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| PHIL SHOENFELT GREEN HOTEL ZELENY HOTEL SICK MAN A town bar in midsummer outside painted white gone yellow; that is a pool of calm and green air in the city's dull heat and rolled-out distant thunder; is the place today that a sick man wanders; a room full of chairs and walls that cluster inwards; that leave him angry though without volition now immersed in the enigma of his momentary presence; till with manic resolve he opens throws his arms wide in the air hisses spits storms up and down cursing; leaving on the room a slow impress of doubt (tiny ripples circle between walls then fade); while down the road past old cars like a storm in prison now already he is far from the world that we all believe (the strength of his manifold obsession leaves us stunned); drawing dust and glances, summer heat (no rain) towards him now; disorder and small confusions whichever way he turns STEPS 1. A cold embrace Hooded eyes A death's head in the doorway 2. Watching behind glass Electric shadows merge in the drizzling bliss of 5 p.m. 3. On the bus-station walls hate vibes linger in fascist graffiti (twisted ugly stupid) Vast gothic porticoes... valiant stony angels... kneeling monuments of dead civic pride 4. Red light Green light The empty murderous streets gripped by a sense of futility - this "city of dead souls" 5. as if a door could open and stepping through you find yourself in a place beyond despair neither light nor dark outside space and time a beauty without mercy... the sound of knives being sharpened 6. Girl with the sleep-haunted eyes seen from a distance in the crowded subway 7. Lips suggest an opening a way in the most visible sign of acceptance - far more than the eyes whose hard brilliance may conceal hidden wells of hatred lies, deceit 8. Frozen Unable to move from the room you sit for days watching T.V. westerns choking on blind fear 9. The facts are so well-orchestrated the images so well-defined... the T.V. celebrities laugh and discuss the "face of the future" and the "modern world" DIMENSIONS OF VENUS the walls are thin someone is listening the mood is religious but you are not sacred spread on the bed my alter-ego our bodies make no sound your eyes are open a space opens full of light and our bodies fall away the radio is playing your cunt is so tight I almost came a ray of sound enclosed us I see others touching your skin you sell your love for money but I have no pretense to virtue a door opens and credits roll "sex as commodity means power..." our bodies in motion the tip of your tongue like an iceberg a shock passes through me a blade descends in the darkness of the room red blurs my vision there is a place deep inside you where I have never been our love is so artificial another dimension of venus (c) Phil Shoenfelt, 2001 |
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| PHIL SHOENFELT Born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. Musical history: Began playing guitar and writing songs at age eleven, listening to Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, then Rolling Stones, Beatles etc. Later influenced by Blues explosion, listening to Delta Bluesmen such as Robert Johnson, Son House, Charlie Patton. Also the English Folk Revival. Then came Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, Lou Reed � all big inspirations and influences. Began playing solo acoustic gigs in folk and blues clubs around Worcestershire. Took off at age eighteen and bummed around Europe and Morocco on and off for several years, busking to survive and shoplifting for food when that didn�t work. Returned to England in 1976 in time for punk explosion. Lived in London through 1977-8 and went to every punk gig possible. Moved to New York in 1979. Played first gig there at Max�s Kansas City with punk band D.C.10s, who took punk ideal of non-corporatism to its logical end and self-destructed after this one concert. Played with several other New York punk bands before forming Khmer Rouge in 1981, a post punk noise band. Popular in New York, Boston and Washington DC, but nowhere else. Played regularly at CBGBs in NYC. Supported Alan Vega, Tom Verlaine, The Clash on tour dates, and featured on 1981 White Columns Noise Festival Tape along with early versions of Sonic Youth, Swans etc. Released several 7 inch singles and tapes on small independent labels long since vanished. Returned to London in 1984 because of increasing drug problems, and the drugs were cheaper there and less dangerous to get than in New York. Khmer Rouge did two British tours supporting The Fall, then split finally in 1985. Took lots of drugs for three years but did little music, then finally cleaned up my act in 1988 and went solo. First solo 12 inch single Charlotte�s Room b/w The Long Goodbye on Mark E. Smith�s Cog Sinister label in 1989. Backwoods Crucifixion CD/LP followed in 1990 on Paperhouse/Fire Records, and God Is The Other Face Of The Devil CD on Humbug/Trident in 1993. Supported The Fall and Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds on tour dates. Did tour of Czech Republic in 1994 with Czech band Tich� Dohoda, during the course of which I met my future wife. Made live recording during this tour which was released in 1995 under the title Phil Shoenfelt with Tich� Dohoda Live In Prague though Sony/Bonton in Czech Republic and Humbug/Trident in England. Moved to Prague in August 1995 and formed Southern Cross. Released Blue Highway in 1997 (Indies Records) and Dead Flowers For Alice (Indies Records in Czech, ZYX in Germany and Hitch-Hyke in Greece). Also have second band based in Berlin called Fatal Shore with Australian and German members. One CD to date (The Fatal Shore � Rachot Records in Czech and Moloko + in Germany). New CD with Fatal Shore imminent. Played guitar in Nikki Sudden�s band on two German tours in 1997 and 1998 and survived to tell the tale. Recorded a joint CD with Nikki at the end of this (Golden Vanity), which has yet to see the light of day. Published two books also, Junkie Love a novel (in Czech translation 1997) and The Green Hotel, a book of song lyrics, poetry and photos in 1998 (bi-lingual English and Czech). Junkie Love was published for the first time in English in October 2001 by Twisted Spoon Press, an English-language publisher based in Prague. Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/philshoenfelt |