i'm counting down to 2007

Coming to Orlando in 2007 ...

January 17 - Cowboy Mouth @ Backbooth
January 31 - The Lemonheads @ The Social
February 19 - Deerhoof @ The Social
March 20 - Snow Patrol, OK Go and Silversun Pickup @ Hard Rock Live
March 31 – Of Montreal @ The Club at Firestone
April 12 – Sebadoh @ The Social

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In the Steven Tyler "Wait a minute ... I love that idea" category ... check out this headline: Red Hot Chili Peppers to rock Disneyland Resort. Apparently, the band is following in Aerosmith's footsteps by lending their music to a Disney attraction. Space Mountain will become Rockin' Space Mountain, and riders will hear "Higher Ground" as they twist and turn in the dark roller coaster attraction. "Around the World" will play on Rockin' California Screamin'. The article makes it sounds like this is only temporary; it will end once the Year of a Million Dreams Celebration ends.

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Lastly, let me share some fun things I've downloaded recently.

Autloux, as rbally agrees, is quite underrated and not nearly as popular as their talent suggests they should be. Check the blog for live songs from their May 5, 2005, performance at the Double Door in Chicago. My heart was skipping beats as the little blue line followed my Mac's progress of plucking the songs from the Web. They didn't disappoint.

Then, Daytrotter.com highlighted some live Mates of State tracks. Although not as good as hearing them on the polo fields in the beautiful desert heat, they are still lovely. Now do as Daytrotter says: "Download free Mates of State tunes at daytrotter.com"

santa, i know what i want for xmas ...

I actually hit 9 miles an hour on our new Segway at work. I LOVE this thing!

happy holidaze

I’m tired. The stress of the holidays alone is enough the wear me out – and I don’t mean the stress of being single. I mean JUST the stress of the holidays is enough to make me want to curl up in a fetal position under all my covers. Then you add to the mix impatient drivers, tourists who drive like they got their license this morning, crowded stores, etc., and just forget it. Hibernation until 2007 sounds like a plan.

But there’s just no time for that. There’s really no time to even read this – I mean, are you finished your holiday shopping? If you’re not, then here are some fun Web sites that offer excellent ideas.

Gifts.com - I found some really cool items on the site, and I had a blast just looking through the pages. I wonder if they have birthday registrations???

SockArmy.com – I love funky socks and hosiery. This site has something to complement every outfit in your Ambassador-approved wardrobe.

PerpetualKid.com – With the tag line “Entertain your inner child,” I don’t think there’s much left to say. I will say that I spent nearly an hour perusing all the different categories of gifts. Gingerbread cookie cutters that are missing limbs, marshmallow guns and more. Yes, 33 is the new black.

And if you’ve been so busy that you have no idea what’s going on in the world, let me bring you up to speed.

The New Orleans Saints kick ass. We’re second in the entire NFC!!! WHO DAT!!

Tootie is pregnant.

Nicole Richie got busted, and I learned that she weighs as much as my high school backpack.

Prince’s bare ass is the halftime show of the Superbowl.

Eddie Murphy is Scary Spice’s babydaddy.

And I'm spent.

i'm filled with thankful

This Thanksgiving Weekend, I'm reflecting on all of the things I'm thankful for. There are many, many things I'm thankful for. I could go on and on talking about my amazing family and friends, a job I love that allows me to play as hard as I work, and so much more.

I'm especially thankful for the future. There's so much to look forward to in my life. Ashley and Lily will be here soon, my friend Michael Kelley will have an amazing year as a Disney Ambassador, and so much more. But let's just bring it down a notch and get real. Today, I'm thankful that technology allows me to hear Jeff Buckley say the word "penis."



And I'm very thankful for the next video I found on youtube.com. I've never seen it, and yet the clips are familiar because of Merri Cyr's photography and her book A Wished-For Song, which should be in all Jeff Buckley fans' libraries. Thanks, youtube, for these moments.

martika & fergie

Step by step, heart to heart, left right left, we all fall down like london bridge.

back to my europe series ...

After the Netherlands, Kim and I were looking forward to having two full days in London completely free. We got in late Friday night, and I had so much bottled-up excitement about being in London that I seriously thought I was going to burst. We checked in to Le Meridien on Picadilly, a posh hotel right in the middle of everything.

