2012 Week 40: “And I sing my heart…”

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Leigh

Jason Anderson @ Den, again. Was a brilliant and intimate show. Nonstop singalong. He played in the actual Den part of the Den time time ’round on their piano with everyone sitting on couches or the floor. If you have not heard Jason, you really need to. He has a BandCamp and a Facebook. Do yourself a favor! The show was with Shelley Miller and Steven Gilpin. Great songsmiths and a great night.

This week: Watched the debate. Went to Boiler Room for Friends & Fun meetup. Went to a friend’s birthday party.

Candida Update: did a bentonite clay/psyllium cleanse today. First one went differently than I thought it would. Not going to go into that on here. Now I must sleep so Jason can watch the Parks & Rec. he missed.

Films watched 40th week of the year:

Pariah
Shining Through
I Sell the Dead
The Arbor*
Winnie the Pooh (2011)
The Lie

*documentary

Shining Through will always be one of my favorite movies. Damn, it holds up great too and the SCORE is incredible. Pariah was also really good. I had been looking forward to it for some time and it delivered.

2012 Week 29: “Try to make sense, but it always comes out absurd.”

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Leigh

Choosing a wedding appropriate outfit.

This week:

Went out to pizza with Chris Begeny, Eliza, Mike, Alvar, and Z.

Saw my friends Jessica and Mike get married in PGH.

Got the acceptance email into DIY Trunk Show!

Ate a stupid amount of delicious food in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

In Berea on Friday morning, while Z was readying himself for the day, I checked Twitter. Everyone was abuzz about something that happened in Aurora, CO, but no one had posted links, so I started googling. I lay in bed reading for the better part of an hour. I could not pull my eyes away from my phone. It felt like the day that I found out that Jeff had killed himself. It is impossible to make sense of such tragedy. I feel such grief for those who were there that night and their loved ones. Having recently watched ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’, I find myself thinking about how his family is able to deal with this. Second guessing everything they did while raising him. Wondering if somehow it is their fault. Looking at his younger photos and reading what type of a person he was, he seems like a few dudes I have been friends with. I can’t help but wonder what clicked the button inside of him to do this. Chilling. I saw The Dark Knight Rises Friday night in Middleburg Heights, OH. The theatre was 3/4 empty on opening night. What happened in Aurora could have happened anywhere. It could happen any day. We can’t let things like this dictate our lives. This is why it is important to hug those you love often. Friends, if I haven’t told you lately that I love you, I do.

>>>>> ROAD TRIP MUSIC <<<<<

Chicago –> Berea

The Pipettes – We Are the Pipettes
God Help the Girl – s/t
Bjork – Post
Fever Ray – s/t
Mirah – you think it’s like this but really it’s like this
Black Tambourine – Complete Recordings
Love is All – Nine Times That Same Song

Berea –> Pittsburgh

Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane over the Sea
Sparklehorse – Vivadixiesubmarinetramsmissionplot
Super Furry Animals – Guerilla

Pittsburgh –> Berea

Weezer – s/t (blue album)
The Clash – London Calling

Berea –> Chicago

The Thermals – Fuckin’ A
Comp. – Numero Group 001 – Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label
Comp. – Numero Group 003 – Eccentric Soul: The Bandit Label
Vivian Girls – All the Time
Monks – Early Years 1964-65
Gold Bears – Are You Falling In Love?
Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream

Films watched 29th week of the year:

