knitting like you've never seen before...
link originally posted on DRAWN!
coachella line-up announced!
It's official, from a Goldenvoice rep on the Coachella message boards:Saturday, April 29th
Depeche Mode, Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Ros, Common, Damian Marley, Atmosphere, Carl Cox, My Morning Jacket, Ladytron , Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Tosca, Cat Power, Animal Collective, HARD-fi, Derrick Carter, Devendra Banhart, She Wants Revenge, The Walkmen, The Juan Maclean, Audio Bullys, Imogen Heap, Lady Sovereign, Deerhoof, The Duke Spirit, Editors, stellastarr*, Lyrics Born, Matt Costa, The New Amsterdams, The Zutons, Platinum Pied Pipers, White Rose Movement, Chris Liberator, Colette, Joey Beltram, Hybrid, Wolfmother, The Like, Living Things, Nine Black Alps, The Section Quartet, Infadels, Youth Group, Shy FX & T Power, Infusion.
Sunday, April 30th
Tool, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, Paul Oakenfold, Scissor Sisters, Matisyahu, James Blunt, TV on the Radio, Sleater-Kinney , Mogwai, Coheed and Cambria, Gnarls Barkley, Coldcut, Phoenix, Digable Planets, Amadou & Mariam, Little Louie Vega, Mylo (DJ Set), Seu Jorge, Wolf Parade, The Go! Team, Kaskade, Metric, Art Brut, Dungen, The Dears, Jamie Lidell, The Magic Numbers, Los Amigos Invisibles, Jazzanova, Michael Mayer, Mates of State, Gilles Peterson, Gabriel & Dresden, The Subways, Minus the Bear, Be Your Own Pet, Giant Drag, Kristina Sky, The Octopus Project.
SWEET! We already have our house booked & tickets bought! woohooo! Now I just need to decide if I'm driving or flying down (the last 2 years of road trips I swore I'd fly the next year).
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This line-up was fun news for an otherwise very bad day. Today I wrestled with this gigantic file that sucked up SO much of my time that I was close to looking like one of those people on the side of the road with my hair pulled out in all different directions, walking around in circles and grumbling to myself.
Oh & I cut my thumb really bad with one of my brand new knives. Ironically trying to open the frickin' package of them! blah!
I hate feeling like I'm fighting for time every single day. Time (or lack thereof) = Stress. I'm starting to recognize that I think I have small anxiety attacks every once and awhile. I mean, I don't know how I feel about labeling them that, as they're not that bad, I don't think, but overall I am just starting to notice when it takes hold of me and makes me start to feel absolutely immobilized.
Lastnight I tried to work through the feeling and basically am trying to figure out if I can realistically (aka sanely) juggle what I need to over the next few months, or if I need to set some boundaries and re-set expectations on a few deadlines, etc, so that I don't freak my shit (to put it lightly). Right this second I'm going to go to the gym because all I can think about right now is how stressed I feel and I don't like it!! Crap. I don't have time. I'll have to go tomorrow morning first thing!
walk the line
Saturday night Ali & I went to the Parkway and saw Walk the Line. I hadn't seen the previews, so not only did I have no idea it had Joaquin Pheonix & Reese Witherspoon in it, but I also didn't know anything about Johnny Cash's life and endearing romance with his wife, June!The result: This is one of my new favorite movies ever. It was SOO good!!!
The acting and singing, all performed by Joaquin and Reese, was amazing... and the story is so sweet. I also loved seeing his love for music so young, and how determined he was. I thought it was really neat to be a part of his performing for the first couple times, especially back then when going out to see live music like that was in it's early stages still. It gave me great respect for his songwriting, and for their strength and love for each other.
I cried big time in this one... tears absolutely streaming down my face. I'm so glad that they're winning awards for their performances - they deserve it! BRAVO!!
contemplating consummation
ali, ryan & yours truly @ the consumating party
Ok, WHATEVER!!!
First of all, I'm not "nerdy". I may be geeky or dorky, but I'm not nerdy. eewww. And what a serious lack of indie rock boys! *rolls eyes*
The slogan should be: "Hot indie rock girls and geekyfantastic boys! Unite!"
Sadly, that didn't happen either. hmm... Ali, maybe we need to start our own company?
the one & only party cow
Happy Birthday, Brian!! xoxo
me w/ the birthday boy himself
Ted, Jojo & Misty being their fabulous selves
self portrait time!