The coolest thing in my hotel room was a speaker in the bathroom that played whatever you had on the television. Simple pleasures! Flipping through the channels was like being at a UN meeting – channels in German, French, Dutch, Spanish, even a channel for Al-Jazeera. I loved watching the BBC in the mornings – the biggest news stories were Mark Foley and Bush’s passing of a law that pretty much outlawed online gambling for Americans. (Back in the states, no one had even heard about the online gambling rule – interesting…)


On our first morning, Kim and I walked down Regal Street to Oxford and hit two fun stores – Top Shop and H&M. I hit the hosiery department. I know it sounds lame, but I love funky socks, and with the sucky exchange rate of the British pound, it was about all I could afford. I wound up with a few pairs of socks, tights, a couple of skirts and pair of striped gloves.

a sign on Oxford Street
That afternoon, we had awesome seats for Wicked, and we were lucky enough to catch Idina Menzel reprising her Tony Award-winning role of Elphaba. I never thought I’d see her perform live. She was amazing – producing a series of chills up and down my arm throughout the show – and even a few tears during “Defying Gravity.” What can I say? I am a sucker for an underdog story.

Oh, and the guy who played Piper Perabo’s boyfriend in Coyote Ugly played Fiero. He was pretty impressive, and not just because he was hot and had a British accent.

ummm ... technobarf?

By the end of the show, we were overwhelmed by the drama of West End excitement and decided to walk over to the theater where Billy Elliott was playing to see if they had any tickets available. We heard nothing but rave reviews about the show from anyone we talked to, including Jason, who saw it just a week or two before we arrived in London.

Kim and I were lucky enough to get tickets for Monday night, so we were thrilled and suddenly slightly concerned that we’d get out of work in time to actually make it to the theater. We did, and we really enjoyed the show. The accents were sometimes difficult to understand – think Trainspotting and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels -- but it was a really fun show. The dancing was amazing, especially the 11-year-old boys who had more talent in their big toe than I do in my whole being.

intellectual political statements abound in london

What else? We shopped, we walked all over our “neighborhood” one night – there was a Virgin Megastore on our block! – and on our last free day, we did some sightseeing, too. Kim and I had both visited London before, so we were content to wander around a bit. We went to Tower Bridge and then did something amazing – we hopped on the London Eye for a bird’s-eye view of the city. It was a really cool experience. You move so slowly, it’s almost imperceptible, and it took nearly 20 minutes to go around completely.



So, what did I learn about our friends across the pond?
The Brits call Tony Blair “George Bush’s poodle.”
The cabs are roomier than my college dorm.
Every building is beautiful.
I loved watching their nerdy grammar game shows.
I want go back.

there is a light

When my grandmother was a young woman, she fell deeply in love with a guy named Joey. They married, and just a few days later, Joey left for the war and never returned. My grandma told me that she awoke one night, and her bedroom was dark except for Joey’s picture, which was illuminated on her dresser. She later learned that evening was the same night Joey died.

Years later, she was at a parade with her family and noticed a bright flash of light in the sky. When they returned home, my grandma learned that her brother died. Whenever my Grandma saw a light flashing that wasn’t supposed to be, she got a bad feeling, and I guess it passed on to the rest of the family.

When I was in college, the key ring my Grandma gave me broke in two. I had never taken it off because I felt it was some way connected to her. I was upset that it broke, and when my mom called and told me she thought something was wrong with Grandma, I responded, “I know.”

She was in Chicago visiting family, and she didn’t feel well, so she decided to come back to town early. I saw my grandma that weekend, and my mom even told her about the key ring, which I had fixed. Within a week, my key ring broke again, this time, for good. My mom called later and said that Grandma was in the hospital. She died a few days later.

To this day, when I see a light flickering out, I think of my Grandma. It used to really upset me – like it was a sign that someone I loved was dying. One day, I thought, what if it’s my grandma’s way of contacting me and letting me know that everything is OK? I immediately felt better – the power of the mind.

