Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin', all cool: September 2007 Archives

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September 30, 2007

Eeeeek!

There's a mouse in the house! I've seen him twice now, and cute as he might be, he provides even more ammo for the "I needs a kitty in my life" argument. If anyone hears of one, don't matter none whether its young or old as long as it likes The Deuce and likes to kill. I'll be good to adopt sometime following the holidays. Or before, depending on...OK. BREAKING. IT JUST RAN ACROSS THE FLOOR AGAIN.

I need the cat NOW g-damnit.
TONIGHT.

Anything to avoid the glue ew that I fear is in my near future. Ugh.

Posted by Bree at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)

Fall

Tonight, the Deuce and I took a nice, long walk in my beautiful neighborhood. There were a few dry leaves on the ground, little kids playing around, the smell of gas grills, and that certain edge in the air that says, "Yes. This is what you've been waiting for and here it is."

So it made me start thinking of fall, and all the words and things I associate with it. Let's see...

Maple syrup, muddy boots, burning piles, rough plaid coats, crusty bread and creamy soup, frost filigrees, thick ceramic mugs of coffee, wet grass, the smell of horses, extra blankets, cozy socks, pecan pie, slipping into suede, wood-burning stoves, hugs to stay warm, home.

Posted by Bree at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)

September 29, 2007

Five Word Movie Review Saturday

Tsotsi

Read magazine throughout; still cried.

Posted by Bree at 08:19 PM | Comments (0)

Progresso

I did it! I ordered wallpaper for my study!

Katimba from the German site Wallpaper From the 70's.

I'm still undecided for the entranceway/staircase but then again, it's hard to figure out the exact pattern to complement my NEON GREEN kitchen.
Pictures of all this are coming.
Someday.

In fact, to show my dedication to you - loyal reader - herewith I offer one of part of my bedroom:

If these walls could talk, they'd say "Thank you, oh wise one, for painting me such a lovely shade."

Posted by Bree at 06:04 PM | Comments (0)

Badassitude: A Family Affair

Here's a little piece about my great-great-grandfather (Merriman Little) and his connection to Jesse James. Perhaps Brad Pitt would like to get together over a sherry and discuss my heritage...? I have free time this week, Brad. Just sayin'.

In 1879, Jesse James, the famous Missouri bandit visited Union County, North Carolina. Although there is a James family in the county, Jesse didn’t come to see them, as some people assume. In fact, Jesse James was not related to anyone in Union County, but members of his band of outlaws did live near Marshville. The man who was responsible for Jesse’s visit was Lorenzo “Merriman” Little who was originally from Stanly County, and in 1879 lived about three miles from Marshville, very close to the Union-Anson County line. Little was a fascinating man, both feared and respected in that part of the country.

Merriman Little was born February 8, 1829 in the lower part of Montgomery County that later became Stanly County. He grew up in an area near the Reed Gold Mine (Cabarrus County) and as a young man worked as a miner. He was the second oldest of ten children born to James and Sophia (Klutz) Little. About 1855, Merriman Little left Stanly County, bound for the gold fields of California, eventually settling in Tuolumne County. He was there working as a miner with his cousin, William R. Tucker, of Cabarrus Co, NC, when the Civil War broke out. Many Southern men returned to their native states in the early days of the war and signed up to fight for the Confederacy. Little chose to stay in California, a state that was part of the Union but with a great many loyal Southern men.

Little was a Southern man through and through and became involved in an organization known as the Knights of the Golden Circle or KGC. The KGC was a secret, clandestine, paramilitary organization bent on causing trouble in Union states and was active in recruiting men for Confederate service. Little eventually became a Confederate soldier, joining up as a mounted scout with Company A, Baylor’s Arizona Regiment (CSA). Because of a remarkable set of circumstances, he would ultimately meet ex-Quantrill men Cole Younger and John Jarrett. Younger and Jarrett were from Missouri, but at the end of the war found themselves assigned to assist a select group of men from the Arizona Regiment on a dangerous recruiting mission to California. It was Younger and Jarrett who organized a group of men after the war to rob banks. That group would include Frank and Jesse James, and by 1872 was widely known as the James-Younger Gang.

