Thanks for clicking the "more" link.  I wanna tell you I really want to start blogging more regularly again.  There’s always the feeling that I want to keep my private life private and not say stupid-ass things lest they end up getting used as pull-quotes in all my record reviews…!!  But on the other hand I’ve been feeling weird about this blog for ten years straight and it ain’t never stopped me before, or not for long.  I do plenty of stuff in public anyway, why not talk about that at least?  And maybe, a little about what’s going on with me if I feel like sharing.  Unfortunately at the moment I got nothin’.  I had a very quiet Thanksgiving.  There you go, whoo-hoo!  Bloggage.  :-P

Yep I guess I’m going a little stir crazy what with all this gloomy weather, another Chicago winter looming ahead.  Don’t quite know what to do with myself these days, now that the hubbub of the record release is over.  But I’m enjoying the feeling too ‘cuz pretty soon I’ll be touring for like sixty-eight weeks straight!  And who am I kidding, I love being at home doing my thing.  I’ll be missing that solitude when I’m on the road, for sure.

I haven’t been super isolated though, just a little bored maybe.  I have been making the effort to get out and hang with friends a little, and talking on the phone a lot, with Lucie, Sarah, Alyce… Eric too of course, he’s been really sweet and supportive the past few weeks.  We’re keeping in touch just about every day and have hung out four or five times both with other people and just the two of us.  A few tears involved but no big drama (I wouldn’t talk about it if there were).  It all seems very healthy and amiable, in the truest sense of the word… es un hombre bien amable, y lo estoy amando como un amigo.  So that’s about as good an outcome as either of us could hope for.  I mean it hurts of course, because we wanted it to work out, it’s a big disappointment.  But all in all this has been a piece of cake as far as breakups go, unlike some others I can think of!!  No third parties, no shared household or pets or merged record collection to split up.  It was just a regular boring ol’ it-didn’t-work-out kinda thing.  So that’s a big relief for me, in retrospect.  And it greatly increases the chances that we’ll remain good friends as it was intended.  He wasn’t the one for me but that’s okay… I’m resuming my assumption that my partner in crime is out there somewhere and will make himself apparent to me at some point.  In the meantime I have so much work to do, and a lot of good friends to hang out with if I want to.  Including Eric, whom I still love and respect a whole lot, and vice versa!  He’s a fun guy, super smart and creative and goal-oriented, and a real bon vivant too, super fun to be around.  Great friends too.  I’ve really enjoyed being a part of that world for the past year and I’m psyched that there’ll be plenty more good times to come.  We have a lot in the bank, it’s a solid friendship, and that’s a gift that I so appreciate.  Plus he kinda raises the bar as far as the kind of guy I would ever want to date in the future.  I don’t think that’s a bad thing…

Speaking of friendship, I had an awesome little sushi party on the day the CD was released… Eric helped me pull it together, not that there was much to organize.  We just sent out e-mails and commandeered a restaurant for a few hours.  I never do that, I don’t have parties!! But this was the most fun I’ve had in I don’t know how long.  Over a dozen people showed up — some folks who worked on the record (Laura, Emmett, Josh and Jason), some Drag City folks (Dan K and Zach), some of my gal-pals (Sarah and Sheila) and of course Eric and a few good pals I met through him (Geoff and Nell and Emerson).  There was wine and beer, there were multiple toasts called out, a bouquet of flowers from Laura and scratch-off lottery tickets for everyone.  Very good times.

So yeah, that left me feeling really great, and so blessed to have all these amazing people swarmin’ around me.  I’ve been in Chicago nine years now and I’ve had my finger in a lotta pies, mingling in many different social circles that overlap each other through music.  That group was just scratchin’ the surface, a lot of good friends and bandmates couldn’t come that night… these are all such great people.  Creative, funny, talented and fascinating folks.  I’m really lucky to know them, and even more fortunate to be able to work with these people to make this album I’m so proud of.  Just having the chance to celebrate a job well done, it’s the best feeling.  And this is a big milestone for me after all; it’s been a long time coming, a lot of blood sweat ‘n’ tears.  It’s a special record, it captures a mood that I think will easily resonate with a lot of people.  So it worked out well.  I think it does a pretty good job of painting a picture of where I’m at today, even though the songs were written over the course of many years, and I sure wasn’t in that mindset when I recorded it six months ago!  Just coincidence it ended up that way I’m sure.  :-|

