You may have seen bumper stickers saying, "Keep Austin Weird." There aren't any such mottoes about Louisiana, and that's because weirdness in Louisiana is about as endangered as nutria. On Saturday, Kara and I went to experience some genuine Louisiana weirdness at the Frog Festival in the self-proclaimed Frog Capital of the World, Rayne.
We laughed, we made rude comments amongst ourselves about genetics, we wondered if perhaps we had licked some hallucinogenic frogs.
Here is me as Meg Fright of the imaginary rock and roll zombie combo (zombo) the Fright Stripes, based of course on the real life rock and roll combo the White Stripes. The hubbs doesn't like to be pictured on this blog, but he was Jack Fright. (I don't think Meg Fright's drum technique would be much different from Meg White's, by the way.)
So of course we went to New Orleans, which is one of the best places on Earth to celebrate Halloween. I want to say it's The best, but more on that in a moment.
Early on Saturday, I departed with friends Kevin and Alicia to observe some Cajuns in their natural habitat. First we went to the Zydeco brunch in Breaux Bridge, which was amazing. Not the brunch so much, because due to a crazy mix-up we never had any food: it was the dancing. It was more than the dancing, really.
While the three of us agreed the band wasn't music we would listen to on purpose at home, they were part of something larger here, and I couldn't think of a more rocking show I'd been to all year. The dance floor was packed with revelers, the floor pulsed with their steps in time, and it wasn't yet noon. Here's the thing: collectively it seemed there was something more in the room than just sounds and people moving in time. Like, isn't this the transcendent feeling you want from a musical performance or any kind of mass gathering, really that hardly ever happens? Yes.
I hope I'm not overstating the Zydeco brunch, but I wouldn't want to understate it either.
Sawadee ka!
The hubbs and I are back from two absolutely incredible weeks in Thailand. Photos can't do justice to the natural beauty of Krabi, a beach paradise in the southern part of Thailand where we spent the majority of the trip. Nonetheless, I posted a photo retrospective on Facebook, which you can see here.
The trip had such an inspirational and restorative effect that I ain't blogging it! I scribbled down too many notes and quotes to try to fit it all in a blog post or two; I'd rather give this more thoughtful treatment in an essay. Maybe the Buddhism somehow rubbed off in Bangkok (the south is more Muslim) because I'm feeling more presence of mind than before the trip, with the Twittering on two accounts and the blogging and the freelancing and the Facebooking and this and that splintering my attention in every direction. So I'm going to try to hold onto that frame of mind as long as I can for productivity's sake (and general enjoyment's sake).
Also, I've posted another city to my Disappearing Downtowns blog: Waco, Texas, and I hope you will check it out.
The news that Sonic Youth was performing July 12 at Sloss Furnaces, a rusty old haunted industrial site, quickly became a must-see event, even though it was two states away. Both the hubbs and I have lost count of the number of times we've seen SY, but both regret missing the time they played inside the footing of the Brooklyn Bridge. Finally we had a comparably dramatic setting to see them.
Kevin, the hubbs and I embarked on the scenic route to Birmingham on Saturday, via Highway 61.
[photo above by Vrai]
The wedding reception went by in a blur. People clinked their forks on their glasses, us newlyweds kissed, there was a first dance, but without thinking I had already pulled my brother onto the dance floor before that, since he knew how to dance to the big band version of "Creep" that was on.
Amanda and I pantomimed James Brown being covered with his cape and bursting up out of it, and lots more dorky dancing went down, I could barely think of eating my food, we had a terrific groomsman speech, which the videographer completely missed capturing along with the first dance (he's new at this, and we got him free anyway). We visited from table to table, and before we'd even invited guests to come n' get the cupcakes, the guests who were leaving early the next day were already making their exits.
What? All that planning and it was over so soon? Yes, all the marrieds had warned us that was what happens, and our event was no different.
Oh! And my dress exploded.
Continue reading "Wedding Weekend: Imperfectly Perfect Times, Part Two" »
I was in NYC this weekend with the fiance to take care of some last-minute pre-wedding business such as haircuts and tying one on with bffs to celebrate getting married. And now, a photo-intensive retrospective.
San Francisco! The city by the bay, the city full of gays, and residual purple haze, and so forth.
I visited SF for just a day ten years ago, expecting to want to move there, hit mostly tourist spots and only found it okay at the time. This visit I had slightly more time and a native tour guide, and came away loving the city and wanting more. (I wish many of my trips weren't so brief, as it's not the ideal way to see the world, but it's better than not visiting at all.)
My native tour guide was Maggie of SXSW blog-post fame, who is officially the best San Fran tour guide possible. One highlight was brunch at Absinthe in Hayes Valley (below), where Jamie from Top Chef is executive chef, which rocked. Your girl over here tried a first few teeny orbs of caviar, and found them intriguing.
I'm having an amazing and action-packed visit to the gorgeous city of San Francisco and the Bay area. Today I'll be running around Lake Tahoe, taking care of some wedding business. I could easily see Mr. fiance & I living in California, although I don't think I want to be so far from most of my friends and family on the East Coast again.
But meanwhile, back in the state I do currently live in, I present this example of extreme Tiger fandom, as posted by TigersRuletheEarth and passed along by (you guessed it) Butch.
You know what the Tigers should do to become the wealthiest organization of all time? Change the team colors. Then every fan will have to buy everything they own all over again in the new colors.
But that fridge isn't even the most extreme display of college football fandom, by a long stretch.
After a thwarted standby flight attempt on Wednesday, followed by successful ones Thursday, I made it to California (by way of a JFK layover) for my friend Amanda's wedding dinner, but not without incident. One of the incidents required me to run to retrieve a forgotten cell phone, but that is best forgotten because running is one of my least favorite activities.
The other incident involved our plane taking an unplanned landing in Denver to "unload the waste tanks," to put it politely. So although that made the long travel day even longer, we did get this beautiful view going over the Rockies at sunset.
I'm off to enjoy the Bay area and take care of some wedding-related business here. Have a great weekend!
