The Cure at Everett Event Center

The show was awesome. Mr. Na was good for the first 90 minutes and then Papa had to take him to the stairs across the hall so he could run. But he danced his little toddler butt off making everyone around him laugh hysterically. He was stylin in his day-glo earplugs and his "Clash Kiddie Rockers" t-shirt.

Robert Smith and the boys played for over two hours and included favorites like "Charlotte Sometimes" and some other goodies from Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and Disintegration. It's too bad this gig wasn't at the Gorge--but it still sounded great. I really hope they'll come back soon and finally play there!

Is it just me or is everyone else who watches Six Feet Under sick and tired of the blatant marketing through product placement?

It was just silly to have Barbara's 12 year-old daughter give Nate a copy of Stiff to give to David, which, by the way, I'm told by a dear friend that it's awesome...but c'mon please...a 12 year-old? To make matters worse, she saw Nate a few months later and asked him if he had given it to David and then went on to say "oh you should read it too, it's great."

But THEN even more insulting to me was George's STUPID comment about walnuts as he entered the kitchen with a 25 pound bag of them. "They're packed with Omega 3's and other nutrients..." GRRRRR!!! Ok, so maybe I'm a little sensitive since a) I've been in PR all of my frickin' professional life and b) my friend works on Hazelnuts...but really--I think blatant product marketing is for the birds.

A Message For The Children (taken from the Onion)

Here's what some celebrities had to say to the children of the world.

My favorite response is from Sarah Vowell who said: "The third Harry Potter is the best. Also, your parents are just making it up as they go along."

The Cure...

Well, so I never posted an audioblog from the Curiosa tour this weekend because the concert was cancelled. Thankfully, though, the Cure has rescheduled for August 31--closer to home and our tickets from Saturday will be honored there.

I was so looking forward to seeing the Cure play at the Gorge, dammit!

Rules of the day...

New Rules (sorry, this is a direct rip-off from Bill Maher).

Rule #1 -- Do NOT let your toddler watch "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" even if it's only for five minutes. Otherwise, he will pretend he's Gollum for an entire week -- and climb all over you and the furniture muttering "Gollum-esque" utterances.

Rule #2 -- Do NOT let your 67 year-old mother (with Glaucoma) drive at 11:30 at night in the pouring rain. She will turn right on a dark street and clip a parked Jeep Grand Cherokee--thus totalling her car.

Rule #3 -- If either (or worse...both) of these occur, run. Run as far away as fast as you can and don't look back.

Garden State/Zero 7/Losing Yourself in Music

I realize I'm behind the times--having just bought Zero 7's album "Simple Things" which was released in 2001; but I'd only heard one of the tracks--In the Waiting Line--this past Saturday when we saw Garden State.

I thought Garden State was a cool little flick...a nice digression from the summer's blockbuster-o-rama. I like Zack Braff and to my surprise his writing stirred me emotionally. I could relate, somewhat, to his fuckedupness and realization that there's a point in time where you simply have to address your problems or they'll fester. It's hard, too, when you're in love with someone yet you know there's still lots of shit to be sorted through without any distraction. You either have to slay the dragon alone--or run the risk of ignoring it.

Anyway, so while I was out surfing iTunes today, I ran across Zero 7 and gave a listen to the rest of the album, which--for me--is quickly becoming my new "writing CD". It's melodic and "girlie swirlie", meaning that it's neither aggressive nor poppy. Much like Garden State, it too is a detour from the summer's hit-o-rama. If I hear Maroon 5 again, I will puke.

The tracks seem to just blend into one another, which is nice for me while I work, since I suffer from a short attention span to begin with; but so far, In the Waiting Line is my favorite on the album.

Just in case anyone thought I was going soft in my old age--I also picked up Interpol's "Turn on the Bright Lights." I look forward to seeing them with THE CURE this Saturday...yep...I'M TAKING MY TWO YEAR-OLD TO A CURE CONCERT! That'll make for a fun Audioblog!

Are We Suffering From Holocaust Overload?

Apparently one journalist thinks so, after screening "Rosenstrasse"--a film about Aryan wives living in Berlin in 1943 who protest in the streets when their Jewish husbands are taken away to be detained in other parts of the city.

His comment to the SG Mayer exec made me sick.

Sure they're hundreds of films and thousands of books about the Holocaust--but there are millions of different perspectives on the subject.

I'm eager to see the film since it's so similar to the plot of my book.

Hey, Who's The Freakin' Stuffed Squirrel?

In case you were wondering about my profile photo, that's not me--it's Chester, my dog's pet stuffed squirrel.

Chester is a midwestern brown squirrel who was once the lead singer of the speed metal band Nutcracker from 1988-1991. They disbanded when Baby, the drummer, OD'd on chocolate he had smuggled from Amsterdam during their Welcome to the Nuthouse tour. You can learn all about it from their Behind the Lyrix mockumentary.


Nutcracker's bestselling and final album, Welcome to the Nuthouse 

Oatmeal (my dog) met Chester when he was hired as a studio musician for her first album Moofie Rock which included covers of "Loving You" and "Have You Ever Been Mellow". He was trying to score some lines of nutmeg when she intervened, preaching "Choose Life" -- her own life's motto from one of her all-time favorite bands Wham!

When Chester isn't gigging with his old pals or getting baked with Baby on the couch, he's usually passed out somewhere in the house. I've been begging him to start a blog about his past life and current adventures, but he just stares at my breasts and says "I'll leave the writing to you, Mrs. S..."


Chester and his pal, former Nutcracker bandmate, Baby

Sketch Comedy

Fellow Seattlelites submitted ideas for Britney Spears' wedding gown. Personally, I love the "Pop Tart" look. Which one is your favorite?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/living337/1.html

While I was in Terezin this past December I picked up a copy of We Are Children Just The Same. The book is a collection of essays, poems from and interviews of the children who were interned in Terezin from 1942-1944.

I'm in awe of the childrens' talent and saddened that the majority of them had been sent to their deaths in Auschwitz. One of the boys, Petr Ginz, was only 14 years-old when he was taken from his parents in Prague and sent to Terezin. Yet despite his imprisonment he, along with the other boys who lived in Barracks L417, wrote Vedem--a weekly magazine of stories, poems and illustrations that often depicted the ghetto's hardship or musings of teenagers trapped inside a fortress of darkness and death.

I often wonder what the world would have been like if the Jewish Holocaust never happened. How many gifted people perished who might have made this world a better place.

Oh, the humidity

My love for the Pacific Northwest was rekindled this week when I stepped off of the plane in O'Hare and the humidity made the hair on my arms curl. I can't tell you how comforting it is to come home to cloudy, cool weather mixed with a faint smell of coffee.

We survived our trip and thank goodness it's only a yearly requirement.

Highlights:

Cedar Point (which, by the way, the audioblogger below is from the Corkscrew...I never got to add that to the audio).

Giordano's Deep Dish Pizza in Chicago

Mr. Na's choo choo collection doubling from the Grandparents

Lowpoints:

Melted fudge from Frankenmuth

A tummy ache from eating frozen custard at Greenfield Village (tied with being at Greenfield Village)

Not being able to find time to write