Merriman Little was present at the first daylight bank robbery in U. S. history which occurred at Liberty, Missouri on February 13, 1866. He would soon afterwards return to North Carolina where he married on Nov 8, 1866 in Union County to Hester E. Curlee, of the New Salem area. Even though they lived in Stanly County for several years, just across the Rocky River from Union County, he continued his association with members of the James-Younger Gang. In 1873, they moved to Union County, to a house which stood off of old Lawyers Road, near Marshville, not far from the Anson County town of Peachland (known as Mulcahy at the time).

Little would eventually recruit a young neighbor, Andrew Moorman “Mome” Diggs, who lived just across the Anson County line into the gang. Together with other men, Little and Diggs would assist Jesse and Frank James as well as the Younger Brothers to rob banks across the country. In December 1874, Union County men robbed the Tishomingo Savings & Loan in Corinth, Mississippi. The next day Jesse James and the Youngers robbed a bank in Muncie, Kansas. The two attacks were designed to throw off lawmen and until research revealed the North Carolina faction of the James Gang, everyone was at a loss to explain how Jesse managed to conduct two robberies in distant places only a day apart.

Jesse James came to North Carolina to visit Merriman Little in 1879. He may have stayed for several weeks traveling in and around the area of Marshville and Olive Branch in Union County and Peachland and Polkton in Anson County. He also visited Rocky River Springs and the Oakboro area of Stanly County. Little and Diggs would later join Jesse and Frank in Nashville, Tennessee. Incredibly, a photograph of Jesse and Frank with the two North Carolinians along with others survived, and is currently on display at the Jesse James Farm Museum in Kearney, Missouri.

Merriman Little and Mome Diggs lived very colorful lives. Little would survive his outlaw partner, dying of old age in 1903 in Union County. He is buried at the Edmund L. Davis Cemetery, on Olive Branch Road. His obituary confirmed that he was a member of the James Gang.

Posted by Bree at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)

September 28, 2007

Obsessed

I'm a little obsessed with reading Craigslist personals. I can't help it, they never fail to amuse. Case in point:

LOOKING FOR A GIRL FRIEND - 49

I'M LOOKING FOR A GIRL FRIEND A LIFE PARTNER A BEST FRIEND AND A LOVER ALL THE GOOD THINGS

Posted by Bree at 06:16 PM | Comments (0)

Prescience: Brabacus Edition

Recently, I nervously confided in Angela that I thought it was high time the abacus made a re-entry onto the design scene and that I believed she should jump the gump by making a cool looking ceramic one. Arguments like "There's gonna be an abacus in every Urban Outfitters - mark my words," and "Abacus, abacus, abacus - what's not to covet?" failed to woo her over to the plus column of my mathematically-based commercial design projection. Indeed, it wasn't until I suggested renaming the tool the "Brabacus" (in honor of, well, me) that she even deigned to consider crafting a prototype in her fancy little kiln.

The word snob springs to mind.

Anyways. As I said, that conversation was held "recently." And nary a mention of the forthcoming Brabacus has been intimated from her corner since. So imagine my delight and excite and overall feeling of glorious vindication when I saw AN ABACUS over on Happy Mundane today:

Apparently it's an archival image available for purchase from House & Garden's new store section. Why? Because people would like to look at a beautiful abacus. In their home. A lot. Down with the haters! ¡Viva la brabacus!

Posted by Bree at 05:19 PM | Comments (0)

Things I Like to Do

1. Leave charming messages on my exbf's professional weblog after I've had a few glasses (bottles) of vinooo at Potager with the ladeez. Gwiggles.

2. Get pedicures.

Posted by Bree at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)

This Speaks to Me

Available for purchase for your favorite breelinquent right here. And people say I'm hard to shop for. [Insert Pee Wee Herman: HAAAH!]

Posted by Bree at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)

September 27, 2007

Coolest = Not Me

I know it's generally not thought of as the coolest thing in the world to post your e-mails on your blog, but alas - I see your stereotypes and I hammer them down. Repeatedly. With my hammer. You know the one: the really big framing hammer I bought on sale? Or the really wimpy girl hammer I bought to replace it? Or the solid, steady, normal hammer Rick gave me to ensure I actually had a hammer that could be of use? In this hammering scenario, any of the three, honestly, will do.

Wait.
Where was I?

