For my Birthday, my sis took me to see OVO by Cirque du Soleil. This was my 3rd Cirque show, but my first in their yellow and blue tent. We had second row seats and they were incredible! I had no idea what the show was about before seeing it. I just loved everything about it. The talent these folks have is just incredible. There many breath taking moments and overall it was just spectacular.
These ants girls were my favorite. It was great to see them so close up. I could see the small adjusts they made with their feet and also hear the head ant girl call cues to the group. Seeing the girls being flipped back and forth so effortlessly was just extraordinary.
This is the official trailer for the show. Definitely see this production if you get the chance.
Before OVO we went to Interuban for lunch. At the Expo center there were these huge wind chimes. I would love to have one for my house. The entire day was great fun and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my sis.
Last Saturday, I saw the stage production of West Side Story. This was a pretty big deal for me. West Side Story is tied with A Chorus Line (I saw this last year!) as my favorite musical. I discovered the movie when I was 15 years old by renting it from the Multnomah County Library. I remember forcing my friends to watch this musical which at 15 in 1990 wasn't the most hip thing and my friends weren't thrilled. I have always loved musicals, but something about this music and dancing just mesmerized me.
I found the record (as in vinyl) at a garage sale and wore that sucker out. I was so worried about ruining the record, that I found a back up copy. The songs are just so fun to sing to. With music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Steven Sondheim, the songs are incredible.
My favorite characters are Riff, played by the very dreamy Russ Tamblyn and Anita, played the incredible Rita Moreno. For me, these two make the movie. Especially after I learned that Natalie Wood's voice is dubbed; she's not actually singing.
My only experience with this story was the movie, until now. I knew that the play would be a bit different and I had looked up the lyrics to each song, so I could still sing along to the slight word changes. The play is much more risque! While watching, I kept wishing that I could have had the opportunity to see Debbie Allen perform as Anita (this clip is her performing on the Today show in 1980). The production I saw was very good, but Debbie Allen is a goddess.
I left the play last Saturday on a total high. I've been listening to the album all week! I can't stop. Everything about it makes me happy.
Dance at the Gym was always going to be my song choice for ice skating in the Olympics. Yes, I've only ice skated a handful of times in my life and it kind of terrifies me. Still in my dreams, I skate to this song. :)
During the first part of December, I attended 3 circuses in 2 weeks. I hadn't planned for this to happen, but it was so wonderful to experience three completely different circuses in such a sort period of time.
The first circus was Michael Jackson's The Immortal World Tour put on by Cirque du Soleil. My husband bought tickets 18 months ago and I had forgotten all about this until just a few days before. One reviewer said that the show was quite bizarre, so I had no expectations. The energy in the packed Rose Garden was infectious. So many people were dressed in sequins and I was super excited.
It was a huge production and some aspects of it were amazing. The dancers were all very talented and it had the Cirque du Soleil feel that is so wonderful. It was also completely strange. There were parts to the show that were just weird and I couldn't figure out why they were part of the show. But overall, it was great fun and I'm so glad we went.
While waiting for the Cirque du Soleil circus to start, my husband got a text from a friend asking if we wanted to be on the guest list to a circus at Imago. Our friend was one of the musicians in the production. Of course, we said yes! So 2 days later, we were at Imago to see Charvari - An Adventurous Circus about the Journey of Immigration.
This very small production had 7 cast members and 4 musicians. I really loved being able to see them perform so close. One lady did aerial work with chains that was so impressive and kind of scary. I was always afraid she would be hit by the heavy chains, but of course she performed perfectly. This production was mostly in Spanish with some English thrown in. It was night and day from the Cirque du Soleil performance, but I liked it just as much.
A week later, we were at the Portland Art Museum to see The Circus Project. I had been a backer for their Kickstarter campaign and I received two tickets to their gala performance. The Circus Project headed by Jenn Cohen is a program that takes at risk homeless youth and teaches them to be professional circus performers in less than one year. You can read more about the program here.
Again, I really had no idea what to expect with this production. We were seated at round tables with candles and it had a nightclub feel to it. Odysseus came out on his segway boat and was the narrator of the show. He was the perfect MC to keep things light and to fill time during performance set up. Almost the entire show was done in the audience. I was so impressed by this! We were able to see the performers very close and the audience felt like part of the show. Odysseus even let me fondle his nipple at one point.
The performers were amazing! Each played a different god or goddess keeping with the Odysseus theme of the show. It's really crazy to think that they had been performing for such a short period of time. They were definitely pros.
Out of the three performances, I think I like the Circus Project the best probably because the audience felt so included and it was fun to see these kids doing such amazing feats.
