"Was there no safety? No learning by heart of the ways of the world? No guide, no shelter, but all was miracle and leaping from the pinnacle of a tower into the air?" ~virginia woolf

Ladies and gentlemen, look what is in my possession:

How beautiful is that?! I love that label on the front that says "ADVANCE READING COPY." That makes me feel so special. This is the bright spot in my week. If I don't post for a few days, it will be because I will be spending my free time devouring this book. Random thought: I think it's interesting that they wrote, "By the Booker Prize winning author of The Handmaid's Tale" when she won the Booker Prize for The Blind Assassin, not The Handmaid's Tale. I guess The Handmaid's Tale is her most famous novel, though. Anyway, I love her.

Other highlights of the week: Clijsters and Del Potro winning the U.S. Open. Hooray for Federer being taken down! I really don't like him. The first U.S. Open match I watched this year was Clijsters vs. Serena Williams, and I sure picked a good one. I also watched the finals (well, the last set of each match). I'm very happy.

Other recent highlights: Sunday (yesterday) I went to Broadway on Broadway and then the Brooklyn Book Festival. I'd like to post about them but I just don't have time now. But they were great.

Oh, and Kanye West is a jerk and an idiot. To put it nicely. Seriously, I can't get over his stunt at the VMAs. It really pisses me off.

RIP Patrick Swayze. :(

"Catch a boat to England, baby, maybe to Spain. Wherever I have gone, wherever I've been and gone, wherever I have gone the blues have run the game." ~jackson frank

I survived the first few days of school, but it wasn't easy. A five-hour happy hour on Friday helped me unwind. For about the first hour it was just Lauren and me, and then some former teachers from our school joined us. It was nice to see them again.

I saw A Steady Rain on Broadway this weekend. It's a two-person cast, and those two people are Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, so that alone gives it quite an appeal. I'm not surprised the whole run is nearly sold out already, even though it just started previews on Thursday. Unfortunately the play isn't that great. The acting is very good, the background sets are very impressive, but it's just not that well-written. John Crowley is the director and Scott Pask is the scenic designer; I loved their work on The Pillowman (one of my favorite plays), and they did a good job with this play as well, but there's only so much you can do with the material.

The stage door was a mess. There were SO many people there. I had a really good spot, and then they moved one barricade and that screwed it up for me. I ended up with bad pictures. Here are two of them, though:


I hate it when people go to the stage door without seeing the show. I was one of the first people out of the theatre, and there was already a crowd outside. If you want an autograph, you should have to buy a ticket. It's not fair to the people who actually paid to see the show.

Margaret Atwood is my favorite author. I collect her books. In anticipation of the release of her newest novel, The Year of the Flood, I reread Oryx and Crake. I don't think The Year of the Flood is exactly a sequel to Oryx and Crake, but they're related. They share some characters. So I needed to revisit Oryx and Crake. And I was reminded of how much I love it. It's such a good book; it's definitely one of her best. I think it's interesting that it's her only novel with a male protagonist, because it works; I feel like I can really see inside Snowman's head. It's funny and heartbreaking and terrifying and just wonderfully written. I highly recommend it.

The Year of the Flood is coming out at the end of this month, but my friend Lauren's roommate's boyfriend got an advance copy, and Lauren is being kind enough to lend it to me (I've lent her all of my Margaret Atwood books in the past). Hopefully I can start it on Monday.

"Ring out the bells again, like we did when spring began. Wake me up when September ends." ~green day

The first TV show of the season is back, and I'm quite gleeful about it! (Sorry for the awful pun.) Yes, of course I'm talking about Glee. I mostly love it because of the actors (and the music). I always think it's cool to see people I've seen on Broadway in films and TV shows.
I saw Lea Michele (she plays Rachel on the show) in Spring Awakening; in fact, I sat next to her onstage (they had onstage seating, and the cast members sat amongst us during the scenes in which they weren't acting). I saw her half-naked from very close-up. So it's cool to see her on TV. And she has a gorgeous voice.
I've also seen Matthew Morrison (he plays Mr. Schuester) on Broadway, in The Light in the Piazza and Hairspray. Gah, I adore him. He is so freakin' gorgeous. And he has a beautiful voice as well; I hope they showcase it more on Glee. He can do much more than "Gold Digger" (although that was a great scene).
The extended pilot and the second episode (which aired last night) are both on Hulu, so go watch them. It's a fun show. Not necessarily quality TV, but fun. Next up on my list of returning shows: Gossip Girl on Monday! I know I don't really have time to waste watching TV, but I honestly need it for my mental health. I need to unwind or I'll go crazy.

School has started and I'm already exhausted. Seventh graders are not easy to handle. At all. Ugh. It was good to see some of my kids again, but some of them I could do without. I think it'll be easier once we get into the swing of things and really dive into the curriculum. The beginning of the year is always chaotic.