MC Hammer, if I had a haaaamer, oh yes. Checccck out how psyched I am I'm going to ENGLAND AND SPAIN in less than two weeks, and then double checccck out how fun the girl is I'm going to be visiting. Ready? GO:

where art thou???

i think you must be in nouveau mexico if i am to believe your web log

soooooooooooooooooo exccccccccccccccciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiited that you're cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooming soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon

12 days to be exact - 6 of one and half a dozen of the other

AND i've taken the thursday off toowooowooowoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

that can be our pre-barca topshop shop day...but the shopping's goood in barcelona too however we wont be able to fit into anything there because we'll be bustin a gut with the taparama so best to get the shopping done pre-bloat.

And that's my girl. Stylish, excitable...and realistic. Too bad she's taken, boys, as not only is she the best damned time on several continents, she's super gorge to boot.
Ahhhh. Seriouz.
And for realz.
Girl can't get enough pears.
Aneez, I'm seeing a chick I love to death whom I haven't seen in nearly two years in two of the best cities on God's green.
Tiempos es muy muy bueno.

Posted by Bree at 10:40 PM | Comments (0)

Things Bought in New Mexico

2 bracelets (one silver cuff, one silver and garnet)
1 ring made of some stone called druuuzie (?)
3 pr. earrings (including one from Afghanistan...say wha? and one that I coveted at $250 and then found on the plaza for $90 - skiiiizore!)
2 black sweaters from rando Italian shop
2 James Perse long-sleeve shirts (one black, one brown)
2 James Perse tank tops (one green, one black)
1 CD from Pennsylvanian buskers in Taos
1 Vince gray stretchy skirt (love!)
1 Free People weirdass longsleeve shirt with a wacked out pattern and a deer/ski crest on it. Yes, you read that right.
1 pr. Citizens of Humanity BLACK jeans (didn't realize blackness until I left the store - not sure how I feel about it)
I pr. Rock and Republics with RED AND SILVER R's on the pockets (love, love oh my LOVE)
1 absolutely insane winter hat from Turkmenistan
1 antique winged burro "piggy" bank (charming, I swear.)
1 potted plant pot
1 giant pack of matches
1 carton smokes on an Indian reservation (30 bones, kids!)
4 tanks gas (care of Moms)
18 sugar-free Red Bulls
1 Big Hunk
1 loaf Indian bread
2 giant pencils

Posted by Bree at 05:45 PM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2007

New Entry Courtesy of Jenny and Zoe

Too funny to stay in my inbox:

Jenny: Thanks to Stella McCartney you can forego pants this winter and still stay warm, all the while exuding the fashionforwardness of a freshman year weed den.

Next spring--the return of the baja.

Zoe: this is what happens when you refuse to use animal products.
the fact that those shoe boots are pleather deepens the wound.

Posted by Bree at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2007

Monday - Thursday

My main Maman and I are off to Santa Fe and Taos tomorrow for several days of margaritas and conspicuous consumption. See you on the flipside.

Special notes:

ANP and MPN and M?P- Good luck(s) with the move(s)!
SIB - Message upon my return. Suffice it, I miss you too. Of kerse!
KJT - Get back to work.
JEF - Same goes.
BROUSSARD - You're dead meat if you don't save me some After 8's.
DEUCE - Get out of my After 8's.
DAD - Stop churning my account.
RJM - Stop making bombs!
SOG - What's the difference between a woman from Maine and a humpback whale? 40 pounds and a flannel shirt. Now get the fuck home. You're missed.

There, I think I've shouted out to all 10 of my readers. 11 if you count Deuce. But she's dyslexic so I understand if you wouldn't.

Posted by Bree at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2007

Ebay Hooray

I never get good deals on ebay. Never ever, ever never.
So imagine my shock that I just scored THIS WROUGHT IRON TABLE AND 4 CHAIR SET (for pick-up only down near Garden of the Gods in C. Springs) for $50!!!

$50?! I just spent that this afternoon on...uh...toilet paper and gin. (Staples.) That's nuthin, kid! Almost makes the fact I have to get up at 8 a.m. and drag my sleepy Ma with me on a trip down I-25 in Angela's truck seem quaint. Almost.

Posted by Bree at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2007

Web of Wonderment

Q. What's brilliant?
A. The merging of LOL cats and PostSecret.

Alternate Answer: THIS ->

Posted by Bree at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)

Worker Bee(s)

Ang's shot of part of the grueling labor I subjected her (and Marie) to last week:

Priming Bree's Kitchen

Heee. ! Let's just say that my Mom is outside right now deadheading and weeding in my garden. She tried to show me some stuff but I suddenly got a crazy urge to take a shower and check my e-mail. Some things = never change.

