I'm terribly allergic to something. I don't know what it is. But my eyes are burning and my throat feels funny. I hope it's not my sweater. I hope it's not Prelude to Swine Flu. Heard on the radio that a case of feline swine flu has been discovered. Picture a coughing pig next to a coughing cat next to a coughing human.
This is not a productive day, partly thanks to my (partial) insomnia. I'm also in a combative mood. Yes, it's Saturday, but here in workaholic land we have high hopes for Saturday, especially because it is insulated on both ends from The Week. And now it's semi-lost and I'm red-eyed.
Why do they sell something like "cubed tofu"? How much of a hardship does cubing tofu entail to make this product desirable and necessary? You can tell a lot about the ethos from the tofu shelf: there are "firm" and "extra firm" (each time it takes me five minutes to spot a soft among the firms) and now here comes "cubed."
Also heard on the radio: the death of Lévi-Strauss. One of the last giants.
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11/08/09 Aquarium* Fargo, ND
11/09/09 Waiting Room* Omaha, NE 11/11/09 Brick Kansas City, MO 11/29/09 Oxford O2 Academy 3, UK 11/30/09 Relentless Garage London 12/01/09 Thekla Bristol, UK 12/02/09 Wedgewood Portsmouth, UK 12/03/09 Cabaret Voltaire Edinburgh 12/04/09 Bodega Nottingham, UK 12/05/09 Brickyard Carlisle, UK 12/06/09 King Tut’s Wah Wah Glasgow 12/07/09 Ruby Lounge Manchester, UK 12/08/09 Plug Sheffield, UK 12/09/09 Academy 2 Dublin, Ireland 12/10/09 Stiff Kitten Belfast, Ireland 12/12/09 Concorde 2 Brighton, UK 12/13/09 Barfly Cardiff, UK * with Bang Bang Eche Read More |
Opening up for Har Mar Superstar are three very different genre and acts. Starting with Koo Koo Kangeroo (official / myspace), whose music styling is that of hip hop - for toddlers. Their songs are dead simple, like "AOA" (sample lyrics: "aye oh aye oh aye") and "Cheh Cheh Chi" and "LMNOP", but they're catchy and easy to sing along. The highlight of their set was when they threw down a white tarp-like covering and the audience was dancing under it like a party fort.
Wow, Bang Bang Eche (myspace) are young. Someone told me that they're about 18 years old, but they certainly look much younger. Their music is very punk high-energy and reminds me a bit of Arctic Monkeys influenced. My easily favorite song from their set is "Fist Full of Dollars", perhaps a reference to Sergio Leone classic film? They ended their setlist with "Die Hippy Scum". Oh, also, it's worth noting that bassist T'Nealle sported a three keyboard cat moon t-shirt. Adorable.
The odd group on the bill was two-person group, Lookbook (myspace). The band is basically guitarist Grant Cutler, who plays guitars and handles the pre-recordings, with vocalist Maggie Morrison. Their music sounds like 80s pop, not exactly the "body-moving" type of music that you'd think Har Mar's audience would demand. Not really much to say, except I think Maggie looks really cute and I will be talking about them in further detail on my "book"-theme news on Sunday.
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Har Mar Superstar ♥ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (11/06/09) |
After the first song, he took off his hat. After "DUI", he took off the overall to reveal a Prince "Purple Rain" shirt. He kept taking off articles of clothing as the night went on. From "EZ Pass", to "Girls Only", to "Creative Juices"... the audience was loving it all.
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Har Mar and Melinda Park singing "Powerline"
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The very last song, Har Mar sang an a cappella version of Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday". He would pretend the song ended and everyone would clap... only he would continue to sing the refrain. After the third false ending and after he said "goodnight", he came back and sang some more.