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Now I'm off to the Consumating Party... maybe I'll see you there?
video explosion
Here are a bunch of videos I haven't posted yet. I apologize in advance for posting sooo many at once. I could be all crafty & sprinkle these out over a week or something, but I don't feel like it! So maybe pace yourself & dive into a few at a time. hahaI'm also linking to the related photo albums, in case you missed em... but the more recent events (everything after 1/15/06) just got posted lastnight, so check em out! :)
Show Photos & Vids:
Metric @ Slims, 11/3/05: photos | vid1 | vid2 | vid3
Broken Social Scene @ Regency Grand, 11/9/05: photos | vid1 | vid2 with feist
Death Cab for Cutie @ the Warfield, 11/13/05: photos (for some reason these never got posted till today!)
vid1 | vid2 (grand finale, so loud it sounds like something's blowing up! ali is at the end)
Dandy Warhols @ the Fillmore, 11/17/05: photos | vid1 | vid2encore | vid3
The Wrens @ BotH, 12/1/05: photos | video
Hijack the Disco @ Hotel Utah, : photos | vid
Rogue Wave @ GAMH, 12/18/05: photos | video
NYE show w/ The Lovemakers & Every Move a Picture @ the Mezzanine: photos | vid1 | vid2
Black Fiction @ the Rickshaw, 1/15/06: photos | vid1 | vid 2
Helio Sequence @ the Rickshaw, 1/15/06: photos | video
The Editors @ Popscene, 1/19/06: photos | vid1 | vid2
The Elected w/ Minipop @ BotH, 1/21/06: photos (no vids, but I just posted these)
Gold Chains & Sue Cie @ the MakeOut Room, 1/24/06: photos | vid1 | vid2 | vid3, ajax shakin it
Lake Trout @ the Independent, 1/25/06: photos (also from Trevor's bday!) | vid1 | vid2* | vid3 - covering the Stone's Street Fighting Man.
*I call this one "private dancer". The beginning of this video was to get Ed Harris' sweet moves on film. He's does guitar and some vox, but he looks like he's about 18. He's a tall & lanky boy who reminds me of boys in Junior High, who're still getting used to their tall, growing bodies and therefore look a little like a wet noodle. haha! (Seriously, no offense Ed... it just cracked me up. :)
A few non-show vids:
Stig's Wine Country Birthday Surprise, 1/21/06: photos | video
Visiting the Weingals - my friends in Mill Valley w/ kiddos, 11/4/05: photos | vid1 | vid2 | vid3
And of course, some Kazoobie vids: kazoo's dead mouse for mom | laying on the porch
Me & my neighbors, drunk & playing with the video camera: video
Dan & Sarah's House Cooling/Holiday Party, 12/3/06: photos | video
And lastly, for the record... there's a few new photos posted in the January '06 album.
I put my lil' Elph to good use!! :)
random thoughts
- I'm super duper in love with the Body Shop's Papaya Body Butter. The Mango one is incredible, too! Thanks Mom! I've had a lot of lotions over the years, but none that I've actually looked forward to slathering on. I even started buying some as random gifts for friends. It smells sooo good!
- I have cooked more artichokes in the last month than I have in my entire life: 5
- I have a sh*t load of photos to sort through & upload
- Yesterday I set up this brand new spankin' geek toy that I'm super duper geeked about!!! Not sure I'm letting the general public in on it (maybe loving it so much I'm feeling protective of it or something), but if you're a friend I'll probably tell you. It's sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!!! It's a big reason that I'm home tonite on a Friday night :)
- I started using iCal this month. I haven't been this whole time I've had my Mac. It started mostly with me tracking my Meals & Workouts, but now it's evolving into more (see next bullet point). The food tracking has been really helpful, because one of my biggest problems is forgetting to eat. I know, you'd think at home I just eat all the time with the kitchen just right over there and all. But I don't. Instead I'll have my morning latte and then all of a sudden it's 4pm and I'm feeling ravished and faint. So ya, I needed to get myself eating on a better schedule, which is actually great for your metabolism! That & my workouts, and being able to keep track of it all, has helped me keep focus on taking care of my health. I recently purchased an awesome mini food processor & am making some kick ass scrambles in the mornings! Oh & today it made a rad chop veggie mix for my chicken salad. yumm!
