Spending the day with the Monstrosity and his Purse

First things first. I have been searching in my collection for weeks for my Phil Manzanera "Listen Now" record and I finally looked through my carefully curated Discogs catalogue and realized I don't have it! I suspect it isn't all that easy to find, but I haven't been looking because I thought I had it. What a shame! He was the guitarist for Roxy Music, among many other projects. I have no memories associated with this record, but I know it quite well - the whole thing. Even the instrumental songs. But I couldn't even picture the album cover and I had to look it up. It is from 1978, and I can't place where it fits in my musical timeline. It is a prog-rock album I guess, but it is very instrument heavy, and some of it leans toward jazz. Anyway, it is a great album. I convinced Kyle to listen to the whole thing on the drive from Minneapolis to Winnipeg, and he didn't complain, which was great, because I loved every minute.

Listen Now on Spotify

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On to The Monstrosity (and his Purse).

The Monstrosity is my invention for a backdrop to hang my canvases. He is made of ABS pipes and connectors, locked together with Gorilla tape and hinge-pins. He is extremely complicated and quite a production to assemble - everything has to be lined up JUST RIGHT, and he is not at all stable. He does, however, come apart and fit into a lawn chair bag, but he needs an extra purse to carry his hinge-pins, cover sheet, 3 feet, and c-clamps. Unfortunately today he didn't pack his Gorilla tape, or zip ties, and was therefore unable to wear his ill fitting vertical slats on which the canvases hang. As a result he was a little sparse, only having use of the screws fixed directly on his middle and sides. He was in a pretty good mood, because I could only find one C-clamp and he didn't collapse and dump all my canvases and embarrass me like the first time I put him together in public. This was his third appearance, and will probably be his last, despite the hours and hours (and money) I spent designing and constructing him.

You can see his outfit is a little promiscuous, he's showing it all through that fabric. But it's an improvement because in the spring he went naked. He begged to have something to make him look sexier and offer a little warmth for winter, so I mangled grommets onto a sheet and installed hooks so he could feel more fancy. (I figured out the grommet press after they were already mashed on there) At a second look, I think he looks pretty trashy in his new outfit, I think I might prefer his shabby-chic industrial look. Like Zoolanders Derelicht. At least looks proud of himself, not like he is trying to hide. Oh well. And normally he is not back lit.

This is his debut appearance in the spring.

This is him a couple weeks ago, and you can see the Highlander is pretty pumped to make his acquaintance! His LBD looks much more sophisticated here. He whined to me about buying the cheap sheet, but honestly, Monstrosity, you only wear it a couple times a year, please don't be such a diva!