Posted by Bree at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2007

I Knew It!

Carting a book called Infidel on my last flight gave me a little delirium tremens, I ain't gone lie, and now: my deepest suspicions confirmed, nay VALIDATED. Luckily for me, I guess, the screeners at Southwest were too busy looking for boobs and buttcheeks to heed my scandalous (read: totally anti-Islam and pro-lady, democracy, etc.) text.

Posted by Bree at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

Summing Up My Modus Operandi With Functionality and Wit

Check out the gorgeoooos lil wall hook shang-a-doo I just ordered from Lekker Home. Hearts and flowers and glee!

Posted by Bree at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

Because I'm a Lazeabout

I didn't follow through on my plan to make a mix CD of "baby songs" for my friends' baby shower this past weekend. BUT! IF I HAD! This is maybe how it might've looked:

American by Birth - Johny Cash
A Star is Born - Barbra Striesand
Babe - Styx
Babies Making Babies - Sly and the Family Stone
Baby Can I Hold You - Tracy Chapman
Baby Don't Forget My Number - Milli Vanilli
Baby Got Back - Sir Mix A Lot
Baby I Love Your Way - Peter Frampton
Baby It's You - The Shirelles
Sweet Child O' Mine - G n' R
Baby One More Time - Britney Spears
Born to Be My Baby - Bon Jovi
Daughter - Bread
I'm Your Baby Tonight - Whitney Houston
Word to the Mother - Big Daddy Kane
Baby Please Don't Go - Amboy Dukes
Baby I love Your Way - Peter Frampton
Baby Blue - Van Morrison
Papa Don't Preach - Madonna
Give It To Me Baby - Rick James
PUSH IT - Salt n Pepa

If there was extra room, I was going to throw on "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off (to Have a Good Time)" - a song that has, regretfully, been in my head for most of 2007 - but alas...now I guess we'll never know. Feel free to cadge my steez to delight and amuse the expectant expectorants in your crew. This, this is my gift to the uteri.

Posted by Bree at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2007

Good.

Iranian President Asks to Lay Wreath at Ground Zero, Request Denied

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters Wednesday that the United States would not support Iran's attempt to use the site for a "photo op.''

Posted by Bree at 05:35 PM | Comments (0)

Brupdate

1. After two days of work with the lovely Marie and Angela at my side, the kitchen is now ACID GREEN. Holy Moly.

2. Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem show on Monday was spectacular. Such fun was had, in a TOTALLY SOBER way. I know, I too was shocked.

3. My Mom is coming **tomorrow** night for 8 days of Denver/Santa Fe/Taos relaxin' and maxin'! So excited. Especially excited that she likes to shop and decorate as much as I do...and the fall clothes are kkkkkickin' o'er to Saks way.

4. Today, I am buying this sink for my lavatory. I coveted it at Marcus and Jenny's pad de los pads in Brooklyn Heights, and now it shall be mine.

5. Speaking of those two, they went to the premiere of that Brad Pitt Jesse James movie last night - and ogled Angelina, aforementioned Pitt, James "Lips" Haven and Marianne Pearl. Oh and Gloria Estefan (?) too. Straight from the Spicer: "Angelina is definitely a skeleton. Like this tiny frail frame with a large pretty head on top....unnattractively skinny body-wise. looks brittle and Mr. Burns-like. Brad looked better than I expected. I was thinking he'd look all old and Babel-y."

And that is all. I'm off for another day of nonsuch.

Posted by Bree at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2007

His Kindness, His Gentle Wisdom, His Humor...Oh!

c/o Matty the Horse

Posted by Bree at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)

Poem from my Da (Cue: Sniffles)

For My Daughter

When I die choose a star
and name it after me
that you may know
I have not abandoned
or forgotten you.
You were such a star to me,
following you through birth
and childhood, my hand
in your hand.

When I die
choose a star and name it
after me so that I may shine
down on you, until you join
me in darkness and silence
together.

- David Ignatow

Posted by Bree at 09:27 PM | Comments (0)

The Underminer Covers the Mass MOCA ¡SHITSHOW OF THE CENTURY!

Classic stuff c/o Mike Albo:

Hm? Oh I'm here with my close close close friends Matthew Marks and Perry Rubenstein and Leo Castelli. We are just having a strategy sesh about my work and also celebrating our close close close friend Roberta's masterful piece in the Times about the whole Mass MOCA scandal, which I am not sure you read because I know you don't really follow-- You did? Oh, no sure sure sure. Sorry I didn't mean to make it sound like you were clueless or anything! Ha!

