friday night fun

it's so nice to be spending hours in front of the computer not writing papers. i'm downloading a bunch of cds for my zune i bought from my brother like a long time ago. if you haven't heard the music of the Dirty Projector's, you must. it is so infectious. the most insane melodies i have ever heard. they take you on this glorious harmony joy ride, (as wesley willis would say), break it up with some chaos and then bring it all back again with a beautiful resolution in every song. i can't get enough of these guys.

i went to one of those 3d pink floyd show things. not the laser show, it's like a huge projector at the planetarium that projects these crazy images of clocks and other pink floyd related iconography and images that move and sway and it feels you're moving. i know there's a name for that kind of illusional stuff but i can't remember it. the dark side of the moon is playing as you lay down and watch this stuff on the ceiling for about an hour. it's pretty neat actually. i havne't really listened to floyd in a while but it brought back some memories of high school sitting in my room listening to them for really long amounts of time....

last night keri and i went downtown and started playing some lucinda williams songs that we learned. i think we're going to start a side of the road tour where we just play at random spots in town and see how much money people will actually give us.

last night was a riot for many reasons. first of all, corner pocket's is the best place in town to people watch. it's alocal bar for the "real" locals of tallahassee. the folks that have been born and raised here and probably been going to that bar since it opened. it's an interesting mix of florida red necks, ghetto fabulous, guys with haircuts from the early 90's with shiny shirts to match, older lesbians, some college kids thrown in (though not very many), this is not a college bar...lots of really drunk middle aged women with low rise tight jeans and bleach blond hair as well. they always get up and dance while Nathan and Brock are playing. Nathan and Brock are my friends who play gigs around town. I sing some Lucinda songs with them every once and a while. THey're really funny guys and play an awesome version of "business time" by flight of the conchords, a hilarious new zealand duo.

anywho, we get to corner pocket's last night and there's the usual crowd except they seemed to be in special form that night. one guy, we ended up naming "old man bill" was so drunk that it took him about 5 minutes to pick up a cigarette he dropped on the ground. he would just sit there for long amounts of time with his eyes closed and a slight grin on his face. then he would wake up and yell random things at the band like "you got some moody blues" and "you got the horns, the drums, and the guitar" over and over in a really exaggerated southern drawl. He'd also get up intermittently and give us his best drunk two step which was a real treat. as the band was packing up to to leave he kept yelling, "what are you doing, you ain't locking down yet." then there's "finch" who is guy that is there every time i go to corner pocket's. he's a true blue dead head and dances like the best dead head twirler you can find. he also does this weird clicking thing with his tonge that's really loud....the best conversation of the night had to have been had with a guy who said his middle name was "cross" he comes up to our table and asks us, "where are all the hot hotties" this was the most bizarre conversation i had ever had with another human being. i don't really know how to recreate how it went exactly but i did write down some of his more memorable quotes. yes, i had a notepad handy. we always need material for our band and this is the perfect place to get it. so here go the "Cross" quotes.

"My face is in overabundance,
...i'm not gonna worry about me, that's why i drink but i'm not gonna overdrink myself.
It's cool to meet your name...
These cloves smell really clovey
You guys aren't evil patrons, no matter what i say, you guys are good...

the best part was this one guy who just walked up in the middle of the band as they were playing and just stood by my friend callie as she was playing the djembe. then he tried to walk behind nathan as he was playing and tripped over the chair that had the tip jar and fell over hit and landed right on his rear and took a few glasses and an amp down with him. the band stopped playing of course and he looked like he had scraped his arm pretty good but was ok other than that and his bruised ego. he went straight back inside to the bar to get some more shots. i kinda felt sorry for him but that's what you get when you invade the band's space and you're really plastered.

i feel like i should bring a video camera there. this place is just fascinating.

i just ate a whole can of cream corn.

almost got run over at wal-mart

i almost got run over in the wal-mart parking lot the other day. i was actually trying to put my buggy back where they're supposed to go, not just in front of some random car like i usually do. jk, i would never do that, usually i just put it up on curb or something. i'm lazy, what can i say. so anywho, this white car just keeps backing up and i didn't notice it of course until it was almost too late. i think i was looking down at a gum wrapper or something interesting like that. so i look up and this car is not showing any sign of stopping. it's got sorority stickers on it and other crap like that decorating the back of it. it was filled with a bunch of college aged girls of course, i already mentioned the sorority stickers. so they drive off as i'm slightly startled. i was just going to go on my merry little almost got hit by sorostitues way, when i hear screaming coming from this pick up truck across from me with this bewildered looking middle school boy standing in front of this truck. this lady with bleach blond hair is sitting in the drivers seat screaming obscenities. then i realize that she is screaming at the car as it drives away. i was thinking, did they try to hit her too? but she was trying to stick up for me for almost being hit by these girls. i think she said, "i can't stand those kinds of people, they don't care cause they got daddy's money" and other various things that she would do to them if she could. i told her thanks for her concern and that i knew she had my back. i should have gotten her number or something. i may need a bodyguard someday.