This is a great short film about the performance that we saw and the kids in the performance. It will give you a sense of what the Circus Project is about.
Last weekend, I got to see The Monkees in concert. This was kind of a big deal for me. The Monkees seem to have always been a part of my life. Besides Simon and Garfunkel (who I amazingly got to see a few years ago), The Monkees have always been at the top of my wish list of artists to see.
This picture was taken when I was in th 7th grade. I would come home after school each day and watch reruns of The Monkees on Channel 12. I recorded the songs from the TV to my tape player. Then I would record a trimmed down version onto a master Monkees tape. I was so in love with the power of my dual cassette boom box; I thought I was pretty state of the art. It's amazing to remember the work I would put into acquiring these songs when in today's age any song is available with the click of a mouse.
The first time my husband stepped into my car, I was playing this mixed Monkees tape. I had no idea he was also such a huge fan. It was 1993 and we were living in the heart of grunge. The fact that we both liked the Monkees is one of the little things that brought us together.
Photo by Connie Schlecter
So last Saturday, my mom-in-law (who won tickets to see The Monkees 44 years ago which was her first concert at age 13), the farmer, my husband and I made the trek up to the Clark County Amphitheater to see them. I was expecting the show, sans Mike Nesmith, to consist mainly of their mainstream pop classics such as Daydream Believer and Last Train to Clarksville. They did play those hits, but they also sang many of my very favorite songs that came out later in their career. Songs such as Going Down, The Porpoise Song, Randy Scouse Git and Circle Sky were such a joy to hear live! I never thought that would ever happen. With a 8 member band to back up the 3 remaining Monkees, they put on a great show. I was most impressed that Peter Tork walked to the edge of the stage and told the audience that they didn't care if we took pictures or video and shared them with friends or the world. Wow! The cameras came out and people felt at ease approaching the stage for pictures. What a treat. Check out these 4 songs and re-discover The Monkees. They wrote 3 out of the 4. The 4th was written by Carole King. They could easy fit into today's hip indie music scene.
This video gets better as you go along; it's pretty rocky for the first minute. I felt it's worth posting because it's nice to have a sense of them in their prime. Please note: there is footage of the Vietnam war in this clip.
I love to find yarn bombings. I've stumbled across them all over Portland and even when traveling around the country. I couldn't believe it when I even found yarn bombing at Niagara Falls. When a friend asked if I wanted to go yarn bombing to celebrate International Yarn Bombing day on June 11th, I couldn't resist.
Last Saturday, my niece and I set off to participate in our first yarn bombing. We met friends at Tanner Springs Park in NW Portland, because it's a very urban park and it needed a bit of art.
The day before the event, I went through my yarn stash and pulled out lots of unfinished projects. I enjoy knitting, but I'm easily frustrated with it. Some of the projects I found were at least a decade old. I was happy that I had finally found a purpose for them. I also packed scissors and yarn needles to make the process easier.
Last Saturday was a pretty miserable day. It was pouring down rain all morning and afternoon. It was so bad that I considered canceling, but the evening started to clear up just a bit so we mustered on.
We ended up yarn bombing 22 things in a city block. It was really great fun and folks walking down the street got a kick out of it. Even a security guard went up to my friend to ask what the heck we were doing. Once the concept was explained to him, he just nodded his head and continued on his way. I was kind of surprised by this. I was worried that people would be upset by our bombing poles and trees. Quite the contrary. I didn't hear anyone say anything negative about the project.
I must say I've been hit with the yarn bombing bug. I can't wait to do more of it. With my limited knitting capacity, creating pieces to bomb are just big enough to keep me entertained, but not so big that I get frustrated or bored. I even want to put a piece on the tree outside of my house as a constant reminder to keep participating in this great fiber form of graffiti.
I can't wait to re-visit the park in the next few months to see if our pieces survive. I like the idea that it can be removed simply with scissors, although my hope is that people will enjoy seeing these as much as I do and leave them be.
I spent the last three days volunteering at the World Domination Summit. I can't express how much I enjoyed and appreciated all that I learned and the great people that I met. I have lots of ideas of how I can apply the lessons I learned to my own life. But I'm one who needs time to percolate my thoughts to articulate what the heck I want to say. So for now, I just want to give thanks for this incredible opportunity and to point out some of my favorite things.
It's all good. Be cool. This could have been the motto of the weekend. 500 people arrived from all over the world to attend the summit in Portland. This being the first inaugural summit, there were a few things (although, I'm so impressed that there were so few hiccups) that didn't go as smoothly as planned. Not once, the entire weekend, did I hear one complaint. Everyone was joyous and thankful to be there. If they were waiting in line, they spent the time getting to know and interacting with the folks around them. I was overwhelmed with the number of people who came up to me and and thanked me for helping out with this incredible event. Their positive energy was contagious.