I mean, can you BELIEVE Mass MOCA!? How DARE they cut the funding of my most brilliant colleague, Christophe Buchel, when he went over his 160,000 dollar budget, two times over, and delayed the opening of his work by months with his strange requirements? So what if he demanded near impossible things like a fuselage of a 737, a two-story Cape Cod cottage, a leaflet-bomb carousel, an old bar from a tavern, and a vintage movie theater? He is an artist, and has no choice but to follow his vision. How do they expect an artist to CREATE in that kind of environment!? We really live in an oppressive time. It's like Entartete Kunst all over again. Deplorable.

People like Buchel and I are ARTISTS! And we ARTISTS are allowed to do whatever we want because we make ART! Watch.

Hello? Sir? Yes, you there. What do you do? Oh, you're a high school teacher. Commendable. Well, I'm an ARTIST. Now get on your knees and drink my saliva.

See? I make ART.

Who can deny the power of Buchel's dirty, trash-laden historical dioramas? I look at the way he dumps crumbled cinderblock and dry wall into a pile and I just WEEP at the authenticity. And that authenticity takes money and time and creative freedom!

If they wanted something cheap, they should have just gone down to New Orleans and scrounged some poor folk artist's oil paintings out of the trash. Or simply exhibited pictures of The Ninth Ward or Baghdad or the Minneapolis Bridge disaster, which, I have to say, are sort of GOOD as art pieces, but don't quite capture the pain and anguish of the human soul as well as a Buchel diorama.

More here. Buy his book (illustrated by the one and only Carl J. F. - man behind the splash page and logo of THIS VERY WEB SITE) here. Brushed once again by the loosest possible connection to notoriety, I am.

Posted by Bree at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)

Dy-NERSTY!

When I was last home, Margo pointed out to me that beloved 80's catfight showcase Dynasty was in FACT set in DENVER. "How could I not know this?!", I quacked and then passed out in a puddle of vodka-soaked nutter butters. Two weeks and one Youtube search later beget the German (i.e., long...and sauer) version of Dynasty's opening credits, wherein the Mile High (plus a random beach or two) is feted in all its glorious glory:

Der Denver Clan! Der Denver Clan!

(PS rumor has it the mansion is somewhere south on Evans or something? Evans as in Linda Evans? I'll get to the bottom of this. If I have to tussle with Joanie Collins in a floor-length chiffon number and matching turban, gdarnit, I'll get to the bottom of this.

Posted by Bree at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

Breakin'

This is a cool lil photo site matching individuals with their breakfast choices. Gost to say, most of them eat better than I do. Then again, as last night's midnight Wal-Greens in Wheatridge (whaa?) purchase of two boxes of Kashi Go Lean Crunch ($7) will attest to, I like my a.m. cereal.
As in, it's the only reason I wake up.
Maybe I should rename it Bleakfast.

Eh? !!!

Posted by Bree at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2007

Weather Journalism: Hitting a New Low

(c/o the Denver Post. Bullseye!)

Posted by Bree at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)

Digging on this Tilly and the Wall Business

Check out these lovely lyrics (set to music, even better):

"Bessa" (from the album Wild Like Children)

Morning came and I tried not to notice
It was time for you to move along
The minutes fell like petals all around us
Like a goodbye kiss when goodbye felt so wrong

So you better get going
You better move along now
You better run off then and make yourself scarce

These few days I have decided to be lazy
They don't move or seem to end at all
And my heart it is close enough to breaking
That it hurts just listening to your song

It's been a while now since you left
And I can't seem to shake this lonely mood
When the time comes I'll try my best not to tell you
"Please don't leave again"

Since it's all I have I want to go to sleep
And dream of you and me just off the coast
On a holiday so long and warm and lucky
Always wake up in my bedroom all alone

Posted by Bree at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

Getting Twiggy Wit' It

"If you’re going to be in Denver in mid October, you’ll want to take a stroll down California Street — it’s the site of this year’s Urban Forest Project, in which 24 local professional designers and 24 local design students will create banners that will hang up and down the street for two weeks. Each banner references trees (or tree-ness) in some way, and the results are sure to be eclectic."

Whole article, including unnecessary and untrue slag on D-town c/o those ass-munchin' Boulderites, can be found here.

