Reapin' the rewards

Taking a gamble on the Patriot Center worked out to my advantage - and my risk paid off big time. Gorillaz brought it hard last Monday- it was a fantastic show! Our seats turned out to be great, fifth row was excellent. I will definitely visit that crap venue again so long as I get seats like that.

The show kicked off with Virginia Beach's own N*E*R*D (reprezentin' the 757 baby!). The young crowd was mostly disinterested save for a few pockets of avid fans. However, Pharrell and company delivered an energetic, exciting set. By the end of their set, the crowd was feeling it and everyone was on their feet, including myself. Their mix of rock and rap is in sync with what the Gorillaz do so it turned out to be a perfect choice of an opening act. N*E*R*D did exactly what an opening act is supposed to do: get the crowd psyched up for the headliner and maybe garner a few fans in the process. They won me over - I've already got a copy of their last album and I'm anxious to get the new upcoming record, too.

Gorillaz -
No more playing behind screens, overshadowed by their cartoon avatars. This time the Gorillaz band was front and center, alive and kicking with full force. The band consisted of a full string section, 4 backup singers, drums and keys and guitars and probably more stuff that I missed. The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble played a number of songs. Best of all was the presence of Clash alumni Paul Simonon and Mick Jones who played throughout the entire show. Then there was ringmaster Damon Albarn, former Blur singer and one of my musical heroes. When Damon took the stage, I went completely nuts. I turned into a squealing teenager, just thrilled to little bits and pieces over the presence of the delicious pop idol.

The rotating cast of guest artists included:
legendary 70s soul singer Bobby Womack
trailblazing rap group De La Soul
gorgeous singer Little Dragon
UK rappers Kano & Bashy
more rappers and....

MOS DEF!!!!

As we were driving to Fairfax, I told my husband that I would probably pee myself if Mos Def showed up. I didn't lose bladder control, but I sure did lose my mind. I went absolutely nutso when Mos Def was announced. Somehow I had missed the fact that Mos Def would be joining Gorillaz on 3 dates, one of which was my Fairfax date. I have a bit of a crush on Mr. Def ever since Be Kind Rewind. He looked so dapper in his sea captain suit and hat! What a thrill it was getting to hear Stylo performed live with both Mos Def and Bobby Womack, plus my favorite Plastic Beach track, "Sweepstakes" performed live along with the brass ensemble.
I'm not a terrific writer, thus it's difficult for me to put into words how thrilling the live show was and how great the scale of it really turned out to be. I have posted some of my photos here but I was a bit far away to be taking nice photos with a little point & click that I hadn't really used before. Still, they are not terrible pictures given the circumstances. Also, it's such a delight to be able to say that I myself took photos of Mos Def, Mick Jones & Damon Albarn.

Gorillaz left me woozy and spinning in the very best way. The 1.5 hrs that they played was incredible and I danced and danced every moment that I wasn't trying to take crappy pictures. (See photos above & below for crap reference)
Apparently Jamie Hewlett was ushered onstage after the Madison Square Garden show in NYC. That would have been the cherry on top for me since I have another yet another crush on Hewlett (see his visit to The Colbert Report here... even though the guy doesn't speak he's just ridiculously lovely). Unfortunately, if he was there he remained behind the curtain. Ah well, I suppose I can't have everything. It was nevertheless a terrific, memorable evening and perhaps the best large-scale concert that I've ever attended.

Music in the air

I bought that new Grinderman album because of the outstanding cover art. My expectations were decidedly low. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The album isn't just better than the first, it's really quite excellent. Now I can't hardly stop playing it. Out of curiosity I went ahead and listened to the first album to see if perhaps I just remembered it being dull. No, there is definitely a very distinct improvement over the first record. I'm very pleased. Plus, I bought the vinyl so that I could have the cover as large as possible (so beautiful with embossed lettering...).

Also, one week until Gorillaz!

Last week I also received my first package from the Third Man Vault. It felt as thought I had been waiting for years, not months. However, I must admit that it was worth the wait. The Dead Weather live LP, 7" and DVD set is nicely packaged and is a super sweet treat for fans. Now if I could just get my hands on a triple decker...

Weather's been getting me down but music has been liftin' me up. Can't beat some live Dead Weather and new Nick Cave on vinyl.

Stranger than fiction

Just when I think I've heard it all, someone surprises me. I've heard some strange stories and had some bizarre requests in this past week.

