"Why do you have blue on you?"

-Will, age almost 3, about my nail polish.

...and other summer ramblings.

• Is summer too hot for spiders? Is that why they hang out in my room?
• HEY I killed my first ever mosquito todayyyy
• Ikea's having a sale. That never happens. Quick, get your 30 cent hand towels!
• Reading pleasure books alongside required ones makes the latter easier to get through.
• Parents, if at their last resort, try to get along for their kids. Siblings have no such motivation. Civility isn't cool enough, apparently.
  
• Luckily, my friends can drive.
• I need to replace my permit.
• Coming soon to Lucy's walls: Rapture Blue. A color bright enough for all four walls, but deep enough to rule out baby blue..sky blue..other weenie blues.... I mean come on. Rapture.
  
• Sun bounces off of me. The only difference between my skin in the womb and my skin now, is that there's more of it.
  
• I'll probably still manage to die of melanoma.
  
• Speaking of death, are gardenias too aromatic for even themselves to handle? They last maybe six days. Where's the will power in that?
• My phone doesn't send texts anymore.
• I like that it's lighter for longer. I need to put it to the test with a rousing midnight game of hide-and-seek.
• "Hide and Seek" is a wonderful song. I'm sorry. I couldn't ignore that music plug. The song is worth it.
• WAIT false alarm. The text sent.
  
• I canceled Smorty and they still link my words. That totally sucks. I've already emailed them four times about how to handle it. They misunderstood my problem and probably feel harassed at this point.
  
• When given the word "harass" in a spelling bee, ask for alternate pronunciations. When they say HARE/us instead of huh/RASS, you'll remember that there are not, in fact, two Rs.
• Also, "panache" is not phonetic. P-i-n-a-s-h sounded good though, didn't it?

• I love you guys. I love summer. I love late nights and late mornings. I love getting out of the house with no apparent agenda. I love the concerts, I love the movies, I love the parties. I love that you're here to hear all about it.
  

• Homonyms kind of suck though, huh.

"Totally Underestimated The Creepiness."

The Cure, a beloved 80s into 90s alternative post-punk band, is a far cry from the act I'd pictured. Somehow, having listened and never seen, I envisioned them more along the lines of the fictional pop band of "Music and Lyrics," Pop! I don't know why I ever pegged them as such a posters all over a girl's room, on the back of your cereal box, featured on the next 80s comeback reality show, band. No. They're hardcore. And that's what happens when I accept a generous offer to attend a concert based on sound alone. Luckily, concerts run on sound alone. And even though they played every possible song except my favorite, "Friday I'm In Love," over the course of a 90 minute main set and 3 encore sets, I had a fantastic time. . .made possible by the surrounding and extremely intoxicated "dancers." Here are some highlights from June 15, 2008 at Gwinnett Center.

(Heartsong)

Far far, there's this little girl
She was praying for something to happen to her
Everyday she writes words and more words
Just to spit out the words that keep floating inside
And she's strong when the dreams come
'Cause they take her, cover her, they are all over
The reality looks far now, but don't go

Far far, there's this little girl
She was praying for something good to happen to her
From time to time there are colors and shapes
Dazzling her eyes, tickling her hands
They invent her a new world with
Oil skies and aquarel rivers
But don't you run away already
Please don't go

Far far there's this little girl
She was praying for something big to happen to her
Every night she hears beautiful strange music
It's everywhere there's nowhere to hide
But if it fades she begs
"Oh Lord don't take it from me, don't take it..."

Just look at yourself now
Deep inside
Deeper than you ever dared
There's a beautiful mess inside
Beautiful mess
Inside

- "Far Far," Yael Naïm

and the world was it's own psychoanalyst

Where do you find your therapy?

Are you able to self-analyze but not dwell,
introvert but not shut out?

Or rather, are you able to look at your actions, your problems, your vices and shortcomings, and understand their origin? Their purpose?

Do you always need a second opinion?

What would you do if you were alone?

...not that you ever should be. But. While echoing Donald Miller's conviction that "we are not wired to be alone," I also mean to wonder, concerning dependence, how much is too much. At what point does companionship hamper our ability to know ourselves?

By this I speak less of restricting time spent with or time invested in others than I do of harping upon the need for an underlying and unrelenting sense of self. The time it takes to find yourself also depends. The rub is that it's losable and, based on outside influence, always in danger. I've found one that I mean to hold on to. Sometimes I worry that it strongly affects the way I handle others' pleas for input.

