Sniff!

Posted on May 24, 2007
Filed Under Blather, family | Leave a Comment

I am sad. Kim and Glenn and Hope are supposed to be visiting this weekend, but unless something miraculous happens in the next hour or so, it looks like they won’t be coming after all. Glenn is sick. Poor thing. I know they were all looking forward to coming–it’s a little vacation for them. And of course we’re just… terribly sad about it. But we’re trying to re-claim the weekend from the sad-bunnies. They must plan to come again soon!!! And Glenn must get better post-haste.

On a walk from home to the 1369

Posted on May 21, 2007
Filed Under Blather, daytripping, me and my brain | 4 Comments

Coming out of the post office this morning, I held the door for the man coming out behind me. He said something and I missed it, so I said something like, “What’s that?” He said, “Aren’t you beautiful?” It was odd—surprising, but not weird enough to be creepy. It was nice, and I said thank you. I don’t know if he meant that I was nice for opening the door or that he thought I was pretty, but either way it was good.

Walking down the street, I saw a cute little girl wearing orange corduroy bellbottoms. (It occurs to me that as a kid I might have hated those pants, but the orange was a nice color.)

I found my Charlie Card.

A bell was ringing as I walked through Harvard yard.

I saw a girl getting a ride from another girl on a sort of trolley/dolly.

Lots of Asian tourists were photographing the statue of John Harvard.

A kid at the 1369 kept blowing something through a straw at his mom and her friend.

Now the leaves on the tree outside my window are dancing in the sun. Happy Monday, everybody!

Spoon-Anything You Want

Posted on May 21, 2007
Filed Under Song of the Day | Leave a Comment

Andrew Bird at Berklee Performance Center, May 16, 2007

Posted on May 17, 2007
Filed Under Blather, friends, music | Leave a Comment

Last night’s Andrew Bird show was the third time around for me. We first saw Bird at Berklee several years ago with the Magnetic Fields. For me, at least, that was an eye-opening experience. That time it was just Bird and his violin pretty much, and he was playing a lot of songs from Weather Systems, which, when I’m getting serious about it, might be my favorite of his albums. That record feels intimate and it explores echoes and open spaces (or the qualities of closed ones, perhaps) and resonance in a beautiful way. With the Mysterious Production of Eggs, you could make a cheesy metaphor (and yes, a pun) and say that he came out of his shell a bit… or maybe more accurately that he started to decorate his shell a bit more and threw more light on it and paired it with another shell or two. Anyway, the sound starts to get more elaborate and he keeps building on his ideas. The latest record, Armchair Apocrypha, continues in that direction. It’s an even more collaborative effort than his last, though it still could only be his record (at least, these ears feel that way). This time his live mate, Martin Dosh (I think last night Bird called him the true master of the loops or something like that–he does a lot with atmospheres, electronic sounds, and percussion), added his talents to the concoction.

So, having set the stage, as it were, here’s a rundown of the show.

We arrived slightly late and missed the first couple of Joan as Policewoman’s tunes. Doug knows her music much better than I do, and I’m sure he can describe her work more successfully than I can (in fact, he can probably describe most things more successfully than I can, but I digress…) She played organ and guitar (not at the same time) and sang, chatted between songs, breathing heavily into the mic (well, hey, it takes a lot out of you to hold some of those notes)… I liked her last few tunes the best–one she said was about imagining herself as the Statue of Liberty, another was for Elliott Smith. She praised rooms that are made to be filled with music, which is something that I thought, too, sitting there in the music hall. It’s definitely not a club feel–you don’t get that up close sensation with the performer (at least, I didn’t from the balcony), but you DO get an up close experience with the music, and it sounded great.