My favorite cousin uploaded some ridiculous photos to facebook. Here are my faves:




This is how I feel about going back to school:

"You just wanna have a good time, just like everybody else. You don't want to fall apart this time." ~counting crows

I recorded the Counting Crows concert I went to on Thursday. I'm already seeding the .flac files, but it's a huge torrent (1.2GB) and it's mostly the hardcore fans who want that. So I'm posting it here if you just want to listen to it (let me know if you want to be directed towards the torrent).

The concert didn't start until 6 but AD and Dave Bryson came out to do The Ghost in You at 5 and I didn't have my equipment ready, so I'm missing some of that song. Which is a bummer, because they never play it. But at least I got some of it. I was so thrilled they did that, too. They came out and did an acoustic song about every 20 minutes until the concert started, playing Blues Run the Game (I LOVE that song) and Washington Square.

My highlights:
*The three opening acoustic songs.
*A Murder of One, my favorite song.
*A Long December w/ I Am Feathered alts. Gorgeous.
*Going Back to Georgia, with Emmy Rossum (probably best known as Christine in the movie version of The Phantom of the Opera). She's spent some of this tour with them and has a beautiful voice.
*All the Stars and Boulevards (Augustana). Great song, I was thrilled to hear it live.
*Sound of Sunshine and I Got Love for You were my favorite Spearhead songs.
*Good Time is SUCH a good song, and I couldn't believe I was hearing them play it. I was bummed that my sound is screwed up at the end of it, though.
*Why Should You Come When I Call. They were never able to play it in concert before because they didn't have enough people to do the harmonies, but having 19 people onstage definitely solves that problem. And I'm glad.
*It's a fun version of Rain King.
*They always do such great covers: Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkel), Just Like a Woman (Bob Dylan), Caravan (Van Morrison), This Land is Your Land (Woodie Guthrie)...they're so well-chosen.

It really is an impressive setlist. There are a lot of unexpected songs (Another Horsedreamer's Blues, Catapult, and some already mentioned). Because I've been to so many of their shows, I'm always most excited about hearing songs that I haven't heard live before. And it was a really long show. It was nearly four hours of music. I highly recommend listening to it. When you have time. Maybe bookmark the post so you can go back to it.


Get Your Own Player!



I go back to work tomorrow. Ugh. Not looking forward to getting up so early.

"Inside you the time moves, and she don't fade. The ghost in you, she don't fade." ~the psychedelic furs (covered excellently by counting crows)

I'm heading out to spend my birthday with my cousin Bess, but I want to quickly post about Counting Crows at Central Park Summerstage last night. Because I've been looking forward to this all summer. And it was fantastic. I was the first person in line (a little before 8:00am). Some people I know from previous CC concerts and some people from the CCMB lined up after me, and I got to spend the day in line hanging out with them. The doors opened at 4:30pm, so I was in line for almost 9 hours, which is a long time. I got sunburned. But it got me the best spot once they let us into the venue (front row dead center).

The concert wasn't supposed to start until 6:00pm, but a little after 5:00pm, Adam and Dave came out and did an acoustic version of The Ghost in You. I wasn't ready to tape yet (the concert wasn't supposed to start for another hour), so I had to pull out my gear and quickly set it up while freaking out about them playing that song. Because it's rare. And I love it. I got about half of it. But it was really cool to just hear it. Especially with AD and Dave sitting a few feet away from me.
Before the concert started, they did a couple more acoustic tunes. AD and Immy did Blues Run the Game (I LOVE that song), and they also did Washington Square (with Dan Layus on harmonica). Those small acoustic songs were really great to hear, especially because they provided such a contrast with what was to come.

This was not a Counting Crows concert. It was The Saturday Night Rebel Rockers Traveling Circus and Medicine Show. That consists of the members of Counting Crows, Augustana, and Michael Franti & Spearhead. They began with Caravan, with nineteen people on stage all playing together. Then they launched into mini-sets featuring each band. Counting Crows definitely mixed up their setlist; they played Good Time(!), Catapult, Another Horsedreamer's Blues...those are unusual. And it was really cool to see them. They also did A Murder of One, A Long December, Omaha, Hanging Tree, Hard Candy, Mr. Jones, Have You Seen Me Lately, Why Should You Come When I Call, Angel from Montgomery, Going Back to Georgia (both of those with Emmy Rossum), Hangin' Around, Cecilia, Rain King, and This Land is Your Land. Mix some Augustana songs and some Michael Franti/Spearhead songs in there and you end up with a pretty freakin' amazing concert.

I'll post more later; I have to go now. But I'll leave you with a link to my photos from the show (there are some good ones).

And a couple of videos I took (unfortunately I ran out of memory on Rain King).
A Murder of One (Probably my absolute favorite song in the world. A line from it was the inspiration for my tattoo.):

Rain King:

And one photo that I love:
Just look at that face. I love him.