April 2018

Censorship... and a retreat at the antipodes

December 6, 1965, first round of France's presidential elections, Mitterand and Lecanuet against De Gaulle, who will win by the second round. To cheer up the election night, a few singers have been invited to perform by Jean-Christophe Averty, extra-terrestrial director, who has been seduced by a track from my first single, recently released, La Guerre (The War). This is my first TV appearance, I've rehearsed twenty times my song, but at the last moment, the government declares itself opposed to the broadcasting on election night on the very respectable ORTF channel, of a song called "The War" ; so I sang another song from the EP, less provocative.
April 2018, Paris prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of May 68, and an exhibition addressing the first signs of the events, and the censorship facts then current, is held at Maison de la Radio; one can see there, among others, the covers of two of my records taken from the ORTF's venerablediscotheque, including La Guerre, with the label wildly scratched with a mention in blood red "Forbidden" "after 23h"; I had not been aware to this day of the violence of this prohibition! As for the Elucubrations, where I demanded the sale of the Pill in the Monoprix, shamelessly breaking the 1920 law that prohibited all contraception- and even just to speak about it- this song, published two months later, quickly became so successful that the ORTF could not afford not to play it! Such censorship certainly could not happen today? Ha!

I send you this message from onn board Banana Split, which I have just found, in the "darse" (small basin protected by a jetty) at Hao atoll, after spending two weeks with Francette in the southernmost part of New Zealand, from the Otago Peninsula to Stewart Island, through the wonderful Catlins region, hills and meadows inhabited by hundreds of thousands of sheep. The world is small, simply judge:


Having booked via AirBnb a small chalet on a hill, Francette and reaching there experienced a sensation of déjà vu; I had to extract from my computer the film that we shot 12 years ago in this region to realize that it was a place we had barely touched that year, but which we had enjoyed immensely. If you are looking for a secluded spot, far from everything, in this region with so soft landscapes, I warmly recommend this place, called Hilltop, several pretty rooms divided between two beautiful small houses, well equipped and a breath-taking view, near the village of Papatowai, and the magnificent panorama of Tautuku Bay, from Florence Hill lookout.

We enjoyed this journey of beautiful landscapes, we saw albatrosses, gannets, and even a bird virtually extinct, the Takahe; no kiwis, not easy to discover, except for the huge one, which adorns the quay of the beautiful city of Queenstown.

Don't be a fool, enjoy April

Antoine