Titicut Follies*
Imelda*
The Dark Knight Rises

*documentary

2012 Week 24: “oh no, the numbers don’t lie…”

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Leigh

Mynabirds @ Schubas

This week I took it easy. Got to do some Beth catching up mid-week and otherwise caught up on much needed sleep. It was bike to work week and I biked 4/5 days. Go me! On Friday night, Z and I finally tried Filo, a gluten-free restaurant at Augusta & Western. It surpassed any expectations we went in with. The blackened tofu was definitely one of the more memorable vegetarian entrees I have eaten. My soup, entree, and dessert was $12. I don’t know how you can get a better deal that that in Chicago. After that, we walked to Amish Healthy Foods to return our egg crates and get more eggs. As serendipity would have, it we ran into our friend Jess and her pup Mitch. We got to see her new place and she came over to meet Tilda. Then Jess and I met up with Kirstie & Jason at Old Oak Tap. At Amish Healthy Foods, we had also bought duck eggs, which I cooked scrambled with goat cheese on Saturday morning. I was not as impressed as I figured I’d be. Later Saturday I went with Z to the De Molen beer tasting at West Lakeview Liquors and then to the last Urban Folk Circuit of the season. Then today I went with LCB and Kimmi to The Mynabirds at Schubas. It is so cool seeing a friend from DC starting to “make it” in the music world. Saw lots of folks singing along to all the words. It seems like they could be one of those bands who will fly up, up, and away!

On Saturday morning, I got on the Wii Fit Plus and it registered that I had lost the 20 lbs. that I had set for myself as a goal on it. I still don’t see it anywhere except for my face, but friends and co-workers say that they have noticed. Now on to the next 20! I am contemplating joining a gym again, but the last two times I did that I never went.

ALSO, big and awesome news! I got into Renegade Chicago! This was super big news that I was not actually expecting to hear this time ’round. This means I have to step up my game. I applied to be matched up randomly with a partner. Excited to see who I am paired with! Whee. Need to pick which veggie vampires to make as tea towels next. If you have any ideas, please comment here!

Films watched 24th week of the year:

The Fighter
The Kennel Murder Case
Earthlings*
Melancholia
The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls*
The Hourglass Sanatorium

*documentary

Earthlings really effected me. I would recommend that everyone watch it. Not the best documentary I’ve ever seen and Joaquin Phoenix sounds like he is reading from a cue card, but the way the information was laid out really hit home for me. I’m giving vegetarianism another try again as a result.

2012 Week 23: “Remind me that once I was free. Once I was cool. Once I was me.”

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Leigh

The quote is from one of my favorite Radiohead songs, A Reminder. This post is a day late because I was at Radiohead yesterday. Thanks again heaps and HEAPS to Sparkletone for the face value ticket. We ended up buying another one on StubHub, so the scalpers did not entirely win. It was a good show, but I am spoiled having seen them 22 times prior. The light show was completely incredible though. The crowd definitely soured my experience. There were more people smoking weed than I have ever experienced before in my life. I’ve been to a ridiculous number of shows. Whenever I am around smoke, I start coughing up a lung. A guy completely invaded my space when he had his own. I told him so and he didn’t even look back and instead gave me a thumbs up. Yes, he heard me. I reacted by having a panic attack and almost had to leave the pit entirely. I dug my nails into my fists and powered through it. I ended up being fine, but it was really hard for the first 20 minutes. Back in the day, Radiohead fans were so respectful and really cared about one another. Sure, there would be a jerk once in awhile, but the diehard fans used to stick together and jerks like this wouldn’t have broken the lines. This sounds like I am an old lady and in a lot of ways I am, but I really miss seeing Radiohead in the old days.

Compare the –>

Setlist from yesterday [June 10th, 2012 @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, IL]

01 Bloom
02 There There
03 15 Step
04 Kid A
05 Staircase
06 Morning Mr Magpie
07 The Gloaming
08 Codex
09 The Amazing Sounds Of Orgy
10 Karma Police
11 Reckoner
12 Lotus Flower
13 Myxomatosis
14 Feral
15 Little By Little
16 Idioteque
â€”â€”
17 Separator
18 Full Stop (live debut)
19 Bodysnatchers
20 The One I Love/Everything In Its Right Place
â€”â€”
21 Give Up The Ghost
22 Identikit
23 Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
24 Street Spirit (Fade Out)

with the –>

Setlist from the best show of my life [August 12th, 1997 @ 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C.]