Posted by Bree at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)

Polls Are Open!

Which headline gleaned from my newsreaders this morning most titillates your ocelot?

A. Maddie 'like dingo case' (c/o Google News)
or
B. JODIE ON TOP OF BOX... (c/o Drudge, naturally)

Think carefully before deciding. Sex sells, course, but so does the rallying cry of "The dingo et ma bebbay!" It's a toughie.

Posted by Bree at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)

Is It Just Me...

or if you got a text from your friend that he was on his way over,prior to 8 a.m. on a Monday morning would you automatically assume he had decided to celebrate the coming Autumnal equinox with a meth addiction?

I'm talking to YOU Mike L*gan. Viva la fall.

Posted by Bree at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)

September 16, 2007

Good News for the Ape-Armed (ahem...)

According to that dude, "The so-called "bracelet" sleeve, which stops a few inches short of the wrist, continues in popularity."

NOTED!

Posted by Bree at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)

Experiment

Those of you who've seen me the past few weeks have probably noticed the cigarette sticking out ma maw. Yes, after FIVE YEARS of stone-cold QUIT, I caved and went back to my babies. But my babies aren't treating me so nice.
Or, actually, they're treating me too nice.
So, looks like the empirical data collected during the "Can Bree be a casual smoker? Experiment" has empirically proven that no, no I can't be a casual smoker.
So, I'm not gonna be a smoker at all.
As of tomorrow, that's it.
Marlboro Medium 100s, you'll always be in my heart.
Please know that I wish you only the best.
Godspeed.

Yikes!

Posted by Bree at 08:49 PM | Comments (0)

Maestro, Muzica!

Ahhhhhhh, two days at Red Rocks, couple three four Coors Lights and about 20 bands later and here I am: fresh as a squirmy, hairless rat baby.

For those in the interested sector, here's the goss:

UPDATE FOR STEPHEN: I also saw Cake. Or, if I was writing that properly, I saw Cake also. They were fine, fun and jammy but all their songs sound the same. Besides, the real action was behind me, where Eric - innocently and supinely minding his business on the ground - was being macked on by some super-rando, as well as in front of me where a lady I nicknamed BOOBDRESS was rockin' out the jams. BOOBDRESS. BOOBDRESS. BOOBDRESS.

1. The Decemberists SUUUUUUUUUUCK in concert. Brutal. Like watching someone from your church vaguely try to emulate rock starship. OMG. Really bad.

2. Clap Your Hands - love 'em still, but not the world's best performance. Regardless, and as stated earlier in this bullet, I love 'em still.

3. Brian Jonestown Massacre - played the second day; the lead singer had a total spaz during their ENDLESS sound check (apparently, being a dick is what he's known for)*, yelled at the audience and then announced that 25 bands had had their gear stolen and they were all playing on borrowed stuff. Angela eavesdropped on some vague confirmation of this in the bathroom, but still am looking forward to seeing if the details make any of the music blogs.

4. White Rabbits - best band I'd never heard of. Excellent energy + cute boys from New York dressed up like prep schoolers = my heart doing the pitter pat.

5. Spoon - solid, as expected. Good craic.

6. Flaming Lips - kind of extraordinary. Huge and impressive stage set - including an endless amount of huge green balloons dropped down on the audience from above (er, below) - and awesome "bedside manner" c/o the lead singer. He won me over when he noted that every band worth anything played in the Denver/Boulder areas now, and that we were the "luckiest motherfuckers" because of it. Given that I saw Rilo Kiley in town last week, and am going to Arcade Fire tomorrow - he just might be right.

*[From Wiki on lead singer of BJM, Anton Newcombe: He is known for his somewhat volatile personality. At the Viper Room show in 1996, he became involved in a fist-fight on stage with his own band. As several music industry representatives were in attendance, many people feel this incident resulted in him not being signed to a major label (in this case, Elektra Records). In an incident made famous in the 2004 Ondi Timoner documentary DiG!, he kicked a scornful audience member in the head, resulting in his arrest for assault. (Newcombe himself is critical of the film DiG!, calling it "a series of punch-ups and mishaps taken out of context, and at worst, bald-faced lies and misrepresentation of fact.") He is quite frank with his opinions on other musicians. During Lollapalooza 2005, he mocked and insulted Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional, whom he called "The poster child for legalized abortion". In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, he dismissed the legacy of Eric Clapton in rock music, and referred to 1991 incident where Clapton's 4-year old son fell to his death: "People talk about Eric Clapton. What has he ever done except throw his baby off a fucking ledge and write a song about it?"]