This is the reason we all must learn to stand alone. Perhaps the only time we choose to be will exist in the late hours before sleep, or during the fitness walks around the neighborhood. But needing others to judge your decisions before you can for yourself is ultimately detrimental.

This said, I don't mean to judge how any person spends their time.

Only to judge any person on the self-determined Path to Self that chooses never to walk it alone.

Ingrid Michaelson w/ Special Guest, Greg Laswell @ Variety Playhouse 6.10.08

[my first scanned ticket! Greg wasn't listed,
so I asked him to list himself :)]

["who's Greg Laswell?"]

["ah okay. I gotcha." He was the best opening act
I've seen thus far.]

[Ingrid in her "dress/shirt" with ukelele]

["This is not a back-view dress."]

[during "Die Alone," perhaps...?]

[whole band during last, post-encore song]

My good friend Chris Flenker first introduced me to Ingrid Michaelson with this very post. I am forever grateful. You know that penguin movie? The cartoon, not the wow-those-are-honest-to-God-penguins antarcticumentary. Happy Feet! That's it. If you've seen it, you remember that every penguin has a heartsong. I've stumbled upon a handful of heartsongs and can't seem to settle on a single selection, but Michaelson's latest album, Girls and Boys, includes at least three or four. She has that voice and those lyrics. The kind that reiterate the reasons why musicians better explain your feelings to you than you ever could.

[...And the kind that, under the right circumstances, could draw a good cry. Take for example 'I am in love with a boy/manufactured to destroy' from "Lady In Spain," or 'You finished first/I must catch up with you/You have had your fill of me' from "December Baby." ]

She plays live like the CD sounds. It's beautiful. Not to mention how satisfyingly hilarious she is. Nothing ups a show's likability like a side of dry, comedic material.

Greg Laswell, who's touring with her and opened for her show, was unexpectedly great. I might have guessed that Ingrid would settle for nothing nothing less than the bar she sets with her own music. He earned the ticket price with his set alone.

And to tie it off? Yes. A little Ingrid right at your fingertips.
...well she's actual size, but this sample of her work is rather teeny.
And a sidenote: The "dorky clown that kisses her" is none other than Mr. Laswell....

Monday's Haiku (Plus An Interactive Game!)

wheel of fortune's on!

"_________________________"
what's the solution?

• now including Andrew's Os
• ooh and Katie's off by a hair
• oh Rami dear. I suspect you may have
  faked the hair you're off by.
  

Ben Sollee @ Red Light Café, 6.3.08 [Bonus: Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet @ Variety Playhouse, 5.22.08]

[^what happens when I forget my camera and
Dad takes a cell phone picture. Pure magic, obviously.]

[Ben Sollee with The Sparrow Quartet]

Okay so here's the deal. This guy is good. And I didn't set out to like him. It's a rare CD that, on a whim, pushes its way onto my Favorite Albums of All Time after a single listen through. I credit that to the new horizon it's presented to my music tastes. Ben Sollee is a revolutionary, Kentucky-birthed cellist. At the Variety show, he was a swell classical addition to Washburn's bluegrass -- until she offered him the spotlight and forced him to surprise her audience with his all-encompassing technique and honest, unadulterated vocals. After his solo, I hopped out of my seat and purchased his upcoming release Learning To Bend. Each track competes with the one before it for the inevitably chosen Favorite Song. My favorite is "It's Not Impossible."

"And I must admit, all jokes aside,
I find some men beautiful
some women handsome
and some children wise."



{And now for a back in time bonus.}

[Marquis w/ a side of Turkish Delight s]

[L-R: Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Ben Sollee, Casey Driessen]

[They find each other funnier than first...expected]

[but it grows on you]

[note the matching men and red-strapless-Abigail -- trés chic]

*Note: One mustn't postpone concert reviews for diversity's sake. One may forget the concert's finer points and have only pictures to show for it.*

...anyways, the music was refreshing and Washburn's Chinese lyrics were interesting and somewhat amusing. I enjoyed it, but will say this: If headed to an unfamiliar act, listen to the show before buying the EP.

P.S. Check out Sollee's track "A Few Honest Words" in my Last FM playlist if you haven't already.