dry rub

it's crunch time yet again. i didn't think i'd be worrying about finals on another fall semester but it has come to an end and i must force myself to muster up the motivation to write, hopefully, one of my last academic papers EVER! i really pulled a doozie this weekend. i could have been writing on my career counseling proposal that i've been dreading all semester but instead i spent all day yesterday trying to write a 6 page paper for the easiest class i've ever taken in grad school, chemical dependency, that should have only taken me a couple hours. because of my undiagnosed obsessive compulsive tendencies, i spent all day researching for a paper about schizophrenia and substance abuse, a subject which i happen to some things about and have written other paper on in the past but because of my overactive conscience, i would not allow myself to plaigarize myself and spent all day lethargically looking up new journals in order to use for this thing thinking that this paper was due today. but i find out in class that it's actually not due until next week so i wasted pretty much a whole weekend not working on my career counseling proposal that's due wednesday. cool huh. but i had a good time wasting time yesterday in the grad lab. my friend sara and i did a good job of entertaining ourselves while sort of pretending like we were trying to get work done. we have the same silly tendencies and a another lady in the grad lab who was actually working was trying to get our attention as sara was trying out a new dance move in her chair as i was evaluating it and sort of trying not to laugh too loud but not really succeeding. this nice lady was trying to get our attention and she politely waited for us to stop our shennannigan's before asking us to watch her bag while she stepped out for a minute. it's like she felt bad interrupting our juvenile behavior. these are the kinds of things that make me wonder how the hell i made it this far....

my career counseling professor, the same one who farted, had an "interesting" story to tell us in class last week. he said some random girl from memphis was looking up career centers and she came across FSU's and got his number and gave him a call. he ended up giving her some links to some other career sources and as a favor she sends him a big box of ribs from corky's bar be cue in memphis. which i opened my big mouth and piped up and told him i had eaten there as well. which i had because of when i lived in mississippi, we'd go to memphis to get out of hell for a while. anywho, he starts engaging me in this conversation about the ribs and he ends up asking me and i quote "are you a dry or wet rub kind of girl" referring to the ribs. i immediately said neither, that i like beef. then he goes on to say, oh are you from texas? they like their brisket down there. all i could do was nod yes at that point. the rest of the conversation just kind of trailed off. all i could hear was from then on was "dry or wet rub." and apparently that's all that my classmates could think of to say after class to me as well.

i also think that this is probably the funniest video i have ever seen.

stolen car

I came to All Saints today to try and get some work done on my proposal because the internet at my place has been hit or miss lately. I expected to have a nice quiet working environment because i figured everyone would be out of town because of the holidays. When I arrive, I hear yelling coming from somewhere and then one of the employees comes running out saying that some guy is trying to steal his friends car. I'm still kind of confused about the ligistics of this stolen car. All I know is there's a homeless guy with a drawing pad, ( whom i've seen a lot around here standing on the corner trying to sell his artwork of famous rock stars, he's actually quite good but i digress) trying to talk to this guy with red sunglasses who apparently is trying to steal the car and a bunch of other people standing outside calling people trying to get the "real" owner of the car to come out and claim his car while arguing this villain of this scenario i assume, the car stealer. Villain Red sunglasses guy is ranting and raving at these people rather feverishly but I can't really understand what he is saying. I am planting my butt inside through all of this as I take photos through the window, and Siamese Dream is playing in the background through all of this. I hadn't listened to this album in a while. Kind of fitting music for this moment I think. So me and the other innocent patrons are shrugging our shoulders at each other trying to figure out what's going on from a distance with our laptops and coffee protecting us hopefully if some other unforseen trouble occurs that would infiltrate inside this establishment . Then the cops show up and start padding this guy down and look through his wallet. I guess they're trying to figure out if he's really who he says he is. I don't have my little upload cord thingy so I can't upload them right now but I hope to have some proof of this happening on here soon. It's really very bazzar. Not what I expected on the day after Thanksgiving.

pie bite girl

I'm eating organic chocolate with ground up espresso beans mixed in while listening to physical graffitti. i didn't grind the espresso beans myself, they came that way with the chocolate. just so ya know. i hadn't listened to led zep in a looong time. its been a rare time lately that i just get in a led zeppy mood. so yea, its been a while since i've updated, yet again. i see a cycle here. maybe not. maybe more like a linear progression of writing and not writing. i'm confusing myself so i guess i'll get to the the latest or not so latest happening of my life lately. i really like adverbs by the way.

so basically here's the deal. i got my first official art therapy job working with kids in public school for the past couple of months who have "issues. " it's been interesting. i work with a music therapist one day a week and i enjoy seeing another side of creative therapy. we try to join forces of music and art to have one super creative therapy session! well on a good day that is....

secondly, i am also enrolled in two classes in order to further my career so i can get certified as a mental health counselor. basically i am never getting out of school. so back to the classes i am currently taking. one of which is probably the worst class i have ever had. exept my professor farted in class the other day which pretty much makes up for the misery we've gone through the whole semester. nobody aknowledged it either which made it even harder to contain myself. i just looked down at my desk trying not to lose it the rest of the class. i couldn't look him in the eye after that for fear of laughing in his face. he just went on like nothing ever happened. i would have at least said something, like my dad used to say, "did somebody step on a duck." i think my dad came up with that one on his own because i have never heard anybody else say that except him. this same man also playfully kicked me in the foot one time during a lecture. that was kind of odd i thought. there are also only six people in the class so we all have to sit up front and look like we're interested in what he's saying the whole 3 hours. and now i get to write a 20 page proposal of which i haven't even started. guess what i'm doing over thanksgiving!

