Brave New World

pic: futuresteve.files.wordpress.com

Wrote a review for altdaily:

http://www.altdaily.com/features/arts/theater/review-brave-new-world-w-odus-core-theatre-ensemble.html

Golden G's

People just interviewed the amazing Betty White for its "My Life in Pictures" series (I think that's what it's called). The above picture was full page and just so pretty :)

So

I thought about The Golden Girls and wanted to find vintage pics of all of them...see what they were like before they retired to Florida. And...

This is the G-Rated version. There are A LOT of naked Bea Arthur pics online. Weird!!?? Possibly a practical joke blown up into the cybersphere? Weird. Weird Weird.

shout out

I was reading the modcloth blog, which is one of my favorite fashion sites, when I came across their best/worst dressed from Sunday's Golden Globe awards. Glee's Jayma Mays was voted one of the worst dressed wearing the Badgley Mischka dress above. Not my favorite dress either.

I've never seen Glee. I normally don't pay attention to the worst dressed lists unless they're insane a'la Bjork wearing the swan, etc. However, I went to high school with Jayma, and while I don't watch a lot of TV, I pay attention when I see Glee on the news, just because it's cool that someone you know is successful at doing her thing.

Sooo...the dress wasn't a hit. However, Chloe Sevigny has made publicists happy for years donning weird clothes. It's raised her profile. With Glee's win for Best Television Series-Musical or Comedy, and Jayma standing out front wearing Spiderman's leftovers, it may make people remember who she is in the future, may help her career.

It's a weird thought...to think clothing can be responsible for increasing either fame or recognition, but nonetheless a true thought. Look at Jennifer Lopez (the green boob dress--at that time she was just Puff Daddy's girlfriend), Lady Gaga (everything she wears, really), Boy George, Marilyn Manson, and on and on.

While Jayma's dress doesn't go as high on the scale as the musicians on the above list, the Sevigny's and Lopez's of the world may end up with a new contendor if she keeps this up.

el coco loco

I'm gathering materials for a Chanel collage. Broken mirror, perfume bottles, satin...The concept has been running through my head for over two years now. However, it takes a long time to accumulate Chanel bottles at $80 a pop. So I've started thinking digitally. I'm going to make digi-collages strictly for either color or image balance...Here's the first:

Contents

The Norva Flies

My husband's band, Flies With Honey, played the Norva last weekend. They rarely play an all original set, so hearing it on a big stage was a lot of fun.

make it grunge

Just heard Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes.” Simple. Sweet. It sounded like Bright Eyes or stripped down Death Cab for Cutie…Took a minute for me to realize what I was hearing.

I have had an MP3 of Hole doing this song live in the early 1990’s for several years, and it’s one of my favorite songs.

Songs like this are the epitome of why covers can be the best songs. If the bones are strong, the muscles can be stretched in so many directions. The eyes Lou Reed are lingering on are certainly not the same as Courtney Love. He “lingers on” and she “lingeeeeeeers OOOOOOOONNN” until her throat is raw.

He’s cute and she’s crazy. He romantic. She frantic. Which is weird since he’s on speed and she heroin. Just sayin’.

Yet they are both so phenomenal. I am thankful when I get to experience great songwriting…the kind that lets you hear songs in new ways. It’s a testament to the songwriter, but also the performers who recognize the potential of a piece of music and broaden it. While collage and digital design allow for room to tweak a piece of art into something new, those are more manipulative mediums. They rarely make you see multiple facets of the original in new ways. They add layers, possibly colors, possibly quotes or braces on the Mona Lisa.

Songs are different. Covers aren’t adding to, they’re stretching out, allowing the ear to hear the same thing it’s already heard in the original (be that chord progression or tone, and, of course, lyrics) but to also hear something new. And more importantly, or perhaps more momentous, to feel something new.

Most great bands cover songs without copying them. From Nirvana doing Leadbelly & David Bowie, to Ryan Adams doing Oasis, it’s striking when done well.

Some of my favorite covers:
“Hallelujah” (bones provided by Leonard Cohen, flesh by Jeff Buckley, kd lang)

“Long Black Veil” (bones by Danny Dill & Marijohn Wilkin, flesh by The Chieftans/Mick Jagger, Ralph Stanley, and Social Distortion)

“Lost Highway” (bones by Hank Williams, flesh by Tom Petty, Jeff Buckley)

Saturday Playlist

-"Amusement Parks on Fire" by Amusement Parks on Fire

I remember buying this because I liked the band name. I grew to like the band.

-"Bleach" by Nirvana

They were sooo young.

-"The Bar" by BT

My cousin wrote this song. Only a small group of people now flung worldwide know it. This blues version randomly popped up on my ipod and I didn't even know I had it. Made my morning.

-"Eraser" by Thom Yorke

He's crazy.

-typing Bat for Lashes in my iphones Pandora

It turned me onto Metric...reminds me of Today the Moon Tomorrow the Sun sorta. I'm gonna download some more.

-"Pinkerton" by Weezer

Lyrics make me laugh...but it jams.

"Lovers" by Sleepy Jackson

Indie Lee Hazlewood vibes with a Dylan/Petty lyrical twist.

-Jeff Buckley pandora radio

Heard "Lucky" by Radiohead. Missed Adam's old band Softstone. Dawn sang the hell out of this song.