For me, my favorite speaker was Karen Walrond. I was fortunate to see her in a breakout session (I'm one of the blurry figures on the left) and I got so much out of her talk on how to take better photographs. I'm excited to pick up my camera and work on the exercises she gave us. She was also the last speaker of the day to the collective group. Her talk was about how her photography book, Different is Beautiful - Observations of a Confident Misfit, came to be. She captivated me and the audience which at the end of a long day is quite a feat.
I also got a lot from Jonathan Field's breakout session on Uncertainty. Again, I'm the blurry one in the back. Jonathan's straight forward talk was about how to take uncertainty or doubt and change those thoughts and feelings into positive actions. As you know, I'm a crafty, yet shy girl. Uncertainty could easily be my middle name. I have doubt every time I create a blog post. I need to keep learning how to let that doubt go. I'm looking forward to his new book coming out this fall called, Uncertainty - Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brillance.
I must admit, that almost all of the speakers were completely new to me. The one exception was Andrea Scher (pictured on the right) the co-creator of Mondo Beyondo classes and, more importantly for me, the creator of Superhero Designs which has been a huge inspiration to me for close to a decade. On Saturday after hearing so many inspiring talks, I set 1 goal for myself. I wanted to introduce myself to Andrea. This was hard! Really hard. I almost talked myself out off it several times, but on Sunday I mustered up the courage to say hello. She was so friendly and nice, as I knew she would be. My fear wasn't that she wouldn't be gracious, my fear was that I wouldn't be able to formulate the hello without my brain shutting down. It didn't. I had a nice chat with her and she even admired my tattoo. It was really a great experience for me.
Here the entire group is learning a Bollywood dance lesson from the amazing Prashant. This collective group of people were different in every way; from age to size to color to personality, I was impressed with how wide the spectrum of individuals was at the summit. The thing that transcended all of our differences and we all had in common was kindness. Being the shy girl, attending this summit was so far outside of my comfort zone. I worried about what to do and what to say and how to be. After the first few hours, I felt those worries disapate. Everyone was so nice! Everyone. I have never seen a crowd that was so upbeat and positive and geniunely interested in everyone around them. I'm still carrying that contagious happiness with me and I know I will continue to do so for a very long time.
The World Domination Summit is finally here! I'm very excited to volunteer at this event and to meet lots of interesting folks from around the world. I went to the volunteer orientation last at the Portland Art Museum - where most of the summit will be held. Everyone was super and friendly and I've already made some new friends.
The World Domination Summit is the brain child of Chris Guillebeau author of The Art of Non-Conformity. He and his band of fellow non-conformists are bringing people physically together in this age of social media. The panel of speakers and friendly volunteer crew are sure to make this annual summit something to look forward to each year.
I will also be volunteering at Saturday night's Craft Crawl. There are 9 different tours such as the Hipster Nation, Brewin' it up, Art Addict and Pedal Portland tours. All geared to showcase all the things that makes Portland special. I can't wait to help expose visitors to our amazing craft scene.
I heard about Destination DIY from a friend and I was very excited to help fund this Kickstarter Campaign, because it fit all of my favorite criteria. It's made locally and it's about crafts. Julie Sabatier is the show's creator. She has an extensive background in radio and a true love for all things DIY. Here is an interview with her from OPB. Help her create a new season of hour long shows broadcasted on Oregon Public Radio. If you don't have access to OPB radio, you can listen to podcasts of each show on her website.
Julie has 8 more days to raise enough money for her kickstarter campaign to be funded. Think about supporting her as well. She is making great radio and she is an active member of the craft community.
My sis had the brilliant idea of taking a fondue making class to celebrate my birthday and Mother's day. I love the idea of birthday present being an activity that can be shared and nothing is better than liquid cheese!
The class was small with 17 particpants. The instructor had a table set up in front with all of the ingredients. We got to sip wine and watch her cook fondue.
We got to try two different kinds of cheese fondue (Cheddar and Blue Cheese) and one chocolate fondue. It really was heaven.
While this isn't a class where you are learning a ton since fondue consists of a few ingredients that are melted, it did dispell the myth I had held that fondue was too hard to make at home. I also picked up a few handy tips and I'm so excited to try this for myself.
The chocoloate fondue was delicious. There was so much that our table couldn't finish it all and I come from a long line of dedicated chocolate eaters.
The class was held at Thirst a winee bar down on the waterfront. They have a great resturant space and two rooms for classes. I'm definitely going to come here for dinner sometime soon.
