Earth From Above

While I have many fascinating things to share with everyone, I haven't had a minute to get them out of my head and onto the blog. BUT, I had to quickly share this...

"Earth From Above" is a series of stunning photos taken by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. I saw his work in Chicago a few years ago and was just blown away. His exhibit is going to NYC in 2009, and I encourage everyone in the area to see the exhibit. His website shares nearly 2,000 images for free. You can easily spend hours looking at them.

The Boston Globe's fantastic The Big Picture - News Stories in Photographs (see link on side bar) is featuring some of his work this week. Check it out. Then book your trip to NYC.

More Great Live Music in Tucson

Yesterday friends won tickets to see an artist perform at a radio station. We couldn't join them because, you know, jobs. But, we looked up the guy and decided to go see him last night at Club Congress.

It was actually 3 guys for the price of one. First was Jason Reeves, who was surprisingly good. Usually the first guy in a three act performance isn't so hot, but he was great.

Next up was Keaton Simmons, also very good. Apparently Tucson was the first place one of his songs hit #1, so he loves Tucson. He seemed to be better known by the crowd than the headliner. He was really great live; I might prefer his live set to his recorded stuff, which I think is a great sign about how good a musician someone is.

Last up was the guy we went to see, Tyrone Wells. He was fantastic. His cover of "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone" alone made the evening worth it.

They've got a lot of tour dates left, including stops in Boston and Chicago. Go see them.

Music is an art form in which the medium is sound organized in time*

We saw a few concerts in September, all of them great.

We saw Squeeze in early September. Yes, "Tempted" and "Black Coffee in Bed" Squeeze. They were great, they kind of actually rocked hard at times. It was a lot of fun, although I can't imagine what it's like to be singing the same songs many times a week for 20+ years. Is that enjoyable as a musician? It is sure enjoyable to listen to as an audience member!

Opening for Squeeze was Theresa Andersson. She was amazing. She is a one woman band who plays all her instruments live, using looping devices. It's hard to explain, but it was amazing, and she has a gorgeous voice. Watch this video to get a better idea of what she does, you may need to watch twice to fully get it. The video doesn't do her justice. Two people in our group separately both said, "I'm not a religious person, but that was like a spiritual experience." Really, she's great.

We also saw Amos Lee, who was fantastic. And tall. He's shockingly tall. The show was great, he played many types of songs, such a range. It was really a great show.

Next up in October: Marc Broussard , Matt Nathanson, and Dar Williams.

* So says Wikipedia, which is what I found when I Googled "music" when I couldn't come up with a title for this post.

Hello Again

August and September were pretty busy months, work-wise. Lots of 14+ hour days, weekends working. It was pretty exhausting. I don't know how I used to work 80 hour weeks for months on end. Then again, I was in my 20s. Everything was easier then. Sigh.

Things should be calming down now, thankfully. Fingers crossed.

Matt Nathanson - new tour dates

He's playing all over the place this October/November, including many of your cities. Just go, he's great, you'll love it. I'll refund your money if you don't have a fantastic time*.

http://www.mattnathanson.com/tour



* not really

Apparently I'm VERY White

Looking over the list of Stuff White People Like, I see a pretty accurate portrait of myself:

. #38 Arrested Development

. #36 Breakfast Places

. #25 David Sedaris

. #24 Wine

. #15 Yoga

. #63 Expensive Sandwiches

There are many more on that list that resonate.

Take a look at the list - how white are you?

Assorted Updates

The last few weeks in Tucson have been pretty chill. Lots of socializing and relaxing. The heat has let up, it's been very nice here. Still looking forward to fall, but the heat could be a lot worse.
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Saw my first tarantula last week. Skip saw it in the driveway and said, "cool!", then hopped out to get a closer look. Me, I stayed in the truck, and possibly locked the door. I did eventually get out to see it, but I stood behind Skip so I could push him in the way if the tarantula busted any moves. Later that night we heard the coyotes howling in the wash. Hello, wild kingdom.