Har Mar's latest album is Dark Touches, available from Dilettante Recordings. Read Andrew's review of the album, pick up a copy at amazon
11/07/2009 04:22:06 ♥ vu (
)
♥
harmarsuperstar.com
♥ myspace.com/harmarsuperstar
♥ twitter.com
So this day was spent mostly in leisure. Went out and bought some clothes, LOTs of chocolate of all kinds, some vegetables (which I am not going to put in the fridge--yeah, there is a war going on between me the fridge over vegetables) and apples (the current policy favors Granny Smith). Tried a little Taiwanese restaurant. Not good. My food karma is a bit shaky these days. The other night we went to a perfectly good restaurant and I had the most tasteless mussels ever. This time after one taste of the soup I knew the verdict. Then I took some pictures of Q, who laughed and cried "Nazi babies!," insisting that instead of "the Gerber baby also has chin folds," I said "the Goebbels baby also has chin folds." Not fair! The pictures all came out blurry. Then I did a careful study of the colors associated with the Pope, cardinals, and bishops, respectively. I don't know why. But the side effect is the discovery that Bacon's Pope Innocent X is robed in purple, whereas in Velazquez's original he is dressed in red and white (the more properly papal colors). I wonder why. But that's the subject of another day's study. Now I should curb my curiosity and do some "real" work.
One regret: there was a woman outside the market playing violin. She was really good. My ears are pretty dead to music so when it is something even I find beautiful... Q is very musical and thought she was a genius, disturbed but special. I thought I'd give her some money on my way out, but when we came out she's gone.
So it's that time of year again. I suspect I may be a little earlier than usual, but if I am I lay it at the feet of the Royal Mail who have me in all of a tizz trying to work out how late I can send Christmas presents to Australia without strike action meaning they won't arrive till March or something.
So the usual applies - this is intended to guide those who want to give me a present but have no clue where to start - it's not intended to beg for gifts from anyone who didn't intend that thought when they came here! It's a long list for the simple reason that I like Christmas to be full of surprises and a long list gives more scope for surprise. I've also tried to include a variety of budget- and long-distance-post-friendly options so you should find something appropriate here - if not, feel free to deviate and invent - hopefully this should give you a few ideas.
If you do decide to send me something from this list, please email djelibeybi what you've chosen, to avoid possible doubling-up. If you don't have his email, let me know :-)
(Sorry it's a little half-baked - one of the problems of blogging a list like this on your iPod on the tube is you can't look anything up and I'm past my bedtime now)
So without further ado, here we go!
Vefa's Kitchen - Phaidon's big Greek cookbook
Hummingbird Bakery cookbook
Le Creuset Poterie lasagne dish in red or red-orange
Le Creuset Poterie ramekins or mini casserole dishes w lids - 6 for
pref in red or red-orange but 2 would make a perfectly acceptable start
Amazon vouchers *again* - I think this is the third year in a row that these have been in here and still no takers *sigh*
Book of David Hockney UK paintings from Tate shop (when I get a chance, I'll hunt out the actual name of it. Big book. It's got all his Yorkshire paintings in it, including the ones he's started doing which are a combination of photos and painting)
Nico Muhly Mothertongue
Camera - Canon G11 or Panasonic Lumix TZ-7 (I think - need to double-check the Lumix number. Will do that this weekend. I doubt there'll be a rush for this one in the next couple of days though...)
An original artwork by Simone O'Callaghan - I've always wanted one of her prints and her prices are ridiculously reasonable. Ask djeli if you need her email address.
Wooden knitting needles - interchangeable ends circular set (link will come when there's time...)
Row counter
Shoulder massage device - something designed to remove tension knots, not just feel nice. I would love you forever if you can really find something that will take out knots. Doubly so if it will fit tidily into a handbag.
Colinette chunky yarn - yah. yummy stuff. can't remember the name (see earlier note re: weekend)
Sock knitting books! There's a couple of them, but (again), I'll need to look them up
2 skeins Koigu sock yarn - so can actually make socks with it this time (one skein per foot, in case you're not a knitter and you're wondering - can't get a whole pair out of one skein!)
Artists' sketchbooks book (see re: weekend)
iTunes voucher (must be in ££s though - AuD can't be used in the UK store) - lots of little digital helpers I'd like to get - the full version of Karajan ear training for a start!
