he sang. he strummed. he stomped.

what a great night! thirty-five lucky listeners were in the audience to hear will johnson wail away in our workroom.

afterwards, will mixed and mingled, signed his latest CD and his amazing baseballs prints.  before the night was through, he was kind enough to leave us with this wonderful souvenir.



i don't know if you can read the text above, but if you can't, do yourself a favor and watch the story of dock ellis below.  it'll knock your socks off.

screw you, pageant

... and you, too - off broadway, old rock house, and blueberry hill.

our house is the best place to see live music.  and tonight, we have will johnson.

colin hay

this guy was full of surprises.  i had in my head the bug-eyed goofy lead singer of men at work.  remember those silly videos of theirs in the 80s?  first off - he's not australian.  he's scottish and moved to melbourne when he was 14. he has lived in california since 1989.

secondly, he was quite the storyteller.  i guess i shouldn't be surprised - he is a songwriter afterall.  but he was immensely entertaining sharing stories of his brushes with ringo starr and paul mccartney and folks who get the lyrics of his songs wrong - "goats appear and fade away."  it was part comedy show, part concert.

most surprising was that his songs were so much more soulful in person than their 80s versions and sound even prettier than his subsequent recordings.  i guess i'll admit here that a tear came to my eye when he sang "i just don't think i'll ever get over you."  listen to it again.  how can those lyrics NOT get to you?

beagle pups

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my most favoritest band in the world

let's face it - the decemberists can do no wrong in my book. last night, they sounded great, played old tunes and new, and were absolutely hilarious on stage exchanging instruments amongst themselves and even handing over guitars to two lucky audience members who had the opportunity to jam out to "chimbley sweep."

last night, we revived a tradition - we had one very sweet and genuine decemberist over to our house for dinner beforehand. yes, nate, decemberists bassist extraordinaire, came to our home, and the three of us chatted over a home-cooked meal and a couple of pre-show cocktails. it was nice. he was nice. the evening was fantastic.

here he is with dab backstage after the show.


that's me with chris and nate.

new art display

with the dawn of my mother's retirement fast approaching, we have a surplus of office equipment at our disposal and ripe for the picking.

i knew i wanted this old lightbox used for xrays, after i saw this splendid exhibition at snowflake gallery last year.





i've placed it our upstairs hallway, where it will have an ever-changing assortment of photos. this first one is a photo of a line of taxis in sendai, japan.

the national and arcade fire

even though, we had sworn off large arena shows - last night, dabney and i stood in line (or more like sat on a hard floor) for 1.5 hours amongst a large pool of college students to ensure a good spot on the floor to see the national and arcade fire. i was completely engrossed reading bossypants on my space phone, so the time went by quite fast.

the wait was completely worth it. we ended up in the third row center - almost close enough for win butler to shake his sweat onto us. thrilling really.







fyi - my phone pics of the national sucked, but they didn't.

new deskplate

friday on sunday

sunday afternoon in tower grove park

don't brush my hair in knots

Charles & Greg's Formerly White now Warm Home

our latest AT contribution:

this kid kills me

you'd think lu was joining the polar bear club judging by her attire, but actually, she was on her way to her first baby swim class. apparently, she screamed bloody murder the entire time.

and this picture made me giggle. reminds me of my youth.

"the king is dead" companion piece

getting geared up for their upcoming show here in st. louis...

here is a visual companion piece to autumn de wilde's photos of the decemberists for the deluxe box edition of the king is dead.

back by popular demand in our workroom...

... mr. will johnson of centro-matic, south san gabriel, and monsters of folk fame.



we had a blast last year when he came through town.  we're so glad he's coming back.

come see him live in our house on may 10th.  tickets available here.

latest AT house tour

things we wished fit in our bags

damn that second bag rule!

things we ate and drank

places we slept

aimee-lou

meeting with aimee, my old friend/roomie/soul sista, in zanzibar was an absolute treat. we got a few days of lying in the sun and catching up - plus, a few more days during which dabney and i made aimee take us to all her favorite stores so we could get our tanzanian shopping bug on. she was a real sport.

her hubbie, derek, greeted us with smiles and cold beers in dar when we arrived. they are such a sweet couple to visit!

safari

four days camping in the african savanna. 1000+ pictures. here's a smattering.

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