Hello, internet. How are you? No, seriously, how are you? I'm okay, except for my head hurts terribly, and also I would really like someone to show up and clean my room, because I don't feel like it. And also wash my car while they're at it. Just generally tidy things up. That would be tremendous.
Tonight we saw Citizen Cope, which was great as usual, until he refused to pose for a picture with my sister's friend, who traveled from North Carolina this weekend primarily to go to the show. It was a sketched out response from his (I guess) tour manager. "No flash photos, because then everyone will want them. Actually, no photos at all." I'm really not one to ask for photos with performer types, unless they're real favorites of mine, and even then it feels strange. I don't know these people. There's always that awkard "What do I say?" feeling, and most of the time I'd rather just enjoy the art they create and leave it at that. But Becca had never been to a Cope show before, and really enjoys his music. She was nervous to greet him, and to ask for the picture, and when he turned it down, that was disappointing. I've seen him play several times and have never seen an arrogant side. It's easier to pick up on personality in a small venue.
Friday night we saw Scythian, a Celtic rock band with extremely large biceps. They were pretty good, actually.
Also on the music front, "Our Man in Chicago" has this post, and this one too about Van Halen and Eddie's recent return to treatment for alcoholism, which you'll likely enjoy if you've followed them at all through the years.
My Digital Rebel is really dead. I need to send it to New Jersey to see if it can be fixed. Go Canon! Offer me a service center 200 miles away, will you? Thanks! The timing sucks, as my portfolio is due the middle of May. This would be a really good time for them to offer me a nice new model to test out, don't you think?
I just finished reading The Namesake, which is an entirely fabulous book and I highly recommend it. Jhumpa Lahiri deserves every award she's received. She's a very gifted writer. The movie wasn't so bad either. I'm very serious about reading more this year, so it helps when what I pick is so good. It keeps me motivated. I learned about Goodreads.com recently and talk about book heaven. Just what I needed - another means of wasting my time online. At least this time I can justify it. Sort of.
Musically speaking, again, I'm kind of obsessed with Amy Winehouse, which was unexpected. Her voice is fascinating. And according to CNN, she's kind of a wreck, so it'll be interesting to see what the extra money does for her expensive habits. Carmen Vankerckhove wrote an interesting post over at Blogher about Winehouse and Joss Stone and other white "soul" singers and whether or not they're "novely acts" - with links to article on the topic in Salon.com and by Ann Powers in the L.A. Times. It's funny - does anyone question Justin Timberlake? Didn't think so. And Joss Stone's first record kicked regardless of color. How can you help what you essentially sound like? If you want to check out Amy's music, go to www.elbo.ws and check out the hot downloads on the left. There are several songs available. I'm liking "Back to Black" right now.
On an entirely unrelated note, I have a big decision to make in the next fourteen days. I need a foolproof decision-making instrument, so if you have any ideas by all means bring them to my attention. Pro and con-lists aren't cutting it. There are some pretty significant reasons for either option I'm currently weighing, so it's getting a bit muddy. It's all good stuff, though, and an indicator that my life will likely look quite different with the next few changes of the seasons. I'm so ready, past ready, overdue but simultaneously perfectly on time, taking the long way and whatnot. I just need some version of a legit Magic 8 Ball to get me off the inevitable dime.
just close your eyes and JUMP!!!!
Posted by: Karen | April 04, 2007 at 08:00 PM