Stacyverb

Mom & Dad's wet Atlanta weekend

My folks visited from PA last weekend, and unfortunately, the weather here was the worst we've had all spring. And of course we had tickets to some outdoor events. But we didn't let the downpour stop us!

Saturday night: Willie Nelson (a family favorite) at Chastain Park Amphitheatre. Who would've predicted we'd need coats and wool hats for an outdoor show in Atlanta in May? We really lucked out because our seats were some of the very few at Chastain that are covered. We only got wet getting to and from the car.

 

Sunday afternoon: Braves vs. Mets at Turner Field. Braves won! The weather was actually pretty nice during most of the game, but it did start raining during the later innings. Again, we just happened to have seats that were covered, so we were able to watch the game in comfort.

Slimy weather or not, a good time was had by all!

RIP George Jones

Sad news today for country music lovers everywhere. As I was thinking about what song I wanted to post here, I debated about whether or not this one was too obvious. But I decided that there was no other choice, really.

I have a vivid memory of when this song was popular. I was about ten years old, and it could often be heard coming out of the gigantic console stereo my parents had back then. The song was on frequently enough that I pretty much knew all the words, but one thing puzzled me. So I asked my dad why the song said "they placed a wreath upon his door." And my dad explained that it was a funeral wreath, that the man in the song had died. And I remember so clearly the light bulb going on in my head, realizing what the song was really about, and how sad it was, and that moment was, I think, the first time music made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

My response to this song is still the same. It's physical. It makes my spine tingle and my heart hurt. And when the violins come up and George starts wailing that title verse, it makes my eyes fill with tears. Every. single. time.

No other choice, really.

 

Happy Record Store Day!

For some people, Record Store Day is a chance to grab all the special releases, either to collect or to sell on eBay. For others, it's a day to re-visit youthful times spent discovering exciting musical gems.

For me, it's neither of those things. In my rural childhood, we got our records at Zayre or the BX. Shopping for music was something we did while out buying socks, or on the way back from getting groceries at the commissary. In my teen years, we lived in a suburban area where I thought I was hot shit because I had easy access to a mall. The mall contained a Musicland --just a crappy corporate chain staffed by random people who needed whatever job they could find, but I wasn't thinking about any of that at the time. I was just impressed that there was a whole store devoted to nothing but music!

I don't think I had much experience at all with independently owned record stores until I moved to Atlanta in 1994. Really, I just hadn't had been exposed to such a thing. When I moved here and suddenly had not one but two shops in my own neighborhood, it was a whole new experience for me. You could ask the clerk about something, and they would be knowledgeable. You could casually mention some song you loved 15 years ago, and they would offer to track down a copy for you.

So to me, Record Store Day isn't about the thrill of hunting for exclusives or the nostalgia of reliving days gone by. It's about celebrating the fact that I have access to such places. Supporting small businesses. Being part of a community. Running into friends, drinking a beer, enjoying a spring day, and listening to a band. Discovering new music and handing my cash to a person, instead of just clicking my mouse and making Apple richer.

(Don't get me wrong, I do download music sometimes. But not if I have other options. Downloading doesn't help my neighbors pay their bills. And there's no ceremony in it. I often remember the circumstances around buying a physical record or CD--where I was, who I was with, what the weather was like, what else I did that day. But I never have lasting memories of the experience of downloading something.)

If you're lucky enough to have access to indie music stores, please support them today and every day!

Rainy day in Georgia

Yuck! Today is the opposite of last weekend--chilly, slimy, and dark. There might be thunder, lightning, and pouring rain outside, but here's a cozy scene from my couch.

Mimi's all snuggled up while I work on mandolin practice. She even occasional provides vocal accompaniment--and by "vocal" I mean "soft snoring noises."

Summer hibernation

Summer's been making me grouchy this week. Either it's brain-meltingly hot, or it's thunderstorming, or a million bugs are trying to attack me, or some such crap.  Mentally, I'm just trying to escape from it all.