She's A Winner

image: www.best-horror-movies.com

Halloween Idea #3

Carrie is my January pic for my Halloween costume. I went as Princess Toadstool a few years ago and could use the same dress--just blood it up a bit. I could even use her crown because Carrie was prom queen before all the shiz went down.

Pros: Already have the outfit

Cons: Will get fake blood on everything and will not be able to sit down or hug anyone...

Only 9 months to go!

UPDATE:

I went as Carrie for Halloween 2010 to the Zombie Prom:

Had a little party...

Hehe

Crabs

Friends

Bacon

Haha

Eggs

Fudge

Revelry

Horns

Exactly

Resolutions

Remains

live2009liveevil9002evil

I was compiling this list with great sadness....Looking at my list from 2005 (when I saw over 50 concerts in one year), this is paltry and mainstream by comparison. I didn't travel as much this year as I normally do, which adds to the problem. Norfolk doesn't really get enough good touring bands to make me inspired, thus I foresee one of my New Year's Resolutions to be more trips to the 930. So here goes, again, with the disclaimer that my resources were severely limited this year...

My Top Ten Shows of 2009

photo co: wwpv.flies.wordpress.com

1. The Decemberists at The Norva (Fall 2009):   The Hazards of Love definitively BLOWS MY MIND!! I love it and listen to it a lot...They played it in its entirety and track for track. It would swoop from indie-rock noise headbopping to WTF?!? lookatthatgirlonstagecrazycrazy!! The encore was a cover of Heart's Crazy on You. I'm crazy on them.

2. Muse at UVA (Fall 2009): They opened for U2. We paid nada surf for tickets and got there way early. We asked the security guard if we could walk to the front and he let us! I was so close to Bono I could see the buttons on his pants. However, Muse was the music. U2 was one of those bucket-list bands...Muse put on a fucking rock show. Saw Marcus from VB, whom I only see randomly and accidentally at large concerts in far away towns.

3. Roadside Graves at Taphouse (Summer 2009): We were sitting outside on a random Thursday. Bands don't normally play Thursdays at Taphouse. They started inside and we didn't go in. It started to rain after their first set. We asked the bouncer if we could go in without paying a cover because we were there to drink, not see this band. He said $1 and we agreed. And we regretted not going in the second they started playing. The Graves are in my top three newly-discovered bands of 2009...well worth more than that dollar.

4. Ralph Stanley at Roper Theater (Spring 2009): Dr. Ralph is a legend in my family. He runs in the same circles as my grandparents (apparently, anyway--I've heard this my whole life, but have never met the man). He's from where I'm from--an Appalachia so removed, it makes its urban expatriates cling together in weird fraternity knowing something mystic and desparate no one from the outside really understands. His voice is haunting and he is NOT simply the guy from O Brother Where Art Thou? My friend Matt Scruggs tagged  along. He is distantly related to Dr. Ralph's sometimes collaborator Earl Scruggs and has a similar family folktale situation. It was fun to compare stories. We sat in the front and were the youngest people there. He is in his 80's, so didn't perform the entire time...but it was great to finally see him for myself.

allthingsgo.files.wordpress.com

5. Kings of Leon at The Ted (Spring 2009): This wasn't my first KOL show, but it was my favorite so far. My Party felt like indie-rave rock and I DANCED and DANCED and DANCED. Hope to see them at the Norva sometime....the smaller the venue the better...

6. Today the Moon Tomorrow the Sun at The Boot (Fall 2009): I'd heard of this Atlanta skuzz band from my friends at Hells Kitchen. They'd seen them once or twice already...I spent 2-6 at Bier Garten, 6-10 at book (ie: wine) club, and showed up at The Boot to find the best whiskey sour in the 757, friends from Richmond I hadn't seen in years, and another of my top 2009 music discoveries...and I ended up writing about them for altdaily.com their next time in town.

7. One at Mt. Trashmore's Earth Day (Summer 2009): This was bliss. My good friends Chris Ebarb and Ivan King have been messing around w/ Garage Band for years. They are two of the most talented people I know, but they never play out. Somehow they got the headlining gig for this. I'd spent the day at OBX and rushed back to Mt. Trashmore to see them...and they were SO GOOD! Very proud of my boys.

8. David Sedaris at Chrysler Hall (Fall 2009): I just started reading David Sedaris last year. I was already a fan of his sister, Amy, and my friend Liz gave me some books to check out. They were good/funny/etc. My friend Mo was getting married in October and we went to this as the bachelorette...He was super sweet to me and gave my bachelorette a condom from his pocket??

9. No Doubt at Va Beach Ampitheater (Summer 2009): Eh. I'm running low on culture at this point and dipping into the nostalgia bucket. I took my husband to this and yes, he was man enough to go without complaint (unlike douchebag boyfriend two rows behind us who complained to his girlfriend the entire time). It was a fun summer night...especially watching all the 7 year old girls on their mom's shoulders, both singing Just A Girl as loud as they could. Awww...rock-n-roll bonding mother-daughter bonding.

10. Coldplay at Va Beach Ampitheater (Summer 2009): Wish it had been Radiohead. But...it was nice of them to play a mini-set on the lawn. Most big bands don't cater to those of us who paid $10 and Coldplay did. This was still my least favorite show last year. They were cheesy and made mistakes...yet they were really good to their fans. It was worth $10. I wouldn't pay $20.