robertplantalisonkrauss.com

robertplantalisonkrauss.com

Well, there's a URL I'll bet none of us thought we'd ever see! I've really been enjoying this best-selling album, and that's another rarity. I love them both separately, but when they go together it really leaps out of the box -- and when it doesn't leap, it just purrs.

I'm pretty fussy about celebrity duets. Sometimes I think they are painful to hear, even if I really like both people (I won't mention any names, that always riles people up and makes them want to fling me a lighted poop bomb) but it's more like their voices are battling each other for dominance -- and that's not harmony. Like fighting cats, it makes me want to separate them. This pairing is sooo not like that. If you haven't already heard it playing in all the stores you visit, have more of a listen at these Raising Sand links:
Official website
MySpace

Tags: Music - Robert Plant - Alison Krauss

Yardblogging

Working like a fiend this week, got some stuff I want to post but will have to wait until I get a break. In the meantime, enjoy this pic from the backyard. It's a late Autumn bloomer called Copper Canyon Daisy, and there's a pretty good patch of it back there now.

Bear Bullies

[LINK] Teacher arrested for letting children name a teddy bear "Muhammad". She could be punished with 40 lashes or six months in jail. You can't make up this crazy crap.

(I am confused. Why is it that people can be named Muhammad but not stuffed bears? If your name is Muhammad, don't you have to write that name on things from time to time?)

EDIT Dec 8: The saga continues.

Aahhh! Life in a theocracy. And we both know it gets much worse than this.

1 turkey, some cream, and a few crazy crackers

The long holiday is over and we kept it low-key -- not-food-oriented at all -- mostly movie-oriented. The weather was rainy and chilly and made my nose run, so we nixed the late-night stuff like music clubs. (a glass of wine and a couple of benedryls make an excellent sleeping aid).

Thursday we went to the new Alamo Drafthouse downtown at the Ritz (had pizza and beer for Thanksgiving) and saw No Country For Old Men, which is very, very intense. I was white-knuckled holding the armrests. Recommended. It's a modern-day Western (set in the 80s, but close enough to modern), the characters are interesting, and the movie will stir up discussions afterward over the ending.

[This paragraph contains a spoiler for the movie "Performance". That's your spoiler alert]
Friday we settled in with DVDs, starting with Stoned. I was interested in this one because of being a Stones fan, and especially of the group's founder, Brian Jones. First of all, not a good movie. The acting is marginal, there wasn't Rolling Stones music in it, and resemblances to the real characters are not good enough. The portrayals of the rest of the band are completely flat and forgettable (tell me that Mick Jagger or Keith Richards in the 60s can be forgettable, or Anita Pallenberg), and the main character is not good-looking enough to be Brian and didn't look like him... but... I will say this... the wardrobe dept. was perfect! They had his clothes down to a "T". Brian's story needs to be better told, probably in a documentary with a good filmmaker. It's a good story. One thing that struck a chord with me about Brian's story is the coincidental parallels between Brian's story and the one told in the movie Performance, which starred Mick Jagger and Brian's main love of his life, Anita Pallenberg: aging (and/or) retired (and/or) out-of-it rock god has life invaded by non-rockstar guy, who envies (and/or) resents (and/or) hates (and/or) want-to-be-him-but-can't so he ends up killing him. Performance is rather surrealistic, but I imagine that Brian's world was too. (I am not putting down Performance. In fact, I love that movie AND the music in it.)

Next was a documentary about local music phenom Roky Erickson (13th Floor Elevators) called You're Gonna Miss Me. Roky has sufffered over the years from schizophrenia and other forms of mental illness, but that's not what makes you want to tear your hair out when watching this... it's his mother. Bad crazy, dysfunctional, OMFG it's a wonder any of those kids turned out sane -- and they did -- just not Roky. You can't blame drugs alone for real mental illness, and the fact that she didn't believe in giving him his prescribed drugs (she told the court she thought yoga would be more helpful, and... it gets worse!! much worse) -- between nature, nurture and other factors the whole thing was a trainwreck. If you are looking for a pair of flicks on flipped out Austin musicians, pick up this one along with The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Both are really good films and will make you shudder at the crap that real people go through and put their loved ones through, whether intentionally or not.

Saturday we opted to stay in again with a hobbitty fire, cozy blankies and kitties, and watch one of our extended disks of Lord of The Rings. These things are long and require a time commitment. Always a pleasure and I never get tired of them.

Spare change?

[LINK] "Sadly, you have to mix at a certain level of people to raise the level of funds you need to bring about the greater good, because people are very snobby. These people who have lots of money, they're either snobby or they're stingy. If you have lots of money, you have to be stingy — because why would you want that amount of money?" -- Heather Mills McCartney

Not catty remarks made at a cocktail party, this was part of a speech delivered at Trinity College Dublin.

