Girls in parking lots
After a highly successful drunken day at work, I managed to find myself in the parking lot of a questionable area in Atlanta known to repel anyone with a job or self-motivation. Lo and behold, the Indigo Girls found themselves in the same parking lot! What a coincidence! Or was it...?
I almost didn't recognize them through my altered state since they were dressed rather decently. But then I spotted the mullet. They spit out their chaw, opened their guitar cases and started playing some songs about who-knows-what. All I remember is that some enterprising people threw in a few quarters and dollar bills to get them to stop.
After a few songs, the shut-up-I'm-trying-to-slack-and-skateboard crowd achieved their goal and the Girls packed up and went to buy some soy lattes in the nearby coffeeshop. I followed them with their new CD (Despite Our Differences) that had automagically appeared in my hand.
I got both of them to sign the CD by agreeing to listen to an "educational" talk about the merits of baking "natural" granola using "solar energy" panels. Then I went home and found this article in the local paper to make sure I wasn't making up stories again:
Indigo Girls do the parking lot in Little Five Points (AJC, 9/22/06)
Labels: Music
« September 22, 2006 11:00 PM | Post a Comment | 0 comments »
Best review ever
If I could ever put into words the love I have for my wacky Celine and her magical (not literally) Vegas show, it would be very, very close to this:
"[Celine] transcends cheese, and I have never seen anything like it. She is a one-woman pageantry bandwagon, the Unsinkable Molly Brown with a several-octave vocal range.
At one point, she sings Stevie Wonder's I Wish, without changing one word, including the opening line "Looking back on when I was a little nappy-headed boy." To my knowledge, Celine Dion is not, nor has she ever been, a little nappy-headed boy.
But this is Celine World, her very own stage in a colosseum erected especially for her. And even though it makes absolutely no sense, she makes you believe it. She plants her feet, contorts her face into a serious expression of nostalgic funk-grooviness, and sells that thing.
In Celine World, if a thin French-Canadian woman believes fervently that she was a little nappy-headed boy, then God bless her, you believe her, too."
-- by Leslie Gray Streeter, "Caesar's is Celine World," (Palm Beach Post, 9/18/2006)
The rest of the column rings just as true. It's wacky to think that someone else out there thinks of Celine like I do. Just plain wacky, but also puzzling and possibly for some of you, slightly frightening.
« September 19, 2006 2:06 PM | Post a Comment | 0 comments »
Multiple choice
If the following is not part of my normal made-up reality:
(((Yen + THE CRUSH) * 1 hour) / week) - the rest of the world = X
...then X = ?
A. Unbearable Yen (Yes, I know: How will I be any different?)
B. Danger, Will Robinson!
C. (Even more) pity for Cylinda
D. Algebra sucks. Down with long division! Calculators rule! (No, they calculate. HAHAHA... hahaha... huhu... bleh. I thought it was funny.)
E. All of the above except D because I love algebra. I really do. I'm not ashamed to admit it. Of course, I admit to loving Celine so maybe my standards are not the same as your standards. Maybe...
Labels: Crush
« September 14, 2006 1:34 PM | Post a Comment | 1 comments »
Bart est mon héros
In the Simpsons episode The Crepes of Wrath, Bart goes to France as an exchange student and is forced to make wine with anti-freeze. This is based on a kinda-true story. Anti-freeze is tasty! Near the end of the episode, as he's trying to get a police officer to help him, Bart berates himself for not learning the language and suddenly French just rolls off his tongue. In that instant, he gets how to speak French.
It would be a financial tragedy for language schools and instructors if students could experience this epiphany on his or her journey of language study. Since it probably never happens at all, I'm content to lower the bar and be really happy when I understand more than two sentences of French at a time.
I call these my Bart Moments. It happens when:
- I hear several French sentences and comprehend the meaning as it's being said.
- I respond to a question in French without having to think of it initially in English.
- I use proper grammar the first time around. This rarely happens in any language I speak so, for me, this is going for the gold.
Bart is my hero.
Labels: French
« September 13, 2006 4:58 PM | Post a Comment | 0 comments »
Dragon*Con
After three years of Dragon*Con fun, I've learned that:
- The Cruxshadows are my new Susan Werner.
- Goth is more than just a color. But can someone tell me where I'm going wrong?
- Hardcore Firefly/Serenity fans need William Shatner to give them a talking to. Loons.
- Pro-wrestling is sci-fi in the ring (good vs evil, costumes and bad acting).
- Marina Sirtis and Denise Crosby can make a living coaching celebrities on how to interact with fans. They're the best.
- I don't know all my Star Treks, I don't like to dress up, I hate large crowds, but I love Dragon*Con.
There are never too many Storm Troopers.
Jabba may be overwhelmed. Wouldn't you?
Grant, Kari and Tory from Mythbusters. They're paid to blow things up on TV. Awesome.
No planet, just an escalator.
So Leo got the girl! I always liked Leo.
No, my favorite is Mikey. Yes, I have a favorite Turtle. Shut up.
Labels: Atlanta, Movies, Music, TV
« September 06, 2006 5:33 PM | Post a Comment | 0 comments »
Still waters
Ten years ago:
Yen + an Indigo Girl + beer (half can) = bad things
But last night, when one of them sat down directly in front of me and my Stella Artois (whole pint), all I could think of was, Please move your head. Emily was enjoying the five artists who were playing before her set and thanks to her broad shoulders and big red head, I don't know what any of those five artists looked like.
Not that everything's changed. Amy still looked like she just stepped out of Deliverance with her mullet AND cut-off jean jacket. Emily found yet another shirt from her attic that was already very, very old 10 years ago and thought it appropriate to wear in public.
(A + E) * Eddie's = Verklempt Yen
And me, well, I still got a bit verklempt at hearing Ghost with its constant arpeggio fading in and out as if it was always there, all along. Like these Girls...always there, all along...still making bad wardrobe choices...still reminding me that my love of (good) music started with them...
I may not listen to them very much these days, but still... thanks always...
Labels: Music
« September 01, 2006 8:59 AM | Post a Comment | 0 comments »
