Meeting musicians on the bus

The express bus from T-Town to Seattle was PACKED this morning. I was even starting to try to convince the hubby to just drive, but we didn't. Hubby took The Eldest & The Boy to a pair of seats while the Baby Girl and I squeezed in next to a stranger also hauling a didn't-fit-in-the-luggage-carrier guitar. Which was completely fine. I was just glad I didn't have to stand. But then I turned out to have a lovely conversation with songstress Kate Graves (not related to former Tacoma arts reporter Jen Graves, I asked) who is a fairly new Northwesterner who'd just played a show at Plenty in Olympia. Lovely person, and lovely music. Click here to hear.

Can't wait to introduce her to Tacoma.

Oh, and as lovely as the day-trip to Seattle was, I was very happy to come home. I feel blessed that there are so many nearby opportunities for "mini-vacations" ... but I love coming home the best.

p.s. It sounds like Kate has chalking experience. We'll have to drag her out on a Friday. Otherwise, if you're ever having coffee in Queen Anne ... watch out, there might be a talented songwriter behind the espresso machine. Kudos to Kate for following her dream.

MUSIC: Brotherly collaboration

A way-back flashback for me. Ok, not SO wayback. But a few years back when my dear brothers who make up Sad Music for Happy Humans and Adam the Alien collaborated with music and video respectively on this piece.



It's been a good day. Felt like sharing.

Frost Park Chalk-off Hat Mania (aka The Mad Hatters) ... corrected version

I was innocently enjoying watching my children and the many other chalktastic folks at this week's Frost Park Chalk-off when I realized that Frost Park folk are rather inclined to wear hats, and not just because it's sunny out. So I decided to document. I went up to old friends and new, introducing myself and asking for a picture of them in their hat. Unfortunately, I was acting on faith. Faith that my cellphone camera actually worked following yesterday's update, but apparently I hoped for too much. I'm sure it's user error, but I'm still trying to figure out the problem.

In the meantime, I share chalktastic hat-mania with you by pure memory and description and googlery, with some cribbed pics (mostly from Mr. Urbanist), some commentary and a bit of random what-not.

Let's start with my first two victims, and the inspiration for this crazy Mad Hatter post (note: I did not notice Angela Jossy's Mad Hat Tea Co. chalking until halfway through this quest. Angela: I feel a strange bond with you this week ... )

jcbetty: Miss Betty arrived once again in biker (bicyclist) gear, sporting her spandex skorts ... and a bike helmet! In lovely silver-gray and black, she chose to keep the helmet rather than exposing helmet hair. And inspriration struck when I spotted her chatting away with the new and improved ...

Can't find a pic of Miss Betty in a bike helmet, so here is Dawn in a bike helmet


izenmania: Izenmania shocked the chalk-off world and Tacomaniacs in general, including his dad, and his recently-went-back-to-London lady friend by chopping his locks, shaving his beard, donning a signature look and making himself utterly unrecognizable. Luckily, I have a photos to share of this.

stolen picture of Mr. Izenman's new hat, and new look


And the hat in action


From there, I cornered chalk-off founder RR Anderson: with his signature and close-to-my-heart TAGRO hat (a gift from the Tacoma Gnome). And with that, for those who are super-swift, you may pick up a theme among he and the next two hat wearers.

Former Frost Park pic of RR in his TAGRO hat (by the Urbanist)


RR is a man of many hats ...



Pat Brown, I believe formerly of the Outlaw Carnies and definite current driving force behind Satellite Coffee and Supernova Hair & Tattoo (along with Supersuckers' Ron Heathman, who are/were playing in Seattle tonight), was also out and about at Frost Park and sporting a really super-nifty hat from a buddy's record shop in Walla Walla: Hot Poop. Seriously. Hot Poop. Did you get the connection yet?

Photo of Pat in his Hot Poop hat (taken from Satellite Coffee's MySpace site)

Hey! Check it! It's my laptop's twin!