Ms. MM said that rich people are misers and snobs, and that she was reluctantly obliged to befriend the world's wealthy because that was the only way to maximize her power as an agent for change.

Apparently quite a bit of "change" will be needed, as she is trying to get from Paul twice the amount he's offered her in the settlement. He has offered $50 million, according to the British press.

Tags: Heather Mills - McCartney - Beatles

Purrsday Night and Black Friday

Henry would like to remind you that it's Snuggle Time, in fact, it's half-past Snuggle Time, so come a little closer... prrrrrrr... and Jax just wants to mention that if you are going out for "Black Friday" in the shops, don't forget about him. (pssst... he likes flannel... and food).

Speaking of two cats, and we always are around this place, here is a really funny vid featuring a couple of talkers. I just it found via Cute Overload.


Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at This That and the Other Thing - Cats - Catblogging

Non-traditional traditions

I am not one who enjoys following traditions, not other people's anyway. For Thanksgiving, it is traditional to get together with family (maybe travel), eat a HUUUUGE meal consisting of lots of turkey, gravy, stuffing, pies, mashed potatoes, and drinks (hard or soft, depending on the prevailing religion). Then, it's customary to sit on the couch, watch football, fall asleep, take a little walk, eat some more turkey, gravy, stuffing, pies, mashed potatoes, and drinks, then maybe go out to the movies in a group. Friday starts the big power-shopping push as the stores open at 5 a.m. (these days, some retailers are starting it on Thursday). If the house is not already decorated for Christmas, then it's time to do that.

My own family gatherings growing up were highly dysfunctional, unpleasant and weird in a bad way (but not as bad a Christmas). Spending the holiday with in-laws or other people's families was usually very much like the above, pretty forgettable, except for MrB's brother-in-law's brother was a realtor, and after we'd all had some wine (except for him), he'd pile us in the van and go lookie-loos around some vacant houses. The wine would go with with us (yeah, we bad), and it was a lot of fun, especially looking at those really pricey places.

Now we don't live close to either of our families, so we can do whatever the hell we want, especially since we can't afford travel anyway. I prefer not to do any cooking, so we go out. The Alamo Drafthouse is where we go (this time it will be the new Ritz location). Dinner and a movie all in one, they do the cooking and cleaning and serving. We are vegetarians and they have lots of food we can eat, lots of good beers too... coffee, whatever. If you must insist on the bird, they have all that stuff on the menu for T-day too. So the Alamo is part of our new tradition. There is lots of music in the clubs, as always, and we will take in some of that. Friday we will go to Waterloo Records and get our copy of KGSR's new Broadcasts CD (it's a tradition!). I'm sure that DVDs will be rented as well.

What are you doing this weekend?

I must be missing something.

[NEWS LINK] I understand that the previous owner of this cat along with 27 other seized cats is going to be undergoing psychological counseling and promising not to bring any more animals into her home.

What I don't understand is the judge allowing this woman to continue to keep 3 of the cats in her "care".

Video shot by the Austin Police Department showed signs of animal cruelty and malnourishment. The animals were living without proper food, water, shelter and medical care. One cat was found dead in upstairs closet, autopsies at Town Lake Animal Center later revealed that it had been dead for several months.

I just sent a small donation (about all I can spare) to the Humane Society of Austin, it's going to be tough and $$$ for them to handle that many new cats. This Humane Society is no-kill. Town Lake Animal Center, where they were originally taken, is a kill shelter. I know that even 3 more cats would be an impossible burden on the Humane Society, but I don't know how to excuse the judge allowing them to be left in the possession of a proven abuser.

Inflatable Jesus. Sheep included.

We were at Home Depot buying a new toilet and saw this irresistable manger scene. Now, Home Depot is one of the "naughty" places on the list mentioned earlier. Here's the sin:
Home Depot: Web site: Everything is red and green, but its the Holiday Gift Center, Holiday Decorations, Home for the Holidays, Artificial Trees, not Christmas trees. No mention of Christmas.

Well, they must be trying to get back on somebody's good side with this offering. But look at the face of baby Jesus! Who drew that? The South Park people? Is that a beard? I would have expected more from someone who came up with a sheep as cute as this. -------->

If the Wise Men showed up at this, they probably brought Beef Jerky, Velveeta, and a pack of Marlboros.

Nickel Creek, Farewell (For Now)

Listen in the background: Full concert streamed via NPR -- Live from Washington D.C.

