Belly Up with Landon Pigg & A Fine Frenzy

I almost didn't go, I was feeling so rotten, but then a red-haired angel named Sarah Shreves came and picked me up in her 1992 white Saturn and whisked me and her friend off to Belly Up in Solana Beach (on Cedros Avenue, the design district, which I very much intend to visit) to go hear Landon Pigg and A Fine Frenzy. Landon Pigg opened with "Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop," a song with this contrived a theme has no right sounding that gorgeous. It was fabulous.
He called out to the crowd after that song asking if we were a more rock or folky crew. I yelled "Folk!" about four feet from him in front but I was drowned out by the rockers. He apologized to the folkies and proceeded to perform a song that featured the band's fantastic drummer, she was ah-mazing. Afterword he looked down and addressed me directly, "Was that too 'rock' for you?" I laughed and called up, "I'm a believer!," and he sang a line from the song written by Niel Diamond.
We're pretty much dating.

Then A Fine Frenzy came up and Alison Sudol gave an outrageous performance, I had no idea what a fantastic entertainer she is! I also have to admit that she's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. Seriously. She is striking with her long lush bright red hair and the personality to back it up. She wore a fantastic outfit, brought tons of energy and dramatic flair to each of her pieces and her voice was absolutely amazing. I would totally pay to go hear her again and highly recommend you do so if you like this group's music. Enjoy the videos and have a harmonious day!
P.S. These photos are just space holders until I get the jpegs from Miss Sarah Shreves, photographer extraordinaire. Can't wait to see them!



This is her live-only cover, I loved it and wanted to share the video I found of it!

Short Shots

If you had been me this last week, here are some things you would've seen:

[—My dad, the world traveler, looking at the ocean as if he'd never seen it before; it makes itself new to him everytime he visits it.
—]An extra-slow-moving school bus with the words "NEVER TARDY" stenciled on the side.
[—An old lady dressed up as Michael Jackson on Halloween (she had everything right except that she had on a Jewish costume hat on (a fedora/top hat with two large brown curls coming out at the temples of the hat on each side, separated out to look like Michael's.
—]This guy position his skateboard on the sidewalk just so, then push off to ride it sitting down all the way down this huge hill by Rose Canyon.
[—A small section of my morning commute where there's not a palm in sight and a few of the trees are turning. When it's cloudy, it could be Nebraska.
—]You would've felt first then seen a little boy walking with his mom at the mall, and stick out his arm just in time to brush your calve as you passed one another, look down, then back at him as he looks back at you too grinning and waving.
[—My coworker coming into my cubicle to feel her baby doing flips in her tummy, my face and hand on her belly.
—]The scottie dog, Angus, I'm going to dog sit for the rest of the month who has a haircut that leaves his tail fluffy, his face hair long, and his back buzzed with a fringe of hair like a bed's dust ruffle that swings and swishes when he walks (not sure there are even feet under there.
[—A little kid ordering chocolate at See's Candy at the mall.
Kid: I need one chocolate cream.
See's Lady: Just the one?
Kid: It's not for me, it's for my Mom (as he counts out change from his pocket)
See's Lady: Do you like milk or dark chocolate?
Kid: I like mil...I mean, my Mom likes milk chocolate.
See's Lady: Got it! Here you go.
(She sets down the milk chocolate on the counter and slides the change into her palm and starts the arduous task of counting it. The kid spins the chocolate in its wrapper on the counter, rustling the wrapper paper and squeezing the chocolate through it as the lady slowly counts the change. She watches him.)
See's Lady: You know what? A girl can never have enough chocolate, why don't you give her this one too.
(The kid just looks at her.)
See's Lady: It's free.
(Kid smiles broadly at her and uses a cupped hand to slide the new chocolate next to the one he's been fussing with and stares at his wealth of chocolate.)
See's Lady: Ah, ah, ah...don't mix them up. I made sure to get one with nuts for your Mom. She'll want to know which is which when you give them to her.
(Kid nods sagely and puts one in each hand and thanks the lady and leaves.)
See's Lady: Welcome to See's Candy, what can I do for you?
Meg: I need a quarter pound of key lime truffles, and they're for my mother too.
(And they were, but I did got a delightful sample for me (dark chocolate shell around pineapple truffle.))

Five Great Things Friday

My cheap $10 earbuds look like a chihuahua got to them and outright unsafe as the plastic bits are clumping off (let's hope not in my ear!) so I went online to try to find a quality pair for cheap and here are some of the fun earbuds I found:
1)
Ah-dorable, I'm totally digging this tongue-in-cheek set (I wonder if the angel side is louder??).

