when you wake up feeling old

a couple weeks ago i made a trip to chicago for a brief, but fab weekend of friends, food and wonderful music. it was time for the 5th ever jeff tweedy-letters to santa benefit at hotel s&s! i haven't had the time to try writing a post, but my friend over at easily fooled wrote up a lovely summary that includes some great pix.

personal asides: i stayed with my pal, allison in uptown. we got to visit only one time, when i arrived at 3am saturday morning. she had a bed all ready for me and a note out telling me where to find the good snacks in her kitchen. thanks again, allison!
i was able to have TWO meals at my fave breakfast spot, over easy, and squeeze in a trip to metropolis coffee.

location information: am sitting at gate A16 of Sacramento hairport waiting for a flight home. :)

i'm working a little later than expected tonight. nothing dramatic, but it made me think to update the desk posts...
changed the desktop images on my avid last night: on the left: allison (of SUPERSCHEIN) and brian standing in line outside the riviera in chicago last february during the wilco residency.
on the right: jeff tweedy during one of last year's letters to santa living room shows. that white square hanging from the mic stand is one of the printed pot-holders i made as a souvenier of the potluck & musical revue. :)
you can also see a "rampant badassery" sticker taped to the bottom of the left monitor. WORLD WIDE, YO!
both pics taken with my analog cam, by the way.

b/c it's a cool visual, here is a pic that is an overview of how i constructed the potholders:
from left to right:
1. gocco printed square (kind of lo-fi screen printing)
2. example of backing fabric
3. printed square, batting and backing during quilting process
4. a finished quilted square trimmed up
5. cloth strip to be used as binding
6. potholder with binding being turned to front & pinned
7. done! it's even got a loop at the corner.
the back row shows many of the different fabric combos i used. they're all pinned, waiting for the top stitching on the binding. i all i made 40 potholders in 16 different fabric combos. i took this pic standing on a chair in my sewing room.

for the potholders i used the same binding technique i use for my quilts. SEGUE! last night i made considerable progress sewing the binding on a kids' quilt that's been kicking around unfinished for about six years. i am THIS close to finishing it. last night i laid on the couch under it watching the colbert report. (if i've ever sewn or knit something for you, i have tried it on, or slept for a night or two with it on my bed. i just like to enjoy the finished project before sending it out in the world. note: i do NOT try on the baby stuff i make. nope.)

i've been laying pretty low the last few weeks: i was too sick to go out for awhile so i just got into the habit of spending evenings at home. all day yesterday i was thinking about going home to sew and check the blocking of roberta's scarf. tonight, i'm having to stay a little later at work, but i'm pining for the knitting needles. (say what you will.)
the only thing left to do on the aforementioned kids' quilt is to embroider a phrase, my signature, and the date on it. i like to use a phrase that is related to something going on when i finish the blanket. past phrases:
-"we can swim any day in november." from the postal service song, the district sleeps tonight. i finished the quilt right after thanksgiving. a thanksgiving i spent swimming in my friends' pool until 2am. brilliant. :) this was for nora.

-"this is the new year." from the death cab for cutie song, "the new year." i dated the quilt jan 6, 2006. it's not as obvious a choice as it sounds: jan 2005 started off with my sister in the hospital on life support. it was a statement of reclaiming the new year, dammit. i kept this quilt.

-"churro of understanding" is a reference to my friend moe's short film, "corndog of tolerance." i sent him a letter addressed to moe "churro of understanding" g. then i wrote a postcard to our mutal friends tiff & duane explaining the whole joke. this quilt went to tiff & duane for their son, barrett.

those might be the only ones...i used to just embroider them with the date and "Yvon."

totally unrelated, but truly cool: last weekend the western regional barista competition was held in l.a. (i was working, wtf?!). the top three spots were won by three of the guys who pull shots at intelligentsia. WOO! i am such a fan girl. i believe i blush when they slide those cappuccinos across the counter. *swoon* GO TEAM! last year's national championship was won by a barista at the los angeles branch of intelligentsia. (recently noticed that they've expanded their late hours to thursday! if i get out of here before 9:30p, think i'll head over. dude, it is 9pm now. there is no way i'm getting out of here in time. ahh, well: overtime, yo.)

my morning jacket @ chicago theatre, dec 28, 2008

**a bit late in coming, but here is my annotated set list/review from the 12.28.08 show in chicago. this is a cut and paste of my post on another board. the smilies don't translate. if you come across a word that seems out of place, it's likely a smilie i forgot to edit.**

night two at the chicago theatre.

on the way to the show with wendy, her two nieces and allison, we listened to a few mmj songs (allison skillfully driving the ipod). we tossed out a few songs we each really wanted to hear that night. turns out we did a pretty good job at writing the set list. hot dog!

my seats were in row mm, but as it turned out, i had a terrific view! it's great to be able to see the whole stage at one time. also gave me some perspective on the lighting.
at the chicago theatre the crew included to spotlight operators who sat up in the catwalk. they concentrated on following jim and carl during the show.

due to some women in the row behind me having a friendship meltdown i ran over to hang with allison for the beginning of the show.

show!

--at dawn--this is a gorgeous way to start a show. we knew it was going to be a different set from most of the tour!
--it beats 4 u--beautiful out of the gate--stage awash in blue lights--TOM OUT!

--evil urges--at the first big drum break the tarp hanging behind the band fell to reveal the big gatefold eye-ring artwork. i missed the drop on sat night. i just looked up at one point and it was gone. (sat night allison commented that she'd visually missed half the show because she was dancing. i do it everytime. )

--i'm amazed--AHHHH!! GOLD LIGHTS! SUN! WOW!--marc's choice of lighting really struck a chord with me on this one.
--gideon--tom lays back!, jim played a new outro where it is usually carl winding down the song. melodic!!!
--wonderful man--rocking big finish

--jim greets crowd--comments on chicago being a land of opportunity...that the designers of the chicago theatre had their brains close to god. (jim commented quite a lot on the theatre interior {it is rounded, lavish and lovely}. he said that they'd been playing in a lot of modern, straight edge, black spaces.)

