Magic Jewball

I wasn’t especially inspired by any song this week, so I thought instead I’d link to this video. I’ve never really been a Beck fan although I was as amused by “Loser” as the next person. Once he got serious I kind of lost interest. But recently this bizarre and tragic story unfolded here in New York where a famous video artist, Jeremy Blake, is thought to have killed himself by just walking into the ocean after his companion, another famous person in the art world (can you tell I know nothing about the art world?) killed herself. They’re not sure; they found a body but it hasn’t been confirmed that it’s him.

Evidently, they’d both been exhibiting odd behavior, believing the Scientologists were after them, which dated back to Blake doing this video for Beck (who is a Scientologist). Strange. But people tend to become even more famous after their deaths and maybe I never would have seen this video if all this hadn’t transpired. I’m utterly mesmerized by both the video and the song, the last which almost seems an elegy for the artist, which of course it isn’t. I’m thinking about putting this song (Round the Bend) on my iPod but I’m afraid it won’t hypnotize me the same way without the abstract washes of bright color all melting slowly into each other. So beautiful, so sad.

[youtube width=”425″ height=”335″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qw_CAXzGFU[/youtube]