About twenty minutes later, Bird, Dosh, and Jeremy Ylvisaker (Bird said he’s in a band called Alpha Consumer) took the stage. Ylvisaker played bass and guitar in some of the songs, though in many cases his role seemed pretty small. Bird still took the bulk of the playing, plucking and strumming and playing violin and guitar, whistling, tapping on the glockenspiel, singing, spinning one of those toys that makes animal noises (that’s a terrible description… can’t recall the name of it), generally percussing (is that a word?) and such. The setlist in full was as follows:

  1. Intro
  2. Imitosis
  3. Fiery Crash (A good one, with lots of layers of sound)
  4. Cataracts
  5. Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
  6. Why? (I like this one. Bird does it all himself on this one, and while he really “performs” it, I still enjoy it. It works.)
  7. Masterfade
  8. Dear Dirty (He said this was his favorite of the songs that didn’t make it onto his latest album. It’s on Fingerlings 3.)
  9. Plasticities (This is a favorite off of the new record. During this one, I noticed that his guitar playing is almost delicate compared to what I often see at “rock” shows. I don’t know if it’s because he’s a violinist or just because he’s most concerned about playing the music and not necessarily appearing to “rock,” but he achieves a lot without waving his arms around–it seems to be more in the wrist and fingers. After this tune, he introduced us to his sock monkey, Nighthanger. Someone in Detroit made it for him. Even from the balcony I could see it’s nice little suit, and he told us that it has a violin case, with violin, and a number of other cute details. I couldn’t help thinking, “monkey suit.” Nighthanger totally fits the vibe.)
  10. Heretics (Yet another good one from the new record.)
  11. Simple Exercises (A Dosh song, with new Bird embellishments and lyrics. On the album it’s “Simple X.”)
  12. Armchairs (Another fave from the new album.)
  13. Skin Is, My
  14. Scythian Empires

Encore:

  1. Glass Figurine (From Thrills. I don’t know that album terribly well, but Ez tells me his live version was very different from the recorded one. It was quite nice, really.)
  2. Tables and Chairs

My only disappointment is that he didn’t really play anything off of Weather Systems, though, as Ez pointed out, a lot of songs build on ideas from Weather Systems, so it’s almost like he did.

Birdsong in the streets

Posted on May 15, 2007
Filed Under Blather, music | Leave a Comment

This
is just really cool. On the streets of Paris, one Andrew Bird strolled
and sang and gave his music away, and you can see it here in its glory.

Saturday framing extravaganza!

Posted on May 13, 2007
Filed Under Blather, art, this old house | 2 Comments

Ez and I spent several hours–yes, HOURS–yesterday at the framing store in Porter Square picking out ready-made frames and planning and selecting custom mats and frames. This has been a long time coming. Two of the items we’re framing date back to our honeymoon (that’s end of September 2001), and we bought two of the others at the arts festival in State College a couple of years ago. I’m really excited to finally be getting everything framed, especially because it means we can do some decorating! We’re framing nine items in total. Woo hoo! I think the woman who helped us with our order was a little bit new. She was very nice and I think she did an OK job, but I got the feeling we were giving her a real crash course with our three custom orders plus six custom mats. For some reason nothing we get is ever a standard size. Go figure.

Mega update

Posted on May 8, 2007
Filed Under Blather, Pennsylvania, Red Sox, family, friends, knitting | Leave a Comment

I finally finished the jacket for Hope and gave it to her over the weekend. Here’s the photographic evidence.

…and I was afraid it would be too small! Huzzah! Note also that Hope is now walking!


So we were in Pennsylvania for my
Mom’s retirement party. The weather was fabulous–sunny and bright and
pleasantly temperate. We got to see the fam…


play with Hope…

Ezra making the funniest face EVER




and go to Otto’s (mmm, beer). But of course, the main event was the
retirement party. Mom seemed to like our gifts–a locket from Kim,
Glenn, and Hope, and a retirement starter kit (sewing box, book, gift
certificates, etc.) from me and Ez. The party was at the Civil
Engineering Lodge at Stone Valley, which turned out to be very nice
given the pretty weather.


Marty, Mark, and Mom (Poor Mark is losing both of his fellow third grade teachers in one year!!)


I got my hair cut, and got in some fun thrift
shopping, too (loot includes three scarves, some antique Christmas
postcards–since I can’t leave State College without some, and a swell
blazer/jacket that was only four bucks!).

Now we’re back home and the kitties are content. Thanks to Amy and Doug for looking in on them! Speaking of which…

Last Tuesday they joined us for our first Red Sox game of the year.
Unfortunately, the Sox lost, but it was still quite fun. First there
was revelry at the blissfully uncrowded Boston Beer Works–it helps to
get there early.


This was followed by actual baseball.

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