From The Cutting Room Floor Of The Anjani Chronicles
The Director’s Cut: Posts From The Cutting Room Floor Of The Anjani Chronicles
As ongoing readers know, the Heck Of A Guy Blog recently began publishing The Anjani Chronicles, a sequence of posts based on the content of my recent interviews with Anjani Thomas,1 the exquisite singer and keyboardist best known for her Blue Alert CD and her professional and romantic relationships with Leonard Cohen.2
The research for The Anjani Chronicles, the interviews themselves, and the subsequent clarifying emails produced a number of items that, for one reason or another, are not used in the final posts. That data detritus was, I’ve always assumed, part of the cost of doing business - if ones business is writing exegeses in Bible College on the ambiguity of the Apostle Paul’s instructions to slaves, explicating Housman’s “The laws of God, the laws of man,” completing a psychiatric diagnostic evaluation - or publishing biographical posts.
At least, that was what I thought until 1:15 this morning when I realized that I was using the wrong models. While seminaries, English post-graduate programs, and psychiatry may be mired in the inefficiencies of the past, the coalition of the movie and DVD industries have solved the same problem I was facing.
That solution is to wedge the leftovers - the excised film clips, the outtakes, the comments, etc. - onto a DVD, along with the movie itself, and market it at a premium price as “The Director’s Cut.”
And thus was born The Director’s Cut of The Anjani Chronicles, posts constructed from materials developed for but not used in The Anjani Chronicles, including Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Supplemental Content, Candid Clips, Raw Takes, Unverified Material, Speculations, Rumors, Gossip, Innuendos, Half-truths, Quarter-Truths, One-Tenth and Less Truths, Flat-out Lies, Fake Items, Slander, Sleaze, Slurs, & Slime
The first Special Feature offered from the Anjani Chronicles Director’s Cut follows.
The Best Anjani Interview By Another Guy3
In the past few months, I’ve read batches of articles based on interviews with Anjani, alone or coupled with Leonard Cohen, and watched many videos of interviews with her, again alone or paired with Leonard Cohen.
I have not been impressed.
The Anjani that writes snarky comments on my posts and clever email retorts is completely missing in the interviews I watched and those I read. At best, these dispatches are vacuous, hackneyed, and bland; several surpass these standards to meet criteria for classification as “inane.” Almost none broach issues that have not been already been addressed in dozens of other vacuous, hackneyed, and bland articles.
In fact, my disappointment in the lackluster representations of Anjani found in those articles and videos was a prime motivator in the creation of The Anjani Chronicles.4
The PureMusic Aberrancy
At least one interview, however, has proved the exception. The PureMusic Interview With Anjani by Frank Goodman5 is remarkable for establishing an empathic connection between Anjani and the interviewer almost immediately. In addition, the content is intriguing, Mr. Goodman is both knowledgeable and interested, and the exchange of ideas is entertaining and provocative.
The discussion of Leonard Cohen’s influence on the Blue Alert CD and on Anjani herself, the tar pit into which most interviews with Anjani sink and die a deservedly agonizing death, is evenhanded and thoughtful.
Even the photo choices are superior to the usual fare.
Finally, PureMusic offers a PDF version of the entire multi-page article and music clips. While neither of these items are technological marvels, they are nifty conveniences for the reader and show a concern for the audience that is atypical of online and print journals.
While I don’t agree with every point and implication of this piece I cannot fault the process or technique used.
If you are going to read only one pre-20086 article about Anjani,7 make it Frank Goodman’s interview in PureMusic.
This article can be accessed at
Footnotes
- ”Anjani” and “Anjani Thomas” are, for the purposes of the Heck of a Guy blog, synonymous names which refer to the lovely, dulcet-voiced singer best known for her Blue Alert CD and her long-term relationship with Leonard Cohen. ~back~
- A comprehensive introduction to The Anjani Chronicles is available at The Anjani Chronicles - Introduction. All published Anjani Chronicles posts can be found by clicking on Anjani Chronicles in the links listed under “Categories.” My own connection to Anjani began in July 2006 when I posted Music Recommendation That Will Make You Want To Kiss Me, a review of Blue Alert that reflected my captivation with the music. An online flirtation and email relationship between us ensued. These events and the aftermath are described at Anjani And DrHGuy FAQ. I’ve also published a batch of blog entries about Anjani and the Blue Alert album that can be found at Anjani Thomas. ~back~
- ”Another Guy,” in this case, is any guy other than DrHGuy ~back~
- Yep, this is a case of a post evolving from the following statement I muttered to myself: “Heck, I can write something that isn’t much more vacuous, hackneyed, and bland than this stuff.” ~back~
- PureMusic, Issue 75, 4/2007 ~back~
- Give me a break. After putting the 2008 Anjani Chronicles together, I’m not likely to do the self-abnegation thing and recommend you read something else instead of my piece ~back~
- Admittedly, the set of those individuals who are determined to read one - and only one - article about Anjani would seem to be a small and an extraordinarily odd group of readers, but you know what I mean ~back~
