kyle cassidy (kylecassidy) wrote,
kyle cassidy
kylecassidy
  • Music: Empire Hideous -- Mr. Barnum
Fifteen or so years ago I was in the audience at Dark Harvest I, enveloped in smoke and rain lights, completely mesmerized by The Empire Hideous -- they were the best band I'd ever seen. Those of you with mad google skillz can probably find the simpering fanboi web page I made about the experience. Anyway -- I'd never seen a show put on like that before and I left realizing that my world had changed forever. One of the songs they did was Mr. Barnum, from the album Earth Inferno where frontman Myke Hideous, with his mystical and mellifluous voice, waves a distinctive skull headed cane in the air singing "Mr. Barnum, clutches, his cane, Mr. Barnum breaks you in his game...." It wasn't their best song, but it was one of the most memorable and over the years, I've seen them do it four or five times, once at a Dracula's Ball where I'd been able to ram myself into the front row by completely stepping on people smaller than me. For years, the Empire Hideous has remained one of my all time favorite bands on Earth.

Fast forward a decade -- This afternoon I did a portrait of Myke Hideous and ... Ladies and Gentlemen, Myke Hideous has left Mr. Barnum's cane in my living room. I'm runnng around blasting Mr. Barnum waving it around.

It's like finding Woody Allen's forgotten his glasses on your bathroom sink, but in a goth way.



I'm really glad to think that I'm still capable of behaving like a simpering fanboi. This life is awesome. And read Myke's autobiography, it's amazing.

"Say it's easy to forget your apologies.
Make your conscience relinquish its guilt.
This is not Sunday mass or a holiday.
Look me in the eyes and you'll see.

Mr. Barnum clutches his cane.
Mr. Barnum breaks you in his game.

Never cross examined or ever occupied.
Making cracks in the mirror as he smiles.
He always listens for suicide and destruction.
He greets your stigma with aggression vicious and cannibalistic.

Mr. Barnum clutches his cane.
Mr. Barnum breaks you in his game.
Mr. Barnum calls to you."

-- Mr. Barnum, the Empire Hideous



I've come to suspect that you can have everything you want, if you just want the right stuff.
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