Wait a minute, now I actually like the guy.

Posted by Bree at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2007

Mono-Whut?

Apologies for the light posting today and tomorrow (as well as, uh, the last few weeks) - I'm off in a few to the first day of Monolith, a big ole indie rock fest up to Red Rocks. Cake, Clap Your Hands, The Decemberists, Kings of Leon, Spoon - you name it, they're thar.

And the one bandus mejorus that's missing? The Arcade Fire? Why yowzah, Angela and her homies managed to find an extra ticket para moi to the AF's show on Monday evening. Venue? You guessed it: the Rocks. Suffice it, betwixt all this ear-bud jammin' - and a baby shower for Melanie on Sunday featuring, among other delights, a KEG - I've got quite the few days ahead. Wish me luck; send me sustenance; remember me in your yearbook.

Posted by Bree at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)

The Dorks are Coming, The Dorks are Coming!

Sword scares RTD bus riders
By Kirk Mitchell
Denver Post Staff Writer

The man was wearing a fu manchu mustache and armor and brandished what appeared to be a blood-splattered sword at an RTD bus stop at University Avenue this morning.

Commuters were concerned enough about the realistic-looking sword, with a curved Arabian-style blade, that they called police.

"He was Goth in appearance," said Orin Levy, a free-lance television producer who called 911. "It was very bizarre. Surreal. The guy's expression looked more like he was a bewildered traveler."

A police officer tracked the man down, asked him about the sword and learned that the man was headed to a video game convention and that the sword - though it appeared metallic - was made of wood, said Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman.

"No harm no foul," Jackson said. "We let him go."

Posted by Bree at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)

Inbox

from: Jay-bird
to: Briggles
date: Sep 14, 2007 9:32 AM
subject: Dreams

You were in mine last night again. You had a really cozy little house somewhere and the sky was gray. You were putting me up for the night because something had happened though I don't know what. Oh yeah, I was attacked by a spider which really turned out to be a crab. Gave me the hives baby, but you took care of me. No nookie in this one. Your loss.

Posted by Bree at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

September 13, 2007

Too Weak to Write

I've had quite the morning.

Quite.
The.
Morning.

And, since I've already gone to the trouble to write out the events for my dear Capt. Spicer, I figured - hezbollah, why not just copy and paste? You've had a brutal one, take this time to reflect, rather than craft another witty and beloved soliloquy to your September 13.

Herewith, the news:

I realize it may be hard to hear a story from a N*ely that that N*ely SWEARS is not an exaggeration but here goes: last night, Deuce busted into a bunch of chocolates Natasha had (apparently) mailed me. Bad news for dogs - chocolate is toxic. Vet said he thought she'd be all right, might have some loose stools (mmm) but that's it. So. Anys. She was all burpy and stuff last night but OK. This morning she woke me up around 6 and I went downstairs and it was as if someone had sprayed my kitchen and back door entryway with a shit/vomit gun. A shit/vomit gun set on "stun." Brown as the day is long. Brown and chunky.

I went back to bed.
Natch.

So, when I got up, I had a bowl of cereal and mustered my forces and spent the last FORTY FIVE MINUTES scrubbing like Cinderella. Oh, did I mention she also peed on my area rug? Yep. So that's outside, scrubbed and drying in the sun.

Mmmmmmm. Good morning. I think I'm going to have to go scald my hands in boiling lye for a few hours. 'scuse.

Jenny's response:

dear god.
maybe you should get her branded with that Rilo Kiley tattoo.

pets = trouble
me = nostradamus

TRUER WORDS, CAP'N, TRUER WORDS...

Posted by Bree at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)

Rock the Vote; Viva La GLGS

Go here and vote for Jenny's entry to a contest at Ironic Sans. Her character, "Squirt: the tiniest giant squid" is already in the lead to be drawn by Adam Rex. so let's make some noise and take back that White House once and for all.

Posted by Bree at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)

September 12, 2007

This is an Interesting Piece

I find it to be more than a bit strident at times but - aside from the whole Gerson limelight stealage brouhaha - the insight offered on the political speechwriting process is like a big plateful of Stouffers for word nerds like me.

Read it.
Weeping is nonmandatory.

Posted by Bree at 08:52 PM | Comments (0)