01 Fitter Happier
02 Lucky
03 Just
04 Airbag
05 Planet Telex
06 Bullet Proof.. I Wish I Was
07 Climbing Up The Walls
08 No Surprises
09 Bones
10 Electioneering
11 Fake Plastic Trees
12 Paranoid Android
13 My Iron Lung
14 Exit Music (for a film)
15 (Nice Dream)
16 The Bends
17 Talk Show Host
18 Lurgee
19 Karma Police
20 Street Spirit (fade out)
21 Motion Picture Soundtrack
22 The Tourist
23 You

I mean, those are some high standards to live up to. It was the first time they had played Motion Picture Soundtrack to an audience. There are lots of others that eclipse yesterday’s show, but that mostly has to do with enjoying shows with my crazy Radiohead #gurlee friends. Z loves Radiohead, but not the way that Brianne, Karyn, Nancy, Natalia, and I do. The way that lalalaini did.

When friends and co-workers ask me how the wedding planning is going, I should just link to this entry. I am too busy to plan right now. Last week I hosted LCB’s 30th bday ice cream social, grilled with Amanda and Derek, went to the dentist, was taken out to a 1-year at work anniversary lunch, said goodbye to our AMAZING temp at work who moved to LA, went to a friend’s whiskey and pie 30th bday party, went to Constructor Craft Fair (the curation was great, but I am still bummed I was rejected), went to Chicago’s Home of Chicken and Waffles, updated my Etsy shop, and applied for Renegade Chicago. Everyone cross your fingers that I get into RCF Chicago; one of my favorite and best shows. I especially have a soft spot for it because it was the first craft show I ever did all the way back in September 2005!

Also, mysteriously, Tilda’s ailments have disappeared and she has been a tad less nutso.

Films watched 23rd week of the year:

Dark Days*
American Pyscho
MacGruber
Ghost Rider

Believe it or not, Z rented the last two from the library. Ghost Rider was exquisitely horrible and unbelievably boring.

2012 Week 18: Will you be my Mrs. Boo?

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Leigh

This week was great overall, but the best news is that Zachary and I are betrothed! He said he had an early birthday present for me and he put on a puppet show and then one of the puppets came up with the ring box in his mouth and he asked “Will you be my Mrs. Boo?” This has been in the works for awhile. The ring was my Great Aunt Norma’s, but it first had to be appraised and then re-sized and reinforced. I knew it was going to happen, but I just didn’t know the when. I assumed it would be sometime around my birthday and I was right. We went out for celebratory gelato at Black Dog Gelato with Kirstie & Jason.

The photos above are the finished result of our taking the Woodworking Beginner to Intermediate class at Pagoda Studios. We can say without a doubt that it was worth it. We left the class with knowledge of basic woodworking tools as well as a cutting board that we made with our own hands! Zachary was going for a bomber (22 oz. beer) cutting board, but it ended up looking like a wine bottle, which was good too. Of course I made a hedgehog. This was the second class that I’ve taken on Dabble. If you haven’t heard of Dabble, it’s a site that offers affordable classes ranging from vermicomposting to woodworking to Photoshop, etc.: Dabble. I cannot recommend Joseph’s class enough. Take it and you will not regret it. I have to give props to Heidi for blogging about his class in the first place.

I said I would eat out less this week and I failed at that. I did get to see many awesome friends though.

MUSIC-A-LEIGH, I saw Mahogany at Subt on Friday night. The last time I saw them was November 8, 2002 at WMUC Third Rail Radio. They remained great, but very different from nearly 10 years ago. Dang, I am old.

Films watched 18th week of the year:

Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback*
The Unbelievable Truth
Margaret
Sweet Revenge
Three Coins in the Fountain

*documentary

Margaret was incredible. Really interesting shots. Great acting by all. Anna Paquin’s portrayal of a teenage girl was fantastic. I keep thinking back to it. Definitely worth a watch.

2012 Week 16: A bunch of birthdays and Record Store Day

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Leigh

This happened on Friday night. I was thrilled to finally have been able to celebrate Rachel S.’s birthday with her for once. This time of year there are always heaps of birthdays and for some reason I have never been able to make it to one of Rachel’s for some reason. Friday night her bday plans were ice cream at Margie’s and then dinner at Lazo’s, but Z and I had to skip dinner to make it to Amy F.’s bday drinks at Matchbox. So, my dinner was ice cream. Rachel and her friend Molly got the KING GEORGE at Margie’s Candies. Photographic evidence above that we ordered and finished the 30 scoop behemoth. Not sure how many people actually ended up digging in. My guess was 12-15, but Z guessed 20? It took 28 minutes.

