Let's dust this bitch off, shall we?

(Geez, who even has the fucking time?! Imagine all I could get done if sleep weren't a requirement. Like, I could actually read more than three pages of a book in one sitting, or write in this bugger or actually maybe play with my damn kiddos!  What?????  So here I am, doing this at work instead of, you know, working {which I have a TON to do, so this is not a good decision}).

I'm feeling overwhelmingly burdened and sad and disappointed by the state of our country.  Trump. The Standing Rock pipeline. A school bus crash because of negligence by the person who was meant to care for these children.  Officers shooting the innocent.  Bad people shooting innocent officers who are only doing their job.

Shit's fucked.  And I'm sad.  I feel helpless and like the only thing I can do is bury my head in the sand until someone else takes care of things.

More and more I am appreciative of Team Peaceful Protest.  I might not be out there doing it (I'm still working up the courage for that) but I GET why they are doing it.  It is exciting to see people in action this way, being brave and acting for change.

(Pause for a work break)

Right after I typed all of that up, I wandered over to the Instagrams and saw the post below from Pioneers Press (whom I love, love, LOVE! www.pioneerspress.com - support that shit!).  Read the quote in the comments section that they posted. The Fuck!? I'm pretty sure they were typing that quote in exact synchronicity with when I was typing paragraphs three and four above.

I guess I'm supposed to start getting involved. Will you post bail for me if necessary? :)

Amazingness, 20 Years in the Making

Around the year 2000 or 2001, way back when Beck was dating Wynona Rider, I cut a picture of the two of them together out of a gossip rag and taped a picture of my face over hers.  I still have the picture.  It’s not in a creepy stalker way, I promise. It’s just shoved in an envelope along with some other fun things I had collected throughout that year.  I was about 20 years old, and it’s actually kinda cute.  I’m just a huge fan of Beck and, like everyone else who is into him, have been since Loser came out.  I even remember the who, where and when of my purchase of Midnite Vultures.  It’s amazing that I had never seen him live before August 21, 2014.  How could I let this happen? I decided NO WAY was I going to let another show of his pass me by.  My finger was on the trigger for the 10 am presale of tickets.  By 10:03, I had two of them printed out and in my hot little hand (PS – I miss actual tickets and ticket stubs).

 

My husband not being much of a Beck fan (!!??), I went to the show with our buddy Derek.  I was excited to go with Derek.  He’s one of the few friends I have that actually is interested in music in the intense way that I am.  He is up for anything, too, and because of that he is the kind of person awesome things just happen to.  So much so that I packed along with me the album booklets for Odelay and Guero and a black sharpie on the chance Derek’s Powers of Awesomeness allowed us to meet Beck (spoiler alert – we didn’t).

 

To my amazement and delight, despite our place in line at the gate and the time it took to buy merchandise, food and beer and a wait at the ATM and port-a-pottys, we still easily got a spot up front at the stage.

 

So first, Jenny Lewis. I was excited when I heard she was going to be opening the show.  I know her stuff. We own a Rilo Kiley album and I have really enjoyed her other musical ventures.  And of course there’s always Troop Beverly Hills (still good, by the way).  Line for line she's the tougher, badass variation of Zooey Deschanel and is akin to Mary Lou Lord.  Her music and lyrics are catchy, achy, simple and real, and just a little bit gritty.  She did a number of songs from her new album The Voyager, including Just One of the Guys, She’s Not Me and Head Underwater.  She had a good time on stage, dancing around with what looked like a vodka bottle turned wine glass, wore a shirt they were selling at the merch table and huge purple sunglasses long after it was necessary.  Her stage décor – taken directly from the stars and soft, cheerful colors that make up The Voyager album art – is in such stark contrast to the often sad (but again, catchy!) lyrics that make up Voyager.  If the album is autobiographical, it’s clear the woman’s got some baggage, but I’m glad she makes songs out of it.

 

And it’s worth noting that Derek, The Person Awesome Things Just Happen To, totally was hit on by Ms. Lewis from the stage.  It wasn’t like I was just seeing things, either.  He made some “I love you” non-sign language sign language at her and there was most definitely a positive response from her.  To make this more concrete, Derek didn’t even comment about it to me.  I saw it myself, gave him a minute to say something and when he didn’t was like “…are we going to talk about what just happened?” I couldn’t believe his modesty about it but after I brought it up he allowed himself to be giddy the rest of the night and even gave her my number via some weird Twittersphere I’m not familiar with when his phone battery was about to die (sorry Derek – no call yet). But guys! IT HAPPENED.