A nice lady called to ask if she could bring her husband to a performing arts theatre for a show...on a hospital gurney. She said she would arrange for an ambulance to drop him off and pick him up if there was enough room in the theatre to wheel him in. Unfortunately, the theatre is simply not set up to accommodate this particular mode of transport. Plus, if this guy is riding around on a gurney being shepherded by nurses and cruising in an ambulance, it doesn't sound as though he might be in any condition for a night out at the theatre.

Also, just ran into a local guy on the street. I asked him how he was doing and he replied that he's not so great, his mother passed away last week. I offered my condolences and he said that he believes she's in a better place. Then he proceeds to tell me that his mother's life is one hell of a story that he will share with me one day. He offered this much:
"Mom left my dad after 27 years of marriage. She left him for a 21 year old guy cause she said Jesus told her to. Yeah, Jesus himself. I'm talkin' burning bush kinda shit."

That's a story I would actually like to hear in detail.

Stuff I like this week:

Boardwalk Empire
Third Man Records and the Triple Decker Record release (oh what I wouldn't do!)
Asobi Seksu
The IT Crowd

Another reason to love Herzog

Oh, I love Werner Herzog. He just is one of those guys who gets better with age. Watched The Bad Lieutenant again the other night and I was so utterly exhausted. Nevertheless I made it through the whole movie without falling asleep because it's fantastic, never boring and complete off the wall.
Today I found yet another reason to love Werner Herzog.

Also, this movie looks completely rad. Another incredible cast in a Herzog movie about lunacy. Hurray! Reviews appear mixed but I think that with the director and cast and a running time of 91 minutes, it can't be anything but great entertainment.

Risk v Reward

For the past couple of weeks I've been having a crisis of sorts. I have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of a US tour for the Gorillaz since the first of the year, salivating at the mere thought of seeing Damon Albarn and co in person (hopefully not behind a screen this time around). Google news updates having been coming to my inbox daily, plus I joined the fan club in hopes of securing presale tickets if the tour should come to fruition.

My dream came true just a couple of weeks ago when the tour was announced. Then the bad news quickly followed. Of all the venues that the Gorillaz could play, they will be playing at the $#&!!$#* George Mason Patriot Center.

A couple of years ago, I got tickets to go see The Cure (one of my most beloved bands of all time) at the Patriot Center. I got the tickets the minute they went on sale to the public. Apparently my fingers weren't fast enough cause our seats were s#!t. The worst part was not necessarily the seats but the quality of the sound. The Patriot Center is essentially a large basketball court. This meant that the sound was so terrible that I could actually hear the sound bounce off the back of the venue and out back towards the crowd again. This was particularly crappy from where I was seated. However, a couple of friends were seated on the floor much nearer to the stage and they said that the sound wasn't too bad at all from that area. However, my experience was so disenchanting that I said I wouldn't go back to the Patriot Center again.

Oh dear, what to do?! There are really but two options, skip out on the concert, save the money and pop in a video at home OR try to get decent seats and hope for the best.

I'm an idealist, I suppose. I called my husband and asked his opinion, then went ahead and bit the bullet. This should be better than last time simply because the seats should be much better. I took advantage of my presale access and was able to secure seats on the floor, just left of stage in the fifth row. Not necessarily ideal (first row center, hahahaha!), but certainly an improvement over those Cure seats. I can just cross my fingers and hope that the sound will be decent and the view will be worth the long drive to Fairfax. The way I figure it, this could be my only chance to see Damon Albarn, not to mention the Clash's Mick Jones and Paul Simonon. Plus, I've been a little bit in love with Jamie Hewlett since the Tank Girl days of my youth.

So between my choices of no Gorillaz or the Gorillaz on a basketball court, I suppose it's game time. I confess that I would rather that they perform pretty much anywhere else, but I'll take my Damon Albarn any way I can get him. He's no Jack White and I won't be having the same transcendent experience that I did on July 13 at the Dead Weather show, but I think it will be fun all the same. Hit me up if any of my peeps and homies are thinking of heading to Fairfax on October 11!

how cover art can sell an album

My man and I have been discussing album artwork lately as he is prepping his new recording for public consumption. Album artwork can really be a deciding factor in purchasing an album. My friends know that I adore the music, art and writing of Nick Cave. However, I was on the fence about his Grinderman project. I just didn't fall in love with it like I thought I would. However, I will buy the new Grinderman album (due out in Sept) based almost solely on the cover art. It is the best album cover I've seen in quite some time. I just love it so.