The Hothouse show on the 19th went great too.  It was the perfect amount of people; all the tables were filled up and and some people were standing but it wasn’t uncomfortably crowded.  The opening bands were excellent, though I couldn’t pay much attention what with all the smoking and pacing in circles looking worried… heheh.  I’m always like that before a show.  But it went fine.  The band was awesome, it was me on my blue 335, Emmett on electric guitar too, Ryan on bass, Jason on drums and Lindsay on keyboards and backups.  She had her digital keyboard set up next to the baby grand so she could play either one.  It turned into a longass show, like an hour and a half.  We played the whole album front to back — might as well, it’s a release show and it sure cuts down on the decision-making!  Then we played the two songs that ended up as outtakes, then the two cover songs that were on my Demos album.  For the encore we did a couple older songs, "Telescopic" (with Jason doing his sweet melodica thing), and Cars & Parties.  We had a little problem with the mikes early in the set but after that the sound was just so beautiful, what a great room.  I think it’s about 300 capacity so it’s a pretty big room but the acoustics are nice and airy and crisp.  My pal Mike Sturgess did sound — he’s a musician too, he fronts the band Clyde Federal.  But he’s my favorite soundman in town and knows my shit the best.  I mean, he’s done sound at the majority of the Chicago shows I’ve played over the past five years or so, therefore he knows what it’s supposed to sound like, what we’re liable to need in our monitors etc.  I barely ever have to say anything to the guy, he just knows what we need, and if there’s a problem he’s right on top of it.  He might as well be another bandmember, I’ve been working with him so long.  So that was great.  We played well too, far as I could tell.  I was singing well (even though I’m SMOKING again goddammit!!) and played almost all my chords correctly, though I did screw up the words a little here and there.  Blanked out on a couple of lines and had to make something up in a few unexpected places, but it worked out okay.  I don’t worry about it as long as it rhymes.

What else have I done?  Last week I tagged along with Brandon to see "The Squid and the Whale"… it started out as a bowling party but everybody bailed so he decided to make it a movie party instead.  It was good too, and the ending was a nice surprise.  I won’t spoil it but I had heard from Eric that this was a a very sad film, and then I heard the same thing from Donna, one of his roommates.  And Brandon had heard the same thing from two other people!  And it was sad, but I think we were both sitting there waiting for something REALLY awful to happen.  So the ending was kind of a surprise and a relief, we were both expecting all hell to break loose.

Oh and guess what I did at the beginning of that crazy-ass release week?  I went to Electrical to do backups on a couple of songs for Daniel Smith.  Both the songs were really cool and I really enjoyed the task, doing that kind of fast-paced, clipped style of singing.  Some crazy harmonies in there, it was a lot of fun, and it was great working with Dan and Steve too.  We’re all friends and pros, we all know the routine so it’s a nice jovial atmosphere for gettin’ things done.  I really dig getting the chance to work in a lot of different styles, i.e. contrasting this with the very languid singing I did earlier in the month with Barry and Pramod for a new Morning Recordings album.  Or the country harmony I did on the Canasta record, and the really balls-to-the-wall one I came up with for "Impostors" at their release show at Subterranean.  I guess I just really get off on playing music in general, and the physical act of singing in particular.  It’s an activity that requires (and enhances) physical and mental and spiritual energy all at once.  I dig it.  I have a good job.

And that’s enough catching up for now I reckon!  Heheh.  Went off at the mouth a little didn’t I.  :-)

• Playing a really fun show with Eric @ Mother Fool’s in Madison
• Seeing the Wisconsin Dells for the first time driving around at two in the morning during off-season
• Bottle of wine at the top of the Hyatt in downtown Dallas (the one with the big ball on top)
• SXSW — seeing Michelle Shocked, Harvey Sid Fisher and the Ditty Bops, among others
• Seeing Mama, Lucie, Marshall, Lilly, Lindy, Mimo, Uncle Dan, Lee & Lisa… anybody else I forgot?
• My own SXSW showcase
• Feasting w/ Eric @ Golden Corral in Texarkana
• Back in Chicago, seeing Blackbird‘s Patty Red Pants at the Chopin
• A wonderful lazy Easter weekend with you-know-who, starting with an off-the-cuff dinner at Mi Tierra

Low point of our Austin trip: Taking Eric to the top of Mount Bonnell and finding a BUILDING under construction up there, WTF!?!?

Tonight (=last night) we saw the movie Heat at the Gene Siskel Center. Fuckin’ awesome — almost three hours long but I never thought about the time.

What movies did I see?  OK: I’m not good at giving movie reviews but I think I can do the thumbs up – thumbs down routine here.

1) The Machinist – Thumbs up.  Saw it with Sarah and already talked about it here so I won’t rehash.

2) I Heart Huckabees – Eh.  Thumbs down.  Saw it last Sunday with my other Eric(k) pal, Erick B.  We agreed that it was too dumb, too feel-good, not a complete waste of time but in the end, pretty much just a buncha nothin’.  I’m sure it was a lot of fun to BE in that movie, and I guess it’d be great as an airplane movie or something, but I wouldn’t recommend seeing it in the theater.  But hey, it was a cheap matinee at the Davis, so I’m not really complaining.

