the song in my head

There's a song that's been playing in my head since Sunday night. It's a beautiful and heartbreaking piano ballad by Zachary Richard, called Big River.

The lyrics:
Water’s on the river rising
More water come more land float away
People from Catahoula down to Berwick Bay
They got no place left to stay

When the water come out the basin
There ain’t nothing waterproof
Standing on the levee with the river raging
I’ve got nothing left to lose

Big river / Big river’s on the rise
Big river / Is gonna overflow
Big river / Is gonna wash us to the sea

Back in 1927
Six feet of water in Evangeline
Now the government trying to tell us
They say that the levee’s gonna hold next time

Big river / Big river’s on the rise
Big river / Is gonna overflow
Big river / Is gonna wash us to the sea

I’ve seen the water come under the levee
Boiling out from a crawfish hole
And before the sun was setting
Four feet of water in my front door

Big river / Big river’s on the rise
Big river / Is gonna overflow
Big river / Oh Mighty Mississippi’s on the rise
Mighty Mississippi is gonna overflow
Big river is gonna wash to the sea

send prayers, thoughts, vibes, wishes, ...

My 92 year-old Grandfather, my grandmother, two aunts, an uncle, several cousins, and other related uh,...relatives are in this right now. Right about where the little yellow spot is south of Jackson. And that's the storm eye just above the yellow dot.

I would SO have preferred this storm hit me than any of them. And I would have rathered it hit me instead of New Orleans. I weep for the city of my birth, submerged in muck.

Smell something burning?

It's my dual-ended candle.

I've hit the wall

This is a day where I've been running around, trying to go in six different directions at the same time, multi-tasking like I'm gonna be in a parade i have no idea what that means either, and now, one hour before I get to go home, I've stopped. I can't answer any more phones, I can't write anymore emails, stuff any more envelopes, or give anyone directions to where they're really supposed to be. I just can't. What I can do is play Spider Solitaire.

and blog.

meme-tastic deux

This one's a meme about music. Top 5 songs, to be exact. I don't know how anyone can come up with just 5 songs as all-time faves, but I'll try to choose 5 that comprise a representative sample. Understand: I don't get a lot of "new" music anymore, not since I left the Record Bar where I worked in college. So my taste is a wee bit dated.

Enough disclaiming. Here's the list. In no particular order:

Come on Eileen - by Dexy's Midnight Runners. No Doubt also does a fantastic cover of it. This one never fails to put me in a good mood. It's like fairy dust that way.



Bell Bottom Blues - by Derek and the Dominos. This one may even be older than me. But four syllables into it, they've got me. Don't ever make the mistake of trying to talk to me while this song is playing. At best, you'll get ignored. At worst, you'll lose a limb.


Concierto de Aranjuez - by Rodrigo, as performed by Miles Davis, Gil Evans, and friends on the Sketches of Spain album. This is my classical music selection for this list. I don't know what to say about it. You just have to hear it.



Son of a Preacher Man - by Dusty Springfield. Thanks to this song, I grew some cajones and partook of Karaoke. Much fun ensued.




Lonely No More - by Rob Thomas. I'm not made of stone, people. He got me. The lone recent release on this list. I know it's being overplayed. I know it's mainstream. But I like it. It's catchy, and makes me dance in my car.
Whitesnake used to make me dance on my car, but that's another post entirely.

So that's 5. V - are you surprised that Robbie Robertson isn't in here? :-)

meme-tastic

well, I've never done one of those "100 things about me" posts, or much of any "get to know me"-type things, because to be honest, I really just can't be bothered. But I got tagged. Twice.

So here are my meme's. I don't know what a "meme" is, or why it's called that, but apparently, I have to answer some questions and post it.

What are five of my idiosynchracies. Only Five?? erm,...okayyy. I'll just begin what could be a mammoth list, and stop when I get to 5.

1-My day has 26 hours in it. Or it would, if I were left to my own devices. Every night I want to stay up later than I should, and every morning, I want to sleep later than the day before. Some day I hope to do a little experiment, and live on my own schedule. I wonder if I'll ever make it back around to waking up at dawn without an alarm clock.

2-I love to travel. I'm addicted to it. I love to see the architecture and learn about the history of other places. It's interesting to me because I haven't always loved it, and I remember reading about what Sagittarians were supposed to be like, and the descriptions fit me to a "T," except for the bit about loving to travel. I was indifferent to it. And then I travelled on my own. That is to say, I planned a trip, got my tickets, found a travel buddy (not a parent/chaperone), and went. Now I get it. If I could only find a good way to fund my addiction...

3-I am fascinated by costumes. I like looking at them, making them, wearing them, designing them, researching them, and learning about their history and construction. I think this is a big facet of my love for theatre, and my enjoyment of Halloween. When I was in college, I took a job as a stitcher in a costume shop, even though I had no idea how to sew. But James "Parkie" Parker was very patient with me, and taught me how to sew. Though I'm no great seamstress, I am very proud of this skill, and it's given me a lot of enjoyment over the years.