... and if all that's not enough, there was a lot left over from last year's list too - anything not formatted with strikeout is fair game :-)
11/07/09 Grog Shop Cleveland, OH
11/09/09 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto
11/10/09 IL Motore Montreal
11/11/09 TT Bears Cambridge, MA
11/12/09 Music Hall Brooklyn, NY
11/13/09 Kung Fu Necktie Phila, Pa
11/14/09 Rock Hotel Washington DC
11/16/09 Basement Nashville, Tn
11/17/09 Bottletree Birmingham, AL
11/18/09 Earl Atlanta, Ga
11/19/09 Social Orlando, FL
11/20/09 Cafe 11 St. Augustine, FL
11/22/09 One Eyed Jacks N Orleans, LA
Brazos (official / myspace)
warmed up the crowd around nine. What I liked about them is that they
have a lot of lyrics in their song. The highlight of their set is the
Adrienne Rich poem turned into song. I didn't recall the title, but I'm
sure it had "Africa" in the lyrics.
Brazos ♥ 400 Bar, Minneapolis (11/04/09)
Personally, I thought the best song on their setlist is "Feeding Frenzy", featuring these lyrics "We're interlocking, we're interlocking. It's a bitter conflict, this staring contest."
In contrast to the lyrics-thing, White Denim
are more like crazy pyschedelic, garagey, experimental rock 'n roll -
with minimal lyrics. Whatever singer James Petralli spouted out, it
didn't matter because you were so in awe of his amazing guitar-playing
ability. You can just tell the guy is a rock god, the way his fingers
frantically moved up and down the neck of the guitar.
White Denim ♥ 400 Bar, Minneapolis (11/04/09)
I reckon these Austin lads don't care so much to slow down or
stop, so all their songs are medleys - one song flow into the next, and
pretty soon about six songs have passed before they have to take a
breather.
If you like your music loud, loud, and loud, White Denim is the band for you. Be sure to bring earplugs.
White Denim's latest album is called Fits and is available now at their record label, Downtown Music, or amazon.
11/05/2009 22:52:12 ♥ vu () ♥ whitedenimmusic.com ♥ myspace.com/bopenglis
Played with my camera at wee hours and got these. The night was odd like that.
It's time to gear up for lots of store visits, there will be a lot of layout changes, one more new store and multiple phases of Xmas promotion happening from this week onward. My gears will change from office setting (mind.depositor, Moleskine diary, fountain pen, calculator, camera) to field setting (pocket Moleskine, camera).
One of the indispensable tool is this "Holder for M" from Vintage Revival Productions. It is an ingenious two piece product made from a combination of leather and denim label material. One piece acts as a holder which allows you to insert your M into your jean's back pocket (8,800 yen), the other is a pen holder (4,500 yen). Both pieces are looped so that you can slide to the front and back cover of you M easily without permanent damage.
Where did I found this you asked? It was last July when I thought I was having the last meeting of a business trip in Tokyo, Mr. Doi from Sweetroad (a great store to visit mind you) told me about Mr. Iwata and his shop Iwata Denki. I had to rush to that store in Setagaya before it's closed. Full of sweat and unable to communicate in Japanese, I was signing and nodding a lot and had a great "conversation" with Iwata san, a designer himself, who published 2 design books called GOALD (goal of design), and constantly working to create new products. Do visit Iwata san's blog to get a glimpse of his works and product collections from his friends.
Iwata san made some very nice leather Moleskine covers. They are like stickers, only in leather, which are removable and probably can last several uses when you change your Moleskine. I was about to buy the brown snake skin embossed or the wood imitation cover but too bad they were out of stock. He also made those cute little leather photo clips which look like smileys, they are put into recycle film cans and sold in stores like Tokyu Hands and Loft.
Iwata san was very keen to show me his collection of great products in the shop, wooden iphone case, his leather credit card holder, coin pouch etc. "Holder for M" was the one thing I got from his shop, then I was out of cash in Tokyo :)
So if you are going to Tokyo, I suggest you to dig up these interesting small shops to go, it is far more rewarding as a journey. As for myself, the connection and sense of discovery always give me the thrill.
