A frozen moment that will forever keep little brothers little.
Semi-Daily Scribbles
Carving out a corner to post random crap.
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Ahhh…the time crunch. Early mornings are the most creative, so I cram in as much writing as possible before heading into the office. After work is hit and miss. I’m either too knackered or too distracted by some odd bit of business. Sneaking in minutes during my day is, hopefully, going to keep me on track so I can finish a writing project or two. I’m thinking I can make much better use of my lunch break. Take right now, for instance. I’m sitting on a blue bench next to a green pond and having some fun with dialogue. An idea that turned into a couple pages of notes has now blossomed into a scene that’s poised to tie together some earlier work. The fun of discovery! I’ve been launched into that “what’s gonna happen next?” mode. Exhilarating and spooky. Where does this stuff come from?
I better get back to work before I have to make my way back to the office.
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I’m not sure what’s boiling and roiling and bubbling up to the surface, but I bet it’s not going to be beaten back. This surge is swelling and the pull of the tide is sending a message to faraway shores. Giving in is not the same as giving up. I’ll let the water swallow me whole and carry me out to a clear, deep place.
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Today we take it for granted when seeing graffiti art in a posh gallery, but
arguably the first artist to channel the urban street frequencies of his time
and get it onto the "white walls with white people with white wine" was
Jean-Michel Basquiat. -
the lady traversed
with fleet feet and fevered cheek
left her babes behind
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Natalie Merchant, Winspear Opera House, 19 August 2010
Over the past twenty-three years I have seen Natalie Merchant perform as both a solo artist and as a member of the band 10,000 Maniacs. I am, indeed, a loyal fan of long standing. Thursday my husband Michael and I were treated to a rousing evening of music new and old from Natalie and a stellar group of musicians, not the least being guitarists Gabriel Gordon and Erik Della Penna, who have worked extensively with Natalie these past several years. The concert venue was the architectural and accoustic gem Winspear Opera House located in the heart of Dallas’ Arts District.
Natalie took the stage in the near packed to capacity house to present selections from her latest work, Leave Your Sleep. A six year labor of love and obsessive research has yielded a rich collection of poems that have been musically arranged in styles that span the globe and the centuries. The performance opened with the fantastical The Sleepy Giant, dripping in rich, atmospheric strings and woodwinds. My favorites were the Emerald Isle-inspired Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience, The Peppery Man’s delta blues vibe, the rootsy bluegrass Adventures of Isabel, and the flapper-era jazz infused The Janitor’s Boy. Having been off the road the last few years to raise her daughter, Natalie’s smoky alto sounded fresh and robust. I believe the long rest from constant touring helped Natalie find the right notes in her higher register that had become less prevalent in recent years. A youthful tone and energy buoyed Natalie’s performance, making her singing sound as silky and beautiful as I have ever heard.
Encore, anyone? Natalie and Company gave the crowd two shows for the price of one. The first half of the evening was devoted to poetry and new melodies. The second half brought out serious head bobbing and sing-alongs. Wonder led off the amazing encore performance that included fan favorites from Natalie’s solo and 10,000 Manicas repertoire. I was overjoyed to hear Maniacs tunes transformed by artful arrangements. A beautiful example of this reimagining was City of Angels from 1987’s In My Tribe. One of my much loved songs from the album, Natalie’s haunting rendition made it even more gorgeous. Another outstanding new take on an old favorite was River from 1995’s Tigerlily. Kind & Generous was the rollicking nightcap as Natalie sang her heartfelt Thank You’s to the out-of-their-seats-and-on-their-feet audience. A Thursday’s worth of poetry and song, backed by a first class performance by Natalie and Band, set the Winspear a-rockin’. I won’t soon forget this wonderful evening of inspired and inspiring music.
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This evening finds me happy and calm as the prospect of a lovely four-day weekend gets underway. No big plans, but I will be getting in some music and writing. Reading and some plain old relaxing will fill in the downtime just fine. The best getaway is the deck chair out back and my imagination let free to roam.
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“Dr. Martens and SANRIO, Inc. are teaming up for a new collaboration debuting this fall featuring SANRIO characters on super-exclusive limited editions of Dr. Martens 1460 8-eye boot and Mary Jane strap shoe.”
Must. Have.
Xmas is coming early to my house.
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Off to school. Heading into work. Planning out the week ahead. Lots of hours waiting empty and full of everything. What are your plans for them? All the big moments and fleeting seconds that add up under one column or the other. How will you use them? How will you view them when they’ve come and gone? A tag attached to each minute stating: Well Used or Let Slip By.
May the scorecard be in your favor come week’s end.
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Over the course of 11 years, I have very few decent photographs of our gal. Having always been a nervous dog, she would run away at the sight, sound, and probably smell of any type of device that would steal her schnauzer soul. In addition to hating having her picture taken, she’s never been able to abide the sound of food sizzling in a skillet (with good reason…frying always set off our smoke alarm when we lived in Seattle.) She has difficulty maneuvering over slippery hardwood or tile surfaces, doesn’t like anyone to touch her paws, and, like many canines, shivers and shakes at the rumble of thunder and the whizzing-whistling-kaboom of fireworks. I’m convinced that once my husband and I introduced a schnauzer puppy into the fold a couple of years ago, The Old Gal began loosening up and some, though not all, of her phobias became less debilitating. Establishing interaction with other dogs is important, and we should have gotten a playmate for her a lot sooner than we did. However, the other plausible reason behind our elder schnauzer’s mellower moods is due to her being precisely that ~ an older dog. We never think of our pets as being little old ladies and gentlemen. They are forever pups in our eyes and in our hearts. I don’t want to admit it, but I’m not sure she even saw the black rectangle in my hand as I took this snapshot (maybe she just likes my iPhone and that’s why she didn’t skedaddle?) After 11 years of frisky skittishness, I can only hope that she’s finally decided that sitting for a portrait isn’t so awful.
Semi-Daily Scribbles 