GermanCityGirl's Art Spotlight

A pair of sketches today. According to the artist, the first one is Tanake in a Puzzle Fighter-style. I like her hands on her hips and her half-smile. The second is a beautiful sketch of Bebe (centre figure) looking sweetly over her shoulder. I enjoyed them both very much and send thank yous to the artists!

by the generous and sweet

by the wonderful and talented

---

---

GermanCityGirl's Thoughts

---

---

It's been over two months since my last update and that simply won't do. Last month was busy and it's quite evident that November's heading in the same direction. Lots of concerts and other engagements on iCal to keep us occupied.

But let me backtrack for a moment... October wasn't too shabby. We attended a book reading by Craig Ferguson which was quite funny. A woman in the audience asked him a question about parenting that ended with a meltdown in front of a full auditorium.

Next came James Ellroy, also doing a reading from his latest book. Wow. If you aren't familiar with the man, he's definitely different. His talk was very engaging but his voice projected so well that he didn't require the microphone and seemed to me like one of those artists you can enjoy yet not wish to spend any time with... if that makes sense.

At the last minute, a single ticket to Kevin Smith came into my possession and I opted to go. He spoke for over three hours clad in a terry cloth bathrobe like we were in his living room. His performance was a lot funnier than I thought it would be and I enjoyed the poignancy of some of his stories. Don't get me wrong, he was still profane but there were some tamer tales mixed throughout. I especially liked his Gretzky story which involved relating a documentary to his uninterested wife over the course of an afternoon and a lot of smoke.

Mid-month, we attended a really cool Kabuki performance which showed us what takes place behind the scenes. It was phenomenally cool to have facets of the dramatic dance and music explained to us. And to hear from the actors themselves on the methods they used for their performance. Photographs are forthcoming, I just had a lot to sift through after PAX.

Oh yes, PAX. VIP badges made the three days a lot of fun even though I was one of the unlucky few who caught H1N1 with both hands. Oh yes... I had good and proper swine flu. The scariest thing about its efficacy was how fast it hit me. Within hours, I felt my condition go from bad to "I-need-to-see-a-doctor-ANY-doctor!"

Back to my October litany now. Ah yes, the Khoomei-Taiko Ensemble was next - a unique ensemble performance of Mongolian, Japanese and American artists collaborating on one project. There was the Mongolian art of khoomei (throat singing) and morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) + Japanese taiko (drums), fue (flutes) and koto (zither). Add to that mix the jaw-dropping vocals of Khongorzul Ganbaatar, an artist from Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project. Her voice gave me chills it was so powerful... and it didn't matter that I couldn't understand what was being said - the emotion from all of the songs were tremendous.

The Sounds rocked the Showbox downtown. They had two opening bands: Foxy Shazam and Semiprecious Weapons. The former was an entertaining group from Cincinnati while the latter was a glamrock quartet from New York. We enjoyed Foxy Shazam enough to pick up their CD from the merch table and ended up meeting their keyboardist on our way out. As far as the other opening band goes... yeah, they were awful.

I took a good friend of mine to his first burlesque show at the Triple Door. We enjoyed it so much that we might make it a monthly thing. There seem to be a lot of performances here, some troupes performing weekly at some spots. At the next show, I'll try to take more photographs if I am able.

The 8th Annual Sushi and Sake Festival was a bust. They ran out of food and it was too crowded. I ended up getting a refund from the organizers who didn't want poor planning to ruin anyone's time. It was refreshing that someone took ownership of a bad situation with the best solution possible. I was prepared for an offer for tickets for 2010 but no, they sent a check immediately for the full cost of the tickets. Colour me impressed.

The Bravery was earlier this week and they put on a good show. Through a misunderstanding, we met a really nice pair of people from Montana who ended up buying me a drink. The girl, J., is a flight attendant for a local airline and she might turn out to be a nice asset when I get a craving for Garrett's.

Tonight, P. and I are going to The Pixies show at the Paramount. They wanted to do something special for the twentieth anniversary of Doolittle so they decided to perform all of the album in its entirety along with its related B-sides. I'm quite happy they included Seattle in their tour roster since it's only going to eight other cities.

So that's it. My life right up until now, leaving out the mundane trivialities that would bore even me... I have Facebook for that. This weekend we have tickets to see John Oliver and later this month, Ben Sollee, Swell Season and Morrissey to close out the month of November.

And next week will mark an auspicious occasion - the tenth anniversary this month for me and GC, it's been rocky in parts but well worth every damned day. More pontification to come, my pretties. I just looked at the time and need to get ready to go retrieve P. for some foods + the Pixies!

See you cats on the flip side and stay frosty.

Mood: Sleepy
Listening to: The jingle of the cat's bell as he grooms himself.
Reading: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle ねじまき鳥クロニクル by Haruki Murakami.
Watching: Flash Forward.
Drinking: POG.