Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Why didn't I start this when I was 20?!


So, there is this group in town that has come up with a pretty darn cool idea.

Scott Thorpe and Britain Strah, 20 year olds from Eagle River, are two founders of the Alaska Music Alliance. My new teen media institute reporter Tiana Johnson, 19, produced this audio story about it. This is Tiana's first story. I am so proud!

Elton John in Anchorage. Ha! No way.

I know what I am getting my mom for Mother's day!

http://www.adn.com/arts/story/389902.html

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Indie/folk rocker in town!

"Cory Branan's got an evil streak/And a way with words that'll bring you to your knees/Oh he can play the wildest shows and he can sing so sweet/I still sing along."

That's a lyric from one of my favorite Lucero songs.

And this guy, Cory Branan from the song, is going to be playing some shows in town this week. If he is all Ben Nichols of Lucero sings he is, it should be a good time.

I've been a fan of the band Lucero since I first heard "Tears don't matter much" on KRUA 88.1, the University of Alaska Anchorage radio station. The whiskey infused alt. country stuff just does it for me I guess. I called up my friend J.R., who worked at the station, and sang it to him in the phone. I had to know what it was, "Who plays that?"

I booked it over to Mammoth Music and picked up a copy of "That much further west." And proceeded to listen to it over and over again.

BEN NICHOLS AT DANTE'S IN PORTLAND
Photobucket

If you like what you hear on Branan's MySpace, come out for a show or two! You know I'm looking forward to it.

30 Apr 2008 7:00 P
Vagabond Blues w/ Evan Phillips (All Ages) Palmer, Alaska
1 May 2008 12:00 P
KNBA In Studio (Time TBA) Anchorage, Alaska
2 May 2008 7:30 P
Tap Root Cafe (All Ages) Anchorage, Alaska
3 May 2008 8:30 P
Snow Goose Theater w/ The Whipsaws Anchorage, Alaska

A girl after my own heart.

My good friend Natasha sent me a link a few weeks back with the headline, "My jeans look great!" The link was to Dacia Ray's blog entry on how to hem your jeans, without making it look like they've been hemmed.

HEM THOSE JEANS


Dacia is a journalist in Seattle who loves crafts and putting food on the table. Her blog is full of entries like this, useful tips and stuff that just looks good.

Another friend, Alaina, is planning to try Dacia's skirt pattern this weekend. And I am, of course, thinking about the tote bag. Alaina says now that I am a full-time educator, I need a nice collection of tote bags. She got me one for Christmas. Ha, jeez...

Anyway, the blog is mostly girly stuff. But I might find something for the boys to do on craft nights.

The Devil Whale (formally Palomino)

It has been a while since we have seen the guys of Utah's Palomino up north, maybe almost two years? Since their last appearance up here, the band has changed its name to The Devil Whale and released a ten-track album titled, "Like Paraders," a bulk of which can be previewed on the band MySpace.

I downloaded the album last night from Nimbit. I'm digging it, perhaps part nostalgia and part because The Devil Whale is a band of talented guys. Oh yah, and I like music about failure, deception and broken hearts by artists who most always see greener grass where they are not. Right now, I'm thinking "Butter for burns" and "If this house fails" are going to be my two favorites. But "Dirty mouth" and "Your love=Math" are also right up there.

And then there is this one, "Turn the car around." Here they are playing it live at their CD release party at Velour in Provo, Utah.

Who am I kidding? I like it all.

THE DEVIL WHALE

Saturday, April 26, 2008

...and knowing what she doesn't like. My tank.

I feel the need for a tank, to store things I like.

Tanks have always creeped me out. Something about objects being confined to a small space maybe. I was never one to volunteer to take home the class pet for example.

As I was growing up, my mom had several fish tanks. I think at one point there were like four of them. Hours we would spend in the pet store waiting for the tall, thin, geeky guy to try to get the exact squirmy thing she wanted into those little plastic bags. Walking through the aisles of bubbling filters nauseated me. And then there was the smell of fish food and the fact that there were always, always going to be a few dead ones floating in there or residing at the bottom.

And then with the fish came the dreams, nightmares really, about the fish swimming outside their tank. Sure they would be fine at first but eventually they were going to dry up. Most of the time, I woke up before that happened.

They were just so confined and so often had to be flushed down the toilet. It wasn't fair. But setting them free wouldn't exactly have been humane either. Where they going to go? Who is going feed them? Eat them?

I remember reading an article in the Daily News about a piranha that was found in Campbell Creek in Anchorage. Some family friends who had a piranha cooped up in a dark, dank, algae ridden mess came to mind and I thought, "Now, someone had the right idea." I bet those days, before that omnivorous little bugger was found out, were the best of it's life.

I, on the other hand, never had the guts to free the masses. For one thing dealing with my mom afterward would have been ridiculous and I guess I saw, though I didn't understand, at all, the happiness they brought her. They were her thing, what she liked.

Though I still have issues with containment, especially when it comes to living creatures, perhaps this space can be my thing. I'll fill it with what I like.