- OK, another reason why I'm going all iCal now is that I'm *super stoked* on Sonic Living (let me know if you want a pass, it's still in beta). It makes my WilloToons Music Calendar job 100x easier and works for me by alerting me of shows on my wishlist (conveniently uploaded from my iTunes library! so sweet!!). So I've been finagling phpicalendar and creating this new events calendar from it all. Still working out a few bugs (and reassuring myself I can live w/o Yahoo Calendar), and then it'll be the main music calendar on here! yay! A big thanks to Gabe @ Sonic Living for rocking so hard to come up with this bad ass site. I'm stoked.
- Guess what?!?!!? I got an email from the other Willo(w) O'Brien! I'm hoping to meet up with her next time she's in SF.
- I got a big order of t-shirts in for silkscreening! woohoo!
- I've already finished my taxes! I'm just waiting for the rest of the 1099's to roll in! Isn't that incredible!??!?! *beaming with pride*
- I booked a house for Coachella & bought my tix!
- I'm sure there's more, but I gotta get back to sorting & uploading all these pics!
poetry
I've never been a huge fan of poetry, but the BAM (Bamboozled.org) kids I work with are incredibly talented and it's given me a whole new appreciation for the craft and skill.One of our new BAM authors, Zoe, writes beautiful poetry. Here's one of her recent published works: The Painter.
Toma is also a very talented writer and has posted three awesome poems so far.
Nisha writes dark stories full of imagery. This one especially, makes me almost shiver with disgust. It's THAT good. I also love her story, Death by Gum.
David's Stiletto piece has left a mark on me. And his poem, Sieve, is a really fun ride.
I could say something amazing about all of them, but I just wanted to quickly pluck a few out and show off how kick ass these kids are. Click around & read a few.
long time no blog.
I realize I've not been blogging hardly at all this year. I've actually been journaling elsewhere a lot.... and overall just working on me, my life and my to do lists. :) It's all very happy!!I've been wonderfully productive, not stressed and in general enjoying the heck out of this brand spanking new year!
In the last 23 days I've:
- not been partying (drinking, etc) at all
- been completely off sugar & starches
- been making amazing meals with fresh vegetables and even trying out recipes and cooking more than I ever have in my life AND I've been enjoying it!
- been working out 3 - 5 times a week
- these last 4 items have been my kickoff launch into this year as a bit of a detox/refocusing and creating some habits to help me get back on track with taking care of myself. it's feeling more fabulous than words can describe.
- been completing tasks on my to do list, a big one was a site that finally went live! woohoo!
- been enjoying spending time with my friends
- seen some epic shows
- given late christmas presents to dear friends and have loved their responses
- been planning a dive trip to cozumel
- been talking a lot about & anxiously awaiting SXSW!
- been snuggling my kitty a lot
- been reading 2 books and have no less than 3 waiting in the wings for me next (yay!)
- gotten to see and hang out with my brother
- seen some great movies (brokeback mountain, squid & the whale, king kong, harry potter, angels in america - an old hbo miniseries on dvd), and have a bunch still on my list.
- been feeling GREAT!!!
I'll post some photos soon, so at least you can sorta keep up with the happenings that way. Hope you're all enjoying your new year so far! xoxo
stuff i no longer need...
I got Lasik, so I don't need these anymore:- 2 unopened boxes of Bausch & Lomb Optima FW Contacts (6 lenses in each box)
- 2 individual unopened lenses
Totaling to 7 pairs of lenses
Prescription: -6 (all of them, my eyes were the same)
BC (curve): 8.4
Brand new these cost $15/box, but I just want them to go to someone who can use them vs. me throwing them away! PICKED UP
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My Pentax Optio S4 was stolen about a year ago & I still have this stuff laying around from it:
Battery Charger
AV Cable
USB Cable (connects the camera to the computer)
Software (CD ROM) w/ ACDSee
Operating Manual
If you want any of it, you can have em. I'd rather see them go to someone who can use them than me throw them away or have them collect dust. PICKED UP
Craigslist RULES!
Cities visited in 2005
Inspired by Mai's great list, I thought I'd see just where I had gone last year. These are places I've spent at least a night in and * represents numerous visits, non-consecutive days (in this case, it's just home-base).San Francisco, CA*
Toronto, ON, Canada
Brooklyn, NY
New York, NY
Denver, CO
Nashville, TN
Los Angeles, CA
Seattle, WA (actually I technically stayed in a hotel between Seattle & Eugene somewhere)
Yountville, CA (near Napa)
My list is fairly short, but not totally bad, I suppose. Although I need to get some more exotic international travel on there this year. :) Meme it up, peeps!
thursday night...
