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Blog Entry 93 of 98 Places To Go, People to See
A new blog from the Buffalo born author of the novel, 'Traveling With An Eggplant', that deals with her work, book tour, and ridiculous midadventures, as well as descriptions of Clarence bars, restaurants, businesses, parks, etc so that people know more about her hometown and get a humorous look at what's featured in Clarence and what being there is really like so that they want to make an effort to check it out. People actually living in Buffalo have zero excuse for not going anyways but hopefully the blog will give them that extra push. For more info, there's always the official site: www.alyciaripley.com where you can read all about the lively, eccentric brunette and what she's currently up to. In addition to promoting "Eggplant," her new book 'Try Anything Once' should hit stores in late summer '07 followed by a novel called 'Winterphoenix' shortly thereafter. She is also an obsessive copyeditor, the co-editor of an anthology book of works by Buffalo born writers along with notorious Buffalo man about town essayist, Tom Waters as well as being a commentator for this just-born site. She has performed in many NYC stage productions and has an upcoming extended stay in Los Angeles to further her film work. Her nomadic life has helped her to appreciate what Buffalo and in particular, Clarence, NY has to offer, so get there already and see what all the fuss is about.

Blog Url: http://buffalo.yourhub.com/~AlyciaRipley

Ian Curtis 1956-1980 Love Will Tear Us Apart Again

Contributed by: Alycia Ripley   on 5/20/2008

I'm two days late with this and that's because I was deliberating heavily on what I wanted to say. Ian Curtis died, hung himself actually, on May 18th, 1980 and we lost a terrific talent. The leader of Joy Division which later became New Order, he was a fantastic lyricist and guitar player and charismatic front man singer. I'd been listening to him since I was a little girl and always craved more information about him and realized early on that he's heavily revered in the UK where he's from (Manchester, specifically) and even artists like Bono hail him as one of the greatest lyricists and singers that ever lived. It seems like a funny thing to say but I always related a lot to him, not only his songs and his creative process (which you can check out for yourself in documentaries, biopics like 'Control', his widow Deborah Curtis' biography of his life and their marriage 'Touching From A Distance', and in a strange, slanted but fun docudrama/comedy of the times back when Tony Wilson was managing Joy Division- '24 Hour Party People') but to the photos of he and the band. It's strange because I was a young, female, American child who liked the sun and lived in a happy city while he was a pale, adult, troubled man and successful recording artist from Manchester, England. We all have kindred spirits though, each one of us, andI listened to his albums and watched old footage (which in the early 80s wasn't very old- he had only been deceased for 3 or 4 years when I first heard of him) feeling that I'd want to take walks with Ian, have lunch with Ian, write on pieces of blank looseleaf paper with Ian, and be this young moppet with yarn decorating my ponytail dancing around Ian as he played the guitar. This was also before I had any real idea of what suicide meant or what it entailed for those left behind. But when I'd see those famous photos of Joy Division standing together in long black coats next to a fence, or playing live, he was always right there with them but always looking in a different direction, removed in some way. When you look back at the documentaries it was amazing how well the band got along considering the stories I hear about current bands and the diva behavior that goes on and it was Curtis' bandmates that said if any one of them were to have to leave the group for any reason, the name of the band would have to change because it simply wouldn't be the same entity anymore. I always liked that detail. The band claimed Ian was 'their eyes' and as odd as this sounds, it makes sense and without him something was different. When New Order rose from the ashes of Joy Division their first hit 'Ceremony' was all Curtis- written and arranged by. It's especially a poignant song when you listen to it now that he's passed- I wish he could have seen its success. It's unnerving to me when artists commit suicide because we never understand it, questions go unanswered, and the suicide itself takes over their persona and who they were and how they were remembered and gives them an iconic status different from that which comes from artistry. What people should know about Ian is that he was incredibly physically sick- he had an advanced case of epilsepsy and wasn't treated correctly for it, leading it to become worse and worse and fans thought his manic movements on stage were just cool posturing when in reality it was from his desperately trying to hide what he considered his embarassing condition and be able to play the remainder of the set. Not only was it physically painful and a frequent cause of seizures, he was embarassed by it. He also was a very young man who was academically brilliant and chose a music career that while successful, never quite got him out of depressing Manchester for too long and his marriage (he married very young) was dissolving and he had an affair with a journalist. I will never understand suicide and certainly don't condone it but it makes a little more sense when I read up on how physically ill he was, a condition he tried to hide. People often make bad decisions when in pain and dont see an end to it. The medication in impoverished Manchester back in the 70s may not have been that great. His personal troubles added to this and for some reason, he took his life on May 18th 1980 leaving behind a baby, a wife, and a band who loved him. I don't like to rhapsodize about these things for too long because I don't want to seem like I'm idealizing suicides or writing music reviews or trying to create an idol out of a singer, if anything, I want to do the exact opposite. I just wanted to write a little reminder that he was here, that he wrote great music, and that I wish I could have met him because he continues to inspire me and as incongruous a match as it might seem, I feel I would have had a nice friendshipand many creative discussionshad I been older and in the UK at that time. He inspires a lot of my own work (a story called 'The Orange Balloon' in the upcoming short story collection I'm writing is inspired by and dedicated to him) and is an artist I wish we still had around in this era of prepackaged, overly produced music by artists who wouldn't know what writing or arranging a song meant if they tripped over it. Wish you were still here, Ian! Any writer who is a fan of yours is BETTER because of listening to you.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFO

Alycia Ripley

Clarence , NY

Alycia Ripley has posted 98 blog entries and 8 comments since joining on 12/6/2006. Alycia Ripley 's average blog rating is 4.61.
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