i finally got my bike fixed. there's this place in town where you can go and actually build a bike from old bikes and parts they have lying around. it's called Krank It Up. I think i'm going to do a documentary on them. it's a really neat place. besides some of the hipster kids who hang around there who think they're cooler than everyone else because they ride a bike with dirty vans/cons, tattered t shirts and sweaty armpits. although they kinda grew on me after a while . they helped me fix my bike up and i've been riding it around town. i love riding my bike. i feel like a kid again. like i'm playing. it's a sweet one too. i'm going to take a pic of it with my holga and post it on here sometime. while i was at this coffee shop called All Saints the other day, this girl looks over at me and my bike and says, "Your bike looks like a pie and i want to take a bite out of it." When she left she said, "bye pie bite girl"

i've also been playing a lot of music. i finally learning how to actually play my guitar. it sure is nice to have patient friends who are also musicians who are way better than you but are willing to still put up with your lack of skill and actually teach you something. we jammed until 5 in the morning the other night. we're all going to start a band who plays on a couch. and call ourselves the rockabilly Keari's. except the e would be on top of the a like a cool play on letters because my other friend spells her name with an e and mine is with an a. makes sense huh. as we were jamming this other girl down the hall who plays the oboe? showed up and she spells her name exactly like mine. it's all about the kaeri's lately. kaeri's just attract more kaeri's.

i'm going to see "into the wild" tonight. it looks really good. sean penn directed it i think. it's about that guy who went to Alaska to rough it in the woods. sounds like my kinda man.

Adios, mi corazon

i'm listening to the album "Dylan" that a friend of mine let me borrow a few days ago. It hasn't been in circulation on cd ever and there are only the few vinyl precious copies that you may be lucky to find. I am lucky enought to know someone who has it so i feel lucky indeed. I love it, it's basically all covers but he has his twangy countryesque voice and it's just wonderful. I can't stope listening to the song called "Spanish is the loving tongue" I think I've played it over at least 25-30 times in the last few days.

i went to the beach yesterday for the first time this summer. it was so nice, the weather was perfect, not too hot with a few clouds in the sky so we weren't sweltering. there was an unusual amount of seaweed laying around though. it looked like some kind of moster washed up on the beach, kind of like something out of star wars.

i keep procrastinating on writing about the "Europe trip" i don't know why i put off writing in this thing so much. I wrote in a journal for about half of the trip. There was so much happening that it became overwhelming to keep it up. I almost feel like I should just go ahead and write a book...

I feel like I have been having pretty much a perfect summer. It started out with a trip of a lifetime then I come back to my favorite place in Georgia, Dahlonega and just relax from my trip and sit on the porch and drink coffee and visit old friends. Now I am back in Tally and my days have consisted of playing tennis, singing Lucinda Williams songs at bars, learning guitar, indulging in too many hours online and zoning out on my couch, thrift shopping, and just seeing my favorite band Black Rebel Motorcylce Club on my birthday. It sure is a nice switch from last summer. Oh and of course there is school, we have our first weekend workshop this weekend. And I have a lot to do on my final project but for some reason this isn't really phasing me right now, I know I will get it done. Plus I got a job offer in Snellville. It was funny how it happened, I was leaving the day before my birthday to go se BRMC in Atlanta and I got a call just before I was leaving to drive up there and it was a man from Eastside Heritage whom I had called about 3 months ago looking for a place to apply for a job for our special projects for class. They didn't have any opening at the time but now they do. So I ended up having an interview with him the next day, which happened to be my birthday. It was really weird and seemed like more than a coincidence. It's funny how important things have been happening in my life on my birthdays the last few years. I was filmed in a documentary about Dylan fans on my bday a couple years ago and now this. I don't know, i thought it was kind of interesting.

the tennis court is calling and i have some balls to smash, hehe.

PARIS!!