We all met up at 111 Minna, and then cruised over to the Yerba Buena opening, which I loved!
me, jojo & misty @ yerba buena
buzz, mai, chris & yours truly
I'd post more detail about the night, but I gotta jet off to the Kristin Hersh show... I'm stoked, she's performing Throwing Muses songs - woohoo! Then Ali's having a party that we're going to hit later on. Happy Saturday!
speaking of videos, here's some show videos!
Although the sound quality is no where near what i could be if I were filming with a real video camera/pro mic, I still love to take short videos at shows to capture the action and movement of the bands onstage. Here's a few from last week's shows.CAMHS show @ Mezzanine 1/4/06:
Chad Vangaalen & Wolf Parade @ The Independent 1/5/06:
- Chad Vangaalen & Wolf Parade, performing Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark
- Wolf Parade 1
- Wolf Parade & Chad Vangaalen, performing Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (I was right by the speaker on this one & so it gets really bad near the end, sorry!)
cool videos
My friend, Beedub, sent out this cool link to DoCopenhagen's Top 50 Music Videos of 2005. It's fun if you have some time to check em out. I never watch MTV or videos anymore, so I dig that someone weeded through the crap to show me the cool ones! Plus he's got a pretty kick ass music blog, if you're into that kinda thing. :)spendy mcspendster
Photo originally taken w/ Dom's camera - but cropped to fit on my blog - see the original photo here.
(Apologies to those of you I cropped out.)
Seriously though, if I could sell my current one for around $1500... it'd only be about a $1K upgrade and I could probably split those payments over this whole year. And I could technically sell my iSight, too, since now it's IN the book! hmm.... *deep in thought (and temptation)*.
Keep in mind for me, any expense like this is a nice little write-off towards the fat lot of cash I send to the government every year. And I don't really have much other overhead! *justifying*
So, ya... I really want one. UPDATE: NEVERMIND!!!! I can hardly believe it, but there's no Firewire 800 port on it! What were they thinking?!?!?! LAME. With 2 external drives that keep all my backups, music & photos on them, I would NEVER go w/o Firewire 800!
I didn't buy anything at the event for computers, but I did end up buying a sweet stripey weekender bag! (here's a more accurate representation of the stripe colors). I've needed a weekend duffle bag type of thing for a long time. Some of you may remember way back when I posted that I wanted that Le Sport one. Well, that style isn't even available, so I was still on the hunt and I'm excited about my new one - it's really cool! You can kinda see it here in this photo of Joe & I. :)
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In somewhat similar news, I have a brand new never opened 512GB iPod Shuffle, if anyone wants to buy it from me: $85.
i need a new book to read...
Does anyone have any of these they want to send me, lend me, or otherwise? Just thought I'd check to see if one is collecting dust around the corner before buying it.last week's show photos are posted
1/4/06: CAMHS show @ the Mezzanine, featuring We Are Invisible, Love is Chemicals & ElephoneView photo album
We Are Invisible (awesome, awesome set!!)
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1/5/06: Chad Vangaalen / Wolf Parade show @ the Independent
View photo album
Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade (aka my new boyfriend)
we are scientists
dangit... I was just having a conversation Eric at the CAMHS show last week & in reference to what we were talking about (the first band that night) he said "we are scientists", but I corrected him and said "no, it's We Are Invisible" (who are f*ing amazing and I loved their set so much that if I was a label I'd have signed them on the spot!!) - but then asked him if he liked We Are Scientists, and said something about my seeing them on a bill but not knowing them that well... BUT now that I just listened to them, I'm like duh! I totally know they're music - thanks to Ted putting it on a compilation or playing it on his station or something - but it's one of those bands that I know the song better than I knew the artist title (happens here & there, but the good ones rise to the top & make me finally say, "alright! who is this? i must know!"). Then, because I thought I'd seen them on an upcoming bill, but turns out I was going to see them open for Biship Allen back in March and for some reason I didn't and now I'm super bummed!Ok, that's the end of my story.
In other rock news, I heart Tapes 'n Tapes SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH. (if you're not listening to them right now, you're missing out! Oh & if you live in NYC - go see them this week!!) I want to marry them. Oh, but I also want to marry Spencer of Wolf Parade. Holy shit is that man HOTTTT. Photos are coming soon! Ali wrote up a kick ass post about the show that was simply so damn good we came away on a serious crack-buzz. Wolf Parade CRACK!!