2)
Too punky for me, but I do love these.

3)
Will these make my ears fat?

4)
I am LOVIN' these! But at $52 a pop, they're over my budget by about $32. I like these best, but I wouldn't say no to...

5)...these! YES PLEASE! For someone who doesn't have pierced ears, I'm thinking some genuine diamond ear bling is still within reach thanks to these babies.
Here's another pair, these would cost $3k...small price to pay for music, right? Sure.

Five Great Things Friday

Here are five great Web sites I'd never heard of before this week that are super great.

http://www.academicearth.org/
Ever kind of wish you were back in school sitting back and soaking up knowledge? I confess, sometimes I really do. I love a good lecture (they were sometimes few and far between in certain college subjects) and at this Web site, I can pretend I attend Yale, Princeton, Harvard, or MIT by sitting in on these classes by the best in their respective fields. After all, what's the difference between a Stanford student and me if we're getting the same lesson? I paid a whole lot less (i.e., nothing)!

http://www.craiglook.com/
I live and die for craigslist.com, however, every time I first glimpse the site I always thing "Huh, they still haven't prettied this up, huh?," not quite so. At craiglook.com you get all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a site so widely used and loved and it convenientely eliminates the old posts and gives you more surfing options in the side bars. You'll never craigslist again after visiting their site like this.

http://www.etsy.com/
In case I haven't made it abundantly clear, etsy.com is everything and the kitchen sink. Inspirational, entrepreneurial, home-grown, handmade bliss in a Web site. I admit I haven't purchased anything from the site yet but browsing makes me so dang happy I hardly need to thus far. Not like yo mama's craft fair, this site sells everything from one-dollar finger felt finger puppets, to mid-century pristine condition furniture; priceless antiques; one-of-a-kind diamond wedding rings; huge oil paints by soho artists, anything beautiful a person can make with his/her hands is here. Plus I love that they share the love and talent with instructional videos on the blog and interviews with the artists.

http://www.musicovery.com/
I'm proud (a little overly so) to say that I'd discovered Pandora about three years ago before it accumulated much praise (and before commercials filled every other minute of listening...ah I miss those days). I have not found its replacement yet, but I did find a fun site called musicovery.com. Like most streaming music sites, it's better if you're a member (not that I would know b/c I'm too cheap to spend the cash, but this site generously reminds you at every click that it's better if you pay). Anyway, this site works like a mood ring for music; tell it your favorite song or artist of the moment and tell it whether you're feeing calm, positive, dark, or energetic and it will match music to your preferences. Give it a whirl, it's better than pandora commercial pandamonium.

http://www.supercook.com/
This is what living in the 21st century is all about. Period. This is science fiction. You type in whatever you have in your fridge and this site comes up with recipes for what you've got. This is the best thing since sliced bread, end of story. I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

Hope you enjoy these, if you end up using one, let me know what you think. Have a great weekend!

Something in Commune

After living alone for almost two years now (is it possible it's been that long?), I think I'd be amiable to the idea of living the kind of life style the folks in the video below have created. I absolutely love people, but it's not always easy to get along with those individuals who aren't my particular cup of tea. But I'm learning to look for the good things in them rather than the bad (thanks, Lindsey—you make me a better woman).

My pastor did a sermon not long ago saying that community wasn't real community unless it had people who were off beat, annoying, or even volitile; these people bring things out in others that wouldn't otherwise be seen/known.
He told the story of The Inklings, a literary discussion society in the 1940s that included famous Christian thinkers three of whom included C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. When Charles died, Jack (C.S. Lewis' nickname) mourned his friend sincerely but confessed to be privately pleased to finally have Tollers (J.R.R. Tolkien's nickname) all to himself and not have to share him. However, after a few visits with his friend, Jack discovered that rather than having more of Tollers, he had, he was surprised to learn, less of him. For only Charles could tell a Charles joke and make Tollers laugh a certain way, Jack couldn't wring out certain convictions from Tollers the way Charles could, nor could Jack inspire the same sort of discussions Charles may have conjured up provoking a one-of-a-kind response from Tollers. Life wasn't the same without "the extra."

So I've been trying to appreciate the "extras" in my life and not despise their strange habits, loose tongues, careless comments, and idiosyncracies...besides, who knows? More than likely I'm someone's extra, and if I am, I must say that I am admirably tolerated.

I liked this video exemplifying communal living taken to an extreme but beautifully, I think. For a place this gorgeous, I think I could pretty much put up with anyone though!