The Outlaw Carnies in action


The Supersuckers in action ... (any excuse for me to post music videos, I know)



Then, prolific and fantabulous chalker Mark Monolux was also wearing a hat that, if you really stretch, also fits into the above category. Upon Mark's curly locks was a (I believe yellow) baseball cap, upon which he pointed to it's theme: The Puyallup Fair. (If I'm wrong, don't sue me. I'm working from memory, which I was not expecting to do. I would have taken notes had I known ...)

I think this is the hat ... (from a former chalk-off)


Ok, that completes my poop joke. On to more hats!

Adam the Alien was wearing his signature topper, so that's an easy one to find.

From a long ago rainy chalk-off ... (by the Urbanist)


Andrea was paying tribute to her Indiana Alien with a fedora.



Andrea also likes her hats ...


Ariel's significant other John was also sporting a wide-brimmed hat of sorts.

You can always spot John and his hat.


Stowe was topped off by a paint-stained baseball cap. (His UrbanXchange doohickey sidelined for the day due to hot-hot weather.)

Stowe in a different hat, last week ...


Another former Stowe hat ...


Stowe and "the hat" on his selfmade trading card ...



Local artist Linda Danforth and her gal pal took turns with a very red wide-brimmed hat.

OK, so it wasn't this widebrimmed ...


And then, to wrap up my tour of today's chalk-off's 11 hats, is my own munchkin, The Boy, who managed to swipe The Eldest's visor for the day. He looked rather sporty.

But he won't pose for it now.

So ... next week ... anyone want to up the hat anty? I'll bring an actual camera. :)

And here's to you Ms. Jossy ...

An interesting juxtaposition ... First Night adds "The Black Pirate" to Tall Ships Shore Leave activities

Found this ancient (2004) First Night poster today still affixed to one of downtown's "Happenings" boards, with a Tall Ships Shore Leave poster on top of it. First Night (the current incarnation) will be taking part in the extracurriculars by offering a showing of "The Black Pirate" at 7 p.m. Sunday, July 6, at the Rialto.

This classic silent movie will be accompanied by renowned (Tacoman!) organist Dennis James and should be quite the experience. Tickets are $15, and attendees can enter a free raffle to win a First Night Family Pack, tickets to the Prairie Home Companion's summer stop at Marymoor Park, Revels tickets and more! Click here for Shore Leave details!

For Black Pirate tickets: LeRoy Jewelers (940 Broadway), Glenna's Clothing (783 Broadway), King's Books (218 St. Helen's) and, the day of, you can also find them at the Broadway Center box office (901 Broadway).



Argh, matey!

Previously undocumented work from last week's Frost Park chalk-off

In an effort to showcase some of the non-pro work that does still go on at Frost Park during Friday Chalk-Offs, here are a few efforts I captured. First off, of course, is from my own Lil' Chickadee. She has drawn a fortune teller with a "very colorful crystal ball" (she says it's glowing because she found something .. at first I thought she was talking about a fortune, but she found a sponge to pat her chalk ... hmmm ... did I leave it behind? Uh oh.) I'm not certain of the other artists, and I likely missed a couple, but here's what I did snag ...

Fortune teller


Pac Man


Pac Man ctnd.


Flamingo (upside-down)


Gig Harbor Represents?


The Little Red-Headed Girl


In Memory Of ...


Butterfly


See you Friday!

MUSIC: Santogold intrigues me ...

NOTE: This video is not really for young kids by the end.

Apparently the L.E.S. in Santogold's "L.E.S. Artistes" stands for New York's Lower East Side. According to Wikipedia, the song was written after Philly native Santi White (singer's real name) moved to New York City. The song "is playing on the fact that everyone tries to make things fancy and it's really pretentious" and "about being accosted by the New York scene and the scenesters and hipsters, who are really not artists and are just pretending to be. They're all about just being seen."

The fact that she just tells it: Awesome.
The video: Just as haunting as the song.
That we share a birthday year: Bonus. ... As my "day" approaches, I'm itching to be a bit daring. And I keep smacking into inspiration. Fantabulous.

Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes


L.E.S. Artistes lyrics

What I'm searching for
to tell it straight, I'm tryin to build a wall
Walking by myself
down avenues that reek of time to kill
If you see me keep going
be a pass by waver
Build me up, bring me down
just leave me out you name dropper
Stop tryin to catch my eye
I see you good you forced faker
Just make it easy
You're my enemy you fast talker

Chorus:
I can say I hope it will be worth what I give up
If I could stand up mean for all the things that I believe

What am I here for
I left my home to disappear is all
I'm here for myself
Not to know you
I don't need no one else
Fit in so good the hope is that you cannot see me later
You don't know me
I am an introvert an excavator
I'm duckin' out for now
a face in dodgy elevators
Creep up and suddenly
I found myself
an innovator

Chorus

Change, change, change,
I want to get up out of my skin
tell you what
if I can shake it
I'm 'a make this
something worth dreaming of

VIDEO: Feeding the children's growing YouTube obsession ...

The Boy is obsessed with "Chocolate Rain" -- the original and all spoofs. I don't get it, but there are worse things ...

His most-frequent request:



And the original:



You've been YouTube-ed.

A good point: Girls can make a difference

Thanks, James.

VIDEO: Handlebars by the Flobots

This gives me shivers. I recommend watching it/listening to it a few times to get the full impact.

Way to go Tacoma!

Brother dear somehow left his video camera and hard drive and half the tapes of our father's 60th birthday and various other valuables on the bus after last Friday's Frost Park chalk-off.

Brother dear came to grips with losing said valuables after a fabulous day, but then ...

Then, the Pierce Transit lost and found opens Monday morning.

Then, brother makes a call.

Then, brother gets all his stuff back!

It's like a break-up story and yet a love story all in one.

To think he doubted you for a moment, a short moment, dearest Tacoma ...

He's ready to make up now.

Thanks for looking out for the newbie.

The three 3-year-olds ...

Ahh ... now that's the life.

You'd think this was healthy ...

"Healthy Request" ... you'd think it was healthy. After all ... it says "less sodium" and "98% fat free" ... and that's some interesting marketing. Because, you see, it is less sodium that the every-day tomato soup of this brand. But here's an interesting tid-bit: Regular tomato soup from this brand has ZERO fat perserving. Healthy Request has 1.5 grams of fat per serving. What's with that? What happens to the soup to make it have less sodium (other than adding less salt) and MORE fat? I'm so confused.

Click here for the ingredients for "The Regular."
Click here for the "healthy" version.

All good if you're just trying to get less sodium ... but I still want to know: Where does the fat come from?!

Last day of "Pre-K"

Can't believe the day has come and gone. The Boy is done with preschool ... or "Pre-K" if you ask him. Next year he and The Eldest will be in the same school, and the Baby Girl starts preschool. And in two years, they'll all spend two glorious years IN THE SAME SCHOOL. But I must remember to cherish the days in between ... so in that vein, here's a shot of the boy from when I showed up at his last day of preschool picnic.



When I arrived at lunch, The Boy said, "I thought you weren't going to make it!" (He gave me a really big hug. *Smile.*) Admittedly, I did get lost getting there. Vassault Park isn't the easiest one to find. I knew it had to be walkable from the preschool, but that's about all I could remember. But I did make it ... and The Boy spent his time divided between stealing bits of my lunch (half a grilled cheese and a cup of crab bisque from Over the Moon Cafe, with pasta salad on the side) and wrassling with his buddies (the girl did not do this ... I think she spent her whole last day on the swings).

This particular picture was taken when he claimed he NEEDED water ... so we wandered down together to the public restrooms. So that he could explain to me that the water came from the sewers. I explained that while it goes into the sewer after he pushed the button, it's not technically a sewer it comes out of.

Total geeky conversation.

I look forward to many more to come.

Congrats to The Boy! I can't believe you're now a kindergartner.