I feel like I should write about Paris right now, I'll write about the incredible trip following Bob later. I didn't go to London after all actually, I was supposed to stay with my second cousin Kara but I couldn't because she is an editor of a magazine and she had an unexpected job in Miami she had to fly to. So I spent the last week of my European stay in Paris! I met some wonderful new friends who were so kind and let me stay with them. I stayed with a lady from the West Indies named Caroline who is also a wonderful vegan cook! I ate really well in Europe! Her friends were so kind and took me around the city to all the places I wanted to go. Sandrine was a wonderful tour guide, she is also from the west indies and we had fun walking down the Champs Elysees in the rain. I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and to the Louvre in one day. I only saw a fraction of the museum but I'm glad I got to see all of my favorite Renaissance Italiam painters. It was so amazing to see all those paintings I studied in art history in real life and to see all the cracks and brushstrokes up close. I took a boat ride alond the Siene that went by all the major monuments in Paris. It is truly the most beautiful city that I've ever seen. Not that I've been to a lot of major cities but it just took my breath away. I ate the most delicious crepes on the boat. Sandrine and I got salmon and spinach crepes with fresh cream. they literaly melted in my mouth. One of my favorite activities of the whole trip was people watching. There were so many people with dogs and old men wearing berets holding baugettes just like in the movies. it was so surreal...People in Paris are so stylish, I had fun just looking at what people are wearing, they had such a keen sense of style, very polished and put together. there were some funny accessories, especially the many man purses i saw. my favorite one was a knock off louis vutton purse this one guy was wearing. hilarious. there were also a lot of sweaters being worn tied over the shoulders. there was a lot of knock off brands being worn, especially dolce & gabana. i saw a lot of that in italy as well, but i'll get to that later... but overall i envied the style of the french women. i also felt like a giant compared to everyone, they are so small! everything there is small, the people, the cars, the streets, everything. sandrine was also making fun of the way i talked because she said that americans always sound like they are shouting when they talk. i love french, it is such a beautiful language. sandrine and caroline were trying to teach me a little french and i gave them some lessons in english as well. they both spoke english but they really wanted me to correct them if they said anything incorrectly. i felt kind of inadequate to do that because i feel like i always don't know the right grammer like i should. hehe. but we helped each other out as best as we could. there were some really funny moments of me and sandrine trying to communicate with each other. i would say the phrase, "a couple" and she always asked me what i meant. i really learned on this trip how much i take for granted in america how easily it is to communicate with everyone. well, for the most part, just speaking in language terms. but anywho, it was so difficult at times for me to communicate with a lot of people in paris. i really had to rely on non verbal cues. one funny incident happened on the train, i was loading the film in my three cameras and this man sitting across from me started laughing and he started saying something to me in french but he soon learned i didn't speak french. through very limited vocabulary and a lot of hand motions we were able to talk, albeit, very limitedly. i learned that he was a professional p hotographer in paris and showed me his gigantic digital camera. he was very nice and would just laugh when we reached a point where we just couldn't rely on our limited vocabulary and hand motions to get our points across. that only gets you so far.

i am so dumbfounded about how i even survived in paris. without knowing the language, not knowing anyone, i was really flying by the seat of my pants without a clue. but God made a way where there was none and provided for all of my needs and allowed me the trip of a life time.

the "foir de paris" which is a huge market in paris that only happens once a year for about a week was awesome. i only saw a small portion of it because it was so huge. i saw native west indie people make their homemade coconut ice cream which was delicious. i saw many handmade baskets and authentic west indies clothes.

More later, je fatigue...

I'M BAAAAAAACK

I arrived back in the good old USA tuesday May 15th to the sight of that familiar red Georgia mud and I couldn't have been happier. There's just nothing like coming home, eventhough I had the time of my life in Europe. I dare to say I almost feel like a different person after this trip. I know a lot of people say they feel changed after their first trip overseas but in my case it is definitely true. I have too much to say and too little time to say it right now but I promise there will be a series of blogs about this trip coming in the near future. right now i am enjoying being in the mountains and hanging out with my mom and friends here in Dahlonega. Life is truly great.

so long marianne

i feel so relaxed right now i could probably fall asleep while typing this post so if my head happens to fall over onto the keyboard as i write and the rest of it consists of unintelligible or repeated letters sorry. i just took a hot bath after the pilates class i've been going to with my buddy andrew from class. i LOVE pilates, it's a really good workout but relaxing at the same time. i'm totally sold. i'm still getting used to some of the moves but it helps to have a friend there to laugh at each other as our butts are sticking up in the air and other awkward positions you find yourself in in that class sometimes.

i've had a good couple of weeks, i sold some of my artwork in the annual juried rollins art show here at fsu. i won an award for one piece, 50 bucks. the school bought a photograph i took of an alligator at sapelo that was part of my senior show for undergrad which was $200. i kind of wished i had upped the prices now! oh well, not bad for starting out. and another professor wants to buy another photograph from the sapelo series. Lord knows i need the cash right now.....since i'm going to Paris in like 2 weeks! i'm gonna need that moola for about a thousand rolls of film i'm going to use while i'm there, hehe. that reminds me i need to get another holga, the ones i have now have too many light leaks which can be interesting but its become a little too much to where its not complimenting the picture but becoming more of a distraction. i've noticed the longer i use a holga the more light leaks it gets. well what can you expect from a plastic camera, i still love that thing though, i will forever be indebted to it for bringing a whole new dimension to my photography. reminds me of the little cheer we used to chant in the darkroom at north georgia, HOLGA....HOLGA....HOLGA. original i know, you have to hear the tone of voice to get the full effect of course. ahh memories of the darkroom, i miss it so much, i am determined to get back in there this summer dangit...

