warm in your coat.

crumbs of zoë bare.

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I'll keep it with mine.

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"You're so pretty when you're unfaithful to me."

Huh.  So I've never listened to this album until now.  And it's been just sitting here hidden in my iTunes for who knows how long.  Pixies' Surfer Rosa + Bossanova = perfect soundtrack for my day at work.

I wonder what else I have hidden on here.

(and nope, not dead--just haven't been feeling very tumblry lately, I guess).

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last week in Ohio.

I spent the majority of last week in Athens, OH for my dad's birthday.  Man oh man, I really love it there, despite all the college kids.  Good ol' small town Appalachian Ohio.

We did a variety of things, but I seem to have mainly taken pictures of this chicken place (I have real pictures on film I need to get developed):

The best place for fried chicken, family-owned Miller's Chicken.

  (fried chicken).

The birthday party ended exactly as I had hoped.  Practically all of my dad's friends are musicians, so clearly music had to happen before the night was over.  I haven't heard my dad play with other people in probably 10 years.  It was terrific.  He's there on the left.

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It seems that I have a problem with baking as procrastination for cleaning and cleaning as procrastination for anything else.  Oh well.  At least I'm doing something.

(these are chocolate meringues.  They're like eating chewy chocolate air!  And they're wheat-free!  Go here for the recipe).

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"Let me see...from over there?  No, over there.  Over there?  Yeah."

I'm not doing so well with keeping up with my tmblblrg music runs lately, but here's a new song nonetheless.

Dance Instruction Music Run Song #2:

Sophisticated Boom Boom, The Shangri-Las.

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"Alright, you turkey necks, I'm gonna teach ya how to do The Crusher!"

Now that we're all sufficiently cheered up, I'm going to start a new music run of songs with dance instructions.  Let's start with The Crusher by The Cramps.

Please only do The Crusher with your partner's explicit consent.

(and I'm choosing to ignore the fact that this song starts with Lux Interior screaming, "Raaaape!").

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look, I made something!

Let me introduce you to the limited-edition print you can only get by donating to my good friend Kara's brand-new play, The Brothers Kassel, HERE.  Only 29 hours left!  Take a look-see and help a girl out!

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I'm really dragging out this Cheer-up Albums run, huh?  Here's another one.  Hopefully somebody somewhere has really been looking forward to each of these.  I'll pretend that's true.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?  Or the longer you wait the better the reward?  Something like that.

Cheer-up Album #5:

Blondie, Blondie.

I have recently been listening to this album on repeat.  I like songs that have spoken introductions, such as X Offender, which begins with Harry stating:

"I saw you standing on the corner.  You looked so big and fine.  I really wanted to go out with you, so when you smiled, I laid my heart on the line."

But the best song for cheering up is this one: The Attack of the Giant Ants.  So goofy.

Debbie Harry's the best.

"Giant ants from space.  Snuff the human race.  Then they eat your face.  Never leave a trace.  La la la-la-la."

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Cheer-up Album #4:

This suggestion is kind of a 2-in-1 because I like to listen to a mix of both Mesopotamia and Party Mix! by the B-52's when I'm down.  Both are great, so take a listen together if you haven't yet (god forbid).  What better way to get happy than listen to a song about making cake?  Everybody likes cake.

"'It says in this cookbook it takes a long time for it to rise.'

'I've read that...you know, beware.'"

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"There's nothing left wrong with me that money can't cure, but...I don't want to be somebody else's learning experience."

Cheer-up Album #3:

The Waitresses, Best of the Waitresses.

I mentioned my deep love for The Waitresses and their inexplicable powers for healing before, so it should be no surprise that this band makes the list.  Their lyrics are funny and clever, I can't get enough of Patty Donahue's sass, and there's saxophone.  All good things.  Plus, most of their songs are about toughening up, being alright on your own, and that it's ok to be weird.  All most helpful for cheering up. 

"My goals--my goals are to find a cure for irony and make a fool out of God."

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Whoops!  This week has been going much better (knock on wood), so much better that I seem to have forgotten to keep up with my Cheer-up Albums run.  Those feeling blue, hopefully you've hung in there until today.  Welcome #2 to the mix:

Blood, Sweat & Tears, Child is Father to the Man.  I usually listen to this after a break-up or some other kind of rejection.  I figure, if Al Kooper is all bummed out about his problems with the ladies, it's ok that I am too.  Misery loves company, or something.  Plus, the theatrical/over-the-top compositions with the electric organ and trumpets kind of crack me up.  So melodramatic!  How wonderful.

"I want you to blow for all the people who have to face an empty bed tonight...[trumpet].  Go ahead and blow one for yourself now...[more trumpet].  Blow one for me tooooo!  ...[even more trumpet]."

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Hi all!  My dear friend Kara has written and is directing a new play called, The Brothers Kassel.  She is trying to raise money by offering a variety of wondrous perks, including a limited edition print by yours truly.  Watch this adorable video!  And give them money!  And go see their play in the fall!

Check out more info here: http://www.indiegogo.com/thebrotherskassel

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Oh my, what a week.

After some punctuation for the string of bad news I received this week (the good news at the start seems light years away now--but it's still good nonetheless), I awoke from yet another nap on the couch at 5am with the small and hazy inkling that it has been a dream.  But hey, it could always be worse, right?  To the gods of luck, please note that this is not a challenge.

What better time to start that aforementioned "Cheer-up Albums" music run?  Let's start now.

ps--to the asshole who did this to my dear friend's car while it was in my possession and just drove away like a selfish coward:

I hope karma brings it back to you tenfold.

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One of today's purchases.

Here's a poem from it selected at random:

Homage to Charles Atlas

A daydream exercises your mind

for a moment or two like an invisible

muscle. Then it's gone, totally

     forgotten.

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I used to listen to this album nonstop for quite a while in college.  It's been a long time since I've sat down and taken it in again.  Just listen to Stéphane Grappelli's singing violin.  Practice, practice.

Django's unparallelled skill goes without mentioning.  If you haven't heard this story yet, Belgian Gypsy guitar phenom Django Reinhardt was badly burned in a fire at the age of 18.  One of his legs and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand were partially paralyzed, but he learned to walk again with use of a cane and reinvented the way he played guitar, using two fingers for solos and the two damaged fingers for chord work.  More than impressive, non?

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Ain't nothin' but a party.

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Happy birthday to me!