We had such a great time and it was really nice to hang out with my mom and sister as we celebrated our respective holidays. We've even decide that we will make a fondue feast for Christmas dinner next year. Fun!
Last Saturday was the 4th Annual Record Store Day. This new tradition is one that we get pretty excited about. My husband loves music and tries to go record shopping every chance he gets. It's fun to have a special day devoted to the thing he loves most. This year we planned our route and brought my mom-in-law along. We hit 7 stores in all and got lots of Record Store Day grab bag goodies.
We started off the day at Music Millenium. You kind of just have to. This Portland institution is a driving force behind RSD and they usually have the best grab bags.
Many bands will issue a special single in celebration. We bought the RSD exclusive 7" from Duran Duran. I even wore my t-shirt that says 'Her name is Rio and she don't need to understand', in anticipation. Yes, I'm a child of the 80's.
Next was Exiled Records. I dig this store a lot. They carry very unusal stuff and they have a great folk section.
Green Noise is mostly punk, but you never know what you'll find in their used bins.
Visiting Tender Loving Empire was a nice treat. My husband and Mom-in-law hadn't been before and they loved it. With 20% off all of their entire catelog, it was a great time to pick up a few and support our local music scene. We even used our Supportland card!
It was a nice break for me because I got to look at all of the amazing local crafts for sale there.
We hit the downtown Jackpot which was a nice change. We usually only go to the Hawthorne store. Every store we went to was packed! Lines at Jackpot were especially long. It's great that so many folks come out to participate in this fun day.
We stopped for lunch at Ringler's under the Crystal Ballroom. It tied into the music themed day.
Everyday Music can be very overwhelming. It's just so big. You could spend half of the day just there.
Many of the stores had live music through out the day. We only happened upon this band, Brush Prairie.
We ended the day at our old stand by. CD Game Exchange has great cheap bins.
My husband is the main buying force when we go to record stores. We ended up with 38 CDs and 3 records. The average price per CD was $3.00. It's so amazing to find great inexpensive music. We in Portland are blessed by the number of great record stores we have.
For my birthday, my mom-in-law and the farmer gave me tickets to see Maya Angelou. My husband and I saw her at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (such a beautiful venue) last Wednesday. From the minute she opened her mouth, I was transfixed. Her amazing speech about having the courage to be a positive influence on others was filled with humor, poetry and wisdom. This will be a night that I will treasure forever. What an amazing birthday gift.
Two weekends ago I attended the Buckman Art Show and Sale. I'm embarrassed to admit I've never been to this show before. I don't even know how that's possible, but now I've righted that wrong. I had a tricky time just getting in because no food or drink is allowed. Diana and I had to chug the coffees we purchased moments before the show. Then the bouncer at the door told us that we had first get in line to give a donation and get our hands stamped.
The show was definitely worth the hassle. There were two large rooms filled with beautiful art and crafts. I recognized many vendors. It was fun to see folks I had previously blogged about. I showed restraint and only bought a few things.
I finally (finally!) bought my squirrel print from Berkley Illustration. I've wanted one for ages. I wish he had the girl squirrel too, but I will get that at a future craft fair.
I also bought a map pendant from Rachel Austin. A good friend gave me one of her necklaces a couple of years ago. It's one of my favorites and I constantly get compliments on it. I have always wanted a piece of Rachel's artwork, but I can't afford one at this time. So instead, I took home this bird pendant.
I was so excited to see that Bret Superstar designed this year's poster. It's beautiful! I've admired his work for ages. Again, I came super close to taking original art of his home. My frugal side kicked in and I bought these cards instead.
This is a very popular show and the crowd was huge. Hopefully next year Diana and I will be there representing Short Fuses. :)
This past Saturday was a very fun and packed day. That night we saw the Dharma Bums at the Crystal Ballroom. The Dharma Bums are my husband's favorite band. They are from his same small town and were a big influence in Portland in the early 1990's. It's been 18 years since they played. The concert was a fun reunion and my husband saw lots of childhood friends. The night was filled with lots of dancing and of course, good music.
Saturday afternoon we saw Legally Blonde as part of our Broadway season tickets series. I fully admit that I had very low expectations for this show. I've seen the movie. It's cute, but a whole musical? Especially since our last show was Xanadu, I expected more of that sort of thing. I was very pleasantly surprised with this musical. It was good! The songs are great and the stage sets were wonderful. There was something for everyone. How can you go wrong with adorable dogs on stage? I would recommend this musical to others.
I've been intrigued by Jean-Michel Basquiat for years. I'm a fan of his paintings and I really enjoyed the biopic Basquiat. Watching Downtown 81 was getting to experience just a tiny piece of his life and the art world he surrounded himself in. While the film is fiction, you get a good understanding of what his life must have been like.