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Another animal related update: the tortoises are in heaven - it's prickly pear fruit season. Although they're covered with horrid fine pricklers, the tortoises go nuts for the fruit from the cactus. Their little mouths are stained red from all the juice:


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Since when is an Escalade a compact car?

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Does the world really need these?

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This was the total for the car in front of me. The only reason it stopped at $100 is because the gas pump won't go over $100 to protect people from fraudulent credit card use. They probably need to raise that limit.

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Mmmmm...nothing like a nice ripe mago.

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I came *this close* to adding an apostrophe. Or crossing off the 's'. The Typo Eradication Advancement League would be disappointed in me. Maybe I'll change it next time I'm there.

An Old Boyfriend Has Come Back Into My Life

While on this trip to Chicago, I connected with an old dear friend. I knew I was going to see him, but when I did, I was surprised at how my heart jumped.

He was always there for me, except for one dark period in fall 2005 of which we do not speak.

He got me through some tough times, made those long cold Chicago winter nights more bearable. I didn't realize how much I'd missed having him in my life.

It's great to have you back, TiVo.

I don't really know how I could have left you behind for so many months. How sad you must have been, languishing in Scott's closet, unused and unloved for so long. I think you'll love Arizona. Cox Communication has many new channels for you to get to know, I think you'll make some new friends quickly. *sniff* I'll never leave you again.

One Town That Won't Let You Down

Oh, Chicago. How pretty you are with your 80 degree days, clear blue skies, shiny buildings. So lovely to see you again.

Except for those 4 buses that were broken down on Michigan Avenue yesterday, causing the usual traffic snarl.

And your 10.25% sales tax, highest in the nation.

And $4.49 for a gallon of gas.

It's been a quick whirlwind trip through the City of Big Shoulders. I've caught up with friends, visited the temporary office, and have liberated some stuff from storage. A good trip all in all.

While here, I took a few photos of the office building's lobby. Some of you might recall that they filmed the current Batman movie here last summer. They spent 4 months constructing a set in our lobby, filmed for one weekend, and then vanished. Why it took 4 months to build that set, I don't know. Still not sure why they picked this space, but it was fun to see the building in the film.

The space itself is in the mezzanine of the building; in the movie, it was a penthouse apartment. Where the Hyatt ballroom is, in the movie it was only skyline and stars. Bruce and Rachel walked onto the terrace to view the city skyline; I walked out to get the bus. Potato, potahto.

The scenes they filmed were the ones in Bruce's penthouse living area (the bedroom was filmed in a different building). The big fundraiser took place here. I can't find photos of the movie scenes to do exciting before and after shots. FYI, don't Google 'penthouse images' at work. Just a tip.

When Alfred and Rachel are talking, they're in this corner.



This picture shows one of these columns. Fascinating, no!?

Day Trip to Tubac. Also, Planes.

Sunday morning Skip and I headed to Tubac, AZ - "Where Art and History Meet". It was blazing hot, and we were two of oh, maybe 12 people there, so it was kind of deserted. Neither of us is a big shopper, but since the shops and galleries were well air conditioned, we did a lot of browsing. After 45 minutes or so, we called it a day at Tubac. Kind of a bust, but glad I saw it and can cross it off the list.

For lunch we went to the Tubac Golf Club. This is a lovely property, surrounded by mountains and blue skies. A serene place to spend a long weekend even if you don't golf. While having lunch, we spoke to the couple next to us. They moved to Tucson from...any guesses?...that's right, from Chicago. Shocking, isn't it?

Heading back into town, we drove by the Airplane Boneyard. Officially "Davis-Monthan's AMARG Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group", it's one of the places the military stores planes when they are taken out of service. It was amazing, I can't imagine the billions of dollars in equipment sitting in those fields. There are some great photos here. In searching for those photos, I just discovered that the Pima Air and Space museum gives tours of the Boneyard - I am so doing that!

