I can only assume that God And The Bear’s Justin Krahn is either a descendent of the line of Húrin or has in his possession one of treasures of Nargothrond, possibly the infamous dwarf jewel, Nauglamir; for either was cursed by the dwarf, Mîm. Last of the Petty Dwarves, Mîm was killed by Húrin, whose son Túrin, with his black sword, Gurthang, killed the dragon-king Glaurung, which, after his own death, allowed Mîm to gain the dragon’s treasure in the first place, for which, before he died, he put a curse on.
For three years, God And The Bear has been so cursed. It began with 2022’s Cursed by Dwarves, continued with 2023’s Still Cursed by Dwarves, and most recently, in the dying days of 2024, with Cursed by Dwarves III: Breaking the Curse, Justin, still afflicted with Mîm’s curse, is pleading for it to be lifted.
But can Mîm’s curse truly be lifted? Perhaps, for there is a precedence: the following is from the Parma Eldalamberon 11: I·Lam na·Ngoldathon: The Grammar and Lexicon of The Gnomish Tongue: “Nauglafring = Fring na Nauglithon, the Necklace of the Dwarves. Made for Ellu by the Dwarves from the gold of Glorund that Mîm the fatherless cursed and that brought ruin on Beren Ermabwed and Damrod his son and was not appeased till it sank with Elwing beloved of Eârendel to the bottom of the sea.”
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To read the rest of this review — and more by Steve Schmolaris — visit his website Bad Gardening Advice.
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Steve Schmolaris is the founder of the Schmolaris Prize, “the most prestigious prize in all of Manitoba,” which he first awarded in 1977. Each year, he awards the prize to the best album of the year. He does not have a profession but, having come from money (his father, “the Millionaire of East Schmelkirk,” left him his fortune when he died in 1977), Steve is a patron of the arts. Inspired by the exquisite detail of a holotype, the collective intelligence of slime mold, the natural world and the suffering inherent within it — and also music (fuck, he loves music!) — Steve has long been writing reviews of Winnipeg artists’ songs and albums at his website Bad Gardening Advice, leading to the publication of a book of the same name.