Last Monday, I took Thor to the vet because he seemed to be getting worse. He had taken nearly all of his antibiotics, and the mass on his neck -- what the vet diagnosed as a severe bacterial infection -- seemed even larger. Dr. Chesnick said the mass had spread to his mouth, and there was nothing they could do to make it better. I didn’t need to wait for the biopsy results; Dr. Chesnick recommended Thor be put to sleep within a day or two so they could leave the catheter in his paw and he wouldn’t have to go through that pain again.

That night was rough. I gave Thor peanut butter on a bagel – a favorite of his. I would have given him anything he wanted because we had only a few hours left together. My dad drove us to the vet the next morning, and we stayed with Thor through the procedure. It was heartbreaking, but I’m glad I was there. Right before he lost consciousness, Thor licked my nose. He knew I needed that.



A few days later, Dr. Chesnick called and said the biopsy results showed that Thor had a highly evasive something carcinoma. It was cancer, and he was really sick. I'm grateful that I was able to spend his last few hours with him.

By the way, the staff at the Kirkman Road Veterinary Clinic has been wonderful. Dr. Chesnick is a sweetheart, and I highly recommend the place to anyone looking for a kind, understanding vet practice.

i'm thinking of what sara said ...

... love is watching someone die.

L is for Leeuwarden, Lucozade and lots of luggage

Although a bit skiddish at first, I learned to love Lucozade, which tastes like candy and claims to boost my energy level. A big hit with Jason, and apparently with most of the U.K., Lucozade was completely unknown to me, so I turned it down several times because I wasn’t sure if it would make me loopy right before our presentations. I think back now to those yawns that didn’t have to be.

We became somewhat obsessed with finding the stuff and buying a stash before we returned to the States. And then I found out they sell it in bottles like Gator-ade!

Leeuwarden (remember, that’s LAY-oo-var-den) seemed like a really cool village-like college town. The hospitality school we visited also had a hotel the students ran as part of their studies, so we literally never had to leave the building.

The faculty was great, and they treated us to some great meals in the student restaurants. I tried buttermilk for the first and last time (bleck!!), enjoyed a variety of antipasti delicacies with marscapone and always seemed to order fish – which was delicious. One of the restaurants we visited was a very charming old place with excellent food.

After two nights in Leeuwarden, we traveled by train to Rotterdam. The trains were always a real trip. For a two-week journey, we actually did pack lightly. However, it was still a literal pain in the neck (and back) to travel with so much baggage. Kim and I always came close to surpassing our limit on the weight of our bags at the airports. With the trains, you had the luxury of not weighing them and the horror of having to carry all of them yourself. Well, unless you were traveling with a chivalrous Brit!
One of the trains we had the luck to ride had a mobile drinking cart on a guy's back!

If we weren’t laughing so hard passing luggage to each other over steep steps from the train platforms up to the cabs of the train, we would have cried like over-tired babies. Sometimes we were standing at the doors next to the business travelers, ready to exit the trains, knowing that we had three minutes to find our next train and carry all of our luggage on there before the whistle blew and left us behind.

In Rotterdam, like everywhere else in The Netherlands, the most popular form of travel seemed to be the bicycles. Here's a picture of a parking area -- how in the world do you remember where you parked your bike?

Rotterdam and s' Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) were next on our itinerary. We were in Rotterdam for only a few hours before traveling to Den Bosch just in time to get dinner at our hotel. The town looked like a great place for wandering around with my camera. But alas, it was dark when we arrived and rainy when we left the next morning.

In Den Bosch, we went to another school with faculty who were overly gracious and lots of fun. They brought us lots of different samples of Dutch food for lunch in the student-run restaurant. I had black pudding, which looks like a sausage patty, but it's actually pig's blood. It was actually kind of sweet. They were very kind to go to the trouble to welcome us, so I figured I should indulge. It was definitely an experience.

On a lighter note, here are some fun signs I came across in Switzerland. And yes, those first two were on bathroom doors.

Next up: LONDON, witches and boxing ballerinas

I AMsterdam

I am so behind in my blogging – I’m sorry! Please be kind, I’m a busy lady. I work a lot, am caring for a sick dog, am obsessed with too many new Fall shows and have been on three trips within the last month and a half. I guess I’ll just start where my most recent adventure began: EUROPE!

First stop: Amsterdam.

