Timewarp Tuesday: Vintage U2

Another vintage clip. Why U2 this week? Well, as I've been developing my guitar calluses, I actually learned how to play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (chords, not all the cool stuff the Edge can play) this week in addition to having a "Sunday Bloody Sunday" this last weekend. (See last post for clues.)

I can't tell you how many times I've watched this footage from U2's "Live from Red Rocks" concert. It came out in 1983, during the early MTV days when they still had lots of music on "Music Television." They broadcast the whole concert several times. Do you know how many times a 14 year-old music lover can watch this seminal concert?

The answer: many, many times.

I own the live album on vinyl, too.

Saturday SYTYCD: My Faves

A few weeks until the So You Think You Can Dance? finale... Here are some of the highlights this season. Catch it on FOX Wednesday nights at 8pm. You'll see that I obviously love Katee and Joshua since they appear in half of my fave dances.

Monday Mania: The 100th Post

Something you should know about me if you don't already. I need lots of sleep. Most of today I've been feeling the effects of my sleep deprivation. Last night my bus from NYC was an hour late, so I got home at just before midnight. So today I've been feeling pretty grouchy.

Fortunately for you, I have lots of fun pictures to share from my weekend in NYC with one of my best friends, Moya. Here is her glamorous self.

It was a rather quiet and unseasonably cool and rainy weekend, but we did see some important landmarks.

In particular... Carrie Bradshaw's apartment building on Perry Street. This brownstone in the West Village plays an apartment on the Upper East Side on TV and movies.

(Sorry for the poor color on both of these... for some reason my camera was in low res mode.) Here's a set of stairs that often doubled for her stoop, in the proper resolution. Notice they actually look brown as in brown-stone?

And another landmark... for fashionistas, er, Project Runway fans. Tim Gunn was no where to be seen.


And these next few are for my boyfriend, who likes to "eat his way" across New York. A Mexican food cart outside the Jackson Heights Subway stop in Queens.

An automat in the East Village. I promise we won't waste one of our meals on this. I guess hipsters eat there.

And a sentiment... also from the East Village.

Friday Fave: SYTYCD?

What better way to start my vacay than watching the season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance? I am thrilled that dance has found its rightful place in American media. I am also convinced that this show could have not skyrocketed if we did not have the multicultural landscape that we have today. I mean, would a boardroom full of white men ever have put this on TV? (Ok, not to say that Fox isn't still full of white men, but the audience demand is there.)

Here's one of my faves from last season.





For the not-yet-converted the show follows the model of American Idol, so the first few weeks are chock full of freaky auditions. (Not my favorite part of the show, but entertaining nonetheless.)

Next week's show the auditions go to SALT LAKE CITY, at last putting the region on the dance map, as if the championship ballroom dance team at BYU, the reknowned dance department at the University of Utah, and the numerous national-touring dance companies based there didn't do so already.

Tuesday Timewarp: The Stranglers

Sure, I've been busy with my baby brother (as he calls himself) in town, but I wasn't going to forget Tuesday Timewarp. God, I love YouTube for making accessible video of my favorite bands that I never saw back in the day. This is especially good and has to be about 30 years old. Enjoy.

Wildcard Wednesday: Prince of Petworth

My younger brother is coming to town tomorrow. In fact, he's getting on a flight in less than three hours. So I'm running around getting ready.

I was reading the blogs I regularly read and I wanted to point you to one that I love for its simplicity in its appreciation of the everyday in DC and its role as a community builder.

Check out Prince of Petworth, if you have a chance. I aspire to be this guy.

Friday Farewells: A Few of My Favorite Things

Red Ginger closed on Wednesday for good.

And my iPod is toast.

Timewarp Tuesday: First in Line

When I was in college, I was a HUGE fan of the Cocteau Twins. My older brother introduced me to their album Treasure, and it stuck. I especially liked listening to Cocteau Twins when I flew. Something about this music and clouds goes together.



My senior year, Cocteau Twins toured the U.S., a rarity for this UK-based studio band. They played at Tulane, and the day the tickets went on sale, I sat in the hallway of the student union building for at least an hour to make sure that I got the best seats in the house.

I dragged my good friend Nadia to the show at McAlister Auditorium, even though she hadn't even heard of the band. My boyfriend at the time made fun of the Cocteau Twins because you can barely make out their lyrics, so I wasn't about to invite him.

The show was alright, considering that the band consisted of Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) and Robin Guthrie (guitar) and some computerized machine that seemed to fill in a lot of other sounds. If it weren't for her otherworldly voice, it might have been a bore.

Timewarp Tuesdays: The King of Cool

Many of you have heard that Roxy Music was my very first concert (at age 14)*, putting me on a path toward musical je ne sais quoi at an early age. Bryan Ferry IS in fact one of the coolest people to ever walk, no swagger, on the planet.

For those of you unfamiliar with Roxy Music, they were THE influence behind bands like Duran Duran. They created style way ahead of their time. Take a look.



And because they are so classic. Here's another. No wonder this style was termed "the new romantic." Check out all the pointed gazes at the camera.



*I am forever indebted to my older brother Hans who, because his best friend Dion had been grounded the day of the concert, tolerated bringing his little sister to the show.

Faves: Red Ginger

Wood and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary this weekend. For all special occasions, we find ourselves here, at Red Ginger at Q and Wisconsin. We stumbled upon this unassuming Jamaican restaurant when Wood first moved here and I still lived in Salt Lake City. Wood lives much further up on Wisconsin and had been taking a long walk down to Georgetown. I saw that this was a Jamaican restaurant and having such fond memories of Jolly Bob's Jerk Joint in Madison, Wisconsin, I insisted.

Braised ribs, curried chicken, spicy collard greens, mac and cheese and a chocolate cake desert reminiscent of the our touchstone of chocolate cakes, the "magnanimous molten" at Boston's Finale later, we've never turned back. I still don't understand why this place isn't packed every night. It's one of DC's best kept secrets.