 

And now, the moment I’ve been waiting 20 years for – Beck. 

 

Swwwoooo-ooon.  Amazing.  I’m certain I wore an idiot grin the whole time. 

 

At the beginning he talked a bit about how smelly it was (“Do you guys smell that?”) – and indeed between the pot smoke and all the sweat and BO, it was quite odorous.  Totally appropriate that New Pollution was one of the first songs he did.

 

The set list was awesome and included a really great variety from all of his albums.  New Pollution! Hell Yes!  Loser!  Blue Moon! Black Tambourine (I like the streamers on your tambourine)! Devil’s Haircut! Lost Cause!  Girl!  E-Pro!  Sexx Laws!!! (Which is my personal fave.)

 

And of course Debra - a favorite of those who love Beck beyond his most-known hits.  The song everyone waits for to see how he’ll riff.  It was filled with the promise of Beck using his frequent flyer miles to fly all of us off to somewhere tropical when the music took a Jamaican turn, and don’t worry, he’ll take care of the fees that may apply.  Talk of falsetto being better than baritone sometimes, and where he’ll take us in his Hyundai in Portland to get a real good meal.  Then, forget about Debra, he said.  He wants Jenny to come back.  And come back she did – Jenny Lewis to the stage, where a crazysexycool cover of Rod Stewart’s Do Ya Think I’m Sexy was performed by the two.  YES!!

 

A totally adorable touch to the night was the three little kids running around the back of the stage.  Kid person or not - and I’m a kid person to the extent of I have two of my own that I love and adore but everyone else’s…whatever – it was undeniably endearing when a cover of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean was performed and Beck’s kid would cover his face in mock shame when Beck would sing “…but the kid is not my son.” 

 

Finally, I’d be remiss to not mention Edgefield.  A fan of McMenamin’s food or not (I personally am), Edgefield is a fantastic venue.  It remains intimate despite being much bigger than most venues around the Portland area.  It has a secluded and whimsical feel to it, the ambience perfectly set up to make friends out of strangers, even if just for a few hours.  One of my favorite parts of going to shows at Edgefield is the loitering of concert-goers after the music has stopped.  There is always such a sense of comradery.  Enjoying a beer while waiting out the traffic. Wandering the expansive grounds, in the dark, with your drink in hand.  It’s such a cool place and my favorite venue in Portland.

 

This was a fantastic night for me and I can easily say it was one of the best concerts I have ever been to.  I am eternally hopeful to run into Beck somewhere, someday and I am still carrying the album booklets and sharpie around in my purse, just in case.  There’s a spot open for you in my Rock & Roll Hallway of Fame, Beck!  Totally worth the 20-year wait to see you.

 

Are You Getting Tired, Wayne?

I've been listening to The Flaming Lips since junior high.  Since "She Don't Use Jelly" and "Bad Days."  I've always been a fan (but truth be told I haven't really gotten into Embryonic).  Jacob and I have seen them at least three times and mine and Jacob's song is Do You Realize?? - a sweet and honest look at life and death.  Jacob has also been a long-time fan, even more so than me.

So a few months ago we bought tickets to last night's Edgefield show.  They are one of the very few bands we will fork out more than 30 bucks a ticket to see.  They played there in 2009 and, as expected, it was a spectacular spectacle.  They always put on an amazing show.  You definitely get more than your money's worth of entertainment from them.  Lights, glitter, people in costumes, lasers, Santa, aliens, Wayne in a giant inflatable bubble walking around the crowd.  It's always amazing!  They embrace the freaks of the world (for real, be who you wanna be!) and people go all out to show their "freakdom" at these shows...even before the show starts you get some good entertainment just looking at how people dress for the shows.

It never disappoints.

But last night disappointed.  To say I left the show wanting for more is an understatement. The opening band, Wild Ones, was actually quite good - a solid sound with a stellar drummer (I love me a good drummer!)  But the spectacle we've all come to expect from a Lips concert wasn't there at all besides a handful of concert-goers all decked out.  While the songs they performed were awesome - they did a good job there - it just wasn't a Flaming Lips production.  There was a little bit of confetti and I liked Wayne's suit, an I am pretty sure he was wearing the blue fuzzy gloves that comes with the Tickle Monster book that Roman owns, but the lights and props and frenzy were mediocre at best compared to the usual.

