If you are seeing this blog, you should feel very special. This is a private personal blog collecting all the artistic memories of Alexandre Julien. I’m a very nostalgic person, and for me, these posts represent a lot of emotions. So please consider that all things here are from my personal opinion and that you are privileged to be seeing them.
Here you will find the real stories behind the making of each of my albums, the short stories, poems and lyrics that I have written, videos that I have shot or been featured in and pictures that relate to my artistic life. You can find interviews that I was asked and a bunch of things that may or may not have come together. No music is directly hosted here, but you will find download links from which you can easily download the material from. Physical releases should be easy to find through my official band pages.
There are three ways to view this blog. Most obviously is by clicking through the Category menu, which will give you albums, books, drawings, forums, interviews, lists, lyrics, musical retrospectives, photoshoots, poems, posters, record labels, scripts, short stories, songs and videos. This would be the categorical way of viewing the posts.
The second way is by “Phases“. The Phases are personal fences that I often class my artistic creations under. By clicking on the link above you may find out more. This would be the chronological method of viewing the posts. All posts on this site are published, not under the date that I have written them, but on the date that they have taken place. Or in the case of an album, on the date that it was released, as the recording process could have taken many years.
There is also the Search option, if you wish to find something specific. A list of the bands I have been in is here should you care to start with that.
Enjoy the memories,
Alexandre Julien
All material on this website is copyrighted and protected under Abridged Pause Publishing.
The History Of A Silly Symphony
And of course this site wouldn’t be complete if I wasn’t to give the history of this website as well.
The name of the blog comes from a film that I greatly enjoyed, Look Back in Anger from 1959. The line was changed to reflect my way of understanding my depression. “Because after all… this was only A SILLY SYMPHONY for someone who couldn’t bear the pain of being a human being any longer.” I believe that I first watched this movie on December 2nd of 2009, as I wrote this quote on my Facebook wall “A silly symphony for people who couldn’t bear the pain of being human beings any longer” at 4:51 A.M.
On December 21st, 2009, at 3:14 A.M., I posted this on Facebook: “He had complaints about life, but never solutions. He longed to be an artist, but balked at the necessary sacrifices. In his most private moments, he spoke of his fear of death which he elevated to tragic heights when, in fact, it was mere narcissism. This, of course, was a silly symphony for people who couldn’t bear being human beings any longer…” It was a mix of Manhattan and Look Back In Anger.
On February 11, 2010 5:56 AM posted on Facebook: “early morning silly symphonies.”
I started out A Silly Symphony on October 29th 2010. At first hosted on WordPress.com under asillysymphony.wordpress.com. The reason that I started this blog was because, as a music documentarian, talking with so many musicians later in their life, they forget many things about their days of doing music. And while my mind is still fresh I feel it is important to document these things.
On November 1st 2011 I purchased asillysymphony.com and moved the site over to a server that Jeremy Roux rents, which also hosts the Abridged Pause Recordings website. On March 19, 2017, I moved A Silly Symphony to my own server with Web Hosting Canada, which I got to host the Vision Eternel website.
The Visual Identification Of A Silly Symphony
As for looks, from October 29th 2010 until February 22nd 2014, the website used the Modular Lite theme, using the default background, however I believe that I darkened it. The banner was created from a picture that I took on January 18th 2010, initially intended for the Vision Éternel album “Abondance de périls”. The font was Jane Austin.
On February 22nd 2014 I thought it was time to get a fresh feel and changed to the Emphaino theme with the default background. The banner was created from one of the Soufferance film noir photoshoots with Jeremy Roux on December 4th 2011. The font used was Dragon Is Coming.
The second A Silly Symphony banner (February 23rd 2014-now)
Upon My Death:
My wish is that this blog be kept going for as long as the internet exists. I am aware that some costs may incur for such a demand and I trust that within the artistic material that I have left behind, some amount of profit can still be made to cover these costs.
I wish that this blog be made fully public (with the exception of the Privately saved posts, which can be deleted, as they were solely for my own memory). All names on this blog have been verified and cannot be changed, as this is the real story. At the best of times I tried to credit everyone with their most recent artistic name. Although those who fucked me over don’t deserve a name change. Any unpublished posts, or new material that will be found regarding my past work, should be added to the appropriate posts (or published as a new post), as I will no longer have the ability to document it myself.
I also wish that the Abridged Pause Recordings website be kept alive, for the purpose that my work as an archivist and documentarian, for other bands and musicians, be kept alive as well.
All my belongings are to be distributed by my soulmate Rain Frances. I trust that this site will be maintained properly and my art will remain accessible to the world. Words should say “Nothing goes right.”