Put the needle on the record

I like vinyl. Guess I'm sort of a music snob, really. I've been qualified as a "hipster" before and I suppose I can see that, being that I have been to see bands like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Rilo Kiley. Thus my penchant for vinyl probably comes as no surprise to those who know me even a little bit.
My vinyl kick started when I was in high school when I discovered my parents' old records collecting dirt and dust in the garage. In the collection I found albums by David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Donovan, Cat Stevens and more. I decided to rescue the treasure and claim them as my own. (I left some things like Loggins and Messina to continue their decay process in the garage). I found an old record player that barely worked and started my music education with albums like "Desire", "Hunky Dory" and "Teaser and the Firecat". I also began buying my own records at that time, starting with little 7" ones by bands like Pavement and Velocity Girl that I found at Fantasy Records (where I still buy vinyl from time to time).
I still have all of the records that I salvaged plus perhaps hundreds more. I love vinyl, I love the size of the album covers and the artifacts themselves. I love the sound of the pop as the needle first drops down onto the record.
My husband and I owned one record player, a basic Sony component model that serves us well. However, I've been on another vinyl tear lately and I wanted a little portable thing that I could drag upstairs to my little room where I like to read and practice my guitar and have time alone. It seemed like a simple enough task, there are plenty of portable models on the market right now. We were shopping at Target and decided to pick up a basic Crosley portable record player.
Don't buy a Crosley portable record player. At least not if you care about how your music sounds. Now, for $75 I didn't expect great things. I expected barely adequate speakers and plastic parts. That's fine, no problem. However, the problem was that the speed of the record turntable was wrong. The player spun the records too slow. It wasn't even immediately noticeable. However, when I was trying to learn a long buy playing guitar along with the record, something was definitely wrong. I checked the tuning on my guitar and eventually my husband confirmed that the records were playing just a bit too slowly. So we decided that perhaps it was just a bad item and we decided to swap it for a different one, same model and everything. We got that stupid Crosley piece of shit home and immediately tested it. This one played just a little too fast. Back in the box, piece of crap Crosley! No more Crosley, period.
Perhaps I am a snob and a music elitist, but I believe that the music should be heard just as the artist intended, in the key and tuning that the artist intended. It seemed that the manufacturing of a small motor that causes a turntable with a record on it to spin at 33 1/2 rotations per minute wouldn't be difficult being that record players have been around for quite some time now. However, Crosley apparently isn't concerned with such trifles.
After some thrift store hunting and debate about the pros and cons of ordering online, we decided to go with what we know. We chose another Sony, the exact same basic model that we already owned and loved. We hooked it up to a radio and it works like a charm. Not necessarily ideal as it's not that easy to lug around the house, but it serves its purpose and it plays records at the desired intended speed. I think it will last a good long while, too.
With the resurgent popularity of vinyl, I'm surprised that a decent player isn't easier to access. Perhaps I'm just too picky. Nevertheless, I'm appalled at the poor quality that passes for acceptable. A company like Crosley that claims to specialize in radios and record players should have some concern about the quality of the sound of the product, no matter the model or cost. At least I now know what NOT to look for when I'm in the market for another radio or record player and I hope that you vinyl fiends will take this into consideration, too.

NYC and May 2010

My trip to NYC this May to visit lovely Leah was outstanding. I can barely muster the words to describe how visually and aurally stimulating the Massive Attack show at Terminal 5 was. I can say that Martina Topley-Bird is one of the most beautiful women I have ever laid eyes on and she's got a voice that can render a crowd speechless. Massive Attack played a good selection of songs from their new album Heligoland as well as a handful of "greatest hits" from Angel to Karmacoma. Fabulous, jaw-dropping, glorious.

The Buzzcocks were amazing- particularly since I think they're probably eligible to collect Social Security. They kicked ass, serious ass. They played the entirety of Music from Another Kitchen and Love Bites, then launched into an encore featuring their best-loved songs including "What Do I Get?, "Harmony in My Head" and "Orgasm Addict".

I got to visit Tokyo Rebel and it was so lovely and the owners are friggin' awesome. Big love to Tokyo Rebel! If you happen to be in the East Village, make a point of paying them a visit.