And the set was undeniably short, which is the worst part.  I can actually do without all of the other stuff if their set is top-notch, but they were done far before the Edgefield Noise Ordinance time of, what?  10, 10:30?  They stopped playing at 9:15!  After only playing MAYBE an hour and a half, which means their set left a lot to be desired.  No "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot?"  No "She Don't Use Jelly?" (and so on)  And I definitely wasn't the only one who thought this.  They just seemed to stop so abruptly.  Everyone  at the concert kept waiting for them to come out for an encore.  And they did.  One song.  Most encores of the bands we see are basically another set.  After that one song they left again but no one from the crowd budged.  I have never seen that before.  Usually it is pretty clear when the show is over but the house lights and music never came back up.  There was no "Thank you and goodnight" or anything.  We all just stood there in disbelief that the show was over.   For a good 10 minutes no one left.  We all just kept waiting.  A few times the band just came out and waved but never played another song for us. Man, at least throw us a bone for persistence!

So again I ask, are you getting tired Wayne?  If so, maybe it's time to go out at the top of your game instead of charging $50 a ticket and then not delivering to your adoring fans.  We know what we want and expect of your shows, and we've never had to be hopeful for those things before, it was just understood what we'd be getting.  You don't want your fans to feel such disappointment and frustration that they are hesitant to go to another show, do you?  I mean, after the tickets, the babysitter, the merchandise and the beer, we spent upwards of $300 on this one  waa-waa of an event.  I hate that I'll have to think twice before doing that the next time they are around.

I will be interested to hear how their Seattle show was.  Maybe someone from the band wasn't feeling well.  Maybe Portland wasn't giving them enough love?  Well, we'll always love the Lips, even if THEIR heart wasn't in their performance last night.

Leisure

I feel a little jealous of the people who are sitting in the coffee shop all leisurely-like at 7:45 in the morning.  Leisure has become a rare thing for me in the past couple of years, but the coffee-shop sitting used to be a big thing for Jacob and me.  In fact, we met at D&M Coffee in Ellensburg and spent a large portion of the first five years of our marriage there, just being leisurely, sitting around reading, doing homework (okay, NOT leisurely) or having meaningful conversations with our friends.  Here is D&M:

Anyway, back to the leisure.  The people I see sitting around today at coffee shops being leisurely - I always just assume they do something artistic with their lives, which means their schedule allows for such relaxation in the mornings.  They must not have to be at work until at least 9 or 10.  I guess that it could also mean they don't make much money, but they can't be too poor or they wouldn't be there (not always true - we were pretty poor when we were married and in college but always found funding for coffee....)  I am sure the artistic thing is just a ridiculous assumption and that most of them have lives just like mine. 

To be honest, the only place I really do have any leisure time is in the shower, and that is only because the kids are asleep by then.  I don't even like taking showers all that much, actually, so it's kind of lost on me.  I always have the intentions of getting up an hour earlier than I need to so I can have some quiet time where I don't HAVE to be doing anything, but during the school year that would mean getting up at 4:00 am and I just don't have it in me to do it.  I wish I did.  In addition to people who are leisurely at coffee shops, I feel very jealous of people who have enough leisure time in the morning to go for a jog before work and not have to get up at 4 or 5 am to do so. 

Oh well.  These faces make the lack of leisurely me-time worth it. Man I love them.

PS - by my count I used the word Leisure 12 times, including in this sentence and in the subject line.  I tried to fit it in as much as possible.

Ding Dong the DOMA's Dead, the Wicked DOMA's Dead!

I am so glad a few more folks have removed their heads from their asses and that civilization has taken another couple of steps in the right direction.  Now for the rest to get on board....

Some of my favorite quotes from the day about it:

"Thank you #SCOTUS, good riddance DOMA, and hello to my Mom asking me once a month why I'm still not married." — Greg Berlanti

"Don't wanna traffic in stereotypes but let's be real: I'm gonna love a gay wedding." — Lena Dunham

 

"Remember when #DOMA was around and gay people couldn't get married in California? Crazy right!?" — Jesse Tyler Ferguson

"DOMA and Prop 8 should get married." — Seth Meyers (love him!!!)


History in the making here.  I am so glad to witness such monumental things!