it's been interesting at my internship this week. i work at pyramid studios which is an art studio for developmentally delayed adults and i had this whole really cool art exercise prepared. it's kind of hard to explain but basically it involved balloons. well, the balloons kept popping if you just touched it wrong, no sharp objects in sight. that's the last time i buy cheap balloons from teh dollar store. you'd think a balloon is a balloon. anyway, a few balloons popped in my clients faces and needless to say the whole place was in an uproar for a little while after that. i felt so bad because some are really sensitive to loud noises so that was not good. it was a learnig experience needless to say.

and i just discovered how good leonard cohen is as a songwriter, i had heard of him before and just lumped him together with all those 70s singer songwriters. and that all the really knowledgeable music snobs say you're supposed to like. i love the feeling when you discover a new musician that is so good and you keep wanting to hear more and more. patty griffin is another one i'm really getting into right now. i guess you could say she's in the alt country category, you could put her in the same sentence with lucinda williams but they're still totally different.

a funny thing happened on the way to the dentist

I had a dream the other night that Prince was my dentist. He was wearing that yellow suit he wore to the Oscars this year. I was embarrassed for him to look at my mouth because apparently on the way there one of my front teeth fell out and i didn't want him to think I didn't take care of my teeth. I wouldn't open my mouth when I finally arrived and he kept trying to get me to smile by singing in his usual high pitch range which he thought was funny as well in the dream. Then when i finally did smile he he started laughing at me but then he tried to cover it up by saying I was still cool. After the dream analysis class i took last semester you'd think i'd be able to disect this one but i'm at a loss. feel free to give any opinions of what this might possibly mean!

THANK YOU!

I just wanted to tell everybody who has been praying and thinking about my dad through his surgery thank you so much. I can't thank you enough for your support. He is doing excellent by the way and he is coming home today sometime. After his surgery yesterday he was a little whoozy at first of course, but he was back to himself in no time. That's what is so scary about brain surgery because there is always that chance that you may not be the same person when you wake up but he was already cracking his usual jokes and making references to the hospital bills so we knew he was ok! His whole head is wrapped in white gauze that kind of makes a dome shape on the top of his head which looks like a turbin and we've all been teasing him that we should paint it pastel colors to look like an Easter egg just in time for the season. He said he scared himself when he caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the paper towel dispenser with his new "hat" anywho I can't believe how soon they're sending him home but the doctor says he is doing great so I won't argue with that! I'm just so glad it's over, surgery sucks! especially in your brain...but yea, thank you thank you thank you for everything. It is going to take a couple months before his incision is completely healed and he can get back to doing his usual stuff which will be kind of hard on him but the alternative is much worse i would say. There is still a chance for infection from the wound so I would appreciate it if you would continue to pray that everything heals quickly and safely. But the worst is over thank God...

Now all I need prayer for is that I get everything done I need to do for school in less than a month. I can't believe how fast this semester has flown by and I feel like I've been the biggest slacker ever since I started grad school. It's technically my last semester before I graduate in August besides a few weekend workshops in the summer and our final project which I don't forsee being that difficult. I guess you could call it burn out. I just really don't have the motivation right now, I'm so done with school but knowing that I'm going to France in a month is what's keeping me going! I AM GOING TO SEE BOB DYLAN IN PARIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to stay in France for about a month to visit Molly in Lille as well. I'm going to try and travel around as much as possible while I'm there. I really want to go to Amsterdam and London too. We'll see. I'm just happy to get out of the country for the first time EVER! I've been practicing my French etiquitte. well not really, I've just been trying to find french looking clothes and listening to french music. I bought this shirt yesterday at Plato's closet that is navy and white striped and my friend told my it looked very french last night and I didn't even mention anything about going to France yet! I was really stoked about that! I'm really getting into Brigitte Bardot's style right now. She was such a cool chic. And Molly, I am so glad you introduced me to Serge Gainsbourg, his stuff is amazing. I wasn't sure if I really liked it at first but the more I listen to it the more I love his sound eventhough I can't understand what he's saying....I freaking LOVE Bonnie and Clyde! I can't stop listening to it!

Circus

I just want to clarify something from a blog i wrote a few weeks back. i have been getting a lot of questions about that understandably because i said that the Killers were mormons which is half true. Brandon Flowers came from a mormon family. i don't really know about the rest of the band. i just really liked comparing them to the Osmonds in that post for some reason because i was pissed that Black Rebel Motorcylce Club was opening for them which i think should be the other way around. i thought it was funny comparing them to the osmonds at the time and i was extremely tired and as well. I think the Killers are a decent band and I don't hate them, I was just a little irritated about the whole situation so there ya go.

