What is the What? is exactly what you need.

Read it.

Following Valentino through his life in Sudan and then in America leaves you feeling grounded and thankful for what you have. In this novel by Dave Eggers, you learn about the situation in Sudan. For those of us (like me) who weren't exactly clear about what it was. After reading this you know exactly what is happening, and still find it hard to believe. I would read about the events that took place, or the conditions they are living in and have to keep reminding myself it is happening right now.

Valentino is a charismatic narrator for the story, and leaves no part to his story untold. He is living in Atlanta at the time of the novel, making a life for himself in America. When trouble literally knocks on his door, he begins telling his lifes challenges. It takes a while to get used to the back and forth; between the history and what is happening in the present. Once you have that under your belt ; its a pleasure to learn about his life, and things he has accomplished. It leaves you feeling grateful for what you have, and wanting to reach out and help. Visit his foundation's website for more information on Sudan and how we can help.

Highly recommended by EmJack.

"I am alive and you are alive so we must fill the air with our words"

just something for a thunder storm on a friday night

enjoy.

Kaki Kaki Kaki Kaki

Lets see, Lets see.

I introduce to those who are not familiar...Kaki King. In addition to being extremely relaxing, and intresting; this young lady does what is beyond strum her guitar. Her fingers seem to do what is not humanly or anatomically possible. Playing what feels to be a million different notes at a time. At first listen you may be led to believe that there is more than one person playing , but alas..tis only Kaki. The small lady entered the stage at Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday night. I felt excited to calm myself, chill out, and close my eyes for wonderful experience.

While being entertaining, and quite breath taking watching her fingers move I was distracted by some idiot in front of me who thought we were at Warped Tour. Jumping up and down and screaming, he was stupid and making bad jokes. "Oh dis is my jam when I go to sleep"...I don't care! If I heard "shhh, we're in a library" one more time.... Dear Sir, don't do that again. You Suck.

I must say though...the set felt as if it would never end. She played a bit too long for me. I found myself bummin hard when she grabbed guitar after guitar after guitar. Sweet and short is the way we like it. Not hating though, great tunes.

Now lets count how many times the hippie got in trouble for sitting on the floor:

oh you silly hippie!

do a good deed in return for the sun.

Just came in from my balcony overlooking the Hudson where I soaked in the rays and painted my nails a grand shade of plum. What a lovely day! I am finally starting to get my life more and more in order. Only 3 more Mondays until summer . . . that's my motivation. 3 more painful weeks - then it's summer nights, after work drinks, beach as often as we can squeeze it in, hanging in my purple room with my most wonderful friends, going to F21 for sun dresses for any and every occasion, fighting over who gets the R or L side of the shared headphone set on the beach according to which ear has Flea's sweet as hell chords in it..yea it's almost that time.

However, as I sit here enjoying Jimmy Eat World's Chase This Light album that I am listening to for the first time (minus the singles of course) courtesy of EmJack circa 10pm last night, I am also reading up on probably one of the most awesome causes I have ever heard of.

It's called COTTON. FROM BLUE TO GREEN.™ and their motto is to "Change the world one pair of jeans at a time". Basically - they collect donated jeans, turn them into their pure form of cotton, and use this as an all-natural home insullation. They have used it to rebuild and improve on many homes, especially those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

FROM THIS

TO THIS

The only downside is that they have been doing denim drives at colleges since 2006, and unfortunately none of them have been in our area (NY/NJ). The good news is that since last fall they have began to work their "tour" to the east coast, so east coasters - start saving your old denim.

Check out http://www.accesscotton.com/. You can learn a little bit more about the cause, play games, find out about the tour, scope videos, and see how you can do your part!

The beauty is in what you make it,

So get up on your feet.

good class, good mood

appreciate.

keigwin + company.

holler

Handsome Furs: Yes, please!

Sunday night shows...yah we're a little sleepy, yah we want to vege out on the couch eating peanut butter cups left over from easter, and finish that bottle of red from dinner. But after forcing yourself out of the black hole that is New Jersey, entering the Bowery is a lovely Sunday evening treat I think.