--golden
--i will sing you songs--!!!--ooh--this is a show stopper in the best possible way. STUNNING! it's like being in a pool, floating in space, wrapped in a heavy blanket and standing in a deep fog all at the same time. gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!

out comes the omnichord!...
--sooner!--an uptempo version. carl's guitar on this was wonderful! picking and slide. i wrote "pat" here, but i can't remember why. jim rocks the omnichord

--thank you too--the lighting was a blue-green that gave the stage an "undersea" appearance. the side spots were purple. lovely!
--anytime-- IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SET. all bets are off at this point!

--remnants!--first time i've seen them play this one--A BEAST! STROBES! to hear i will sing you songs AND remnants in the same set list is just nuts. that these men can create such ethereal, breathtaking music and then blow the roof off the place 10 minutes later.
well, damn!
--lay low--note re: nice carl spot

--highly suspicious--BIG FUN! at the top of the song the lighting was pink and gold-ahh! as the song progressed it became a lighting free for all!

--mis-cue here as someone (patrick?) started the opening drum track for lay low here. it was quickly squashed and the band launched into...
--off the record

--i think i'm going to hell--FANTASTIC! the stage drenched in red light, carl's slide. damn, damn, damn
--smokin from shootin--the band silhouetted against a gorgeous blue back light with magenta fills. i'm a sucker for the backlighting.
--touch me pt 2--as jim and bo rode out the omnichord/good intentions outro i saw tom and carl take off their guitars, and put different ones on. i turned to the woman next to me (salacious d!) and said, "the set's not over!"

--run thru--HOLY HELL OPEN--when you start a song this huge, where do you go from here: MORE HUGE. my notes say: can't dance hard enough!

------------
--look at you--jim solo--moving!
--banter: jim again commenting on the curvy-brain architecture of the chicago theatre interior

--nashville to kentucky--nashville. to kentucky. with carl playing saxophone. SUBLIME. AHHHHH!! soo beautiful! this was the song that killed me, flat out.
--steam engine--GORGEOUS! well, a girl just doesn't stand a chance with these songs back to back.

--COBRA-- ok. if there is one thing to ground you after the emotional wrenching of nashville to kentucky --> steam engine it is some quality booty shaking, head banging to cobra! during the 2nd movement here, carl was on fire!
--wordless!!--by the time we all got to singing out it felt as though the entire show had built to this. WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WONDERFUL!! at the climax of the song jim stood at the edge of center stage with one arm extended, palm open singing.

--one big holiday!!


after the show as people filtered out, mark (i've got an evil plan, babe), who i'd met at radio city last june came over to say hello. turns out the couple next to me were posters on the mmj forum. (about 3 songs into the set she commented, "can you believe they opened with "at dawn?!" i was so excited to be next to someone like that at a show! )


--of all the shows i've seen, this may be my favorite set list. so varied. and LOADED with stunners!!

allison found us still at our seats. grinning, she said to me, "you lost your shit, didn't you?" there's something to be said for being an open book.

we found wendy and her nieces and headed over to the elephant and castle for setlist review and hotwings.

man oh man. if this band must head to new zealand and japan for the next two months, i'm glad to have been around to participate in this. as ever, thanks for a fucking fantastic night, gents!

nothing but love. and radness!

this is a link to my show notes/annotated set list from my morning jacket's show at the chicago theatre, sat. dec. 27, 2008

http://forums.viachicago.org/index.php?showtopic=38248

this is the first installment in the "the club is not the real world" series of postings regarding my winter vacation. i'm easing into it. ;)

**photo credit: likethetwilight on the mmj forum**

HAPPY NEW YEAR! a return to prolificity!

i'd had the phrase "return to profligacy" in my head all day. i just looked up "profligacy" in the dictionary. a real, hard bound book. turns out i was WAY off base. the word i was looking for was "prolificity."

from webster's unabridged dictionary:

prolificity, under prolific: 4. characterized by abundant production

profligacy: 1. shameless dissoluteness, 2. reckless extravagance

whew.

**note: i'd dated this card jan 5, not 4th b/c the date on my watch isn't set correctly. especially funny when you read about my confidence about the correct date on the card. pfft.

written on a postcard featuring chicago's merchandise mart**

1.5.2009 -- A new year! how about that? 1st postcard written in the new year.
1st time date written. please note: the correct year was written without error. probably as i was conscious of the "first" quality of it.
am sitting in a sunny patch @ cafe los feliz (heart) w/a dbl decaf cappuccino & apricot cookie.
today is my first day home from a 9 day trip to chicago & new york. i never quite acclimated to the time diff, waking up at about noon everyday while there.
so today i was up @ 8:30 a. hooray!

I feel as though i might be coming down w/some end-o-long-travel cold. trying to burn it out with sun & mobility. grrr!

the end of the year is always a time to reflect on the year, take stock of things...i've been so occupied the last week+, i'm just getting down to it. Many "this time last year" sentences rolling around in my head. i'm hoping to spend considerable amount of time w/those thoughts today. tomorrow i'm back to work. such a foreign idea at this point: hallmark of a quality vacation. :)

for now: this cappuccino + this lynda barry book + this sunny spot = excellent

Happy, Happy New Year! xo-

ps. have made much progress on your scarf. knit in chicago, nyc & across the u.s. on virgin america!

**note: the scarf ref'd is something i'm knitting by request by this card recipient. :) **