Before you ask, no, I didn’t go to the coffeehouses. It was a business trip, and although legal in Holland, funny brownies were not on our menu.

Instead, Kim, (a recruiter in my company that shall remain nameless) and I indulged in public transportation and hopped on a bus from the airport to the Anne Frank museum. It was incredible. We actually walked through the same hallways and climbed the same hidden staircases Anne and her family used just to stay alive.
a statue of Anne Frank outside the bulding where she hid
It was truly moving. Kim and I walked quietly through the historic building and peered out of windows that offered scenes that weren’t all that different from the ones Anne wrote about. We saw pictures on a wall that she posted, lines on a doorframe marking her growth and pages from her original journals.

I thought about my grandma the whole time. We were in a bookstore together when I was very young, and she pointed at a book and said, that’s my mom. I turned and saw a paperback of The Diary of Anne Frank. I knew her mom was named Anna, and their last name was Frank. My jaw dropped. A million questions popped in my head, not the least of which was “How could I not know this?” Then she started laughing hysterically. My grandma rocked.

From there, Kim and I went to Van Gogh Museum. Although it had some real treasures, it was no Musee d’Orsay, and the lack of sleep was starting to get to me. I don't sleep well on planes, and I hardly got a wink as we crossed the pond. Although, I did get to watch The Lake House and the second half of A Scanner Darkly, which I saw at the Enzian this summer.

After that, there was time for a quick pedal boat down one of the famous canals. The boats were not easy to steer, and if you overcorrected, you were bumping into someone’s personal boat docked along the bank or worse, found yourself in the path of a sightseeing tour boat.

Here's a brief video of our trip on the canal. Sorry about the quality -- but you'll get the idea.



The afternoon went by way too quickly, and we had to meet Jason at the airport. Jason is from Essex, England, and he’s a charming, witty Brit who owns his own company in London. He's hysterical and kept us laughing when we were tired and our muscles were cramped from carrying luggage from train to train to cab to train to airport to train ....

That evening, Kim, Jason and I hopped in a cab for a two-hour drive to Leeuwarden, which is pronounced LAY-oo-var-den. I slept a bout half the way, but not before I saw this and thought of my Coachella friends!

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Here are a few of my favorite photos from Amsterdam.




Next in my Euroblog:
Leeuwarden, the first temptation of Lucozade and my first glass of real buttermilk (ick!)

don't you love me anymore?

That's what you're thinking, right? Life has been even more crazy busy than usual, and that has taken me away from the blogosphere. I'm not blogging, I'm not keeping up with my favorite blogs, and I have so much to say!

In September, I had a very unexpected death in the family, and I flew to Chicago for a few days. It was my mom's cousin Anthony, and he was one of those people that make life worth living. Fun, full of life, generous and thoughtful, and I don't understand how people like that are taken so young when there are horrible people still alive who make the world a scary place. It was one of those experiences that make you analyze every decision you've made and the ones you've been too scared to make.

Then, I went to New Orleans for a baby shower for my brother and his wife. It was a great time, but way too short.

I will tell you more about all of that, and I promise you that in a couple of weeks, I will have a lot more to say and share. I promise.

Death Cab heads out on the road

Death Cab For Cutie announced a list of dates for their fall tour today, and Orlando made the list, thank you very much! Ted Leo + The Pharmacists are opening for one leg of the tour -- the one that stops at the UCF Arena -- and OK Go is opening for the next. For the full list of tour dates, check out the band's Web site.

I know, there will be a lot of young O.C. fans there, and that bothers people. But you know, the band rocks. They continue to put out great music with great songwriting, and if that's what mainstream folks want to listen to, then I think it's about time. Just don't act like an idiot and make out with your boyfriend or girlfriend right in front of me, don't burn me with your cigarette and don't get drunk. It's a concert. You can get drunk, smoke and make out at home with the radio on.

Now if we could just get an appearance by The Postal Service!

brian, we never had a chance to meet

Sad news, kids.

Get your WOXY on this weekend because beginning Sept. 15, it will become old school. As in, remember back in the day when you could be turned on to great new bands, catch amazing live performances and generally just feel a bit hipper than usual because you were listening.