4-I am a technogeek...on a budget. I love gadgets. Digital cameras, mp3 players, flash drives, all the way back to portable tvs and walkmans (walkmen?). Anybody remember those tape players from Sears, with one speaker and a little hole in it where the condenser mic lived? Remember trying to record songs from the radio with it? You had to put the recorder up to the speaker of the radio (or record player) and hit "record" and "play" at the same time, and wait 'til the song was over, then hit "pause," and then "stop." Hitting "stop" first caused a loud pop at the end of your song. Anyway, I was all about my little recorder, and would record 45's, the radio, tv shows, family sing-a-longs in the car, anything. O, what I wouldn't give for that Christmas sing-a-long/burp-fest from circa 1979. I love playing with these gadgets, but I can rarely afford them when they first come out. So I get them as gifts, or save up and buy them them after the NextBigThing has come out.

5-My soul needs water like my body does. I love water sooo much - rivers, lakes, oceans, rainstorms, baths, showers, fountains. But I'm not that big on drinking it-dunno why. On a recent trip Out West with my parents, I had a lovely time traveling and hanging out with them, but I realized I could Never, Never live there. The whole place is so DRY. It made me really appreciate humidity. But I think my ideal place would be Scotland, or Ireland. I've never been there, but I feel that it's where I need to be. Just look at the pictures--all that green? You know where that comes from, right? A Lot of Water. mmmmmmmmmmmm......

So that's Five. I know it's really more of a list of Stuff I Like, more than My Idiosynchracies, but I'm hoping that it's somehow a list of both. I only intended to make a quick list. This is more like a novel. Wait 'til I tell you What I Did Last Summer.

Meester Squirrel

Ze squirrel, he taunts me....




...and my leetle pussycat...




and then....






...he robs us blind.

another beautiful sunset

another beautiful sunset
Originally uploaded by Epiphany.

Here's a view of the Cape Fear River at sunset a few days ago. I postponed dinner to get this shot. You're welcome.

Cinemas Completus

Last night I went to see the *other* half of House of D (see previous post). It was so worth the return trip to finish the story. What a beautiful film. They did such a good job of capturing everyday humor and pathos. If you ever get the chance, I recommend you watch it. It's definitely in my top 5 of this year,...probably more like the top 2.

I can't say enough good stuff about it, so I'll just stop. goseeit.goseeit.goseeit...go...see...it.

Afterwards I met up with a friend and we went walking around, had a couple of drinks at a local rooftop bar, got to catch up for a bit and see some other friends, and just generally have a relaxing good time. It's been a while since I've been able to do this (or maybe it just seems that long). It was just a lovely evening.

I'll melt with you

You know when you're watching a movie and there's someone watching a movie in it? ...I'll pause while you read that a couple more times.... you with me? then I'll continue. Ok, so you know when you're in those movie-within-a-movie movies? and the inner-movie suddenly stops, and the image turns a little brown, and starts to melt? That happened to me last night. Well, the inner movie part happened to me. not the movie-within-a-movie part. because there was no...

Let me start over.

Last night I went to see House of D at Cinematique. Cinematique is a film series co-sponsored by the local public radio station and the main performing arts theatre in downtown Wilmington. The series shows movies that will never make it to the local megaplexes (indies, documentaries, short films, etc.), and it's in a venue that was built in the 1850's and has played host to people like Oscar Wilde and Buffalo Bill Cody.

The seats are hard, the floors are wooden, the sound is not that great, and about 1/3 of the views are at least partially obstructed. And it's one of my favorite places to see a movie. When was the last time you could say you were watching a movie that melted??
In case you were wondering, the House Management was very cool, and they said that we could just bring our ticket stubs back, explain what happened, and they'd let us in for free to try again to see the whole movie, which I plan to do, because the 35 or so minutes that I saw of it were great.

Real Magnolias

IMG_2023
Originally uploaded by Epiphany.

I just put a few pics up from a recent stroll after an afternoon rain. click the magnolia to see more.

i'm not ded...

..i just been busy.

They elected me president...yes, you read that right...President...of the local theatre company I work with, and we have a show opening tonight. I've been running around like a headless chicken gathering props and costumes, processing pictures, updating the website, making signs, and designing sound (thank you, Scott!) , trying to help get everything ready for tonight. And I think it is.
Lest anyone think I am doing all this myself, lemme set you straight: I am only helping where I can, filling in some blanks here and there. There are a whole lot of others who have been working on this show harder, and for a longer time than me. I'm just like a relief pitcher. well, not just like one...

So yeah. I'm still here. And SOME PEOPLE have tagged me for things called "meme's"...ya'll know there's a special hell for that, don'tcha? ...so I guess I'll be posting about those sometime soon. But I'm not taggin' nobody. You cain't make me. I'm breaking the rules and breakin' the chain. 'cuz I'm kraaaazy lak dat. booogaboogaboooga.

jus' checkin'

...checking to see if a weather button that I've ummm.....borrowed....from another site will work here:

...i guess it do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[edit: added the button to the sidebar and rearranged some stuff. ---->

the archive list was getting a little outta control.]

I am so jealous of these women.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/finslippy/sets/681204/

they would so make me switch.

well, I doubt they'd make me, but I could be convinced by them, if they were to try,..ohfergitit.

As promised...

Beach pics!

Glassy seas out by the inlet












Dockside dining







Dinner of Skrimps and Marys