On to the Rolling Stones, I'm so excited, I'm finally getting to see the Rolling Stones Rock n' Roll Circus! I have been wanting to see this movie forever and thanks to pbs I finally can. It is so crazy, Mick Jagger is interviewing John Lennon and John looks over to Mick and calls him Michael! It is so hilarious the way he says it with this hint of mockery and admiration at the same time in his voice. It seems so surreal. And then there's Joko Ono wailing into the mike with some guy playing violin and John in the background digging the hell out of it. I never understood that relationship, I can't stand her. She has sounds worse than an injured animal, I guess I'm not getting her artistic conceptual art crap but she just needs to stop....then there's the audience all dressed in these yellow and red parka looking things dancing around looking really stoned and confused of course. i wish i lived in London in the late 60s. you just can't beat real mods.....the audience is hilarious. the typical 60s dance move with lots of hair swinging and swaying side to side while clapping. then there's Pete Townsend is wearing a seat cushion on his head. maryanne faithful looks gorgeous, i love her eyelashes, she makes me want to start wearing fake eyelashes. oh and thanks to pbs i found out that Mick asked Bridget Bardot and Johnny Cash to be the ring leader of the "circus" they both declined. wow, what a crazy mix that would have been! The thought of Johnny Cash with a bunch of dancing parka wearing crazy mod brits just cracks me up. I really want this dvd, pbs is selling it for 90 bucks with bonus footage of John backstage with his son Julian. I really want this but that's kinda steep. i love pbs but i think i'll have to wait before i can donate money to those guys.

Joy

i saw Lucinda Williams last night and it was better than i had even expected! THAT WOMAN RAWKS! she is so hardcore, i want to be like her when i grow up. the first thing she said when she came on stage was "i just ate a bunch of the best sopailpillas, i just want to die in a big bowl of sopaipillas with honey, that would be heaven" she knows what sopaipillas are, her coolness just went way up after she said that. we used to go to pancho's and eat the hell out of some sopaipillas. she was just so personable and engaging the whole time which i didn't expect. she was very reserved the last time i saw her which was 2001. but last night she even talked about a lot of the history behind some songs and what they mean which i really loved. i've listened to her songs for so long and to actually know exactly who they're about is really cool. i mean a lot of them are self explanatory but it's nice to know who the people are that she's singing about. she even said "i'm gonna be ya'll musical therapist tonight" i was like right on sista. she even added a ruthlesss yell "mother fucker" to the end of a line in "Joy" that goes, "i dont' want you anymore cause you took my Joy.... that really got the crowd going. i have to say the crowd was awesome too. she kept saying what a receptive and captive audience we were. i felt proud to be part of such an appreciating audience of such an amazing woman....she had some rockin bling too. a big diamond studded bracelet with belt to match and big hoop earings and a dragon looking tattoo on her arm. besides my mom she has to be the coolest 50 something lady ever. not that my mom has any tattoos, (that i know of) jk, but my mom is pretty cool i have to say. i felt bad she couldn't see her with me, she's a really big fan of hers too. we used to listen to her in the car on the way to tennis tournaments driving the same roads that she sings about in her songs. i love that she's from the same place as me and she talks about all the places i know so well in her songs. she sang "bus to baton rouge" which was beautiful. it was truly an amazing show and it made my want to get back in that smoky bar and sing the hell out of her songs again!

so i'm sitting here watching cheaters and eating ice cream after a long trip from home back to tallatrashy. i don't usually watch cheaters but i sucked into the white trash brawls that result from confronting their cheating lovers. the host is what really cracks me up. he acts so concerned saying things to the one being cheated one like, "you're going to get through this" and "you're strong." yup, another reality tv show that is compromising my IQ as we speak.

besides some mind numbing cheaters watching i guess a lot has been happening lately. i just got back from spring break. i found out some news thats not so great while i was at home. my dad has to have brain surgery soon. it's not cancer thank God but it's like a growth on the outside of the brain between the membrane that separates the brain from the skull or something. i don't know all the technical terms. the doctor said it's a relatively simple procedure and he would only be in surgery a couple hours and would only have to stay overnight. if you're reading this please keep my dad in your prayers. i was scared when i first heard about it, i still am but i feel better about it know knowing that he has a really good doctor and what a simple procedure it is. i mean it's still brain surgery but i'm just trying to trust God everything will work out. i know that sounds cliche but that's all you really can do. i'm just glad it's not cancer...

Prince

Ok I admit it, I have this album cover hanging on my wall and I dance around my apartment listing to the record. I can't help it, I love Prince! There, I said it. I've always loved his music. I don't care how weird or ridiculous he is in his life decisions or hair decisions, (the Aunt Jemima headwrap was an interesting choice for the Superbowl) but he is still a phenomenal musician no matter what in my opinion. And who could resist that manly chest hair with those fluffy locks circa 1980! hehe...I digress, I also thought his Superbowl performance was one of the best in years. Although I realized how phallic his personal symbol was during that performance, surprising I know, you don't need to have taken a symbols class to pick up on that one though. I think the shadow of him playing the very strategically placed purple guitar behind the big curtain backdrop thing really pointed that out. no pun intended.

uhhhh

what is going on?

we got us a Dairy Queen!

i have a love/hate relationship with computers. i love to spend endless hours wasting time on them but i hate it when they screw up and i realize how dependent on them i am. there is a reason for my sudden bout of complaining of these technological blessings/curses. the refurbished ibm thinkpad i got for graduate school has decided to hit the dust, er, i mean bite the dust. i can't ever get those little sayings right. anywho, the screen started doing some funky stuff a few weeks ago but now when i turn it on its completely blank. a friend of mine who can ususally fix anything that come up wrong with my computer said he couldn't even fix it and it would cost me more to just get it fixed so i should just get a new one. oh well, good think i have some financial aid saved up.

