birthday 2001

it’s my birthday, and looking back on last year i can see that i felt the urge to be politically astute and aware of our nation’s woes in the midst of my natal celebrations. hmm. maybe not so much this year. i mean, i admit that there are things afoot on this planet that can certainly unsettle. slaughtering and burning cattle in the u.k., violence persistent in the middle east, some strange little man thinks he was actually elected president back in november, david arquette has yet another movie out. the list goes on and on.

but i have enjoyed most of this year gone by, and though some may balk and think that this might be the last admittable birthday i have left, i am proud of where i have arrived. 29 years. not bad.

so to my friends and loved ones, thank you. you mean more to me than you know.

and to my dissenters, i must ask you to direct your complaints to the cucumber.

Me and Larry

oh, and if you have been enjoying my site, or even suffering through every torturous reading, and you haven’t introduced yourself, please do so.

the things we keep, pt. 1

the things we keep define us. or so i have been told.

i have been a packrat for as long as i can remember, leaving drawers full of items that mean nothing to all but me. that carries on to now. and i keep these stacks of letters, cards, clippings and tickets. ticketmaster tickets.

these say a lot about how my musical tastes have evolved.

Aerosmith - UTC Arena 1990Angie Aparo - Cotton Club 2000Ani Difranco - Tabernacle 1998Ani Difranco - The Fox Theatre 2000Amy Grant 1988Amy Grant 1991

Alanis Morissette - Chastain 1998B52s / Pretenders - Lakewood 1998Big Head Todd - Roxy 1997Dar Williams - Variety Playhouse 2000David Copperfield - Tivoli 1989David Wilcox - Variety Playhouse 1996

David Wilcox - Variety Playhouse 1997David Wilcox - Variety Playhouse 1996Jimmy Buffet - Lakewood 1996Jimmy Buffet - Lakewood 1997Lilith Fair - Lakewood 1997Madame Butterfly - The Fox Theatre 1996

Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Roxy 1997Oasis - Fox Theatre 1998Orchestra Morphine - Masquerade 2000Vigilantes of Love featuring Over the Rhine - Masquerade 1994Petra - Memorial Auditorium 1985 - First ConcertPetra - Tivoli 1987

Petra - Memorial Auditorium 1990Paula Cole - Cotton Club 1997Ken Hill's Phantom of the Opera - Tivoli 1990Gary Morris / Sawyer Brown - Memorial Auditorium 1987 Sarah McLachlan with The Chieftains - Lakewood 1995Sarah McLachlan - Fox Theatre 1997

Tori Amos -  Fox Theatre 1996Tori Amos - Symphony Hall 1994 - Front Row, CenterTori Amos - Chastain 1996Tori Amos - Classic Center Athens 1996

What is Romance?

(This was originally posted to the Kittenspeak mailing list, and I didn’t think much of it at the time. Just a thought. But I have re-thought, and I kind of like what I said. So here are my Valentine’s Day thoughts - almost a month too late.)

To my experience, I am more likely to consider circumstances and situations as romantic, more romantic than the contrived acrobatics into which we throw ourselves on these holiday occasions. Or on anniversaries. Or when we want to recreate some kind of lost spark. As if the whole thing were a pile of wet kindling that just needs some direct sunlight and a little flint against steel. Humans are better when left to their own devices, I believe. Or if you need assistance, find a way to let an occasion envelope you and your partner where you are both caught up in the moment, neither one trying to impress, both feeling the welling.

Romance is rain. Misting into parking lots or dark alleys, where you were originally walking your date back to her car, only to find your back pressed against the bricks, lips against your lips, hands and hands and hands. Now you didn’t plan this, no singing telegram, no chartered limousine, but its the moment, and its right, and you are both surrendering.

Sure. There are times for sending flowers, giving cards, offering candy, presenting stuffed animals, dining out, sleeping in. But remember through your sensual history, which moments locked in your brain as the kinds of things novels write themselves around? Most of them will not have arrived at your door via FTD Florist.

Just my 2 pence. I may be wrong. Or perhaps I missed the point.