Much of the movie is a homeless Basquiat walking around New York carrying
a painting and a bag with spray paint. Watching him create art on the
fly is such an amazing treat. How wonderful that this was caught on
film, especially since he died at age 27.
Beyond this, you get to see New York in 1981 and expereince some incredible music. I was amazed at how relevant the music still is; you could easily hear most of the songs on the soundtrack on the radio today. Here are a few bands from the movie: Plastics, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Tuxedomoon, DNA, and Gray (Basquiat's band).
When I was watching Downtown 81, I couldn't believe how much Basquiat sounded like Saul Williams. Much to my chagrin, it turns out that it is Saul Williams. The dialogue audio for the film was lost, so Saul dubbed Basquiat's voice for the film.
Being a child of the 80's I grew up with Olivia Newton-John rollerskating her heart out in the movie Xanadu. Yes, it's not the best movie ever, but it's campy and fun. It was also the last film my hero Gene Kelly starred in. Check out Gene on roller skates.
Last weekend, I saw the play Xanadu. It was part off our Broadway play season tickets. I must admit, I wasn't terribly excited to see this musical. It's not a show I would have actively sought out to see, but I was pleasantly surprised with the production. It was fun. The humor was great and the rollerskating was exciting. I had a great time! The only negative is that for some of the bigger musical numbers the sound was a bit painful. The music was too loud and you could barely hear the singers. All in all, I would recommend this play to anyone.
Fiddler was the first play in Broadway series this year. After having such a great experience with our season tickets last year, we opted to keep our seats for another year.
Being born in the 1970's, I grew up with Topol. I've seen the movie a zillion times and can sing along to every song. Getting the opportunity to see Fiddler with Topol was just incredible. Every word, every gesture embodies Tevye.
The play itself was really well done. The sound was great. We could clearly hear the softest of words, but the songs weren't crazy loud. It was a nice blend. The set was also very creative and used the stage well. It was just a joy to watch this play.
The dream sequence is always fun. I've had this song in my head since seeing the play.
This is a trailer for the production in Australia. It will give you a sense of how great this play is.
This past weekend, I went to the annual showcase of many of Oregon's creative guilds. I love this show. I try to go every year. It's held in the Oregon Convention Center and it's a great way to see lots of art under one roof. It's a great time to get presents and also to be inspired by so much creativity. Going to this show year after year, I've started to recognize many of the artists and their work. I also see several folks I've taken classes from over the years. It's a great way to feel connected to the art scene in Portland.
Here are all the associations that were present this past weekend.
I also got the chance to catch up with some old friends. Vince and Sabrina do amazing things with clay. They are such wonderful people. My husband and I sort of believe that they are the ultra hip versions of ourselves. You can find Sabrina's work here and Vince's work here.
I bought this necklace for myself and these earrings, but the glaze was the same as the necklace. I can't wait to show off my new beautiful jewelry!
Grease was the last play in this year's Broadway Series. I saw the play on Saturday and apart from a few production errors, it was really great. I was born and raised on the movie, so it was nice to finally see where the movie originated from.
I have to admit, I do like the movie better. But the play was great fun and it was great to sing familiar songs (like Summer Nights pictured above).
I also got to see Taylor Hicks from American Idol fame come out of a floating ice cream cone and sing Beauty School Drop Out. Wild.
Oh and let's go to Washougal, I hear it's legal there.
My husband and I received tickets for Storm Large's Crazy Enough play for Christmas. We went to the show on Sunday with our good friends. We are all very big (large?) Storm fans and loved seeing her in Cabaret. I also survived the Arctic Blast 2008 to see her Christmas Ball at the Wonder Ballroom with my cousin.
We all know that Storm can perform, but a play about her life? I must admit I was intrigued and skeptical at the same time. The second she took the stage, all skepticism was gone. From note one, I knew I was in for a treat. Her story is one to definitely drive a person crazy. Her survival shows how incredibly strong she truly is. She had me laughing and in tears. The songs were great and we bought the CD at intermission.
Yesterday, I saw the very last performance of "Into the Dark Unknown" with Holcombe Waller and The Healers. I've been a fan of Holcombe since I saw him in Wade McCollum's play 'One'. I've enjoyed Holcombe in concert too, but his performance yesterday was just amazing. Into the Dark Unknown was a mixage of performance art and an intimate concert.
This top video was my favorite piece he did yesterday. I just love everything about it. The bottom video shows his incredible voice. I will continue to seek out his projects because his talent is immense. Luckily he now calls Portland home, so hopefully it won't be too long before he performs again.