in some good new however, we got free ice cream at the new dairy queen!! so friday night was supposed to be the official reopening of the only dairy queen in town. when i first moved here i pulled into the parking lot only to find that it was closed down. so i have been living here with no dairy queen for almost 2 years! i came from a land where the DQ was at almost ever exit (another reason i love Georgia). so back to friday night, we drive up and there is nobody there except two guys loading trash into a dumpster in the back as we drive around in despair. i roll my window down and they immediately know why we're there of course. he said they were supposed to open that night but they didn't have enough employees so they'd have to wait until wednesday. ( guess where i'm going to celebrate the most depressing holiday of the year!)i gave him the best pouty face i could muster and he actually bought it! his exact words were "if you keep making that face i might have to actually give you some free ice cream" and he did! he gave me and 2 other people in the car with me free soft serve with chocolate syrup! as if i didn't love DQ enough they go and give me free ice cream. i dont' think i need to say anymore. i may have to write a song about it though, let's see maybe something like,

Dairy Queen Dairy Queen
Your have the best ice cream in town
Dairy Queen Dairy Queen
I'm so glad you're back around

I was so sad when you're doors were shut
I thought there would be no ice cream...but
One of your dutiful servants shared some soft serve and a smile
And now you're back in business and we hope it's for a while

repeat the first stanza...

if anyone would like to add to this feel free, maybe it could be their next jingle. i dont' usually advocate commercialism but i think it's warranted here. DQ deserves it. anybody that gives me free ice cream will get a silly song from me.

get back to where you once belonged

there's something wrong here, Black Rebel Motorcylce Club is opening for the Killers on their UK tour. dont' get me wrong i like those mormon boys the killers as much as any red blooded american girl (kinda like the modern day osmonds if you will) and who doesn't love an osmond....but like any red blooded american girl ( in my ideal world) i know that the order of who's opening for who should be reversed. hopefully when (and if) BRMC reaches us red blooded american girls they will have learned the error of their ways and attain the upper hand of the touring duo band hierarchy where they belong. or maybe drop the osmonds, er, killers, all together. don't get me wrong, osmond comparisons aside, the killers are a good band, that first album is a pretty much perfect neo new wave rocker, but brmc take rockin to a new level with their rockabilly swagger and greaser tude which hits ya right to the core. so brmc if you're reading this please listen to a red blooded american girl quoting some british blokes and "get back to where you once belonged." and i'm interpreting that quote in the best way possible guys...

The Lemonheads

i almost decided not to go see the Lemonheads tonight because i was feeling kind of bad from a cold i can feel coming on but i went anyway. I couldn't pass up seeing one of my quintessential favorite bands of the 90s. the opener, Vietnam, was really good too. they reminded me of an older Devandra Banhart. They all had the really long hair and beards going on, just not as young and devestatingly handsome as Devandra..... it was so weird seeing Evan Dando in person for the first time. I've always loved the Lemonheads. They are the ultimate feel good but slightly dark at the same time band. And Evan Dando was and is so dreamy. i hate to use such teenybopper terms but he really is. like a modern day shaun cassidy but better. in a lot of ways but that's obvious. he seemed exactly like i would expect him to be. self effacing and slightly insecure on stage. some idiot yelled out to him to "play something we know" and he had been playing nothing but stuff off his first 2 albums up to that point. Evan got kind of put out and stopped playing all together and kept asking the crowd who said that. he was also having a lot of techinical difficulties. he switched guitars about 3 times in one song i kid you not. it was amusing though to watch him so out of sorts in the beginning. it was so fun to hear all those songs again. i felt like i was a sophomore in high school again. at the encore they only played 2 more songs which one of was "It's a shame about Ray" which really made my night. but the drummer broke his snare so they had to quit. the drummer was an interesting addition to his new lineup. he looked like ray charles. with the sunglasses and everything.h it was an interesting mix to see on stage. the other guitarist had a sparkly barrett in his hair. after the show i went out by the bus like i usually do. i just wanted to shake his hand and thank him for coming to tallahassee of all places. i was so surprised to see that the place wasn't packed. i mean the Lemonheads are like a legendary band. oh well, i liked that it was really laid back. it's always more fun when you don't have to feel like a sardine trying to get a glimpse of the band. anywho, oh right, the bus, well i got to tell him good show and i asked him if it would be too lame if i asked him to get a picture with me. i dont' know, there's just something about Evan Dando that just doesn't scream hey, take a picture with me. but i asked anyway, when i asked him if it would be too lame he said kind of but but asked me to take it really fast. of course the flash didn't come on and he said yea that always happens with those things. i agreed and he said, "well, let's just be friends them" and he shook my hand. i kind of wished i didnt' ask him to get a picture because it kind of ruined the moment, not that it was a real moment to him, but oh well, he was really nice. there was some other guy waiting for him to sing a shirt from like 95 that was really stained and been through the ringer. it was of some band called something snakes, i can't remember. he said that he saw Evan on his solo tour a few years back and wanted him to sign it then. i didn't really understand why he wanted him to sign a shirt of another band. but Evan remembered him and even let him on the bus. i thought that was really cool of him.....

