Working on a race report, but i am one busy chickie. Also, pool is more fun than writing. Sometimes. And as long as there are no sharks in the pool, because that is not that fun.
Archive for June, 2009
Woo.
Monday, June 8th, 2009I Did It
Saturday, June 6th, 2009I survived. Swim was fine, but different than i thought it would be. Bike was hard as hell. Run was a breeze. Not that I ran fast, but it seemed way shorter than a 5k. I had my wonderful husband and kids to cheer me on and other friends (both old and new) there running theirs for the first time, too. I had the pleasure of seeing a friend show up just because. That meant a lot.
It was nice to put my mind to something and then accomplish it. It was nice to have so many people cheering me on.
Full race report when I have not had five beers and am not exhausted. Going to take a hot bath, while drinking a beer, and reading vampire novel.
Possibly Not the Domestic Goddess
Friday, June 5th, 2009. . . that I think I am.
I was cooking dinner last night (ahem, mac and cheese) and was boiling the macaroni, when the pot boiled over. (Or, “balled” over, as my Daddy with his Savannah accent would say. He also says “aygs” for eggs, “all” for oil, and “tin fall” for tin foil.) Tiller was in the kitchen with me and as the pot boiled over, she looked at me, shaking her head as if in disgust, and said, “That always happens.”
Night before last, our babysitter Rebecca got to the house, and I was dressed and saying good night to Tiller. She hugged me then pulled back to study my face, as if seeing me for the first time.
“Mama, what’s wrong with your eyes?”
“Um, that’s makeup baby.”
She keeps me honest, that one. No thinking i am a beautiful domestic Goddess with her around.
The Decemberists Blew Me Away
Thursday, June 4th, 2009We went to see The Decemberists last night at the Tabernacle. Todd and I are both big fans, and have been wearing their albums out around the house. I have listened to the latest album, Hazards of Love, so much in the car that Tiller goes around humming the melodies. That being said, Todd and I have both agreed that we don’t like the latest album as much as the others, so when he heard that they have been playing the album in its entirety during shows this tour, i was a little bummed. I was hoping to hear more songs from other albums.
But Hazards of Love is one of those big theatrical, concept albums, a story told through songs that blur one into the next, so that you don’t know where one song ends and the next starts, so it seemed logical that the best way to hear it live is to hear it in its entirety – It is definitely a case of the whole being more than the sum of its parts. Or whatever that saying is. . . there are two or three standout songs on it, but it is much more powerful as a folk tale album than as a bunch of singles. And who in our modern day of ITunes, and Shuffles and downloadable singles hasn’t missed the joy of listening to albums? I certainly lament the fall of the album as a work of art.
So, never having seen them before, but having them on my list of bands I really, really want to see, i was excited, but wondering how this whole album thing would go over.
OH MY GOD.
Best show i have seen in years. Natalie will surely argue me on this one, as she is a huge Pogues fan and thinks that show back in March was better. I loved the M. Ward show I saw in Chicago. But this, this show was beautiful, theatrical, sounded absolutely fucking awesome. It went on forever, and I actually wanted it to. Colin Meloy’s voice is like magic, weaving his beautiful stories in a way that somehow (and don’t ask me how) just don’t come off as hokey. I mean, this is some serious drama geek stuff here; they had on period costumes, for god’s sake, except the Queen, whose hair was just like Tiller’s, but black and who was wearing a magical silver-sequined dress. Their songs are actually like reading a good story: About men changing to animals and a fearsome and vengeful forest queen, maidens in distress, a rake boasting of murdering his own children, the crossing of a mighty river, and the lovers final rest in a watery grave. I just couldn’t believe that they could pull it off in a live show, but they did, and they did it perfectly.
