Watching friends play music always serves as an attitude adjustment. When they are also terrific musicians, the adjustment can take you all the way to joy. Saturday came around cold, damp, and grey. The kind of morning it seems like the devil himself knows you are home. I had a pain in my shoulder that … Continue reading No One Gets Out of Here Alive (Thankfully)
music
Which kind are you?
Once again, I'm getting double-duty out of my monthly contribution to The Writer's Vineyard, the blog for authors of Champagne Book Group. It's appropriate, it seems, for this conversation on creativity to be this week's Project Create. Which kind are you? In the middle of a long holiday weekend filled with gorgeous weather, joyful music, … Continue reading Which kind are you?
Innocence, Experience
This week's Project Create, and, as usual, it ain’t just a music review. How could it be, when the twelve hours of music I want to describe took place as part of a motorcycle rally, the first I’ve ever attended? There’s probably a novel’s worth of stories to come from this weekend, the Lava Run … Continue reading Innocence, Experience
Gremlins 0, Music 1
The Fourth of July in the United States is “Independence Day.” So it’s a nice ironic joke to find oneself attacked by the gremlins of loneliness on that day. (They taunt us, convince us we are doomed to be alone, forgotten, left out, unwanted, now and forever, amen. (There are also Gremlins who whisper and … Continue reading Gremlins 0, Music 1
Endurance v. Art: And the winner is…
Update: If you were lucky enough to be at the Avolition show on the last Friday night of 2011, you already know. Mike H., Mike N., Andy, Dan, and Rob did themselves, the Demolition 2011 project, and those of us in the audience proud. They played the way we expected them to, with joy and … Continue reading Endurance v. Art: And the winner is…
Write your congressperson
Okay, that's a trick title for this post... although, after reading it, you still might decide to write your congressperson, and I would wholeheartedly support that. But I wanted to warn you, I am going to get on a soap box. (Metaphorically, of course. There is no soap box in my house that would support … Continue reading Write your congressperson
Poised to take off… and easy to root for
In the last week I've been lucky enough to see Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs twice: headlining a bill at Raw Space in their hometown of Ellensburg, and playing a free show at Hiawatha Community Center in West Seattle. Two completely different venues, audiences, atmospheres. (Fortunately, no one at Hiawatha needed to be bounced … Continue reading Poised to take off… and easy to root for
Here’s your chance!
Seattleites and other west-of-the-mountains people, you have a couple of chances to hear great live music to round out your summer. Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs play the Triple Door on Saturday, August 27. Their new album, Alone in This Together (local638records.com) is stunning... amazing... incredible... well, you pick the superlative you like best and insert … Continue reading Here’s your chance!
A nice surprise: Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs
For Seattleites this has been an early summer with a few nice surprises. One was the warm weather over the Fourth of July weekend, after one of the coldest, wettest, darkest springs on record. Another (to me, anyway) was the appearance of Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs at Ballard's Seafood Fest today. Fortunately (for … Continue reading A nice surprise: Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs
Something worth sharing
As I get closer to arranging my work life with more time for creative projects, and less time for paid work (all donations, contributions, alms, etc accepted with deep and humble gratitude, and I'll spend them on something worthwhile, I promise, no really, I will), I find it's important to support other artists who are … Continue reading Something worth sharing
Elizabeth Fountain, Author 