Noel Christian Riddell profile picture

Noel Christian Riddell

'Joe Bradley, American News Service'

About Me

Musician, writer, activist, connoisseur, true friend, lantern waver, gunslinger guitarist, and single father. At times a stumbling, blinkered fool.A rake with absinthe on his breath. A foglifter, a dreaming laborer of the hoi polloi, and a pyramid builder.'Inasmuch as we are shaped by our past we are not slave to it' -NCRWhen I was 5 years old, an encyclopedia salesman visited our house. My parents did not buy a set, but the guy did leave a single volume for us to review. Said book featured a section on Greek/Roman mythology. Not sure if I could read yet or if my mother read it to me, but I recall staying up quite late learning about the Minotaur, the Gorgon, Hermes and Artemis, Pan, and all the rest of them. Fascinating to me -I hadn't seen Star Wars yet. Anyway, it gave me nightmares. The sort of nighttime terrors which wake you with a start and chase you all the way to your parent's room. Scared me silly -but the next day I was back in the book. I haven't thought about that in years, but it seems revealing somehow.During my childhood, my family moved quite a bit. Between 1st and 9th grades, I was in 7 schools (or was it 8?). It insured that no matter where I was, I was from somewhere else and it left me with a sort of non-accent. Random bits about me. Things I love: Rickenbacker guitars. Japanese cuisine: sushi, sashimi, miso, unagi don buri, oshinko, etc. Chicago is my favorite American city. I make an annual pilgrimage. My sunfish (RIP 1996 - 2007). You will learn that I am interested in: Art Deco. Surrealism. Pre-1964 films. American Indian studies. Archaeology (amateur!). So where am I now? My life spins on three axes; my children, my music, and the future. I have been a vegetarian for several years now. Not really accurate to say vegetarian since I eat fish and can't live without real butter (pesco-lacto-vegetarian). My French Toast is easily the best on the planet. Music is a constant. I play guitar, write, and sing a bit in Pyramid Builders Union. We are the best trio in Kentucky. I play guitar and sing a bit with The Menu. And I belong to the biannual duo known as The Foglifters. Other projects are coming, possibly some solo acoustic shows. I will brook no cowardice, deception, or lies. I know why birds sing. Music is the breath of God. Here at Myspace, I look at my friends, amazed at the intelligence and beauty therein. I am blessed to know you. 'Woe to the coward that ever he was born That did not draw the sword before he blew the horn.' email: [email protected]
YIM: blacksunfish


Myspace Layouts - Myspace Editor - Image Hosting

My Interests

Music is a passion. It consumes me. I write it, I dream about it, I play it. Rickenbacker guitars hold a special place in my universe.*** I am fascinated by Art Deco as it is incarnated in architecture, art, clothing, style, furniture. Tamara de Lempicka. Maxfield Parrish. *** Espresso *** Man Ray *** Archaeology (I know it's a sometimes destructive science, but it's the only way we can learn some things). ***Father's rights!Worker's rights!Photography - I would like to expand my skills with the camera. I like experimenting with natural and artificial lighting and would very much like to work with a model. *** American Indian studies. *** Travel. I live for long road trips. Alone or otherwise. *** Sushi. Few foods make me happier.*** Graphic art. I like working with a few different mediums.-more info eventually-

I'd like to meet:

Ray Davies, Imhotep, Harriet Wheeler and/or David Gavurin, Umberto Eco, YOU (or your sister), George Harrison, Billy Bragg***Someone passionate, stable, worldly, and warm***

Music:

The groups I'm in:PYRAMID BUILDERS UNIONTHE MENUFOGLIFTERSetc._______The artists who inspire me:The CHURCH, LLOYD COLE, TRASHCAN SINATRAS, OVER THE RHINE, BEATLES, PRETENDERS, Zombies, ELVIS, Billy Bragg, Stone Roses, Prefab Sprout, Richard X. Heyman, Animals, Sundays, Steve Kilbey, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gilberto, Portishead, Marty Willson-Piper, The The, PIZZICATO FIVE, Isidore, Ron Sexsmith, Chris Isaak, XTC, Peter Koppes, Steve Earle, Dixie Bee Liners, Neko Case, Mike Scott and the Waterboys, Vera Lynn, The Who, Rufus Wainwright, Paul Simon, etc.BIG BAND, SWING, BOSSA NOVA.I would be remiss to leave Grant McLennan (rest in peace, old friend), Jeff Buckley, Les Paul/Mary Ford, Julie London, Live, Bowie, and Crowded House off the list. Belle and Sebastian. The HOUSEMARTINS, Beautiful South, Jaguares...Of course, I am deeply indebted to The KINKS.Kerie Darner, Tony Pucci, John Clay Black, Craig Hagan, Daniel Watkins, Brandi Hart, Brian Hutton, Stefan Horlitz, and Jordan Riddell

