!


“Nessun maggior dolore
che ricordarsi del tempo felice
nella miseria...” 

Thus sprach the wise and prescient Dante.

Indeed, there is no greater sadness than the recollection of mirth in the midst of melancholy. My good friend Currado Malaspina messed up royally. He held beauty within his grasp and he let it slip like sand through his thick and coarsened fingers. 

Malaspina &Danton del tempo felice

 The lovely Los Angeles artist Dahlia Danton literally worshiped this unworthy cad. As a young aspiring painter she hung on every feeble phrase that left his careless trap. She cared for him when he was sick and lifted his spirits during his frequent bouts of depression.

And how was she repaid?

With callous disregard.

A clue to what precipitated the demise of their storybook romance is encoded, I believe, within the pages of Malaspina's Cahiers Palimpseste (Palimpsest Notebooks).

 Could it be that Currado's amorous defections proved too much for even Dahlia to bear?

Thursday, February 12, 2015

MISSA (MEDIA) SOLEMNIS


In a moment of weakness, when a few personal calamities collided unexpectedly and the tendons of an inner tranquility seemed suddenly severed from Earth's beautiful firmament, my good friend Currado Malaspina returned to the Church.

It had been years and many, many sins ago but he was welcomed warmly like the forgiven prodigal that he was. The institution had changed since his last bout of devotion. When he was a child he was frail of both body and mind and the consolations of faith proved invaluable. 


He was attracted to the sanctity of the rituals wrapped as they were at the time within the veil of Veronica and the obscure sonorities of Latin. The less he understood of its mysteries the greater was his faith for what is faith if not the confidence in the incredible?

Art replaced that suspension of logic but after years of dissipated excess he was left like a wrinkled fondling groping again after meaning.

The Church had changed with time. Not only had the Latin liturgy receded into hermetic obsolescence, now, a new language delivered by young, 'life-style" savvy priests urged parishioners to "presence possibilities" (présencer des possibilities) and begin "experiencing the experience of the experiential state" (expérience l'expérience de l'état expérientiel). Mass, now more social than solemn, was conducted in the decidedly unholy argot of personal affirmation.  



This new departure stretched all limits of credulity. Currado could conceivably see his way toward the resurrection and even entertain the possibility of a virgin birth but this "living true to your transformation" (vivre fidèle à votre transformation) business was a bit too much to bear. 


God was good and full of grace but on top of all that must he also be "awesome?" (Jésus c'est ouf!!

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Écouter and répéter: pêcher ... to fish


A new Canadian documentary about the life and work of my good friend Currado Malaspina has just opened to mixed reviews in his native France.




The film Currado Malspina: A Life of Absences and Sin, is an intimate portrait of this very complicated man.


It might actually be called Currado Malaspina: A Life of Absence and Sin. "Absence" in the singular. The trailer seems to be of two minds on the matter. 

(A better title might have been Currado Malaspina: A Life of Absinthe and Sin, but then again I'm not the producer).

Of one thing I am absolutely certain.



from the French promotional package advertising the new film Currado Malaspina: A Life of Absence(s) and Sin

 In no way is the film entitled Currado Malaspina: A Life of Absences and Fishing.

Heck, what do I know ...