WOXY, an indie station in Cincinnati, will initiate radio silence next week unless someone puts up some serious cash to save it. A couple of years ago it moved to a Web-only operation, and I guess it's still not working out. Here'’s more from the station’s Web site ...…


This sucks.

This is the moment all of us hoped would never come. After plugging away at this for the past two years, it's become pretty clear that operating woxy.com as a stand-alone Internet "radio station" is not going to cut it. Our operating costs are higher than you might think, and the revenue we were able to generate from advertising isn't close to supporting what we'’re doing. Even membership revenue wasn't enough to get us there. When your business doesn'’t make money, you eventually go out of business.


On our first pilgrimage to Indio for Coachella, my friends and I embarrassed the hell out of ourselves by calling out "Brian!" to any guy wearing a WOXY shirt. He's one of the WOXY DJs, and we read that he was going to be there. Early on the second morning, we were waiting to meet Kristin in the grassy-knoll parking area, and we all piled in the rental car to enjoy the last moments of air conditioner.

Some guy passed between the cars, and before I even knew what I was doing, I rolled down the window and yelled, "Brian!" To our excitement -- and horror -- he turned around and gave us that "Did we go to high school or something?" look. Turned out, he shared the DJ's name but not his job. He was just a fan from Cincy. Christy shared some hometown love, and we had a good laugh.

Brian, wherever you are, know that you rocked our world.

To help mourn WOXY's passing, go download some the kickin' live sessions from its Lounge Acts series. You can stream live performances and interviews with Pete Yorn, We Are Scientists, Say Hi to Your Mom, Alexi Murdoch, Low, Jem, The Hold Steady and about a gazillion more.

KEXP is an indie radio station out of Seattle, and true to its "bring it to the people" style, it's releasing a new CD of live music that has a little something for everyone. Sleater-Kinney, Bright Eyes, the Decemberists, Editors, Zero 7, Death CabFor Cutie, Aqualung anyone?

Check it out: Live at KEXP, Volume II
1. Lyrics Born – "Callin’ Out"
2. Gang of Four – "What We All Want"
3. Thievery Corporation – "Warning Shots"
4. Tapes N Tapes – "Insistor"
5. Sleater-Kinney – "Jumpers"
6. Ted Leo and the Pharmicists – "Walking to Do"
7. Death Cab for Cutie – "Crooked Teeth"
8. The Decemberists – "We Both Go Down Together"
9. Zero 7 – "Home"
10. Common Market – "Connect Four"
11. M.I.A. – "Galang"
12. Band of Horses – "The Funeral"
13. The Wedding Present – "Ringway to Sea-Tac"
14. Editors – "Munich"
15. Skullbot – "Lookout"
16. Bright Eyes – "At the Bottom of Everything"
17. Trashcan Sinatras – "Weightlifting"
18. Aqualung – "Brighter than Sunshine"
19. Drive By Truckers – "World of Hurt"
20. Patti Smith (with Lenny Kaye) – "People Have the Power"

It's probably not available in a store near you, so order it online and make sure all the money goes to Mom and Pop KEXP so they can continue to release cool tunes like these.

show your zombie love

What if you all of a sudden, everyone around you got ...












You know the whole zombie craze is going mainstream when zombies get their own font. Check it out at e-zombie.com. So cool!

one year down, many to go

by Steve Kelley, NOLA.com

It has been one year since Hurricane Katrina rammed into the Gulf Coast and all Hell broke loose in my beloved hometown of New Orleans. There is so much left to do, and for those of us who can't be there to help, I think it's up to us to make sure the rest are not forgotten.

pluto, i still love you

Pluto is no longer a planet? How can they just change your mind after all these years? What's next?
Is Europe not truly a continent?

Is "y" not sometimes a vowel?

Is alternative music not actually alternative?

Wait, forget that last one.

National Geographic explains it like this ...

"According to the new definition, a full-fledged planet is an object that orbits the sun and is large enough to have become round due to the force of its own gravity. In addition, a planet has to dominate the neighborhood around its orbit. Pluto has been demoted because it does not dominate its neighborhood. Charon, its large "moon," is only about half the size of Pluto, while all the true planets are far larger than their moons."

Adding a "size matters" joke here is just way too easy, so I'm not going there.