New Tricks

I got a jolt of good feelings today after learning a new web development technique. The whole process took just a few hours but I'll use it over and over again. Some days I feel unqualified, unaccomplished, and underwhelmed. And some days are wayyyyyy better than that. Tackle a challenging task by learning something new. My takeaway for today!

Instagram: My New Favorite Thing

A blackberry user for years, my world is now better because of my brand spankin' new iPhone. Instagram is my favorite app! Here's why:

NYC Marathon

The NYC Marathon is a source of inspiration for the entire city. Luckily it was a gorgeous day. Somehow mother nature and her boss wanted us to have a day filled with positivity unhindered by inclement weather. Strangers cheering on strangers as they are amidst accomplishing one of the greatest moments in their lives. Truly wonderful, truly inspiring.

Snowpocalypse 2010

All hail mother nature! She has tricked us yet again into believing we have any sort of control over our lives! Stranded in Park Slope with no train service and unplowed streets (um, any idea when to expect those plows to come through??), I took a stroll through the hood to see the sledders in Prospect Park....

Inspiration

Dear Blogosphere,

It's been many many MANY months since my last confession. Today I was jarred in the soul by the voice of J. Tillman of Fleet Foxes fame. He sang three songs for the folks at Relix Magazine and I was fortunate to be working there with CID today. He opened his mouth to sing, pure beauty came out, and my eyes filled with tears. It was the first time in a long time that I had been that close to something so staggeringly beautiful.

Or was it?

"Inspiration, move me brightly..." We all know these words but just last weekend they were sung with full, loud voices by my dear friends around a table at the wedding for dear friends' wedding in Mexico. All faces beaming all around the table. I, myself, was just recently married too. My wedding was a dream, beyond dreams. It was beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I married an amazing man that I love and will love forever. And this was just months after the wedding of one of my best friends - a couple that we can envision our future with, raising children. Friends having babies, raising babies. Falling in love. Loving. Hurting. Laughing. Crying. Hugging. Feeling. FEELING everything.

And music? Well, Phish returned. That sure was nice of them. This came during a time when I was on a Ryan Adams Only diet so I guess that was a healthy transition, relatively speaking. Other than this? I've found a few pieces of music that have floated my boat so to speak but LIFE has been the driving force these days. Music has not been the one dictating which way to go.

I am finding joy in making a chicken dinner. In building new shelves for my new dishes. Looking at new neighborhoods with my new husband to find a place for our new life and the family we will raise. I enjoy spending time with my parents who have given me so much love and support and I am beyond grateful. (Ok, yes, I have been deeply enjoying The Phish Band's return as well.)

So, thanks J. Tillman, for knocking something loose inside of me today. For some reason, I was sitting on the subway after lugging a huge bag from Bed, Bath & Beyond and thinking about spitting out some words. Writers block? Maybe. Maybe there's just been too much going on. Too much goodness, stress, love, happiness, emotions, confusion, excitement, nervousness, joy, up, down, this way, that way...

Sorry for staying away so long. I will try to be better at keeping in touch. Say hello to your family. Have a great Thanksgiving if I don't talk to you before.

Much love,

Super Dee

Super Obama!

See more Obama Action Figures.

Our New President Loves Wilco and That is the Coolest Thing Ever

The Spell Has Not Yet Broken

We Sure Did

Great t-shirt

From Threadless T-Shirts

You can vote however you like.

I'm No Good At All

It's been months since my last post... But this is the most blog-worthy thing I've seen in a long time so I decided to come out of my unintentional hiatus and show it to you:

The official music video for Surprise Me Mr. Davis' "I'm No Good At All".
Featuring Nathan Moore (guitar & vocals), Brad Barr (guitar & vocals), Marc Friedman (bass), and Andrew Barr (drums).

Edited by the multi-talented Nathan Moore.
Produced by Shine A Light Productions.

Visit www.myspace.com/surprisememrdavis for tour dates and more info.

Geauxbama!

Great new t-shirt design from my good friends at Dirty Coast.

Lettuce Funk Your Face Off

When my good friend Pete Costello uses words like "flat out on fire," "Heavyweight Champions of Funk" and "BEST BAND IN THE GENRE" - at 10:08 am, mind you - I heed the call. After a day of loving my mother and sister and nieces and eating a sequence of bagels, lox, brownies and hot dogs while enjoying a supposed Tom Hanks marathon on TBS today, I took a detour back to Brooklyn via the Bowery Ballroom to see Lettuce. What I encountered was nine guys on stage in an unbreakable groove lock with each other. Boundless energy from the stage made it seem like it was a Saturday night in Detroit in 1972 - or at a raging funk party on Mars in the year 2054. The horns cut through the sea of sexy sounds from the band with a punchy staccato that's so clean and crisp it makes your hair stand up on its ends. Adam Deitch (omg, adam deitch...) is like the hip hop version of Stanton Moore and they've got him up on risers so you can just marvel at his skill to create mindblowing beats before your eyes.

From the looks of it, this is the end of their little jaunt (for which they apparently had zero rehearsal time beforehand and still sound tighter than anyone I've heard in a long while). But they'll be out and about during the summer and their new album RAGE! is available now - I found it here on HomeGrown.

Get a little dose of Lettuce right now over here: www.myspace.com/lettucefunk.

Hi, I'm a mac.

I am no longer a PC and I have to tell you it feels great. So, I threw down around three grand for this new baby and I do love it. They were nice enough to throw in a new printer/scanner/copier from which I expect to have lots of fun digging up old photos. Here's an old gem of me and my sisters from way back when...

The River JazzFest

The river runs through it... JazzFest that is. Yesterday was another incredibly rainy day but that didn't damper the spirit of JazzFest one bit. The sun started to finally peek through the clouds during Irma Thomas's set yesterday afternoon. And Al Green sang us love songs to send us on our way into the nighttime...


The nighttime, which started with an amazing meal at Upperline, took us from Tipitina's where Rebirth Brass Band opened up for Leo Nocentelli's Rare Funk Gathering. Leo is the original source of "super space funk" if you asked me.

As the night got fuzzy, it was time for a trip back downtown to the Howlin' Wolf where there was some major howlin' going on... from Skerik's horn. Not sure what this incarnation was called but we had Marco & Joe with Skerik and Eric Krasno blasting away in a Bustle-esque fashion. This is a band to write home about! So... I'm writing home about it...

Today was the beginning of the "daze between" which I just love. The noise settles down and the brain starts repairing itself. We made the pilgrimage uptown to get Domilise's poboys. People, if you have not hunted this place down yet, you are missing out on the best poboys in town. While uptown we went to visit our friends at the Dirty Coast store to buy some t-shirts. And now for a little down time before checking out the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars tonight at DBA!

Billy Joel... from under a human held tarp.

Torrential downpours at JazzFest today! But the music is still playing so ya gotta work it out, riight?! We found shelter during Billy Joel's set under a giant tarp held up by people. It was kinda awesome. That piano man sang us some songs and there were still thousands of soaking wet people all in the mood for a melody!

Fairgrounds, Day One.

Soft shelled crab po'boy, strawberry lemonade, crawfish beignets, fried eggplant in crawfish sauce, Cajun duck po'boy, fried green tomatoes, cochon delait, crawfish bread, crawfish strudel, white chocolate bread pudding... oh my. And there was music also. Day one happened. Here's some pics from the glorious fairgrounds.