I'll show you

Anyone interested in any of these?

January 28 - Colin Meloy and Laura Veirs @ Birchmere
February 24 - Stars @ Black Cat
March 23 - Mates of State @ State Theatre
March 24 - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists @ Black Cat

My hair looks excellent!

The annual holiday cousin picture, plus Brokrobi's wife and baby.
Weekrobi montage forthcoming!

Merry Christmas

A few words from Ray Charles, passed along to me by one Jeffro Farley, who calls this passage "a truly classic exegesis on the virgin birth" :

I'm neutral on the question of Jesus. Maybe He was the son of God, maybe not. I can go either way without any trouble. I can understand that Jesus was born of Mary without coming from Joseph's sperm. And I can understand that Joseph married her to save her from the town's scorn. I have a harder time, though, believing that Joseph never touched Mary till after Jesus' birth. To me, that's not human. I see a guy trying to save a woman's character. He might say, "That's fine, Mama. If you're carrying a special something in your womb, I can dig it. But listen here: That's no reason why we can't get together."

Happy Channukah

Jews rock!

Crocheting rocks

Dressy Bessy frontwoman Tammy Ealom crochets hats and sells them on Ebay.

Visqueen

Another Seattle band I heard on KEXP today.

Speaker Speaker

KEXP is on a roll today, even though John in the Morning is away. Tom Waits, Otis Redding, The Delgados, AND the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York." Merry Christmas!

They also just played a light, fun, upbeat pop song called "Again & Again" by Seattle band Speaker Speaker. Check out this random blog entry I found to download a few songs, or just stream them from the Speaker Speaker myspace page.

Current music: Speaker Speaker - "Statues Shadows"

Overheard in the knitting circle

Check it.

My drooly baby niece

Click to enlarge!

Kissinger's biggest war crime? Wordiness.

One of the student patrons here at the library, upon checking out a copy of Diplomacy:

"And then why does Kissinger have to write these books that you can't even hold? I mean, can he go fuck himself? Really?"

There were two inches of snow on the ground yesterday, and I still saw two girls wearing flip-flops on the Metro.

Things that have been on my mind lately:

• The Johnny Cash movie. I saw it this weekend and enjoyed it. I understand the points made by the negative reviews, but I still liked it despite its flaws. I guess I've listened to Johnny Cash all my life -- I remember singing along to "Ring of Fire" in the kitchen with my mother -- but I really started listening to his stuff in earnest when I was in college. My housemate Andrew and I used to sing along to Johnny Cash mp3s -- old stuff from the 50s and 60s -- and I discovered the Rick Rubin recordings from there. And I think it's cool that my mom started listening to Johnny Cash 35 years earlier when she was in college. Her town didn't have any radio stations that played anything but hog reports, but she had a Cash-obsessed hallmate from southwestern Virginia. They used to listen to the same six albums over and over again. I like having that connection with my mom.
  
• Arts and crafts. I've been crocheting like a madwoman for the past week, trying to finish up Christmas gifts and decorations. I've also been reading a book of interviews with the Appalachian writer Lee Smith. She's very interested in the way women have traditionally functioned as artists in their communities, creating art not for art's sake, but as a "habit of being." Doing things like crocheting, knitting, quilting, sewing, decorating the home, cooking ... anyway, I won't bore you with what all's been rolling around in my head on this subject, except to say that I'm really glad that I picked up the crochet habit. I love the feeling it gives me of connection to my grandmother and my great-aunt, both of whom have passed away, but both of whom were crocheters. Like the Johnny Cash connection to my mom. It also makes me excited to watch my niece grow up, and wonder what kinds of things we will pass along to her.
• Future plans. I think what I really want most of all in my life right now is a house that feels like a home. We are all single people living in the city; we don't have families of our own and I don't plan on having a family of my own for quite some time. I miss that cozy, relaxed, settled, HOME feeling that I get at my parents' house, or my brother's house, or even Jen and Beth's house. I think everyone probably wants to live in a place where you can accidentally fall asleep on the couch in the living room and not piss anyone off. I think living with friends is probably key to feeling at home in a house. So, my future plans -- I'd like to move into a house with a friend or friends (Lara? Amber?), probably in NW DC so I'm closer to work. Associated plans: I'd like to eventually have a room big enough for a double bed, a craft table, a sewing machine, and a keyboard (plus the dresser, bookshelf, and computer desk I already have). Sub-associated plans: learn to sew my own clothes (inspiration: June's dresses in the Johnny Cash movie) and take up the piano again.
  

Like a crooked tree and a glass of bourbon

Tom Waits' list of music you should hear.

Reading is sexy

Here are three good books I've read in the last two weeks. You should read them, too.

Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman (not Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which is what I typed first)
Beware of God by Shalom Auslander
Don't Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff

And now I'm re-reading Why We Can't Wait (per Morgan's recommendation).