3) Sideways – Thumbs up!  Saw a preview of it with Eric Z.  Came in with no expectations and really liked it.  It’s about two old college buddies on a wine-tasting excursion through California.  And I don’t know a damn thing about wine so if somebody like me can enjoy that movie, you’ll like it too I’m sure.

4) Primer – Thumbs up!  Oh yeah!!!  I saw it today (=yesterday) with Erick B. and we both dug it.  It’s not for everyone though, you gotta be a pretty much of a geek to appreciate this fully.  It’s a hardcore techie science fiction thing, my favorite, favorite kind of movie on earth.  But unlike most sci-fi movies it uses no special effects to speak of but just relies on great dialogue and a really imaginative, fucked-up storyline.  Loved it.  I would see it again two or three more times to try to figure out the stuff I missed the first time.  Erick and I both agreed, however, that in terms of fucked-up movies that might require repeat viewings, Memento had a better payoff.  But then, Memento cost a lot more than $7000 to make…!!  The fact that I’m even comparing those two movies says a lot about how great Primer is.

OK, I’m falling asleep now.  Thanks so much to all the pals mentioned above for being so good to go and fun to hang out with.  Not-A-Dates are where it’s at!!  (grin)

Shave-ice website scofflaws beware!

The Exorcist in 30 seconds with bunnies

Subverting the Subservient Chicken

Buy my crappy router table

Pooping and Peeing in Public Places and Somalinet

You can’t compare any two people’s lives very easily, and any obstacles I’ve faced can’t possibly compare to the physical and emotional horrors she had to endure. But something about her really rings true for me, and makes me want to know what more I can learn.  Her work was often intensely personal, and so is mine though I don’t usually like to admit it.  My love life gets churned into my music, but I get so irritated when people focus on that during interviews etc.  Frida’s love life was the source of endless entertainment for the masses… check this out for a truly cringeworthy rundown of her lovers followed by "…and many, many, many more!" I’m sure if she were here today she’d rather us focus on the art itself, but how can you separate the art from the life she led?  You can’t, but I wish we could study her work without reducing her to some kind of circus attraction.

I could think about this all day, and draw all kinds of parallels, but I have my own work to deal with as always.  Sometimes I wish I could close my eyes to the whole outside world, so as not to be influenced by any sights or sounds that aren’t coming from inside my own head. But then, any thoughts we have are usually in reaction to the things we’ve experienced.  Without our lives, we’d be nothing more than shit’n'piss factories, and there’d be no art or music, no need for any catharsis, no urge to understand ourselves or reach out to others for answers, like I’m doing right now with Frida’s work.  That would suck.

The show went great!  Perfect weather, not a cloud in the sky.  There were just thousands of people, I have no idea how many.  Somebody guesstimated 3000 but I’m really bad at judging crowds.  But it wasn’t so bad to play in front of them!  I was shitting bricks before I had to go on, both times.  Standing on the ramp to go onstage and feeling like I had to shit, piss, vomit and pass out all at the same time.  But then Jon Langford is such a goofball, I don’t think it’s possible to be very nervous on the same stage as him.  I think I was the only one in the whole PVC’s that claimed nervousness or who hadn’t actually played in front of that many people before.  I sang alright though.  No huge problems, maybe just a little wiggly in places.  You may interpret all this to mean that I did fine.  :-) I’m always nervous before I play, but it usually disappears once I start, and today was no different.  The sensation of being in front of a jillion people wasn’t substantially different than being in front of 100, or 350 or whatever it is that a "big show" would be for a gal like me.  Everyone was spread out through the park, sitting on blankets or milling around, so it wasn’t nearly as "crowded" as it would feel during a sold-out show at a rock club.

Lots of Cosmonauts showed up.  Kelly Hogan was there, but not Chris Mills or Brett Sparks.  Didn’t see Laura & Tracey Dear either. Jenny Toomey and Jean Cook were there though.  Jean lives in NYC and played violin on my 2nd album Telescopic.  Every time I see her in Chicago I get the big mental spazz… "I know I know this girl… it looks like Jean but it can’t be!!" Until finally I realize it IS her.  And I’ve done this two or three times now, when will I get over the fact that the girl can travel if she wants?  The context is wrong at a PVC show… "Hey, you’re not country, I’m only supposed to see you at INDIE shows!"

So, who else was there.  David Yow, who’s always great.  He always calls me Elizabeth!!  Because he thinks it’s funny, and it is sort of funny. He’s more of a charmer than a dickweed, I’ll put it that way, heheh.  I’ve probably told this story before, but he’s only razzing me because the 2nd or 3rd time I met him, he accidentally called me Elizabeth and I got all irate about it.  Well, it was more funny than anything, I was just yapping in his face "My name’s EDITH, NOT ELIZABETH!!!!" with this total "OMIGOD!!!" expression on my face.  As IF.  LOL.  So, every time he sees me, he wants to see if he can get me start yelping at him again.  Well I’m plenty gullible but I’m not gonna fall for that one twice!

