Crystal Madrilejos

Image by Cracking Jokes via Flickr

Busy weekend around these parts! Graduation party, two shows, and playing catch up with old friends made for a wonderful summer weekend. But, dang, am I getting old and tired!

Friday night was the pre-fest party for the Weapons of Mass Creation Fest in Cleveland. We went to see one of our NYC friends, Gregory and the Hawk, play some tunes at Happy Dog. It was wonderful seeing her play, even if the crowd was soooo loud and annoying. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her live. If you haven’t heard her music before, please check it out here. (I’ve used her music in some of Q’s videos, if she sounds familiar.)

Saturday, one of my long-time friends celebrated her recent graduation from medical school, hell yeah! Congrats Beth :) It was great to see lots of friends and eat good food. I think that was our first outdoor summer bash this season. The rain did make an appearance, but luckily not for long. Baby boy was a muddy wet mess, but he had so much fun. He was out like a light by 8:30 p.m.

Then afterward, Andrew, my brother and I headed to the Beachland Ballroom to see the New Bomb Turks play. Also another band I haven’t seen in forever. It was a fun time, but I was so tired by the end. I could barely keep my eyes open on the ride home. I think we got home around 2:30 a.m (which I know, for some of you, is NOT late at all) and slept in until 10:00 a.m., which is unheard of in our house. I don’t think I’ve slept in that late in YEARS!

I told you!! Old. Tired. But FUN!

Ok, this is the last video I’ll post for a little while, I swear! I posted about Q’s First Birthday a little while ago and it’s overall success. The only thing I regret is that I didn’t take more video. This video might be a bit dull to a lot of you since there isn’t too much going on other than mood shots of the decorations and Q eating his cupcake in hyper speed! I had to get all artsy-fartsy with this one because of the lack of footage. Ah well, they can’t all be winners!

Enjoy (hopefully)!

Music: “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence & the Machine

-c

I’m movie making crazy! Just try to stop me. I was feeling inspired and decided to go ahead and make a Q’s Christmas video AND a Q’s First Birthday video. I’m only going to post the Christmas video today since I need something to post about tomorrow (ha!) so I’ll save the Birthday video for then. See how I keep you coming back for more? Bwuahahaha… sorry. I’m tired.

So, in the meantime, enjoy!

Music: “Ghost” by Gregory and the Hawk

-c.

[Image via Wikipedia]

I just listened to Regina Spektor‘s new album Far in its entirety on NPR and I think it’s lovely and wonderful and really really amazing. I’ve been a fan of Regina for awhile and am fortunate to have seen her when she was playing a tiny stage in the back room of The Sidewalk Cafe in the East Village. That’s when I fell in love with her music.

Not that she isn’t still amazing on the big stage. I was worried when her first major label debut Begin to Hope came out because I was used to hearing just her and a piano and, for me, that was enough. I was worried that heavy production would drown out the quirkiness and personality of her songs and singing style, but I ended up really liking the album. But still, when I want to hear her like I remember her years ago at the open mic at Sidewalk I throw on Songs or Soviet Kitsch. It seems that Far is a nod to those day, a lot of piano and prominent vocals which may be why I like it so much.

Plus, it has “Dance Anthem of the 80s”. You can’t beat that.

–c.

This past weekend went by so fast! I’m sure it’s because we actually did something. Friday night we drove to Toledo, Saturday morning we went to the Indiana Dunes State Park on our way to Chicago to see the Eccentric Soul Revue Presented by The Numero Group. Right after the show we drove 4 hours back to Toledo and woke up 4 hours later to drive to Cleveland for the Cavs game then out to a late lunch with Andrew’s brother and his girlfriend! Whew. But we’re getting too old for this. It totally kicked our asses. We got home and went to bed at, no kidding, 6pm and woke up at 6am.

BUT I had an amazing time and it was so nice to be in Chicago again with friends, eating good food and seeing amazing music. It was even nice to take a long drive (though Andrew might disagree with me since he did the majority of the driving.) If you haven’t heard of The Numero Group, you should check out their site here. I can’t describe them better than they have themselves, so you should check out their “About” page. Their mission statement being:

“…to dig deep into the recesses of our record collections with the goal of finding the dustiest gems begging to be released from their exile on geek street. No longer would $500 singles sit in a temperature-controlled room dying for a chance to be played. No more would the artists, writers, and entrepreneurs who made these records happen go unknown and unappreciated.”

“Numero releases are sound with substance, living at the nexus of song and story. Scrupulously researched, painstakingly re-mastered, and with an attention to detail that is unmatched in the reissue field, the end result is a top-of-the-line compact disc.”

Highlight of the show being:

• The Notations, singing and dressing like bands don’t anymore: matching blue suits with black patent leather shoes without a trace of irony.

• Syl Johnson. I can’t even pull out points from this performance. I was amazed that he is still doing what he does at his age. And scared because he is still doing what he does at his age. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I was surprised he didn’t throw out his hip with all his gyrations and hip-thrusting.

• The brass section. Serious.

–c.