After a couple of drinks at the one bar near Bowery Ballroom, I was greatly anticipating an amazing show given by Handsome Furs, and got what I paid for. After girling out and purchasing a sweet softy tee, we retreated up the stairs to a packed room of people all awaiting the same thing. To sing along to the "ohohoh" part of The Radio's Hot Sun .

The show rocked, so hard. Dan and Alexei took the stage and didn't stop until they left. And even when they left , they came on for two more songs. After the two, they played one more. They couldn't stop, and with no suprise. The crowd was excited and appreciative and loud. Dan began the set with saying "Playing New York City scares the bejesus out of me", and this show hopefully changed his thoughts. We love you, please don't worry, Dan. Wife piece rocked everything she did. Her newly bleached blonde locks shimmied back and forth(as did the fringe on her shirt) and she undoubtedly felt and believed in every note/noise she played. With a mixture of old and new songs, and closing with my favorite, Bowery was pleased and so was New York City. Come back soon, I say.

Peep pics.

Two Thumbs Up!!!

According to me, Handsome Furs is one of those bands you fall even further in love with only after you have seen them live. Its the way to be.
Yes, you might recognize Dan from the greatness that is Wolf Parade. Hit those fellas up as well!

Also, on a silent musical note, I hit up the Andrew Schoultz exhibit in Chelsea. Pleased with what I saw. Incredible details, layering, and colors. A highly recommended sight to see, although the exhibit is over. You can peep his work here.

There will probably be more photos on sick jerks...keep your eye out.

welp,back to new jersey, wonk wonk



Kaki King on Wednesday. Yippie!

Deertick and The Dodo's

Monday evening, March 31st. I spent a long lasting rainy day wandering the puddled streets on New York City. The day was filled with two tedious auditions (which included me not getting a booty short memo, sweet), the rest of the day was waiting for the Deertick/Dodo's show. After killing a lot of time, visiting the MOMA and taking full advantage of the couches in some of the galleries, the night was to begin. I met Nick and we traveled up to Harlem to meet up with Greg. After a couple of beers, a footlong subway, 1 large chocolate chip cookie, and a lot of Rhapsody ; we finally headed down to Brooklyn to see some sweet music.

Entering the "venue" near the Save Domino lights, off the Bedford stop in Brooklyn, we were ready. I call it "venue" because it was quite a small place. Divide your local Elks club by 2, add a table with a 30 of Busch behind it, a nudee 70's film projected on a wall, plus indoor smoking privaleges = where we were. It fit well though. I appreciated it only after I complained of the smoke, got over it, quit my wahwahwah-ing, drank a Sparks, and took a "chillaxative" if you will.

Anyway to the music: Deertick. If you like their sounds through your computer speakers, you may very well like the sounds coming through their speakers live. With strept throat, hoodie up singer John McCauley took the stage along with drummer Dennish Ryan and bassist Chris Ryan. Beginning right away, they went right into the tunes with out any disappointment. Tackling album favorites with ease, a smooth voice, and awsome rock outs. I waited and waited for Dirty Dishes. When oh when will they play Dirty Dishes, you ask? Well I will tell you, it was proceeded by a snippett of All I Have to do is Dream, by the Everly Brothers. It went smoothly into that guitar part that you can't help but appreciate for it's simplicity and ear catching appeal. They continued to jam to a boisterous energetic yelping (Nick) crowd with Diamond Rings (which made me melt into my girlie pants), Spend the Night, Art Isn't Real, and even a short cover of La Bamba!! All equally as raw, and still fantastically real and amazing.

Peep some pics

rest stop on the way

deertick

a helluva guitar

a prissing sight

a good find on the street

made friends during the Dodo's!

Ah yes the Dodo's. No photos. Unfortunately for me, I am very short. Fortunately for the Dodo's, it was packed for their set. Which included a very tall blonde miss in front of me, which was what i saw for their entire set. Thank you tall girl for my photo lackage. I must say, I spent more time prepping for Deertick; so I am not very familiar with Dodo joints. With that in mind, I still felt awsome energy from the stage, the crowd, a couple in love and dancing the whole entire time to my right, and two man friends of mine rocking out hard core. They pleased the crowd, fantastic job to them. If you want to check out some of their tunes you can find them on the SickJerks player..do it.

keep your eyes peeled for april music mania month! holler!