Jacob and Macklemore Should be BFFs (Which Would be AWESOME)

By now we have all heard of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (thank God for them!!!) and especially their hit Thrift Shop (if you live under a rock and haven't heard it yet, you can listen to them here and thank me for it later) (P.S. - I actually usually do live under a rock and never have heard of anyone everyone is talking about, but because I listen to KEXP I was actually on the ball with this one, before a lot of folks, which makes me glad).

ANYWAY, the last few times I have listened to Thrift Shop I have actually really listened to the lyrics.  Just the name alone tells me that this could be the song for Jacob.  But when I REALLY listen to what it says....OMG, practically word for word this is Jacob's song.  Especially the part that says "they had a broken keyboard/I bought a broken keyboard" and "I wear your grandad's clothes/I look incredible" and all the stuff about spending $50 on a freeking t-shirt.  And pretty much everything else in the song.  Okay, it's kind of my song too, but anyone who knows Jacob knows that he is alllllllllll about the thrift stores.

Makes me smile. :)

Here's what I CAN Do...

A quick list of the goings-on and comings-up since February:

February 10 - my darling baby Josephine was born, putting me in labor a day before I was scheduled to go in for a c-section.  Glad to have had the experience of going into labor on my own, even if I still had to have the c-section.

Josephine at Easter, about a month and a half old.

February 27 - I am very proud of the fact that Jacob and I went out to a concert this evening, a mere 17 days after Josephine was born.  No surprises here, we saw Starfucker and it was every bit as wonderful as I had anticipated it would be.  I also drank a beer and it was DELICIOUS.  We met the band and they signed our record and all is well!

Late February/Early April - I finally have my Rock & Roll hallway in progress!  We painted the hallway to our bedrooms and bathroom PINK (actual color, pink flamingo. Wonderfully retro) and have hung up all of the vinyl and CD sleeves we've had signed by bands we have loved throughout the last 11 or 12 years.  We have been working on framing these artifacts, including all of the accumulated concert ticket stubs, and finally have them on display.  I am THRILLED and can't wait to keep adding more. My pride and joy of my home decor.

April 3 - We went to the coast!  In and around Astoria and Seaside.  We had a great time, a fun little family outing, just the four of us.  It was the first time to the beach for both kiddos.  Roman loved it! I think he is ready to start surfing. 

April 8 - Back to the mines.  Work seems to have picked up very nicely this year, I am happy to say.

April 21 - Went to see dub pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry. Or at least we tried.  Note to self:  never go to the Refuge for a show.  It's like going to the damn Graceland (or, I guess, El Corozon now).  Had I known there would be 5 bands before the guy we wanted to see even came on stage, I wouldn't have bothered going to the show in the first place.  EFF YOU, Refuge. I hate you for not disclosing this fact AND I hate you for not even responding to my request for a refund.  Seriously.  By the time Lee Perry got on stage it was 11:45 pm.  We listened to two songs and then had to leave because we have things like kids and jobs to think about and babysitters to relieve.  I'm still kind of bitter about the whole thing...PS - Lee Perry is freeking awesome - he is older than old, likely higher than high, and still rockin' it.

April 27 - Mariners game with Jacob, Roman and Josephine.  Again, a first for the kiddos.  AND, the Mariners won!  AND it was bat night, so Roman got himself a bat! Just the thing for a two-year-old, right?  So far so good :)

At Safeco Field

It was actually a rather exciting game...

May 6 - Roller Roman!  We took took the kids to Jacob's school's skate night.  Look at this genius invention the roller skating world has finally come up with!  Roman had THE BEST TIME EVER.

June 10-12 - We took a weekend trip to Ellensburg to see the Wright family.  A lot of them hadn't met J yet and over all we had a really good time seeing family and friends.  I am always happy to go for a visit.  Roman had a big adventure himself! He and his uncle Isaac dug a big hole - deeper than 5 feet.  Then all of the kids (there are lots of them in this extended family.  Over a million, probably) were shoveling the dirt back in with their hands.  In Roman tumbled. Poor guy...but we told him it was fun and then he agreed.  Kids will believe anything... 

Before....

After...

A little freaked out!



That basically brings us up to date.  All the while, Jacob has been working on his masters degree but in just another couple of weeks will have the summer free from school and school and can just play with his kiddos!  Looking forward, we have tickets to another Mariners game to go to with my parents, a Flaming Lips concert and another STRFKR show in the fall.  I am looking to start in on some yoga this summer.  I think I will go to my first class next week and I am SO looking forward to it!

Here's to more adventures!