Five Great Things Friday

Today I'm recommending five great Halloween reads. I feel I'm especially well suited to do this as I am a weenie when it comes to the scary stuff and, therefore, won't be recommending anything too errie or dark.


1) Dracula by Bram StokerI just finished this book and I am obsessed with it! It was so very different than I thought it would be and even hotter than I expected. Recommendation: read "sex" into pretty much everything that transpires between the humans and the vamps and you won't even believe this thing got published at the turn of the century! Well done, Victorians, well done. NOTE: If I'd had my choice and a little extra cash to burn, I would've read Jae Lee's illustrated version of the book, (its cover is seen here in the picture); it's magnificently done.



2) Frankenstein by Mary ShelleyPrepare yourself, this is a slow read but the rewards are great. You have to wade through a lot of mental meandering (not all of which is absolutely necessary) but you'll notice as you're wandering around the rich, well-written prose that all the sudden stuff starts happening. This is a wonderful science fiction piece, in its essence that was so far ahead of its time it's not even funny. If you want to really do your homework, check out the circumstances under which this story of a modern Prometheus was written.


3) In Cold Blood by Truman CapoteWhat's spookier than a true story? This is the story of a cold blooded murder of the Clutter family in Kansas. Super, who wants to read that? Consider the author. Truman Capote had just had raving success with his short novel Breakfast at Tiffany's and wasn't being taken seriously by his cohorts in the NYC literary society so he and his bestie Harper Lee (of To Kill a Mockingbird) headed to the midwest so Capote could write his harrowing piece about the grisly murder that forever changed the town of Holcomb. The book is spooky on many levels, the stories of the murderers before they committed the crime, the crime itself, the town's reaction, and Capote himself as he observes the whole event cooly, envoking emotion at will and arguably exploiting the murderers (they're just a couple of killers, right? What else are they good for besides wringing the story out of them, it's not like they're people...).


4) Wicked by Gregory MaguireI actually really enjoyed this book, for all its hype. It's a lot more twisted than its on-stage counterpart and it's an adult read with regards to language and vocabulary (keep the dictionary by your side!). This book makes you feel like The Wizard of Oz conspired to only give you part of a much richer, more politically charged story.


5) The Turn of the Screw by Henry JamesThis little read is freaky! It's short, so it packs a punch; one of the original psychological thrillers, this book is scary (or is it all in your head?). It was brilliantly interpreted for film and renamed The Innocents starring Deborah Kerr, HIGHLY recommended even if you don't make time to read the book.

Other good Halloween Reads:
For a shorty, read The Lifted Veil by George Eliot
The play, The Crucible is absolutely fantastic by Arthur Miller
If you want to play it really tame, check out Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and get wrapped up in this gothic romance.
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter is a great collection of retold fairy tale stories that are quite twisted, don't read if you're not a little weird yourself.
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is always good
Finally, read at least one Frank Peretti novel in your life; this Christian thriller author manages his craft if not brilliantly then at least with skill as a writer balancing spirituality with the horror genre. When you contemplate the spiritual world, the two are not so distantly related as we might like to think.

Five Great Things Friday

I'm never as homesick as I am in the autumn here in San Diego. The mornings are brisk but toast up to the 70s or 80s by noon, no cloudy days, no wind, few changing trees, and San Diegans generally revel in their still-constant fair weather (go figure).
I miss wind too. Big gusty, stingy wind that makes you grateful to be indoors with a hot cuppa.
So, today, I celebrate five great things about San Diego to remind me why everyone and their boyfriend wants to live here:
1) I love the military presence, although it is a grim reminder that we are a nation at war whether we act like it or not, I feel safe when helicopters hover, indestructable ships float in our harbor, and men in uniform guard the city.


2) The big blue bridge to Coronado is a beautiful feat of architecture and I almost can't keep my eyes on the road whenever I'm driving by it.


3) I love the Mexican influence in the city, only thrity short minutes from Tijuana, and I've never had better Mexican food in my life. Here's Alison from her visit last year, we were in a traditional tin shop where you find these glorious stars so indicative of Mexican decor.

4) I drive by the San Diego Mormon Tabernacle every day (it's simultaneously creepy and beautiful...doesn't it look like it's made of paper or foam board?), ironically, I don't have my own photo of it—I had to go to a mormon Website to get one and the site wouldn't let me go "back," "forward" or click out of it which I thought was pretty funny. Yikes!

This thing looks BUCK when it's foggy, it's absolutely haunting.
5) The sunsets here aren't too shabby. They're as beautiful as those in NE, but they're just totally different.



Home is where the heart is, and I left mine in Nebraska, but I guess I can stand San Diego a little longer.