basia bulat at mercury lounge

gig shar wishes she was upfront for: basia bulat at mercury lounge. shar's gotten a front row experience in the past, but sure would have liked to see basia's pianoette skills up close and personal. also, her adorable dress that she bought on a side of the road was much envied by the audience.

basia delighted the crowd with tunes largely from her first album oh, my darling. the set was quite similar to her gig i saw about a year and half ago. still haven't seen her singing covers, "touch the hem of his garment" and "true love will find you int he end", but nonetheless basia performed a memorable set. her solo rendition of my fav, "a secret" was my highlight of the night. here's a great review from bv complete with fab pics.

prtlnd

great second time around city: portland. shar rocked portland with her bff back in 2006, and lurved it. this time around work brought me to the lovely city in the pacific northwest. this time there was no car and julie from van headed south to meet up for some good times.

ahhh land of stumptown. we hit the downtown branch.

jule's and her star wars inspired powell's tee

got these and split them with julie. friendship charms are so passe. cupcake keys are the rage.

breakie at bijou cafe

my chicken salad sammy from bunk's in mid-prep. i was hoping to order a mcnulty with a side of beadie, but it wasn't on the menu.

a kind sir from sf clued me in to this spot. got me the best coast's debut 7" and a naomi shelton 45". SCORE!

natalie merchant at occ

much belated live performance in the most unusual but fitting venue: natalie merchant at the oregon convention center for the public libraries association conference. shar was stoked when she found out that natalie was playing. i never got a chance to see her with 10,000 maniacs or even when she went solo. she's doesn't seem to tour much since becoming a mama.

i wasn't really sure why natalie was playing the pla conference, but it made sense when she went into the extensive research she put into her latest album, leave to sleep, out april 13. the album comprises of 19th and 20th century poets. some obscure and some more well-known. i also found out she opened the ted conference last month.

wooooh weeeee. she pretty much went through the entirety of the new album, which my friends is stellar. i particularly loved "the janitor boy", which sounds a lot like nickel creek's "anthony". the inspiration of the song came from a 10 year old gal named nathalia crane, who lived in sheepshead bay, brooklyn. she wrote the poem dedicated to a crush she had on a little red haired boy. shar feels you, nathalia.

i also really loved "if no one ever marries me", original poem by laurence alma-tadema. p.s. she never did marry. natalie saved the best for last coming back for a encore and touchingly, with some tears, dedicating "kind and generous" to all the public librarians in the room.

beautiful lengths

good deed of the day: hair donation to beautiful lengths. shar's been tirelessly growing out her hair since october 2008. it feels longer. in fact, i think i only grew it out a year the last time i donated. anyhoot, my pal liana who cut it 3 years ago sheared my locks again. ahh, what a weight that's been lifted. being home i've heard of family friends and close friends that have been affected by cancer, so this time it's even more special that i'm donating. it's not a hard thing to do, and you'll feel great after the cut. trust me.

perfect day: sf

it's always hard to get in everything i love about sf on my short trips, but i think i managed to get in a perfect day this sunday. check it!

after a visit with gramps, tunes hunting at green apple annex

i miss green apple a ton. i always tucked in at a listening station, engulfing myself with new discoveries and finding new appreciation for old favorites. i love all the faded descriptions written enthusiastically by the green apple crew. i also was able to read my pal kristin's article in the latest issue of juxtapoz.

headed a few blocks down to catch the "bro palace" show at park life.

jay howell

my fav jay howell. i wish i could cut out this sheet rock panel.

porous walker

hi-5 porous walker

next up, couch time with the joe's watching cal fall to duke. :( al pastor super burrito at el farolito with my bff and dessert at bi-rite. ginger and salted caramel! last stop, the ritual for some sweet java gold. hey new york pals, guess what i'm bringing home?

doh!

biggest upset: n. iowa defeats overall #1 seeded kansas. there goes my backet.

congrats young and kenneth!

lykke li's possibility

Here you go, Internet.
The first live performance EVER of this song:



An homage to an idea lost in the fire.
Fortunately for us all, two camera men happened to be lurking in the shadows while me and my band got our groove on for the first time since we recorded it.
Why the wait one might think? Well, me as well as other things had to dwell and change shapes for a while but now... Winter became spring. There is hope again!

Enjoy.

Much love.