Also got to catch a screening of the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. Highly recommended, particularly for art aficionados.

Must be losing my mind

Okay, so I need to post something lengthy about my incredible trip to NYC. However, this is weird and I need to know if I'm losing my mind:

This new Twilight movie is called "Eclipse". I read the crappy book but I can't even recall what the hell book #3 was even about. I do know that the books got progressively shittier and the last one was perhaps the worst book I've ever made myself trudge through (I read the whole thing to punish my stupid self for even starting it in the first place). I saw the first Twilight film and I thought it was fun in a goofy way. I still haven't seen the last one that came out. However, I might need to see film number 3 cause of this (again, let me know if I'm losing it):

The film Eclipse is directed by David Slade, the guy who made Hard Candy (pretty good flick) and 30 Days of Night (I quite enjoyed that one a lot). Based upon his his other films, I would see pretty much whatever David Slade directed, or I would at least give it a chance.

Okay, now here's the super odd bit:

The soundtrack to Eclipse features the following artists: The Dead Weather, Bat for Lashes and Beck, Metric, Florence + The Machine, Sia, Vampire Weekend, UNKLE, and the Black Keys. I would have imagined that it would be far more generic tripe. I understand that the first movie featured Iron and Wine and the second had Thom Yorke, but they were still mostly awful. This soundtrack actually makes me excited (yes, yes, even if it didn't feature the Dead Weather, leave me alone).

So with a decent director and a potentially fantastic soundtrack, is it insane that I might actually want to see this movie? Plus, after seeing Kirsten Stewart in The Runaways, I kinda like her (she might even be a good actress).

Don't worry, I don't expect that the film will be any good, but I'm morbidly curious now. I must have left part of my brain in New York cause this all seems a bit wrong to me.

birth

My first nephew arrived yesterday, a bit late but healthy and complete. Hurray for the proud parents and grandparents- I look forward to meeting the little fellow soon. He shares a birthday with both my bandmate Mike L. and my mother. What a lovely day!

Today is Leah's birthday- happy birthday sweetheart! I get to visit her tomorrow and treat her to Massive Attack. I hope to stop by Tokyo Rebel while I'm in town, it will be my first trip to the store.

Lucie and I watched Whip It again together last night. I'm so in love with that silly movie.

The new Dead Weather album, Sea of Cowards, is out today and I can't get enough.

Is it bedtime yet? Not quite. What a shame.

Mem'ries

This article in the Daily Press has made me sentimental.
Video Update was my very first place of employment. They opened a store right near my house when I was about 17 years old and I couldn't have been happier. I must have spent two hours walking around that place on the day they opened. I immediately applied for a job but was unable to be hired until I turned 18 thanks to their "back room" movies.
Within a week of my 18th birthday I went to apply for a job at Video Update. The staff knew me pretty well by then thanks to my movie habit. I was hired quickly and was given a red polo shirt with the Video Update logo.
Although it could be boring, Video Update was an outstanding part time job. I really loved that place. My supervisors, Penny & Vera, were cool ladies. I got along with almost every person I worked with and we generally had a good time. We got free movie rentals so the minimum wage paycheck didn't seem too shabby to me.
The worst part of the job was a duty called "moving the wall". This little joy of a chore was when you had to make room for new cassettes (yup, this was still the day of VHS cassette tapes, DVDs were just arriving for rental when I left the job) on the new release wall. I would have to scoot tapes over and make room for new videos. Sounds easy but it's a huge pain in the ass to space tapes out evenly. Usually this required moving several hundred VHS tapes over by just one or two spaces. It was a ridiculously tedious chore and my friends would stop in and make fun of me whenever they knew that I was having to move the wall.
The BEST part of the job was the "back room" movie stocking. We wouldn't receive particular titles or special requests, we would simply receive a large brown box full of random unsorted VHS tapes. Several employees would have to go through the tapes and label them and stock them. The titles were incredible (I remember such gems as "Canadian Beaver Hunt", "Ass Ventura, Crack Detective" and "Doin' the Butthole Boogie"). No, I didn't make up those names, those were 100% real movie titles. I would spend hours just crying with laughter and writing down titles to share with friends. We got to scope out all of the people renting dirty movies, including some upstanding citizens from local governments and church who were checking out interesting and questionable films.
This back room was an endless source of entertainment. Also, it's where I found "The Opening of Misty Beethoven", my favorite adult film (and one of my favorite films, period) that ended up really changing my life and the way I saw adult cinema. But that's another story.
So reading the article that the last of the Video Updates (which would later become Movie Scene) is closing its doors forever brought a little tear to my eye and made me feel sentimental. The store where I once worked shut its doors last year and that was a sad day for me. At least I have happy memories, but I'm sad knowing that my fallback job is no longer secure and that I'll be really screwed if I leave my current job as I have no video shop to return to.