*sigh*pitterpat* so much music to love! :)
Lastly, I have a LOT to blog about. and photos and videos to post... but it'll happen, eventually.
Happy Birthday to my awesome brother Max!!!
Big birthday wishes to one of my favorite people in the whole wide world! I love you, buddy! xoxo
P.S. Max also owns his own business, and has been doing great!! Check out his store: OmGallery.com
music calendar updated!
FYI to all you local music fans, I updated my music calendar lastnight & wowie, 2006 is starting off with a bang!! I have 2 shows this week to hit (maybe 3 if I hit the punk shows in Berkeley this weekend), and about 14 for the whole month! wooohooo!!I'm super stoked for this week's shows. First up is Wednesday night: Bagel Ted & Mezzanine's January California Homegrown Music Series. And, despite the unbelievably kick ass line-up, it's a FREE show! Come on down!
"Bagel Radio's California Homegrown Music Series offers discriminating indie kids a treat tonight: a triple-threat bill in the exceptionally well-appointed Mezzanine. Elephone's PiL-meets-Bauhaus sound is replete with synthy keyboards and a heart-sleeved frontman — that soft/loud, '80s new wave/garage-psychedelia aesthetic just never seems to get old. Love Is Chemicals have the quietly seismic, underground-darling routine down to a T, while sisters Jennifer and Rebecca of We Are Invisible make emotionally harried prog rock that suits the grassroots dynamic of the night's lineup just fine." (JS)
::::Then Thursday is Wolf Parade & Chad Vangaalen @ the Independent. I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (x a million more exclamation points). HOT DAMN!
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In other random news, can I just tell you how incredibly ADORABLE my snuggly wuggly kitty is? omg... this morning we had a snuggle session to die for. He came to wake me up and ended up cuddling and sleeping in my arms for over an hour. If any of you have had kids and/or have been around babies that leave you trapped (in a good way) because they're sleeping in your arms, that's how this was. It was dreamy.
How cute are these snowmen cookies!?
Happy New Year!
Our New Years was SUPER fun! I have a lot to post about, actually.One thing that I've been wanting to post about was my lunch date on Saturday, at Savor with my dear friend Lyne. We had such a great talk and it was just a really nice visit. She had even brought these Tarot cards that her Mom gave her, and it was just fun to pull a Past, Present & Future card out & see what they had to say. It was a way more powerful experience than I thought it was going to be! And then after we'd had this big conversation about how I was feeling about my creativity and my art and stuff, I thought it would be cool to pull out one more card, (since I'd been holding the stack through that entire talk, I thought it might have something it wanted to say back) and wow... it was another really powerful message. Very neat and although I silently I rolled my eyes when I first heard she was bringing them, I am really SO happy she did. It was really cool. And again, a wonderful closure of 2005/kick off for 2006 talk with my good friend. xoxo
Saturday afternoon I did a gym (Legs) workout with Becca that has left me so incredibly (and awesomely) sore today that I can hardly move!! Literally every single movement is painful. And tomorrow's going to be even worse! yikes! But we're going to do some cardio to get things moving. I love feeling sore, but wowie zowie!
Lastnight, a COMPLETE blast... omg. I had some really funny drunken conversations, one really hilarious one with an ex-boyfriend no less, and even made out with a random stranger! haha! awesome. Actually the random stranger make-out session is funnier with the story as to how it even transpired: Deal was is he knew all the words to the Lovemakers' songs, and so I of course in my silly-drunkenness thought that was pretty hot. So somehow we started dancing and singing the words and then making out. In between songs was like whatever, no big deal, chatting with our other friends, but as soon as another song kicked up - we were back in action. By the end of their set we were like, "Hi, what's your name?" hahhaa. Not sure who this guy is in real life (aka when I haven't forgotten to eat dinner & then had 5 stiff drinks!), but looking at the photos, I may give him a ring & see if he wants to go for a drink. Ya just never know. I have had good luck w/ NYE boys before: I met my boyfriend Matt on NYE and we dated for 4.5 years! And then Rick & I's first NYE together was at a Lovemakers show, too, and was one of the funnest nights of my life.
Oh ya, I could probably talk about the bands & stuff, too, huh?!! Oy, I have a lot to update you on... and you know me, I like to wait to have some photos to accompany my stories, but Holly was my "camera keeper" lastnight & still has it till tomorrow afternoon. And since for some reason after going to bed at 4am, I woke up at 10am this morning - I'm absolutely beat & must crash now. So, more soon... but for now: Goodnight!
