salon zurcher opening

balint zsako

mai braun

b. wurtz

oscars boredom

wow, what a yawnfest! the only thing keeping me up was the drinking game jenni and i established. i drank to jennifer lawerence and mark ruffalo. jenni to javier bardem and cate blanchett. thanks to jenni's awesome oscar cake i had sugar coarsing through my veins.

red carpet was booooooring, except for cate's avante garde gown. no showstoppers except the aforementioned. all the favorites won in the major categories, and saddest of all francaway was a bust. too much anne and not enough james. i think his school commitments had kept him away from really getting into the hosting role. i was hoping for some judd apatow gold. heck busy phillips was michelle williams date, so some freaks and geeks reunion action would have been sweet. can i get a daniel and kim luvin?

fltg: maccarone and gavin brown

best rainy day remedy: fltgc. works sucks and it's gloomy outside, so some art is just what i need to brighten up my spirits. bill told me about a newish gallery in my work hood, maccarone. currently on show is the lovely exhibit from corey mccorkle, which include both sculpture and video elements. me likies!


on my walk back, i snapped the billboards - sturtevant, rirkrit tiravanija, felix gonzalez-torres at gavin brown enterprises.

toasty melts needs you

my pal tiff started this labor love and now needs some help getting a full on truck. if you support diy food stuffs and can't get enough of grill cheese, shar recommends backing toasty melts. they got cred. they were on food network.

tiny desk concert: local natives

bam

finally joined bam like i said i would and super glad to be supporting my local arts.

2011 will be bamatastic!

fences at mercury lounge

left me wanting more (in a good way) set: fences at mercury lounge. shar first discovered fences though npr's song of the day. christopher mansfield composes tunes that make me feel like i'm back in high school. maybe it's his seattle roots that infuses his songs with angsty lyrics. sara quin of tegan and sara produced his album and that's a lady who knows her angst.

the set that lasted less than an hour covered 11 songs:

my girl the horse

bones

sadie

the same tatoos

dusty beds

market

from roses

boys around here

girls with accents

from russia with...

much much MUCH belated fltgc: gallery hanahou and swiss institute. i've had an empty place in my heart as i've been neglecting my baby, the fltgc. i'm sorry. i and co-founder jac are back in action though and that's quite the feat.

first up was the group show curated by bil dovovan - fashion illustration: visual poetry. mr. donovan i learned is the resident illustrator for the house of dior. ends february 25, so get hopping fashionistas.

little red riding hood

bil donovan

erotic ramen, jac's fav

my fav, samantha hahn

and to finish off the fltgc pairing, karlheinz weinberger's intimate stranger at the swiss institute. i'd been eying this exhibit when it was highlighted by tony. black and white rebels are right up my alley. helllllo stranger!

reminds me of an a.p.c. ad

looks like winona ryder circa beetlejuice with a dash of juliette lewis, no?

jac lounges in the lovely swiss institute reading room

baths at mercury lounge

worthy late school night gig: baths at mercury lounge. fifth sold out gig. braids opening. kids this was well worth the sleep i would not be getting.

i hadn't heard of braids until the day before the show. i've seen their name pop up on daytrotter and various other music blogs, but it's always pleasant to go to a gig and have a stellar line up to dole out the tunes. dare i say i liked braids better than baths just a teeny weenie bit more.

fellow concert goer rachel gave a nice comparison to the dirty projectors. braids emote similar choral like vocals backed against interwoven loops and chords. friends, this is my here comes spring album of 2011. if you are in bk, come over for a listen. i got their recently released "native speaker" on vinyl. will sound soooo delicious. just you hear.

not knowing the face of will wiesenfeld (aka baths), i only realized after he hit that stage that he had used my shoulders as support getting off the stage during sound check. my pal kristin clued me in this this uber dancy, happy solo outfit. she heard it from this guy. thanks dudes! i had heard rumblings that will doesn't deliver the goods live, but i can clear those rumors up by letting you know this lady was dancing. he brought that feeling i had when i first heard mgmt's "time to pretend". that urge to dance even when the too cool for school tell you to repress that feeling. must stand still. oh no friends, baths will make y'all dance. it will infect you. not only the the tunes, but will's sincere love for music. encouraging us to dance because it makes him dance. introducing "animals" with a "this song is so eff' cute". so true will, so true.

dear will, please play my rooftop bday party. it will be epic. you already gave me thumbs up on the braids vinyl purchase. you should really swing by for a listen. yes?

nuff silliness, here are vids of the kid in action.

be my

brooklyn musings

after a month of traveling, it's good to be home.

cover version lp at bam

bill told me about this exhibit. as promised, pics!!!

eddie martinez

nick van woert

kadar brock

i liked jessica canon's in rainbows reimagining, there's a good shot here.

lost in the trees

must live performance: lost in the trees at mercury lounge. shar was bummed when the stars didn't align when these kids played joe's pub early january, but i was delighted when they swung back on the tail end of their month long tour. the modest and very sweet lead ari picker leads his band with a voice that emotes sadness and regret. he is backed by emma nadeau's siren like pipes. you should check out the tiny desk concert that the group gave back in september. it's a testament to their musical talents.

i was reeling as ari strummed the first chord of "all alone in an empty house". starts all lulling and jumps into a rollicking cacophony. what was surprising was how rollicking the group was and arty. check out the dino.

stars coast to coast

stumbled upon these great vids of stars performing at tosca in my hometown. miss you broadway tunnel!



...and amy, torq and evan at a special tiny desk concert for npr.

congrats packers!

aaron rodgers is going to disneyland!

niagara niagara

niagara falls at night (canada side)

horseshoe falls

niagara falls by day (usa side)

american falls

toronto

and i thought it couldn't get colder. hello toronto!

tiff bell lightbox

yummy sammies (thanks catherine for the rec!)

ago, backend

couldn't help snap these cali bands embedded in fresh snow