Last weekend I camped out in front of the air-conditioner, closed the curtains and watched, like, eight episodes of True Blood (season four).  To me, it's the ideal viewing for days when it's just too hot to step outside.  The whole show feels swampy, and steamy, and requires no thought whatsoever.  People are always getting naked on there, which makes perfect sense on these days when you run out of layers to remove in an attempt to cool off.  Also, the vampires' nocturnal lifestyle holds a lot of appeal when there's so much oppressive sun and heat in real life.

Meanwhile, I've been reading this book about the plague which, in a weird way, is totally a feel-good story.  Because no matter how miserable you feel, or how big your problems are, you probably didn't spend your day nursing three putrefying family members in your one-room house until they all died within hours of each other and needed to be buried in a mass grave that you had to dig with your own bare hands, RIGHT?  Perspective, folks!

Escapism is good, and since a vaycay is not in the cards for me this summer, I'm living vicariously through others.  Eartha Kitsch's recent posts about her cruise to Alaska had me green with envy (her home remodeling disaster posts, not so much). 

Speaking of home-related projects, when you can't leave town for a change of scenery, the next best thing is collecting Pinterest pictures of ways you can change how things look around your house.  Not that I can afford to buy any of these textiles, fixtures, etc., to spruce up Boogaloo Acres right now (shoot, I still haven't managed to scrounge up the spare cash for more spray paint to finish my glider project), but there's nothing wrong with a little eye candy, is there?

Anthony and I did treat ourselves to a modest night out at Twain's, where we met up with some friends to hear our other friends' band.

Wow, this post is kinda disjointed and rambling, but that's the state of my brain at the moment.  You know how sometimes you just feel out of it?  That's me this week.  (But hey, at least I don't have the plague!)

Big Bang Ball at the Goat Farm

Over the weekend, my sweetie and I went to the first annual Big Bang Ball at the Goat Farm.  The beautiful warehouse ruins of this urban anomaly made the perfect setting for the event's theme, "A Modern Dustbowl Carnival." 

 

A line-up of awesome bands (like Villain Family) performed throughout the evening in this gorgeous bare bones old factory building. 

 

I can't remember the details about this "lion" act, except that I think his name was Walter.  And I know that he was crocheted!  He was pretty impressive.

 

Snake oil salesman Dr. Cornelius Fizzywater promised to cure the crowd of "all ailments, darkening moods, and bad dancing."

 

Lera Lynn and her great band rocked the house as a freight train chugged slowly past, right outside the window.  Perfect for the atmosphere.

 

The always spectacular Sadie Hawkins performed on her aerial hoop, accompanied by the music of Flight of Swallows.

 

Because this is an equal opportunity blog, here are some scantily clad men as well!  These guys are part of the Empire Wrestling league (formerly known as Platinum Championship Wrestling).

 

Headliners Blair Crimmins and the Hookers ended the festivities on a high note with their trademark New Orleans jazz stylings.  Alert readers might remember when Anthony was an extra in the band's "Old Man Cabbage" video (shot at the Goat Farm).

 

Hundreds of people dancing their butts off to hot jazz in an even hotter room until one o'clock in the morning--now that's what I call a fun summer party!

 

Okay, so I can't really pass for an old timey person, even in sepia.  Oh well.  Also, my face was totally melting off.  That amazing old bare bones factory really provides an authentic old timey summer feeling (i.e. un-airconditioned).  It was worth it, though. :)

Spotlight: Lera Lynn

This week I discovered this little treasure from Athens, GA-based artist Lera Lynn.

 

That's a cover of TV On The Radio's song from a few years ago, "Wolf Like Me."  I cannot stop playing this over and over again.  It's so unlike the original, yet so fantastic.  And for the record, I'm definitely part of the reason this version currently has over two million hits on YouTube.  I'm a huge fan of the TotR original, and that Letterman performance is spectacular.

Lera Lynn's version is less about savagery, more about seduction.  It takes an approach that's less apocalyptic, more existential.  Put another way: it's less Mad Max, more True Blood.

To me, this is what the best cover songs are all about.  An artist like Lera Lynn sees the potential for a song, which she obviously already loves, to become something else entirely.  And the original song is so good, the lyrics and story and structure so strong, that it can stand up to multiple interpretations without losing any of its power.

