Getting old and hating people.

First of all, I think that today I discovered my people. Headline in the Globe: “Hatred of Rachael Ray can be a powerful uniting force.” Holla.

Secondly, I considered feeling sheepish buying Teen Vogue today. I decided against it (I bought the magazine, just decided not to feel bad about it), but the whole thing made me feel old. Also on the subject of things that I should be too old for, I watched a half-hour piece on MTV tonight about Jay-Z going to Africa to improve sanitation conditions. It was actually pretty well done (I’m a fan of the True Life series and the other documentaries that MTV seems to hit well when they try hard). It showcased the Play Pump, which is a technology going into a lot of new wells being built. A few kids can run around a merry go-round, and the well harnesses their energy to bring clean water out of the ground. Holla.

Also interesting: an article from Slate today discussing the conventions of magazine covers. Evidently green is an unpopular color for magazines, as is brown. The article also made me think about numbering – in magazines odd numbers are always favored on the cover – but isn’t it strange that if you think about it, 43 seems bigger and more exciting than 46. But I may be thinking about this too hard. I know Plainy will have something to say about odd vs. even . . . Holla.

Imogen Heap feat. Kid Beyond

07_imogen

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn.
This show was at the Avalon, 11/11/06. I was a huge Imogen fan when I first picked up her album, but had cooled down a bit – I think I hit replay a few too many times. Still, I was excited to see her. It’s been a while but I’ll remember as much as I can.

The show started with a mind-boggling, short set by Kid Beyond – an insane professional beatboxer. I would have to doubt that he would be as striking on record, because his way of delivering music isn’t necessarily more beautiful than a drum, it’s just more unusual – but he’s a great showman and his set was fun. He also was Imogen’s percussion during her set – she had no drummer – and I think when he was up there, it was a richer, more exciting sound.

Imogen came in dressed, for anyone who watched Season 3 of Project Runway, in Jubilee Jumbles attire. Red corset, strange poufy skirt, etcetera. Lily-mohawk. I would love to know if that’s her real hair. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way. She’s birdlike and British, and has a cute way of flitting about the stage as if she were – as I remember remarking to a friend – a Mary Poppins on acid. All of this sounds like a dig, but I don’t mean it that way. What I think is interesting about it, actually, is that her whole set looks very drug-induced and are crazy, while a lot of her music is very personal songs, that are beautiful and make sense, dressed up with a more trippy, complicated accompaniment. Maybe this is starting to make more sense now.

At any rate, Ms. Heap’s lovely voice was in relatively good shape and her band, when they were around, backed her up well. She, and her 2 openers, all made liberal use of looping techniques, which was cool at first, but I would have loved to have taken it down a notch. I felt she was best when closest in proximity to the piano, which is where I assume she writes her material and feels most comfortable. I’d also love to see her in a more intimate, less overcrowded venue. I’m definitely interested to see what she will be up to for her new album – or if she’ll go back to Frou Frou for a while.

Lastly – in addition to the Avalon being extremely crowded – has anyone noticed that they start shows in the middle of the afternoon at this point? I assume that it has to do with them opening the club up after a show for dancing – but 6:30 seemed so strange to arrive at the show – I felt as if I should have been receiving a senior citizen’s discount and/or getting in bed by 9.

If you want it, you can have it.

Originally, I thought of calling this blog “mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away” – for photography reasons. I changed it to “If you want it, you can have it” – because this is more writing rather than streams of photographs. It’s a quote from the Weezer song “Photograph” – and I take it pretty literally – “If you want it (oo-oo-oo), you can have it (oo-oo-oo), But you’ve got to learn to reach out there and grab it.” Ah, Weezer.

Also, it felt weird to have the name Kodak in the title if I’m a dogmatic, strictly-Fuji user (and if I were to ask Mama not to take it away from me).

My ideas for this blog:

entertainment reviews. Reviews, experiences, recommendations, etc. for concerts, museum shows, weird movies, lectures, all that.

learning. What non-work stuff I’m curious or excited about. This could include humor material, whether it’s something that happened to me or something that I encountered while reading.

Oh, and stuff I’m making. Crafts, paintings, happenings, photographs that I’m especially excited about. That is all.