Awww dangit all

I'm trying to get my obsessions under control, but then I just saw this and I think my problems are just beginning.
This is outstanding.

idle chatter

Every time Malcolm McDowell comes up in conversation, I get a little wistful, a little fluttered and all blushed up. Sigh.

Excited

Girl in a Coma is less than one week away and I'm getting excited...

Here's the mini site for their new cover song EPs. I recommend listening to their version of Bowie's "As The World Falls Down", they really nail it.

po

I want to go hear Phoenix tonight but I spent up all my money on Massive Attack, The Buzzcocks and Girl in a Coma. Ah well, I did what I had to do.

Word on the web is that the baby above is packed and maybe on its way from Gallery 1988 CA to my doorstep right now. That'll be my prized baby now. I'll have to find a special place for her. Oh, and she's probably the main reason I'm strapped, but she'll be worth it, I'm sure.

After that, I was trying so hard to behave but then I saw this guy and I couldn't resist.

These babies'll be the end of me. And what a fun it will be! That reminds me, I need to post a pic of my happy new office, too...

random stories and musings

Those who know me are aware that I love stories, especially true ones. There's nothing quite like the unbelievable truth. Here are some brief random bits and pieces that I've picked up over the past few weeks that are all true.

I nearly set our kitchen on fire when I left tortilla chips in the oven for too long. I did this because I got sidetracked when I discovered that I would have to report for jury duty on my final assigned day. I had to make several phone calls in order to get someone to work for me. Meanwhile, the tortilla chips became little flaming black lumps of coal. My husband grabbed the fire extinguisher and put the fire out. The fire extinguisher emits a powdery chemical that in turn coated every surface in three rooms. We spent hours cleaning up chemical powder. All the food was ruined and we ended up having to go out for dinner.

I had to report for jury duty. The case was somewhat farcical - it centered around a marijuana dealer who had been arrested nearly 2 years ago. Three hours were spent selecting the jury. I decided to go in with a positive attitude and treat it as "life experience". As it turns out, this day was quite revelatory as I discovered that I have prejudices that prevent me from serving on a jury. It's not at all what you might think (I was not even aware myself). Turns out I don't trust police officers. Don't trust 'em, don't like 'em. The judge actually brought me in for questioning by himself and the attorneys after the courtroom was cleared of all jurors and police officers. The prosecuting attorney questioned me and I answered with sincere honesty. I was quickly struck from the jury list, though the defense attorney and his team thought I was perfect.

My husband has a coworker who is in the process of buying a townhouse. She narrowed it down to three townhouses. Each townhouse was very similar and all were within $1000 of the same price. She eventually selected one. I would think that she might consider parking, might meet the neighbors, etc, when making a final decision. She chose a unit based on the staircase. Each townhouse had two stories and each had a staircase between the floors. The unit she chose has a small landing in the middle of the staircase. She figured that if she falls down the stairs, she would have a shorter distance to fall. This was the main factor in the decision to buy her townhouse.

My guitar instructor plays in a covers band (I have never heard them). He was telling me that they were going to play a show but that it was indefinitely postponed. The reason for this is because the bass player shot his own finger off. The guy was on his lunch break and decided to use the opportunity to clean his gun. He got in his pickup truck and started the cleaning process when he got distracted and made a mistake. The gun went off and blew off the majority of his finger, then the bullet ricocheted off the sideview mirror and shot out into the busy boulevard nearby. Fortunately no one was injured except Mr. Clean My Gun In My Truck. The man now might be able to play again in 8 months or so. Meanwhile, the doctors are apparently taping the gnarled up remainder of his finger to the adjacent finger with the the idea that the damaged finger will fuse and start growing tissue again. My guitar teacher kept referring to the muscle and tissue as "meat". He was on and on about how the guy blew all the meat off of his finger and how they are trying to get the finger to grow more meat. I laughed throughout the entire story though it was not told to me for comic effect. I just kept apologizing for laughing but he didn't seem to mind that I found this to be hilarious.

