Monthly Archives: November 2008

A Campbell Thanksgiving tradition lives on…

Always, always must rock the black olive fingers on Thanksgiving — essential!

I wanted to jot down a few thoughts here, but since I’m very lucky and have so many things for which to be thankful, this might get a little long. For that, I apologize.

First and foremost, I want to say how thankful I am for my Mom and Dad and all of my family. Everyone’s at my parents’ house today, and I’m sorry I can’t be there with you, but I send all of my love. At least my turkey recipe can be there in my place. I’m so proud to be a product of you all, who taught me about love and respect and compassion and courage. I fully expect all of you to have olive fingers at some point today, especially you Uncle Greg, who started this tradition.

I’m thankful for my posse, as CF calls them; all the ladies, ladies please crew and their gentlemen, too, are having dinner at Pam and Mark’s today, and I have no doubt they’re having an absolute blast. Thank you all for being such kind, patient and generous friends, and for putting up with this girl, which can be a pain in the ass more often than not. They say you make your family when your actual family can’t be there, and these folks are my home away from home. They are the best travelers, concertgoers, beverage co-consumers, caretakers when sick, shoulders to cry on, wander around aimlessly folks a girl could ask for, and I’m damn lucky to know them. Give McKinley and Yagi some cheese for me, will you?

I’m thankful for C. and G. (and Mr. Nebula, too) in Brooklyn, who I can always look to as an excellent example and for thoughtful advice, not to mention stupendous musical and baseball knowledge. I’m proud of the work they’re both doing, and can’t wait to see what the future holds. I hope to see them more often, but am thankful for the few chances recently.

I’m thankful for Mimi and KVC, who have been endlessly kind and welcoming to me all of these years, no matter what. I look to them for inspiration, advice and broadening my horizons and just getting me out into the world.

On this massive foodie holiday, I’m very thankful to have food on my table, and in my cupboards and fridge. This has been a horribly tough year for most of the world, and it’s going to get tougher. I know the number of people without food grows by the second, and I aim to address that in variety of ways — I’ll post more about that specifically tomorrow.

I’m thankful to have a job that challenges me, and a fantastic editorial crew to work with every single day. I still wonder what luck allowed me to stumble into such a talented, insightful group of word wranglers.

I’m thankful for music, and that I can still hear it. It’s my air, my water, it sustains me when my heart and my head fail. Simply put: without music, I would cease to exist.

I’m thankful for Mr. Newman; he reminds me of why it’s good to be home, and to not take myself too seriously.

And I’m thankful for a new direction and a new chance for our country and our world. It’s going to be hard work, but we can do anything, if encouraged properly. The changes of the last month? They’re the perfect encouragement, giving power and inspiration to us all.

More thanks randomly wandering out of my mind in no particular order — I’m thankful for:

— Finally getting the chance to meet New Orleans, after 25 years of dreaming of it; I’ve found a new place that’s home
— Joshua Tree: it’s always there, challenging and inspiring all at once, and remains the place I miss so much it twists my heart a little more each day.
— Books: The shelves and shelves read and re-read, and the stacks sitting here waiting to take me to places as yet unknown… bliss.
— Everest: These gentlemen opened up a whole new chapter of my musical experience; never thought I’d hear something so warm and authentic again in the world, but they proved me wrong.
— Wisconsin: So many of the people I love are there (not mention it’s the land o’ cheese)
— The Gutter Twins: Guides to the darkness, and the way through it, all at once.
— Pie: When am I not thankful for pie?
— All my college friends, many of whom I’m just finding again: we grew up together, and know things that no one else ever can
— Vinyl: The record collecting will never end, and the sound just gets better and better.
— Spoon: The lyrics continue to swirl around in my head when least expected, and the notes remind me to breathe.
— Bogart and Bacall: The spark, and all that follows
— The Cardinals: For showing me that some greater force in the world can still pull together a combination of individuals to make an incandescent whole.
— Shrimp po-boys with fried green tomatoes
— Negronis: Always looking for the best, though some damn good contenders appeared this year
— The Hold Steady: Remind me where I came from, both the good and the bad of it.
— Local rock venues: Something I’ll never take for granted, having grown up without them. Thanks also to the people running them, who spend their lives believing in music and those that make it.
— Hazlewood: My not-so-local local.
— Bass players: The ones I’ve listened to and admired for years, and especially a few of those that I’m just discovering.
— Drummers: And some of these drummers, along with their band’s bass players, should be cloned as a rhythm section whole and sent around the world to spread the ROCK. A good rhythm section is priceless. See Bun E. and Tommy, Chris and Rick, Brad and Spacewolf, Bobby and Galen, Keith and John, Topper and Paul, DJ and John, Jim and Rob, Steve and John, Al and Donald, Levon and Rick.
— Les Paul cherry sunburst guitars
— Chocolate chip pancakes from the JT Country Kitchen
— Frequent-flier miles
— Screwball comedies (Holiday and His Girl Friday are constants in this life)
— Sunshine, the mythical being that constantly eludes Seattle
— Vicki, for teaching me to cook, and to Nana, for showing me the importance of cooking
— Dogs and cats, and all the friends who let me spoil theirs rotten
— All the Rekords Rekords gang, for the sweet sounds and for honoring Natasha so beautifully
— My cameras, and all they let me see in a new light
— Mr. Otis Redding
— Anyone who has taken the time to read this blog, today or ever
— Everything that’s yet to happen

The Bruce Springsteen official website has posted his new single “Working on a Dream” as a free download for today only, and you can get it here:

Download “Working On a Dream”

It will be available until midnight tonight Eastern time, so don’t delay!