something about what happens when we talk

so last night was my first time singing in public in about 8 years. and i had a blast! i'm definitely hooked now. i was really nervous the first time i sang but he asked me to sing the song again later on in the night. i did some back up vocals for "sunday morning coming down" too. and it definitely helped to have my friends there to support me. if you guys are reading this i really appreciate it. i have to say it helped a lot having nathan there for backup. i think it would have been a lot harder getting up there all by myself cold turkey. now i just need to learn some more guitar so i can actually play and sing. i think i'm going to stick with lucinda songs for now. i just love her stuff. i wish i could write songs like that but i'll do the next best thing and sing hers. here's the lyrics to what i sang last night, "Something About What Happens"

If I had my way  I'd be in your town
                                      
I might not stay but at least I would've been  around
               
Cause there's    something about what happens when we talk

Something about what happens when we talk

Does this make sense It doesn't matter anyway
    
Is it coincidence  or was it meant to be
               
Cause there's    something about what happens when we talk

Something about what happens when we talk
     
Conversation with you was like a drug
          
It wasn't your face so much as it was your words
                 
Cause there's    something about what happens when we talk

Something about what happens when we talk

SOLO


Well I can't stay round cause I'm going back south
     
But all I regret now is I never kissed your mouth
               
Cause there's    something about what happens when we talk

Something about what happens when we talk
               
Cause there's    something about what happens when we talk

Something about what happens when we talk

record time

i am so happy because i'm sitting here watching the australian open and i finally got my old RCA record player i got for my 18th birthday to work! i brought the sucker all the way here from home because i couldn't stand having all my records here and just my little portable player to play them on. don't get me wrong, that little thing has pretty good sound for its size, but i missed hearing my vinyl in full stereo sound. i didn't initially bring it because you have to hook it up to another stereo so that means i had to bring my old stereo up here too which takes up a lot of space and is kind of a pain to travel with all the way up here but i think it was worth it as i sit here listening to Bob's smooth voice on Nashville Skyline. I've missed hearing that voice on vinyl. there's nothing like it....i would have gotten to hear that sound a lot sooner if the needle on my record player weren't nonexistent. i finally got my speakers hooked up which took me a lot longer than it should have and i put the needle with much anticipation to listen to modern times and it sounded like driving on a gravel road. so i had to go get a new needle. i ended up having to take the whole player to radio shack where it originally came from. i ended up having to order a new needle because they didnt' have them in the stores anymore. luckily the shipment didn't take that long but the needle cost me 20 bucks. that is correct. that is a lot of money for a small piece of plastic but the listening enjoyment that piece of plastic provides is worth the the money.

it's kind of funny to listen to bob while watching tennis though. interesting mix. oh well, they go together in my world.

i won!

i was kindly told by a friend that i need to blog again so here i am. blogging blogging blogging blogging. its a funny word to say over and over, kind of like flogging. um yea, this is why i don't post very often. unintelligible ramblings due to the mush of a brain i have now due to graduate school. thats my excuse anyway...here's a few highlights of happenings in the past few weeks:

i drove by a nonhomeless guy changing his pants by his truck in the publix parking lot. he saw me looking and just started to laugh. so did i.

and i started my last real semester as a grad student at florida state university. sounds heavy huh. well it looks like this semester won't be as heavy as the last. i was so surprised to see that i actually got all A's. no A-'s either. go me. thats the first semester here i've gotten that good of grades as far as i can remember. so yes i guess i'm bragging.

i also started playing tennis with the "tennis club" on campus. i was the only girl there and the guys were surprised i could actually play tennis. i like the feeling of kicking guys butts on the court. it just give me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

i went to this seminar on saturday because i got this postcard in the mail from "university systems" saying i won something. i usually throw stuff like that away but the gullible side of me told me to give it a shot. so i called the number and the lady said i won one of the following which included an ipod. i really really want an ipod. all i had to do was go to this meeting for 45 minutes and listen to some guy talk and then i would win something. so i went. they guy who was giving the 'talk" was from indianapilos and he played college soccer in 95. he was really proud of that because he repeated it to everyone who walked in the door. there were only like 6 people there but it still got really old after the first time. he also liked to cuss a lot. not that i have a problem with that but his cussing was really anoying for some reason. i think it was the fact that he was just annoying over all. he was the epidomy of a midwestern irish frat boy. he looked like that actor who played "Capote" i can't remember his name. he wasn't near as cool though. anywho long story short i didn't win the ipod. i won a 2 nights stay at a holiday inn anywhere within the select cities on this list. i guess it was worth the sitting through capote lookalike talk about this company that will get you all this free stuff and cheap trips if you pay 2 thousand bucks up front. yea nobody signed up for that one. i don't understand why this company thinks college kids have the money for such things.

i'm really excited that i might sing a lucinda williams song this saturday night with my friends nathan and brock. they play every saturday at Gill's Tavern. it's a quaint little Irishesque pub. i hope i just don't forget the words. the last time i sang in front of a crowd of people was high school. and i brought the words on stage with me then. it was also a lucinda song but this time it's a different song and hopefully i wont need the lyrics. we'll see.