The Loose Connections Recommender #9

On Fire & Flame & A Slow Burn

I pulled up at a set of red traffic lights one morning and glanced over to see an old man leaning against a yellow tiled wall outside an early opener pub, a just lit cigarette balanced on his bottom lip, a Zippo lighter in his hand. I watched as he held the flame of the Zippo to the back of his hand, gently moving it back and forth, expressionless. I did a double take. He lifted his hand into the sunlight and admired his brutal handiwork before noticing me noticing. He looked me dead in the eye while he took the lit cigarette from his mouth and pressed it into the raw patch on the back of his hand that had just felt the lick of the flame. Jesus H Christ. The traffic lights changed to green and I drove on. Shaken. It’s not a moment I can forget easily.

The lure of the flame can be hard to resist. The mesmerisation that occurs when staring into a fireplace or a campfire, watching the dance of a naked flame. Something about watching can also serve to soothe your mind, to disconnect you from the ordinary world around you and invite you somewhere mythical. I use a flame as a tool to help me write sometimes - just the conscious act of lighting a candle and putting it on the table in front of me helps me step over the threshold into the world where only words matter. One of my favourite worlds to be in. So my recommendation for today, is to lose yourself in a small flame.

1. Simple beeswax candles smell intoxicating and burn the longest. In one of my favourite merch collaborations ever, Kacey Musgraves teamed up with Boy Smells to create a signature candle (coconut and beeswax) and based on her sublime song Slow Burn (written on LSD). Everyone knows Kacey is also a stoner so her candle poetically smells like ‘smoldering sunsets of lush raspberry + smoking incense’. Soy candles are also beautiful and clean smelling. I especially love Mrs Meyer’s candles - cheap and available at your local hardware or maybe supermarket (if you’re in the USA) - Lemon Verbena, Lavender or Honeysuckle are my favourites - made with cottonseed and essential oils. If you’re in Australia, I highly recommend the lovely handpoured Leila Candles - try Victorian Rose, Coriander and Orange Zest. On the fancy end of the scale, Diptyque are the candles you want if you have the means for such lovely indulgences. Freesia smells divine.

   

   Kacey Musgrave’s Slow Burn/Boy Smells candle

   2. The fabulous multi talented actor/author Heather Mitchell has been painting extraordinary, ‘eerily accurate’ (according to Sam Neil) portraits of her friends and castmates on toast with watered down Vegemite since the mid 2000s. They have become legendary and now hang in The Australian Centre for the Moving Image as well as some of the best walls around town. Highly recommended artist. You’re welcome.

   

   Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Ursula Yovich and Sarah Snook on toast, by Heather Mitchell

   3. My final recommendation for today is this HOT playlist of songs about hearts on fire and cool fires and sweeping out ashes and the world going up in flames. Here it is on the evil but easy Spotify: Fire & Flame.

   And the YouTube links are below.

Burn - Ian Rilen (fun fact; I designed the artwork for this great album)

The World Is Going Up In Flames - Charles Bradley, Menahan Street Band

He Calls Me Flames - Loene Carmen

Old Flames Can’t Hold A Candle To You - Dolly Parton

I’m On Fire - Bruce Springsteen

Try To Make A Fire Burn Again - Dawn Landes

Fire Spirit - Gun Club

Slow Burn - Kacey Musgraves

Fire - The Pointer Sisters

Fire In The Water - Feist

Piano Fire - Sparklehorse

White Fire - Angel Olsen

Naked Flame - The Cruel Sea

We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes - Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris

After The Fire Is Gone - Tammy Wynette & George Jones

Keeper Of The Flame - Nina Simone

Ashes - Lindi Ortega

Does My Ring Burn Your Finger - Lee Ann Womack

The Fire This Time - Marisa Anderson

Fire & Rain - James Taylor

Cool Fire - Beasts of Bourbon

Flame Trees - Cold Chisel

I recommend enjoying this playlist with a delicious piece of hot buttered Vegemite toast in hand and a beautiful scented candle burning … also please share your fiery songs recommendations with me and I might add them to my playlist… thanks for reading the Loose Connections Recommender #9, I’ll be back in your inbox same time next week with an essay on one of my favourite topics… x.