That's all for now. I'll post more little stories sometime soon.

Mysteries of love

Thanks to the magic of the internet, I could do a quick google search and found that December 14, 1995 was the day that I first fell in love.
I was 17 years old laying in the middle of a field listening to The Smiths song "I Know It's Over" on a cassette player through my headphones. I listened to that song probably 20 times that day. That song turned out to be quite prescient.
I remember this now because I just was listening to The Queen is Dead and it all came rushing back to me.

Anglophilia

Things are pretty good. Work is slowing down from mass chaos to manageable insanity.

My husband called just now to inform me that No Distance Left to Run is waiting for me when I get home from work. Even if I'm tired and even though I have to get up early to work two awful, painful children's shows tomorrow, I am not certain that I want to live another day without having seen this movie.

I hate everything and this week just gets worse and worse. This is just heartbreaking to me.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35348689/?GT1=43001

More publicity materials

I had foolishly neglected to read the "Executive Summary" on the back of the flier for the company I referred to in my last post. The flier is sort of a handmade tri-fold brochure with black text printed on shocking hot pink cardstock paper. The picture is AMAZING. I cannot post it here, but ask and perhaps I'll send it to you. In the meantime, here is the entire text as printed on the back of this brochure. As before, I have taken great pains to ensure that I am typing this text just as it appears on the brochure. Also, please note that the company is based in Virginia and the artist's bio indicates that he graduated from a local high school. English is indeed this person's first language. Apparently they spellchecked their work but neglected to employ a proofreader.



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

People are only humans. We live a life that require making choices for survival. One choice we make is laughter. It acts in many cases the same as music. Together, with music and laughter, one can soothe the savage beast. This beast that so very present can be controlled by musical dramatics. With that being a fact, people can learn from repetition or recognition.

Ventriloquism, the arts, need only five minutes to employ a lifetime of memories. In so doing, ***'s company of puppet and vent dolls uses the open option, showing its participants values of true and self expression through performing arts. A professional gardener once said "Every seed will produce a flower". *** puppets will sow seeds by the handful, making a nice, almost perfect, harvest. We will harvest good products using proper measures.
"Good seed sowed, brings flowers of gold".

Press release

This is a press release sent to my work. Yes, this is a real press release sent to us by what is most likely a real company. They sent us a flier recently, too, but this letter is my treasure. I keep it near and dear to me. The name of the company that sent this has been removed. This is the letter, typed word for word, error for error (and yes, I fully understand that I will burn in hell for this and many other things):


Mission:

***company's mission is to expose adolescent's youth to the values of self expression through the Performing Arts while providing and quality fundamental education to the youth in the community. We will bring ventriloquism to the fore fronts of wholesome family entertainment.

Vision:

We will exercise our ambitions to enlighten and enrich each and every one of our participants, within the levels of self-esteem and creation. The community provided for these youth allow problems such as gang violence, teen pregnancy, high school drop outs as well as runaways. Our vision is to provide a positive path for out disadvantage youth in helping them find the positive within themselves. We will like for them to allow their voices and visions to be accepted with applause coming from with in. Statistically they have no chance in the world handed for them, so we are going to be that world of chance. Personify life through means of puppetry helping them recap cliche in an example. Our model is "Each one teach one" meaning the first stage toward excellence. We use theatrics, songs, dance, spoken word, poetic justice, community leaders, volunteers with in the community and celery. This is the village we will provide to help us help them.

Thank you for your time and I would really like for you or your organization to contact me and or my company. We will like your help in fulfilling our mission of endeavors. Donation and your support are highly excepted.

(P.S. The letterhead this was printed on has the name of the city where they reside misspelled.)

Things

Things have been busy. Too much for this girl. It's all work, too, so that's no fun at all. However, I got a fabulous letter in the mail that I will share with you. Please see post above, names have been changed for protection. This is a real and true press release submitted to the theatre where I work in hopes that we would book their group for performances. It's so lovely that I keep re-reading it to bring a little sunshine into my harrowing days. Spelling errors are deliberately typed, I have take great measure to type the letter exactly. I should scan it. Oh well. Maybe I shall do so soon.
Also, I realized that I am in the wrong line of work. I am far too misanthropic to be dealing with the public.