Oh hey… I got to meet Rosie Flores!  Of course I’ve seen her play before but never actually met her.  I was genuinely thrilled.  The rockabilly filly herself!!  I saw her open for Wanda Jackson one time in New York (with my pal Lauri Tyeryar) and she fuckin’ ripped.  I mean she shredded on guitar, wailed on vocals and just tore it all up, man.  She was so sweet to me today.  We’re from the same hometown now that I think of it; I should have mentioned that.  I was obviously geeked out over her and even tripped over a folding chair in my excitement, she had to catch my arm…!!!  Whoah there little lady…

It’s pretty exciting to hang out backstage at a big outdoor thing. I definitely love seeing those hot celebrities, and hopefully taking their picture.  I did have my camera today of course, and got about 20 shots, most of them pretty good.  Somebody took a picture of me and Rosie and Jon Langford, but I look horrible in it.  Boooo!!  I had my teeth bared in a grimace of overexcitement.  I got lots of other good pics though, of John Rice (PVCs), Janet Bean (Freakwater), David Yow (Jesus Lizard), Jenny & Jean, Rebecca Gates (Spinanes), Puerto Muerto.  Even got a picture of two of the Throat Singers of Tuva, in their street clothes.  They did a set before the PVCs, it was really neat-o.

I always avoid outdoor fests like the plague (as an audience member) but I sure had fun at this one.  The Old Town School folks were super nice. They had a big tent for us to hang out in, and food, and lots of mirrors and even little spray-bottles laying around.  I mean like, different flavors of BODY MIST.  They must think we’re going to get all stinky up there and need a little spritz!  "Ummm… we’re not going to say you’ve got b.o., but there’s that bottle over there in case you feel the urge…"

After the show John and I wandered up to Laurie’s and got suckered into some purchases.  I got the latest Gillian Welch, which I think I actually have already, but if I do it’s laying around somewhere where I can’t find it.  So now I have it FOR SURE.  :-) John got the new Sonic Youth on vinyl.  And I got a used DVD… an old horrible wonderful 70s movie that I used to really love called Audrey Rose.  John made burgers tonight and we watched it.  It’s got some hilarious moments.  Marsha Mason (The Goodbye Girl, right?) played the distraught mom, poor thing.  "B-b-but… it’s… a… night… mare…!! ::whimper::!!" Her daughter Ivy’s body houses the reincarnated soul of Anthony Hopkins’ daughter Audrey Rose, who died in a fiery car crash two minutes before Ivy was born.  The poor child is losing sleep because she keeps morphing into the dead girl every night.  She wakes up (as the dead girl) and starts freaking out, thinking she’s trapped inside the burning car, beating her hands against the glass etc.  When Ivy finally dies at the end of the picture, Anthony Hopkins says… "She’s free now.  Free!  Her soul is free!  It’s free.  Free!  Her soul is free.  Free." ad nauseum.  My only question is… if the soul was so tormented in Ivy’s body, why’d it go there in the first place?  After the car-crash, why didn’t it go chill out in some Heavenly rest-stop and wait a few years and THEN get reincarnated?  But no, she had to shoot herself into Ivy’s body, ruin her life and ultimately kill ‘er.  But her soul is free now!  Free!!

I really want to be Audrey Rose for Halloween some year.  I’d wear a nightgown, bandage up my hands and run around in circles shrieking, and run around to all the windows banging on them whilst yelping continually.  I already have this imitation down cold, believe me!!  I can do other scenes too, like where she’s staring in the mirror saying… "Hey Audrey.  Audrey Rose… hey… Audrey… Audrey Rose… Hey…" Or another one where she’s under hypnosis and says "Mommy.  Mommy.  Mommy.  Mommy… Mommy?  Mommy…!!  Mommy!!!  MOMMY!!!!" As you can see this film is all about using repetition to drive its point home.  :-)

I got sucked into watching Flashdance on TV last night.  UGH, what a horrible yet somehow irresistible film.  It doesn’t hold a candle to Times Square in the blast-from-the-past department, but it did bring back a few good memories of the 80s.  As always, I took the movie a little too seriously and tried to pick apart the actions of the characters.  I was highly aware throughout the film that the dancer you were seeing was not actually Jennifer Beals.  They’d never show her face while she was dancing.  Also, her boyfriend was acting like a stalker; why was she going out with him?  And why would the ballet school go nuts over this girl’s audition when she wasn’t even doing ballet?