Making Flippy Floppy

Get Out! to Debut Looks like my first column (the name: "Get Out!") is to be published in the SR next Saturday, the 3rd of March. I have to somehow conjure up a semi-decent picture of myself by Monday for them to use in the byline. The article is about Takara Japanese Restaurant and the benefits of eating sushi before a night out on the town. I ended up cannibalizing an earlier review of mine about Syringa, but so what. Plus, they wanted me to put together a "what's happening" sort of calendar for the N. Idaho metropolitan area (*cough*) and that was actually a lot more work than you'd imagine. Between endless folk and jazz acts, cover bands, and karaoke nights, there's actually a lot going on around here. I guess I'll have to pop into all these places eventually to do a write-up. Can't wait to cozy up next to the drunk Hell's Angels at the Powder River Saloon. Tough job = someone's gotta do it. Anyway, I decided to post the print column here on the blog the Friday before it appears in the paper, starting this coming week. Music Walk is a Dud For the next week's column, my plan was to write about the big downtown Coeur d'Alene Music Walk last night, which supposedly consisted of a dozen or so folksy guitarists and string quartets playing in the dark corners of the uppity cafes and art galleries. Yesterday afternoon saw a crazy blizzard blow in, visibility near impossible, the snow actually pain-inducing as it hit your face. The event was to begin at 5 and around 6 I decided to head downtown just to see what I could see, and what I saw was pretty much nothing. Traffic was light and it seemed like no-one was quite brave enough to take to the sidewalks. I drove slowly up Sherman Ave, peering in windows only to see a series of empty shops. I turned the radio off, rolled down the window and listened carefully for any sign that a music fest was happening. Nothing. Finally, I see Cris Lucas playing his guitar to 3 people inside Cafe Doma and I decide not to bother. I'm not sure if I want to blame the weather or blame whoever was in charge of promoting the event. The only way I even knew about it is because I work for a public city entity, but your average person would have no idea - I saw no ads or write-ups about the event in the local papers, no cool posters, nada. What about TV ads on the ugly new CDA TV Channel 19? I think it's nice that this city wants to support local music, but they are going to have to do more to actually get people out and involved, even in a blizzard. They are doing these Music Walks on a monthly basis, so I will try again next time. What Flavor of Drugs? Britney's third entrance into rehab this week has me asking something specific that no-one ever seems to mention: What kind of drugs is that girl hooked on? Simple hyrdrocodone or hardcore heroin? Is she just into the drinky-drinky? We already know she smokes pot and we don't really care too much about that. She's truly acting like she's trippin' on some bad brown acid or something, but ultimately my guess is a classic cocaine habit she must have picked up from Paris. Thoughts?... La Belle Belinda I'm really loving, of all things, the new Belinda Carlisle album, titled Voila! The erstwhile Go-Go's latest consists of covers of French classics by the likes of Edith Piaf, Serge Gainsbourg, and Jaques Brel. Her trademark warbly vibrato is well suited for the French language - it's as if she finally found the niche she's been searching for throughout the ups and down of her solo career. From a gorgeous rendition of "La Vie en Rose" to a dramatic interpretation of Gainsbourg's space-age pop classic "Contact", Voila! is quirky fun, especially when her California-girl accent seeps through to the surface -it's charming. Final track "Jezebel" is a dramatic treat, a wild, shoe-stomping scorcher. Somehow, she hooked in none other than Brian Eno to decorate the album with his distinctive keyboard style, which adds to to the surreal atmosphere, and makes Voila! transcend novelty and merit repeated listens. C'est magnifique! Senioritis I started this semester off with a bang, but six weeks in and I'm starting to slack. My JavaScript book nearly bring tears to my eyes as I nod out in vein attempts to absorb all the codes and boolean expressions and comparative operators. I gave up before finishing my Geology crossword puzzle quiz this week, leaving some answers blank and not really caring, knowing that I'll at least get 7 or 8 out of 10 points. I worked on that mofo for 6 hours. 6 hours work for 10 little points? My time is too valuable, dammit. The InDesign class - this software is very good to know, it will potentially expand my options into more print design rather than strictly web design, but working through the text just makes my eyes glaze over and my brain wander yonder. My easy class is Computer Forensics - read a chapter a week and respond with a brief essay. But, it's too easy - where is the challenge to keep me interested and involved? *Sigh* I've got to just barrel through it I guess, only 2 1/2 more months and I'm done done done. Well, for now anyway...

Labels: Belinda Carlisle, Britney Spears, Get Out, Random Thoughts, Takara