Quick Quiz: Where do YOU think I was this weekend?

Take a look at these photos:

Where do you think they were taken?

A) Colorado

B) Napa Valley

C) Reims, France

D) Southern Arizona Wine Country

Believe me, I'm as shocked as you are to see that there is land like this in southern Arizona. Just a few miles off the I-10, we entered wine country. Man, it was gorgeous. I kept saying, "I can't believe I'm still in Arizona." Southern AZ is unusually green right now, so this was pretty trippy to see. Also trippy - most of the wines were actually pretty good. Never would have guessed that.

The reason for the trip was Sonoita's Wine Harvest celebration. While at the harvest fete, we sampled wines, had some food, petted some horses, and stomped some grapes. While in my head the grape stomping was going to be more of a head to head stompin' competition with several tubs lined up next to each other, it was sadly pretty lame. Each team got in the same vat one after the other, and the judging was on style and sassiness, not pure grape stomping aptitude. Oh well, we had fun doing it and none of us slipped into the slushy sticky muck (easier said than done).

All in all, a great day in Arizona.

The bin in which we stomped grapes. Not exactly what I had in mind.

A great example of Arizona weather - sunny on the left, rainy on the right, biker in the middle.

Best $10 I Ever Spent

Friday night we went to the Matt Nathanson concert. I knew a few of his songs, and figured at $10, how could we go wrong?

He was simply amazing. He is a great live performer; his live stuff might be better than his studio recordings. He was also super funny in between songs. He referenced Hulk Hogan, Kim Kardashian, Rick Springfield, Kim Wilde, Simon & Garfunkel, (possibly Duran Duran, but I'm a little fuzzy on that) and he heckled the drunks in a very endearing way. It really was a great concert. All weekend, we kept saying, "man, that was a great concert!"

I'd tell you to go see him, but this was the end of this tour. Sorry you missed it.

BlackBerry Curve, How Do I Love Thee...

Let me count the ways:

1. Your full qwerty keyboard allows my fingers to fly across the keys...well, my thumbs anyway.
2. You have freed me from the shackles of coffee houses and wireless ISP connections.
3. You ease my load as you weigh 6.2 lbs less than my laptop.
4. Your cute little chirping sound that tells me I have a new message makes me giggle.

Oh, new shiny technology, there's no other joy quite like you. Until something newer and shiner comes along...


(Thanks for all the emails, everyone. If anyone ever needs any research done, Beth L. is your woman!)

Need Some Advice, People (technology related, gods help me)

I'm finally going to catch up with the rest of the cool kids and get a PDA. Or is it a smartphone? I've started doing the research and have become quite overwhelmed. After two minutes I was lost.

Palm? BlackBerry? Symbian? What the hell is Symbian??

What I want is something that is a phone with a full qwerty keyboard, on which I can get email, send texts, and surf the interwebs. I don't care about MP3s, videos, games, etc.

Here's what I'd like from you, gentle readers. Leave a note in the comments about your PDA or smartphone, what you love about it, what you hate about it, etc. Is the iPhone really all that, enough to outweigh my loathing of AT&T? Is the BlackBerry really just so 2004? Help me, interwebbers, you're my only hope.

A Good Cause. There's Beer Involved.

My friend Julia is chairing a fund raising event for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and asked me to pimp her event on the blog. I'm sure the 10s of you who visit every month will happily spread the word.

The event takes place in Chicago on September 25, at Goose Island Brewery. A fundraiser at a brewery with "unlimited craft beer tastings" and prizes including "a tower of beer"? I think she's found the ideal way to raise money in Chicago. I'm sure in addition to beer there will be cheese and polish sausage, the three foundational pieces of most Chicago diets.

If you won't be able to attend the event, but want to contribute to an important cause, you can make a tax deductable monetary donation, or a goods/service donation for the silent auction they're holding in August. For more details, visit www.cff.org/LWC/JuliaTritz

Great. Now I want cheese.