Movies:

Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Busby Berkeley, Scorsese. Anything with Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Gene Kelly, Gerard Depardieu, Leslie Caron, or Peter Sellers. Michael Caine is the greatest living actor. Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' is a masterpiece. Miyazaki films are great. Astaire / Rogers films are a must. Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Harold Lloyd are always worth the time. Silent films and talkies up to the Hayes code have their allure. Even after the code films remained largely amazing until 1964. Thereafter it became hit-or-miss (with lots of misses). The 'Kill Bill' franchise is brilliant. And, of course, I adore Elvis films, formulaic and terrible though they may be. 'Lost In Translation' kills me. Juliette Binoche, Audrey Tattou, Romain Duris...

Television:

Part opiate, part informer.A little entertainment goes a long way. A little knowledge goes farther.Television devours your days.Mine is rarely on. It gets dusted more than it gets used. I do LOVE 'Futurama'. Anthony Bourdain is great. Wish they would bring back the 'Chris Isaak Show'. I do not watch sitcoms or reality shows. Love 'Twilight Zone' and campy old episodes of 'Star Trek' (seeking out tacky new styrofoam worlds).

Books:

mostly nonfiction ( art, history, American Indian studies, archaeology )-but also: Voltaire - Homer - Tolkien - Cohen - Wilde - Edward Gorey - Kilbey - Umberto Eco - Neil Gaiman - Sendak - Anne Frank - And I'll admit to having read King's 'Dark Tower' series - I read 'The Time Machine' by Wells and Homer's 'The Odyssey' once a year - Waltari's 'The Egyptian' is a worthy read. HENRY MILLER

Heroes:

ANNE FRANK, Scotty Moore, Thor Heyerdahl, Samurai Jack, Johnny Marr, GEORGE HARRISON, William van Alen, Hieronymus Bosch, Maxfield Parrish, Peter Buck, Willson-Piper/Koppes, Calvin (and Hobbes!)

My Blog

Scotland Journal - 2 Riddell House

It appeared on a great map in the Peebles, Scotland tourism office. It appeared on a Google search, Riddell in the heart of the Scottish Borders. We drove from Peebles to Galashiels, Galashiels to Sel...
Posted by Noel Christian Riddell on Wed, 07 May 2008 08:25:00 PST

Scotland Journal - 1

'Find me sitting at this tableWith my friend Finn and my friend John.Our friend Muldine tells us storiesOf things long gone, things long gone.And we might take a glass together,Whisky makes it all so ...
Posted by Noel Christian Riddell on Wed, 07 May 2008 07:13:00 PST

Commuting My Sentence

Desperately expressing things I should have said weeks earlier, I stood in the streaming rain. Water pooled in the gutters. Single parents drove their children to school and first shift workers made ...
Posted by Noel Christian Riddell on Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:16:00 PST

semblance

Half watching the intermittent flow of traffic, I feel the stainless tip of my ink pen on my bottom lip. Similes write and erase themselves in my mind. 'Cars move like blood through a fat man's veins...
Posted by Noel Christian Riddell on Sun, 17 Feb 2008 09:39:00 PST

weather the weather

Sirens wailed. I stood in the street; it was one AM. The air was still. Scarcely a needle stirred on the evergreens in the absence of pressure. If not for the siren and distant sound of the storm the...
Posted by Noel Christian Riddell on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:28:00 PST

February 2, 2008

As presidential debates air on television newscasters, pundits, professors, and talk-show hosts regurgitate each other's ideas and the weekly buzzwords.  Our once-great nation is tasked again wit...
Posted by Noel Christian Riddell on Sun, 03 Feb 2008 04:23:00 PST

Two of Six

1 A boat glides across the water Propelled by a steady current Unseen beneath the mirror black surface. The sky above covers the earth like a dome, Its vast emptiness betrayed the steady, Shimmering ...
Posted by Noel Christian Riddell on Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:48:00 PST

one thousand and five words - 2007 in summation, 2008 ahead

My sister Bridgette laughed as she said it, "You like brunettes".  It would have been an accusation save her gentle, mocking tone.  She was right, of course.  Please send my apologies t...
Posted by Noel Christian Riddell on Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:18:00 PST

December 23

My black wool coat draped across the empty chair across the table from me gives the impression I'm waiting for someone.  The thought tickles me: a man waiting for himself to arrive.  Tomorro...
Posted by Noel Christian Riddell on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:44:00 PST

the goat of Christmas passed

It's nice for me, the customer, to hear the lush piano chords of Vince Guaraldi as I breeze through a store to purchase a targeted gift item.  A recent day of shopping found me walking the tinsel...
Posted by Noel Christian Riddell on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:29:00 PST