Maine, Virginia . . . and California

In the sixth (seventh?) grade, my best friend came out to me and one of our other friends. She was in love with a female friend of hers. She pined for her. She wanted nothing more than to be her girlfriend. This was obviously something that she had been struggling to confess for a long while.

This girl had been one of my best friends for years. She ended up at a different high school, and then at a college across the country, where she is still living and working and loving – and she also happens to be a lesbian. Facebook tells me these things. I’ve been happy to follow her over the past couple of years, to know that she’s working hard at an admirable job and living a fulfilling, giving life.

One of my dearest friends from college is a gay man. I’ve been his friend since he met his first official boyfriend; his first great love; his first great heartbreak; his first “this is the real deal.” We’ve been through a lot together over the years, have had some wonderfully fun times, and continue to maintain a solid friendship here in San Francisco. He is incredibly smart, hilarious, kind, and open-minded. One of his ex-boyfriends remains as a friend of mine to this day – he even came with me to the Bonnaroo Music Festival back in 2007.

Another one of my dearest friends from college is a gay man. He’s easily one of the most warm-hearted, hard-working, intelligent people I’ve ever known. The fact that he associates with me as a good friend makes me proud, makes me want to be a better person, as I admire him on so many levels. He inspires me, and many others.

And that is just scratching the surface. I have other friends from over the years that identify as gay – all wonderful, fun, lovely, intelligent, hard-working people, trying to make it in this world, just like me. The people we meet in our lifetimes ultimately shape us, make us who we are, inspire us to move forward. I’m proud of all the people who have shaped me, and continue to do so.

To many people in this country, my friends are second-class citizens. Maine, Virginia, my own home state of California . . . it makes me heart hurt.

Can this just be over now? Can these people who vote against gay marriage, with their ridiculously bigoted, close-minded views, just fucking get over it and move on? And if marriage is so goddamn sacred, why is divorce legal?

Where Weezers Meet Snuggies, in a land I never thought I would be

If you had asked me  three years ago if I would ever be in a position to receive press releases about Weezer releasing “their own Snuggie – the blanket with sleeves,” I would not have even known what you were talking about. “Snuggie? Is that a band? Who? Weezer? That band from the 90s? What’s a press release?”

Life is strange sometimes. And by strange, I mean awesome in every possible way.

I never really listened to 2Pac

But it’s tough to argue against the lyrical content of this song:

“Since we all came from a woman, got our name from a woman, and our game from a women, I wonder why we take from women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think its time we killed for our women, be real to our women, try to heal our women, ’cause if we don’t we’ll have a race of babies that will hate the ladies, who make the babies. And since a man can’t make one he has no right to tell a women when and where to create one.”

2Pac – “Keep Ya Head Up”

A daily song: GLEE cast – “Somebody to Love”

I seem to have a different song and/or melody stuck in my head on a daily basis. I will try to post them here as often as possible.

God damn it, I fucking love GLEE. This Queen cover makes me almost pee myself.

It’s not really the same in this streaming mode, but this is all that’s currently available. If you’ve been watching the show, you know what I’m talking about. You can watch the full episode (until it gets taken down, probably within a couple of weeks) via Hulu.

A daily song: Interpol – “Evil”

I seem to have a different song and/or melody stuck in my head on a daily basis. I will try to post them here as often as possible.

Indeed. By no means an album that I’ve listened to all that much, but this song makes me want to jump in all sorts of directions.

Interpol – “Evil”

A daily song: Vetiver – “Everyday”

Vetiver at Pickathon 2009, by my dear friend David Elkins.

I seem to have a different song and/or melody stuck in my head on a daily basis. I will try to post them here as often as possible.

Fittingly, the first song in this series is entitled “Everyday.”

Local stars Vetiver and their “Everyday,” from Tight Knit. Sunny and sweet, with a touch of somber folk elegance.

“I always seem to make
something out of nothing
But I can’t make you appear”

Vetiver – “Everyday”

Mahna Mahna

I can think of far worse musical concoctions to have stuck in my head:

I need a pickup and I don’t mean truck

I finally saw Brendan Benson – on September 10th at the Great American Music Hall. For kicks and to fuel some slow-burning curiosity (and since I’ve made peace with my lens residing permanently in the zoom-doesn’t-work camp), I rented a rather large lens and proceeded to take entirely too many photos. It was fun. I still have much to learn, but a rock show serving as your classroom is by no means an unpleasant concept.

Since referenced lens (that I originally bought used without knowing much about it) is not entirely usable, I’m researching new options. A natural choice appears to be the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8, if only because it seems to be a solid starter choice – and, well, it’s cheap, especially when compared to most other options.

In the aftermath of the Brendan Benson concert, I can’t seem to stop listening to “A Whole Lot Better” whenever it comes on my iPod. Another “desert island” artist, in the vault.

Pickathon 2009: This One’s in the Key of Folk

As originally published here over at Stranger Dance.

The unique value of the setting became clear as the sun descended behind the hills. The sky turned a gentle pink, and Alela Diane’s crystalline voice and plucks on her guitar wafted across a mellow crowd. The previous day of heat and sweat was now within a lullaby, shifting slowly into dusk. The 2009 Pickathon Festival was suddenly in a category all its own, offering something uniquely tranquil in the face of chaotic contemporaries.

Stranger Dance was fortunate enough to cover the Pickathon Festival in its eleventh year of existence; photos and review after the jump.

My favorite Deli posts

I spent 13 months as Associate Editor of the Deli Magazine in San Francisco. The Deli SF is a city subsidiary of the flagship Deli site: the Deli NYC. This was not a paid/full-time position (although I made a little money on ad revenue once and awhile), but rather a heavy-handed and very fulfilling hobby.

I’ve since moved on to blogging over at Stranger Dance, simply because it felt time for a change, to tackle new ideas and work with some new people. But I still look back fondly at my time with the Deli. I learned a ridiculous amount in such a short time – about the local scene, about managing writers, about working with PR and other industry contacts, etc. (not to mention the improvement in my writing, editing, HTML and other technical skills). I also met and discovered a number of amazing bands as well as other local music bloggers, and a whole new world was opened up to me.

On that note, I decided to go through my past posts on the Deli SF and pick out my favorites. I published a ton of stuff while at the Deli, but many posts were quick write-ups of upcoming events/developments/etc. The ones below are more comprehensive examples.

San Francisco at SxSW 2009:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Noise Pop 2009:

Free Noise Pop Events + local bands
Built for the Sea/Crime in Choir/From Monument to Masses
Papercuts/the Mountain Goats (solo)
Local bands at Noise Pop 2009
City Light/Devon Williams/Dent May/A.C. Newman

Band/artist features:

60 Watt Kid
Rykarda Parasol
Geographer (CD review)
The Heavenly States
Grand Lake
Window Twins

“The Deli SF presents”:

The Toy Soldiers, the Attachments, Music for Animals, the Buttercream Gang
Blue Rabbit, Chelsea Wolfe, Tippy Canoe
The Definite Articles, Foxtail Somersault, Stripmall Architecture

Random and sundry:

Volunteer for Bay Area Girls Rock Camp 2008
Treasure Island Festival 2008
My Fav Oakland Bands
Future Perfect Radio
LA[Heart]SF
Wiretap Music Presents: Covers