Also this weekend was Record Store Day. Record Store Day has caused a lot of debate between me and my boo and my friends. Sure, I was excited that Numero Group was doing their pop-up shop right down the street from us at the Bottle, but then I read this that Patrick from Saki had posted and my opinion changed. I love the label. I love what they are doing for vinyl. My first Chicago friend, Dustin Drase, now works for Numero. I love the owners. Tom is our neighbor, which we just found out last week when we saw him walking his dog. However, I completely empathized with Patrick’s post. Money spent at the Numero pop-up was money that could not be spent in a record store on that day. I worked at an awesome record store in the early 00’s. It was called Now! Music and Fashion in Arlington, VA. It was everything a record store should be and it started off great, but when the neighborhood started turning over and people stopped buying, it went through two moves and then it died. Things are different today and Chicago is home to such amazing record stores that all seem to be doing okay. Sure, there is not a ton of overlap between fans buying at the pop-up shop and fans who will buy at actual record stores, but I know there is some. Why not do the pop-up a separate weekend in 2013? Because I had made brunch plans before my stance on the pop-up had changed, I ate at Bite with pals and, though I did venture into the pop-up shop next door, I did not buy anything. I bought a 7″ at Laurie’s Planet of Sound and a Monks cd and the Unrest mug at Saki. I also got to see a set by Bare Mutants, who I was very impressed by. Long live RECORD STORE day. Even in its’ short life, it’s become commercial with people standing in long lines only to hawk sought after stuff on eBay when they get home, but what’s wrong with having a day to celebrate the shops that mean so much to so many? Let’s leave RECORD STORE in RECORD STORE DAY.

Let’s go back to happy news that Z just relayed to me off Facebook: Our friends Annie and Jason are engaged! Also, now that it’s past midnight, it is Annie’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Annie!

Films watched 16th week of the year:

OSS 117: Lost in Rio
Alex in Wonderland
30 Minutes or Less
Fresh (2009) *
Hot Coffee*
Once More with Feeling

*documentary

Totally loved FRESH. I know, I know. How many documentaries about how much better locally-grown food is for us vs. processed crap can I watch, right? Zachary won’t even watch anymore of them with me, HOWEVER, I learn from each and every one that I watch. This time I learned about Growing Power, which I feel silly for not knowing about, being so close to Milwaukee. This documentary was not as flashy as Food, Inc. which I also loved, but it was definitely worth watching; lots of beautiful, happy animals and passionate people. I love these things.

Weekly Roundup: Music-a-Leigh

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Leigh

It’s been a good music week, but these are some of my standouts this week.

Adorable – Against Perfection (1993)
Such an overlooked band. I actually prefer ‘Fake’ to ‘Against Perfection’, but only by a thread. I thank a brief college boyfriend, Patrick, for sharing this band with me. Shoegazey, lots of crunchy guitars, poetic lyrics. I rock out unabashedly to ‘Homeboy’ every single time I hear it. Love. “I’m tripping into the back of my mind. And your words like angels crash inside. And a word and a movement and a touch. And a word and a movement and it’s all too much. It’s all too much.” They did get a re-

Radiohead – Tkol Rmx 1234567 (2011)
I’m still soaking this in, but I am enjoying it. My question most often with remixes, especially of Radiohead songs, is why mess with perfection? 🙂

Nana Grizol – Love it Love It (2008)
Often an album I reach to when driving, I found that tonight it helped me get pumped for tackling the clean-up of my craft room. Theo is such a songsmith. I love this record and the follow-up, Ruth. If you don’t have these albums, you are cheating yourself out of some awesome rocking out. At the Elephant 6 Holiday show a few years back, he completely stole the show. He even blew Jeff Mangum out of the water. Really!

The Montgolfier Brothers – The World Is Flat (2002)
I don’t know what tipped off my brain to do so, but this week, I suddenly had the title track of this album stuck in there and I just had to put on the album. My friend Michael put this song on a mix cd years back and I remember listening to it on my drive from Alexandria, VA to Chicago. Roger Quigley’s voice is absolutely one of a kind and this album really holds up even 10 years later. Dreamy.