The big event this weekend was the Nickel Creek show at Stubb's. My favorite band since early 2001. Last summer they issued an announcement that the band would break up at the end of 2007, so here it is. They had just 3 shows to do after Stubb's -- 2 at the Ryman in Nashville. For the breakup they went with a scheduled demolition instead of letting attrition wear them down -- possibly postponing the inevitable for years -- hanging on for way too long like those last seasons of The X-Files. I was really bummed about it at first, and although I still feel sad, I can see that it's necessary. These guys have been in a band together since a couple of them were 8 and the other 12. They spent 18 years in that band... they've grown up and are growing out. It happens.

It was a fantastic show, and one of the highlights was that our young friend Sarah Jarosz was called up onto the stage during the last encore (she was in the crowd and had to be lifted up over the rail to the stage), so that she even got to take the final final bow with the band!! We met her and her parents waiting in the Nickel Creek line a few years ago. Her dad told us later that although she has shared the stage with Chris Thile a lot (along with every other mandolin god you can think of and a few fiddle, guitar, and songwriter gods as well -- see the pics on her MySpace at the link) (I took one of those shots!), she had never gotten to play on stage with Nickel Creek before. It was AWESOME! I think she is about 16 by now, maybe 17? Not sure. They are really nice people. In fact, all the NC hard-core fans I've met are extremely nice folks. Most of the ones we've met are also musicians. Maybe being in Austin has something to do with that (seems like most people I meet are either musicians or photographers... guitar-playing photographers)

NC has called this last tour "Farewell (For Now)", and I really hope that if they ever do get back together as a band for touring or recording, it will be because of the music, and not just because they need money. I realize that it's a livelihood and everybody's gotta make a living and all, but as sad as the breakup is -- if they get back together just for money and not passion for the music, that situation will be a lot sadder.

Tags: Nickel Creek - Austin

Nice long list of naughties

Pam's House Blend has posted about the "One News Network's" list of stores that they view as participating in The War on Christmas by not openly mentioning the word Christmas in their store advertising (calls them "naughty") ONN Source here.

I find it interesting that all these nuts who think they are fighting The War on The War on Christmas really DO seem to think that the true meaning of it is all about shopping, otherwise why would they care WHAT retailers are doing!?! They want to make laws to force retail stores to commit to a certain religion? [fascists]

I am glad that there is such a long list of major chains who have at least stopped promoting a particular religion. That doesn't mean I will shop at them any more than usual. I do pick up an item here and there but really prefer buying local or second-hand. And if I see the word "Christmas" emblazoned on any store's display or advertising, it will definitely keep me out of there.

I have a theory that we are reaching a tipping point in this holiday shopping frenzy. Even people I know who are christians and loooove christmas are getting sick and tired of the shopping push being so extreme and starting earlier and earlier every year. I saw full rows of xmas decorations in Target in mid-October!! I remember that even 20 years ago things were not this bad, and xmas didn't go into full swing until Thanksgiving at the earliest... [full Old Blevins boring you on a barstool mode on] and when I was a kid... back when 'toys" consisted of a tin can found at the dump and some old pieces of rope... and you didn't put up your crappy silver foil tree until Christmas Eve. [/Old Blevins off]

I have my own personal War on Christmas Depression. Is there a christmas-free planet? Can I move there for a couple of months?

Song "Old Blevins" from The Austin Lounge Lizards

Purrsday Night - Swheat Treats

This is Jax. Jax loves to eat. This has given him a big round belly. He thinks his belly is delicious and keeps the hair licked off of it. He is always hungry.

Here he is, begging to be let onto the screened porch where there have been delicious lizards lurking. He's not allowed to pounce lizards or any other thing that's still alive.

"Mmmmmmmm.... tasty crunchy lizards..."

Recently we have been attempting to switch our cat litter from evil clumping clay over to something less dusty and less chemical. Our tabby cat, Henry, has mild asthma so we are trying to improve things for him. We tried the Feline Pine but is was really a big texture difference (they wouldn't use it), so we tried the Swheat Scoop. It's made out of wheat, and not sure what else. So lately, I have been catching Jax trying to eat the Swheat! I think he has eaten some of it (clean litter, not used!!). I called Swheat, and they said that sometimes the cat will eat it for a few days, but it won't swell in their bellies or hurt them. I am always skeptical, and this guy doesn't need a bigger belly, we know that. I've read some things about the corn litter, and sometimes the cats will eat that too.

We just need a cat litter that is non-toxic, non-dusty, good for the environment, organic and hopefully not delicious. Maybe it's low-calorie. It's definitely high in fiber!


Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at Pet's Garden Blog - Cats - Catblogging -

Egg heads

[LINK] A group in Colorado is trying to get fertilized eggs classified as "people".

Would this mean that:

1. these folks will not only be born again, but born 3 times?
2. Jesus's birthday will have to changed to make Christmas come in March?
3. the picture to the right is now that of a "chicken"?