If I close my eyes
I can almost
spirit you here
your beauty
your body
your smile
your scent
your heat.
.
But almost
isn’t anywhere
near here.
.
.
© the author writing as Romantic Dominant
Art by Casey Baugh
Written a few years ago. Yet almost is never near enough.
The music starts
slow guitar
growling bass
dirty brass
drums kick in
high hat
snare.
.
His eyes
are upon her
watching her face
watching her body
as she moves.
.
She has never
felt more
a woman
than she does
right now.
.
.
© the author writing as Romantic Dominant/Faded Romantic
This post is six years old, yet a dancer is always special to me.
Art by Jeremy Mann
Winter in England
afternoon giving way
to evening
filling the windows
of this ancient room
with darkness.
.
Yet for this moment
I am not here.
.
I am playing scratchy
smoky
sensual
haunting
French jazz
on my turntable.
.
I can almost smell
the Gauloises
and the Chanel.
.
I can almost hear
Pigalle
bursting with life
outside my window.
.
I can almost imagine
you and I
somehow both
transported
to a Paris summer.
.
I am sprawled
loose-limbed and easy
in an old leather chair
drinking wine.
.
And you are dancing
and shedding clothes
and blowing me kisses
while I
smiling
enchanted
enraptured
adoring
applaud.
.
.
© the author writing as Romantic Dominant/Faded Romantic
Art by Hamish Blakely
Those of you who have read me for a while will know I listen to a great deal of music. My tastes are broad, from rock to jazz, hip hop to blues, R&B to classical, opera to indie, and many genres in between. And I enjoy music from all over the world.
I listen to a lot of new albums and these are my fifteen favourites from those released in 2021 that came to my attention. Each one, in its own way, excited, moved, touched, impressed and delighted me.
They are not in any particular order:
Sons of Kemet – Black to the Future
Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend
Little Simz – Sometimes I might be Introvert
Arooj Aftab – Vulture Prince
Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails over the Country Club
Nubya Garcia – Source + We Move
St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home
Swindle – The New World
The Killers – Pressure Machine
Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime
Lana Del Rey – Blue Banisters
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage
Arab Strap – As Days Get Dark
London Grammar – Californian Soil
Self Esteem – Prioritise Pleasure
If you ever get a chance to listen to any of them, I hope you enjoy.
.
.
© the author writing as Romantic Dominant/Faded Romantic
Photograph found on the web, source unknown. If yours, please advise and I will remove or give credit.
Once upon a time
by the sea
where the water
kisses the sand
I held a perfect
salt-bleached shell
to my ear.
The voice I heard
from within
was yours.
.
.
© the author writing as Romantic Dominant/Faded Romantic
Photography by Mira Nedyalkova
Not a brand new post. But when I listen again perhaps the voice I hear will be yours.
The music starts
slow guitar
growling bass
dirty brass
drums kick in
high hat
snare.
.
His eyes
are upon her
watching her face
watching her body
as she moves.
.
She has never
felt more
a woman
than she does
right now.
.
.
© the author writing as Romantic Dominant
This is five years old, yet a dancer is always special.
Art by Jeremy Mann
A strange year.
Thankfully there is always new music.
For those of you who are interested (and there will not be many) these have been my favourite ten new albums of 2020.
There are many I am sure I have forgotten, and most of you will disagree with these.
But anyway ….
(in no particular order)
Universal Want – Doves
Rough and Rowdy Ways – Bob Dylan
Song for Our Daughter – Laura Marling
Imploding the Mirage – The Killers
Beyond the Pale – Jarv is
Night Chancers – Baxter Dury
On Sunset – Paul Weller
American Head – Flaming Lips
Women in Music Part III – HAIM
Every Bad – Porridge Radio
© the author writing as Romantic Dominant
Art by Andrew Atroshenko
It is an age since I have shared music.
But actually this time I am sharing it with a TV recommendation, which is unusual for me.
If you have not been watching La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) then you are missing what I believe is one of the best thriller series for ages. For me, it is one of the best I have seen in my life. It has absolutely everything. It is a compelling drama, exciting, intelligent, emotional, unpredictable, fun, sexy, anti-establishment and completely addictive. It is directed by the talented Alex Pina. I have just started on what I believe is the final series (Series Four). I dread reaching the end.
Do give it a go if it sounds like your kind of thing. Watch it from the first series – you can’t dive in later on. It is on Netflix. But please watch it in the original Spanish (lovely language) with subtitles, not overdubbed. There is nothing worse, or more stupid, than overdubbing.
Back to the music. It was composed by Manel Santisteban, and the words were written by Cecilia Krull. I don’t know if it is a great piece of music or not.
But I now find it as addictive as the series.
.
.
This blog post © the author writing as Romantic Dominant
Music and video from the Netflix series La Casa de Papel (Money Heist)
My Life Is Going On
I often fill my Sundays with music.
Usually a rich and eclectic mix of sounds from all over the world.
Different genres, different, times, different countries.
I long ago realised that I like music the way I like people.
Diverse in age, sex and sexuality, ethnicity, colour, language and culture.
I realised too that my idea of hell is a place entirely populated by straight white people.
Like me.
NB Obviously the painting represents more my idea of heaven than one of hell.
.
.
© the author writing as Romantic Dominant
Not brand new, but always true, and the way I often spend my Sundays
Art by Larry Poncho Brown
I have been meaning to do this for months – well, two months anyway.
As you will know, I listen to a great deal of music. So I have decided to bore you with a list of my most enjoyed albums of last year (2019).
They are in no particular order – although Lana’s is probably the one I have played to death and Kate Tempest’s most inspired me.
Lana Del Rey – Norman Fucking Rockwell
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen
Karen O & Danger Mouse – Lux Prima
Kate Tempest – The book of traps and legends
Sharon Van Etten – Remind me tomorrow
Elbow – Giants of all sizes
Lewis Capaldi – Divinely uninspired to a hellish Extent
Billie Eilish – When we all fall asleep, where do we go?
Michael Kiwanuka – Kiwanuka
Hozier – Wasteland, Baby!
I have probably forgotten one or two, and there are a few that, on another day I might have included.
I expect there are hundreds you will think I should have listed.
Perhaps I will do this again next year – if I am still here.
.
.
@ the author writing as Romantic Dominant
Art by Rosemarie Barnes
A Faded Romantic's Notebook 
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