Sept Jours

Six weeks until Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, affectionately known as FIMAV. (You know, that obscure music festival we go to every year in the Canadian hinterlands.) Seven days until we know the full lineup of acts. Breaths are baited. Pins and needles we are on (?). In the meantime, you can check out a partial list of bands here (and, if you are unduly interested...or profoundly bored...learn more about the fascinating region of Bois Francs here).

Photos, clockwise from top left (all from FIMAV 2007): Koenji Hyakkei, Melvins, Carla Bozulich, Anthony Braxton's Diamond Curtain Wall Trio

We Fenced Other Gardens With The Bones Of Our Own

Liars are opening for Radiohead in Charlotte on May 8. Yep, I'll be there. This weekend I saw a Liars video that disturbed me in the most pleasant of ways. Watching it, I was paralyzed by an unfamiliar combination of curiosity, confusion, delight, and fear. Plastic Casts of Everything, a newer film, is also worth a watch.

Zombie Celebration

Top 10 Reasons Why Resurrection Weekend ROCKED

Number 10:
Lasted three days instead of two

Number 9:
The Raconteurs: Consoles of the Lonely

Number 8:

March Mania (Davidson, UNC)
March Depression (Duke, Georgetown)
...Madness Indeed!

Number 7:
Oyster, Artichoke & Country Ham Chowder at Que Sera in Black Mountain

Number 6:
No Country for Old Men exceeded the hype

Number 5:
First Porsche ride ever, up Hwy 9 no less. Thanks Steve!

Number 4:
Human regeneration is for real

Number 3:
I repeat: human regeneration is for real. Watch the video, naysayers.

Number 2:
POLITICAL PUNDIT WEARS ART JEWELRY ON FACE THE NATION
My brand of shock and awe. I nearly fell off the couch. Bless you Ana Marie Cox!
(I can't seem to link directly to the video. If you want to see it, go here and search for Ana Marie Cox. Then, play the video that shows a photo of Hillary Clinton in a green coat.)

Number 1:(with complete disregard for but no apologies to the reader)
Special Guest Stars: Buenos-Aires-bound Fatty, Pork Chop Biscuit, Seeezter, Steve, Diane, Jim, M&D, Bubba & Ang (via the telly)....love my peeps!

500Mas

Today was the submission deadline for 500 Enameled Objects. There were so many mail bins that the post office had to send over a whole van.

We are all so pleased to have so much support for this project. I can't wait to see all those lovely images! See all of Lark's books in the 500 series here.

Heima

Heima is a double-disc documentary about Sigur Ros and a series of free, unannounced concerts they played in their native Iceland in 2007. It's probably the most holistic rock documentary that's ever been made. Heima offers not only exquisite music, but breathtaking scenery, sociological and historical insight, and a gentle, genuine, and powerful example of giving back to one's community.

Sigur Ros had just completed an extensive and lengthy tour, one that took them to exciting locales worldwide. But rather than make them less enamored and appreciative of their home, it made them more so. In this 16-site tour, they play very diverse venues, such as community centers, abandoned factories, and outdoor fields. Sometimes the audience is large, sometimes it is nonexistent. The beautiful thing is the energy that surrounds the events and infuses the band no matter how many people show up. Also, the diversity of the audiences is stunning, from elderly grandparents to young children. Many may not have heard the band's music before, but all enjoy the outing.

Seeing Heima made me consider music in my own culture. Could such a communal, inclusive, spontaneous event ever happen here? Would Americans, of all ages and social and economic backgrounds, value free music? Would they risk their time on the experience? Would musicians undertake such a project to enrich themselves personally and to connect to their culture without financial gain?

I'd love your comments and highly recommend this beautiful film.

St. Tropez

Wedding Ring,

Here is my wedding ring with a new blue diamond. It is the most amazing color and sparkles like crazy. I lost the original, clear diamond at the funeral of a family member, so Joanna Gollberg replaced it with this colored one as a tribute. I hope it will remind me to be strong, to cherish friends and family, to communicate truthfully and fearlessly and often, and to live each day with intention. The blue diamond is a memorial of sorts, but it is also a celebration. Ten years ago, Rick and I spent our honeymoon in the south of France, and the color of this stone looks just like the Mediterranean.

Welcome

Thanks for visiting my new little corner of cyberspace. This is going to be a real adventure. There is no agenda here, no outline, no rules. It's a little scary, but it's also a big thrill. I am so grateful to be living in a time of such beautiful and immense change.