Lera Lynn will be playing at the Big Bang Ball later this month, which I really hope (fingers crossed that scheduling and cash flow will align) to be attending.  I already wanted to go anyway, but having seen this, I'm even more excited about it.

What are your favorite cover songs?

Summer: it turns me upside-down

Somehow it sort of crept up on me, but apparently summer is pretty much here now.  Although my mixed emotions about the season have been well-documented on this blog, right now I find myself daydreaming mostly about the fun aspects of summer.  The seasons keep turning whether we're ready for it or not, so we might as well try to enjoy the ride, am I right?

What are you looking forward to this summer?  I'm excited about popcorn-worthy movies, both at the drive-in and in the cool of an air-conditioned theater.  Plentiful fresh produce.  Baseball games.  Frosty beverages, popsicles, and ice cream.  Picnics.  Fireworks.  Adventures big and small.

Summer and adventure seem to go together, don't they?  No matter how long we've been out of school, summer makes us think of freedom, of lazy days and endless unstructured stretches of time.  Whether that's the reality or not is another matter, of course!  Things aren't looking too promising for a real vacation this summer, but I'm hoping Anthony and I can get our free time and spare cash to align enough to take at least a little mini-break or two. 

I'm not hard to please, really.  Sure, I wouldn't say no to a swanky bed and breakfast or a week at the beach, but I'm the kind of gal who can also have fun just cruising down the highway with my head out the window (optional: tongue flapping in the breeze like a big dog on a joy ride), stopping to take pictures of weird signs and statues.  And if nothing else, there is always, always, some sort of silliness to get up to here in the ATL. 

Whatever summer adventures I find myself in, you can be sure I'll post about it all (or at least the not-so-incriminating parts...) here on the blog.

Here's a video that takes me back to those carefree summers of yore, when I was still too young to have a job, and spent those long hot days hanging out with my friends, either at the pool or in somebody's air-conditioned living room watching MTV.  Hee.

 

St. Vincent at Variety Playhouse

Last night some friends and I went to the St. Vincent show at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points. 

We've had these tickets since January.  It had been a long time since I'd bought tickets to an event way in advance and then waited for the night to arrive.  The anticipation of something like that adds an extra layer of excitement, I think.

St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) is a ridiculously talented guitarist, songwriter and singer.  Her music can be plaintive and lovely, and it can be visceral and aggressive.  She's also very stylish (bonus!).

I totally stole borrowed this photo from Wikipedia.  But by coincidence, this is the outfit she was wearing at our show!  How convenient. :)

The show was really thrilling, with Annie and her band playing songs from all three of her albums.  So much energy and creativity and skill--what an awe-inspiring way to spend a late spring evening.

Wine fairy follow-up

As you may recall, I recently reported that we had a backlog of opened bottles of wine here at Boogaloo Acres and I was frantically trying to find good uses for all of it (besides the obvious).

Since that post, we did drink some, and we gave some away.  The marinara sauce turned out FANTASTIC and is in the freezer.  Last Thursday, I made sangria.  Christy and I drank half of it and I poured the other half into a quart mason jar, also now in the freezer.  On some hot June day, a sangria slushie is gonna taste pretty damn good.

 

Other uses for leftover wine?  Well, here's some nice Shiraz freezing in ice cube trays, for future cooking u se.  (Disclaimer: all the photos in this post are terrible.  They're blurry and the wine looks brown instead of, well, wine-colored.  Trust me when I say that all of these items look much more enticing in person!)

 

Granita!  Instructions from here, minus all the pear business, although that sounds delish and I might try that another time.

 

My friend Megan sent me a link to this recipe for wine syrup.  Oooh, this will be so decadent over some ice cream this summer, or tossed with some veggies in lieu of balsamic vinegar.

Readers piped up with some excellent ideas. Jo suggested wine jelly, which honestly I don't think I even knew was a thing, but it is, and it seems do-able.  And yummy. 

For now, the vino supply is back down to a manageable level.  But I'm bookmarking all this stuff, because it's only a matter of time until we once again end up with a wine surplus. 

In the meantime, this will be my anthem--an old favorite from my childhood.  (Should children even know a song about a heartbroken janitor on a bender?  Maybe not.  Whatever.  I've always loved this song. Also?  I need a hat like that.)