The album rises to a climax in a few spots, and then brings you back down, then rises again, and those moments in a live setting were almost electric. The end of the song, “A Bower Scene,” for example, gets heavy with guitar, and I mean heavy. The sound of that guitar in the Tabernacle, with all these lit-rock nerds standing around banging their heads. . . well, I just wouldn’t have imagined it. And then they bring you back out of the sludge and you rest in their sweet and melancholy melodies. Then they bring you the Queen. Dear God, that woman (singer from My Brightest Diamond) was commanding. Not tall in stature, just average, but when the guitar goes heavy again, and she comes out to sing her part of “The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid,” the crowd was completely in thrall to her deep and powerful voice. The stage almost seemed empty when she stepped back from the front.
But then Colin steps back up to do “The Rake’s Song.” This song is one of the harder ones that definitely stands on its own, but which I still don’t quite understand how it fits into the larger concept of the album. It doesn’t matter; The Rake is an unapologetic child murderer, bragging of his conquests over his own offspring, and his story thrills and chills.
“Charlotte I buried after feeding her foxglove; Dawn was easy, she was drowned in the bath. Isaiah fought, but was easily bested, burned his body for incurring my wrath.”
(Ironically, Tiller and Rollie love his song – I don’t know if they realize he is singing about killing his own children.)
And then the Queen comes back out for “The Queen’s Rebuke/ The Crossing” and just about rocks our faces off. Todd admitted that he felt a tear in his eye it was so good. The son crosses the river and saves Margaret and they both meet their death together.
Exeunt. They left the stage and the crowd knew they would be back out, but boy did that last a long time. Worth it though, when they came back out. They didn’t play a few songs that i would have loved to hear from other albums (“Leslie Anne Levine,” the poor ghost girl who falls for the dead Chimney Sweep. “The Crane Wife,” about a man saving a crane and it becoming his wife. “Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then),” about a dead soldier and his pregnant lover back home. Or either of my other faves: “Oceanside”, a sensual little coaxing ocean love song, or “The Bandit Queen.” (She only has nine fingers, lives in a grotto, wears a turban, drinks bourbon and robs trains. I want to be her.) To hear “The Bandit Queen” would have made the show absolutely perfect.
They did play “July! July!” “Shankhill Butchers” (a crowd favorite), “16 Military Wives,” and another of my favorites, the melancholy “Raincoat Song.” I’m sure I forgot something here or there, but maybe Todd or Nat will have more to add. The final encore was a cover of the Heart song, “Crazy on You.” That’s one of those songs that you recognize almost immediately, and the crowd went wild, and the band killed it.
Great show. I am mad at myself for not seeing them before (Chastain with the ASO? I could kill myself for missing it.) I rarely say this about any band charging thirty bucks a ticket, but just the Queen’s songs alone were well worth the price of admission. Go see this great band. It made me giddy to be this excited about a live music experience. It’s been a long time.
After the show, Todd mentioned that he didn’t think that he had ever heard a band play a full album live before. I said that I had. Any of my loyal readers want to name the band, venue, and the two albums they played back to back? I know some of you were at the show I was thinking of. . . Nat, you don’t count, because you know the answer after discussing last night.
Morning Mayhem
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009So, I’m not getting a ton of my work done this morning, but boy are the kids having fun. Two dogs, two five-year-olds, and three, count them, three, three-year-olds, all over at the house playing.
Funny how my kids are so much more well-behaved when they have friends over.
Flowers, Sculpture, Fountains, Friends
Monday, June 1st, 2009I took the kids to the Atlanta Botanical Garden with some friends on Saturday. It was hot as Hades, although the Savannahians claimed I don’t know what hot is. Whatevs. . . .
Although I had both kids (Todd had a shoot on Saturday), I did get a chance to chat with Jason and Alison about new baby Averil, talk to Donnie, and get to know his awesome girlfriend Lisa. And the kids had a great time, too. I also took the new camera and took some pictures. Fun! Would have been more fun taking pictures sans kids, but it was a good time.
You can mouse over the photos below for captions, or see even more in my Flickr set to the right.
There is something so relaxing and centering about seeing old friends. We all turned out a-okay.
I can do this.
Monday, June 1st, 2009I can do this.
@brackley Yep, bummer. New stu…
Monday, June 1st, 2009@brackley Yep, bummer. New studio? Need pics and details.