LL

madness begins!

shar apologizes in advance for my inability to focus. between keeping track of below and sxsw, i am otherwise occupied. this year i've reprise my challenge with my coworker rashard and joined the pacific standard group.

lies maculan's dream shop

preemptive fltgc: lies maculan's dream shop. shar heard about this magical shop from refinery 29. i contacted lies who was more than happy to give me a little tour of her installation. she literally went through all the objects in her dream shop. it was a treat and so clever. she said that she bought most of the objects she shot. 80% of them she still has and the rest were borrowed, like the geese and you know the family.

lies was lounging in the back with her friend who stopped by with his dog. she was a gracious hostess and offered me a drink. she made me solerno cocktail, similar to what was served opening night. stop by before march 30 before the dreams disappear.

dreams of flight, being a hero, sex with an ex

das schlafgemach (the dream)

tiny desk concert: the antlers

concert shar wished she could have attended: tiny desk concert with the antlers. it's kinda like this but better. these boys are best in small spaces, though they can rock out the larger spaces too. their tunes are cozy, like a bandage over a small cut.

tallest man on earth on xpn

best bring a smile to your face sesh: tallest man on earth on world cafe. sun is back in ny and kristian's croons are just the right recipe to get my morning started right. this is good too.

marcel dzama at book court

belated first meeting: marcel dzama at book court. it's funny i never went to book court when i lived in the hood and it's surprisingly bigger than the exterior would suggest. anyhoot, i descended upon this lovely indie book store to meet the one and only marcel dzama. brought my poster from this show and purchased aux mille tours. i, unlike others *cough*bill*cough*, restrained from stacks of books. marcel was uber gracious and carefully drew in each of them.

he took special care with this little adorable blonde dude to the left. asking him what he liked to draw, in which he replied people and buses. marcel doodled this for him.

ahem, my fav of all the drawings marcel did for bill.

marcel on his "signing olympics"

shar's batty for marcel.

i asked marcel if he had plans for another venture into music videos when signing below. he has been tapped for a joanna newsome ditty which would reunited him with patrick daughters, but funds are scarce so the future does not look bright. who wants to fund raise with me?

marina abramavic: the artist is present

must performance art piece: marina abramavic's the artist is present. shar had the pleasure of going to member preview day for this retrospective of ms. abramavic's works spanning 40 years. marina is there everyday until may 31 and you can sit across from her as long as you like. this dude was there the whole duration of my visit.


in the penthouse of the moma, there's quite a bit of video and skin. it's true that there is a passage where you do have to walk pass two nudes. i ventured twice since the first time i was able to go straight on without grazing either performer. i went again facing a male. it was tight to say the least. i also laid in the "green dragon", which is a marble slab with a quartz pillow. the quartz is suppose to emit energy. i was ready to nap there. shar = performance art.

don't miss the very moving video of marina and ex-partner ulay performing "the great wall of china". a piece in which they traversed 2500 km each. ulay from the gobi desert and marina from the yellow sea. they met and said goodbye in their final work together. you can see the usually stoic marina shedding tears.

i never really followed performance art much. in fact, when my friend told me about this opening i immediately thought of the episode of satc when carrie meets the russsian. that piece, my friends, was marina's.

nicole atkins @ city winery

much anticipated first live listen: nicole atkins at city winery. shar's admired the pipes on ms. atkins for a few years now. i was suppose to see her the summer of 08 at socrates sculpture garden, but business called me out of town. so the wait was totally worth it as she sang one of my favs "maybe tonight" and covered roy orbison's "crying". she did not sing my fav "brooklyn's on fire", which i was full ready to chant too.

nicole's finishing up her album and i'm looking forward to the tunes. for now, check out a pretty recent daytrotter sesh she laid down.

fltgc: gallery hanahou, deitch and drawing center

best return to neighborhood fltgc: gallery hanahou, deitch and drawing center trifecta. shar feels like she's been neglecting the crawl in the hood. i was on art overload last week with the whitney biennial, pulse and armory. i'm happy to be back to the stomping grounds albeit a solo effort. first up was gallery hanahou's owls have more fun exhibit. i really wanted to make the reception to meet the danish artist lisa grue. shar loves owls and danes. plates, prints and a rug.

my wrapped free print

next up was the recently opened rosson crow large scale exhibit, bowery boys. her paintings are bold, loud and free flowing. she apparently moved here to research the spaces that she intended to capture in these large oil paintings. the theme = bad boys and how they shaped the big apple. it is a perfect thesis for oil on canvas.



last up was the drawing center's sea marks show. this group show of artists agnes barley. jerome marshak and peter matthews tackled the volatile nature of waves. shar's a fan of waves whether catching them or watching them.

agnes barley

jerome marshak

foreign born at mercury lounge

belated cow bell reverie: foreign born at mercury lounge. shar's been dying to see them live and they finally came back to me like a weary boomerang that's lost it's way to this indie rock gal's heart. they took time off from their duties with fool's gold to jam as fb. had me a primo spot front and center facing keys extraordinaire lewis. he joked with me asking if i could see.

the boys barreled into "early warnings" and the audience bopped in unison. it was a great set, but would have been better with an encore. why not, boys? in any case, they played my other fav "vacationing people".

sal, more cow bell please

jokester lewis

matt daper and crooning

ariel

hipster yoga with janet stone at kula

sorry to miss event: janet stone at kula march 20. shar took janet's class at yoga tree back when i resided in sf. of all the days janet decides to hit up kula, i'll be back in sf for young and kenneth's wedding. it's going to be epic. for those of you in new york next saturday, get your bootie to kula. you won't be sorry.