The day has just flown, as Sundays are wont to do.

A reminder, in case you haven’t checked my Tumblr blog recently (I update that more frequently, from wherever I am, and it’s linked in the right hand column of this blog):

The gentlemen of Everest play live on Indie 103.1 in about an hour, at 7pm PT.

If you’re afraid of radios, or just really far away from L.A., you can listen to the live stream by clicking here.

You don’t want to miss it, do you? I didn’t think so.

So much for my day’s plans, damn it! I felt weird (weirder than normal, okay?) yesterday, and came home, ate dinner, took a bath and got warm and then went directly to bed as a result, thinking that would be the end of it. But nooooo, I wake up this morning with a lovely sinusy head cold, having just got over the airplane crud a few days ago. Sigh.

Anyway, even after lots of sleep, getting up and eating well, taking a hot shower and even downing some cold medicine (which I never do), there’s just no way I can drag myself out the door to take part in the Prop 8 march and rally. This is seriously not cool.

This reduces me to supporting my friends monetarily here instead of being there in person when it’s crucial, and that is endlessly frustrating for me. I can’t get any shots of the march and rally for them to remember it by, and can’t be there with them when they feel the support of the entire city wanting them to be able to live the exact same life any of us do. Or hell, maybe I just wanted to assuage my straight person’s guilt, something I’m beginning to believe really does exist.

Anyone who reads this and knows me personally knows my feelings on marriage itself — a convenient thing once a upon a time in history, but no longer necessary for most folks, or at least this girl. But, if I ever change my mind or meet just the right guy who makes me think I’d like to give it a go, as a straight person, I could do so nearly immediately. My friends, who I would have joined today at the march, are two gentlemen who have been together longer than any of my straight friends have. While they are not in a hurry to marry, they are fighting to at least have the right and the choice if they ever change their minds, and for anyone or any federal or state agency to deny them that is folly, at best, and criminal at worst. This is not about marriage, this is about civil rights.

That’s enough ranting from me today; it won’t change the fact that I can’t be there for support. That said, I can give money to help the cause. Maybe you missed the march yourself, or are just at a loss for how to help? You can drop some coin in the proper direction, as well. Times are tight, but even a $5 dollars will help at this point.

Donate to Equal Rights Washington by clicking here.

… to Mr. Neil Young.

Simply put, I’ve been listening to him longer than any other musician; there’s photographic proof of this somewhere in my apartment, though my parents retain the original print. Picture an infant sitting on the floor wearing those huge ’70s earphones and a goofy grin, and you’ve got the general idea.

As a result, Young Neil’s music is very much like air, food, water for me — always there, and essential for survival.

It’s been a few weeks since the Everett show, and it was outstanding. His cover of ‘A Day In The Life’ was hugely surprising and frankly, mindblowing, though hearing ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ was really the heart the show for this girl on that particular day. The fact that he’s taken Everest out as openers this tour only reinforces his timeless cool.

Am spinning On the Beach now in honor of the day. It’s as corny as hell, but I’ll say it anyway: long may you run, sir.

Having a bad day? Angry? Frustrated to within an inch of your life?

I have found the antidote, and it is here:

Puppy-cam!

Live streaming video by Ustream

Resistance is futile.

(Note: this live webcam has been following these puppies since not long after they were born — what the hell am I going to do when they grow up and move on?)

Hello, my name is Heather, and I am a puppyoholic.

Go. Vote. Make that the choices that are right in your mind. You know what to do.

I don’t have anything more to say on the issue, than that.

I’m a big ball of stress right now, and any advice from me is useless, words of wisdom are completely non-existent. I’m going to take a long bath and try to get some sleep.

When I wake up tomorrow, I’ll go get in line to vote at my polling place — the last time we’ll be able to vote in person in King County — and I’ll feel proud. I’ve voted in every election, including primaries all the way to presidential picks, since the time I turned 18, and the quiet pride of it never fails to amaze me. We get the honor, the privilege of making the decisions in this country, and even my cynical side knows this is a priceless right, one we should never take for granted, not for one single moment.

Don’t wuss out because it’s rainy, or cold, or the line’s too long. Compared to the battles, both physical and philosophical, that were waged to give us the right to vote, standing line doesn’t even compare, and you know it.

So, I’m off to attempt to get some sleep. Here’s a little bedtime lullaby, one of my absolute favorite covers of a song ever, Mr. Otis Redding’s cover of Mr. Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”:

Until tomorrow, then. Goodnight, and be sweet to each other.