Engineer's Daughter

mah marie

U.S. Girls

Currently native to: Mississippi

Next local gig: ???

RIYL: Inca Ore, Pocahaunted, Tickley Feather

Notes: U.S. Girls is the musical alias of one Megan Remy, who crafts wonderfully bewitching and just plain weird experimental psychedelia heavily inflected with noise and a nice dash of the avant-garde.  Remy's vocals drift somewhere deep below the surface of her music, sometimes dreamy, sometimes harsh, always beautiful.  Greywave at its best.

Buy: Go Grey LP (Siltbreeze) and the U.S. Girls / Dirty Beaches split 7" (Sibling Sex)

See also:

iraqi national museum reopens

There is so much about the Iraq War that makes my heart hurt, but one of the more painful images for me was of the deputy director of the Iraqi National Museum sitting on the floor of his building among the broken and looted remains of myriad priceless artifacts with his head in his hands.  So it seems nothing short of a miracle to hear that the museum reopened a few weeks ago with many of its major pieces recovered (some by US troops no less) and restored.  However, Maev Kennedy says that there is a sad note that must be considered along with the happiness:

In the joyful headlines over the recovery of iconic pieces such as the 5,500-year-old Warka Mask, a serenely enigmatic alabaster head smiling faintly at the absurdities of human folly, it was almost overlooked that thousands of small metal and clay pieces, inscribed tablets and amulets, seal cylinders, easy to smuggle, hard to trace, of little commercial value but priceless to historians, have almost certainly gone for ever.

Still, what a wonderful thing to have some treasures and relics from thousands of years of culture back where they can be enjoyed by visitors.  And may the individuals who pilfered the smaller items and then did not return them be tormented by vengeful ghosts.

underwater museum in alexandria

The classics nerd in me did a little bounce of joy to see the images that have been released by architect Jacques Rougerie of the proposed underwater museum in Alexandria's harbor that will allow visits to Cleopatra's palace by the scuba-disinclined for the first time since the 5th century.  It's a brilliant idea to construct a fiberglass tunnel to the site instead of trying to move the fragile artifacts (which reportedly also contain remnants of the famous Alexandria lighthouse), though the project faces concerns about funding and whether proper site surveys will be conducted before construction begins.  Jack Shenker talked to Naguib Amin, local site manager for the Supreme Council for Antiquities, about some of the questions being raised:

Amin rejected claims that money would be better spent giving a makeover to the city's crumbling downtown buildings, most of which feature stunning colonial-era architecture. "We view the museum as an integral component of revitalising the city as a whole," he said.

If everything comes together properly the museum should be open to the public within five years, at which point I will be on the first plane to Egypt to go walk under the water.

china: journey to the east

The year I lived in England I discovered very quickly how easy it was to pop on a train from where I was situated in Coventry and two hours later find myself in the midst of London.  My first stop always was (and still is) the British Museum, where it's possible to immerse yourself in your pick of any number of world cultures.  The Asian rooms have always been particular favorites of mine, chock full of images of serene bodhisattvas and fierce warriors, and now the better to reach those who live outside the capital the Museum has organized a touring show called China: Journey to the East that will make stops at venues around England for the next few years (including the Herbert near my old stomping grounds in Coventry).  The exhibition collects objects from 3000 years of Chinese history and seeks to give further insight into this country with its rich cultural history and current complex (and sometimes troubling) character.  You can see some highlights from the show here, and don't miss the delicately-painted shadow puppets estimated to be from somewhere between 1850 and 1950.  I want the tiger.