Day Dream

Last night, CANOPY STUDIO'S advanced classes had their student recital called "DAY DREAM". Missy performed with her fabrics class in a piece called "Four Morpheus", set to music from the soundtrack to The Matrix. These are just a few images and video from last night's show...it's hard to get good photos (for me and my cheap little camera, at least) during a Canopy performance because it's dark, there's lots of action, and flash photography is prohibited. In lieu of photographs, I took video of MIssy's class performance. Maybe I'll go back for Sunday's performance and try to take photos...



Missy peeked from behind the curtain as the performers waited for the audience to sort themselves into whatever seats they could find...



One of the teen classes performed to Guns & Roses' "Welcome To The Jungle"...





One of my favorite "skits" was this one that started off with an "elderly couple" sitting on a park bench. As the kids scamper off the jungle gym, the two slowly make their way to the cube, shed their trench coats, and proceed to perform ariel acrobatics to Willy Wonka's "Pure Imagination"...











Some pieces happen so close to you that if you're sitting in the front row, you're liable to get kicked in the face or worse...





There was this one piece where the performer was on the LYRA while a trio of local musicians performed behind her. I thought this was so quintessentially "ATHENIAN" ...rootsy, soulful, but at the same time, a bit weird because of the juxtaposition of two very different art forms...this is how we do...

CANOPY 8926 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

I only managed one photo of Missy setting up her fabric under the spotlight, but then videotaped their whole performance. The spotlights at the top made it a bit difficult to video, due to some back lighting...but I think you can still get the gist of their performance. As usually, the video doesn't really do the live performance justice. To see them perform live, up super high, WITHOUT A NET, without harnesses (that's cheating, Pink!), doing all these intricate and dangerous acrobatics is really impressive (FaceBookers, if you wanna see the video, you're gonna have to venture onto our blog)...

CANOPY 8927 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

I love Canopy shows because at times it's like sitting in on CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, and other times it's a bit like "WAITING FOR GUFFMAN" (which is a GOOD thing, too!) In the end, everyone lined up to take their big bow as the audience thanked them for a wonderful night of entertainment...

Celebrity Doppelgangers

So, this week is CELEBRITY DOPPELGANGER WEEK on FACEBOOK and Missy and I have chosen our celebrity body doubles - Missy's celebrity doppelganger is teenaged-and-fabulous TAVI, from the awesome STYLE ROOKIE blog, and my celebrity double is DALE TALDE from TOP CHEF, Season 4.

Whenever I see photos of Tavi on Style Rookie, I always think about how much she looks like Missy sometimes. Like, sometimes it's uncanny. Dale - the Filipino dude with 'tude from Top Chef Season 4 - vaguely looks like me. The glasses in this photo help a bit...that, and we're both Filipino...

Weekend Wind-Down #88

I bought this little SLEEPING CAT from a gas station a long time ago. I got it for Missy because I thought it looked a lot like NILLA when she slept. It's Nilla's "MINI ME". Lately, Nilla has been sleeping in a corner of our craft room, on top of this "storage pouf" that Missy's mom made.





FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - Folklore at the Caledonia friday night!
RAOUL - Mega Folklore at the Caledonia.

WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - Leaky roof : (
RAOUL - Yeah, our leaky roof sucks...

FUNNIEST MOMENT OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - My Dad saying he was the Michelin Man.
RAOUL - Missy explaining "Kulikese" to me.

WORD OR PHRASE OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - "Gutchies"
RAOUL - "If you get your G in your G, it's a B"

FAVORITE MEAL OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - Raspberry scones from the Babycakes cook book.
RAOUL - Veggie "pulled pork" dinner special at The Grit.

THREE THINGS ON YOUR TO DO LIST THIS WEEK?
MISSY - Draw my comic, cook banana bread, buy groceries.
RAOUL - Do my taxes, draw up a personal budget, do some raking in the back yard.

PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - The Judybats,B52's, Antenna, Belle Sebastian, Alessi's Ark, The Coctails, The Fairways.
RAOUL - Throwing Muses, Pavement, Huggy Bear, Pussycat Trash, Lung Leg, New Socks, Violent Femmes, Vampire Weekend, Fools Gold, Nana Grizol, James Brown's "People Records" compilations, 2-Tone Records' "2-Tone Story" comp, South Rakkas' "Good Life" mix on Mad Decent podcast.

Folklore At The Earl

(clever marketing on the pegboard behind the merch table)

Here are some images from last night's MEGA FOLKLORE show at THE EARL in East Atlanta...the show was o.k., considering that we were sandwiched in between two very polished, "radio friendly", bands. Needless to say, we stuck out like a sore thumb. At one point during our set some yuppie frat dude heckled us by yelling out "SMOKE A JOINT!" after a particularly psychedelic jammy jam, which we thought was pretty funny. Like, why state the obvious?

Anyways, you're going to need to take a nap this evening before coming out to Folklore tonight...we'll be playing an all-ages show at BEN'S BIKES tonight, with Sugar D, Werewolves, and Titans Of Filth...and it's totally FREE! I think things start around 10pm (which means, 11pm in "Athens Time"). I believe Ben's Bikes is located behind and below Southern Video, an "adult entertainment" store on Broad Street - but don't let that scare you! You can click HERE for more info and to see how cool the space actually is...



(backstage at The Earl...you're almost guaranteed to find a penis or two scrawled on the wall of any venue that allows bands to tag up the backstage area)





(how we do...Ian and Avalon show-off their dueling clarinets)



(sound guy at The Earl hooking up Cheryl's violin - turns out he was the official sound guy for MAN OR ASTROMAN? for much of their career)

More Folklore

Last night's MEGA FOLKLORE show at the CALEDONIA in downtown Athens was a lot of fun...despite the club not having a current liquor license (and thus, not allowed to sell alcohol), a nice crowd of people were there to show us the love. Best of all was perfectly combining the Northern and Southern versions of FOLKLORE into one giant band. It could have been a hot mess, but we sounded so good that you wouldn't have known that we all only practiced together ONCE, just a couple of hours before the show. These are just a few images I was able to take while standing on stage, in between songs or in between trumpet parts...

TONIGHT (Saturday), we rock THE EARL in Atlanta, Georgia. We'll be playing with TRAVEL BY TRAIN, and NIGHT DRIVING IN SMALL TOWNS...for more info, click HERE. If you're hurtin' for something to do in the ATL tonight then come on down, knock back a few drinks, and enjoy some good music...

Folklore - Voltron Tour 2010!

Hey Everybody! I'm going to be a-playin' my trumpet with FOLKLORE all this weekend and you should come check us out if you can because I don't know how often this is going to happen!...ya see, Jimmy Hughes, the head honcho of Folklore, moved away from Athens, Georgia last year and re-located to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has since put together a PHILLY VERSION of Folklore and they started playing a buncha shows in and around the Philly area. This is the first time the Philly version of Folklore will be touring down to Georgia and we are going to be combining the Northern and Southern members of the band into one big SUPER GROUP (in my head I've been calling it MEGA FOLKLORE). You can read about all the details HERE, via FLAGPOLE, our local arts, culture, and entertainment weekly...Mega Folklore will be playing two shows in Athens, and one in Atlanta, starting this Friday night:

Fri 1/22 - Athens, GA @ THE CALEDONIA LOUNGE
w/ Quiet Hooves, Summer Hymns, Night Moves
info HERE

Sat 1/23 - Atlanta, GA @ THE EARL
w/ Travel By Train, Night Driving In Small Towns
info HERE

Sun 1/24 - Athens, GA @ BEN'S BIKES (FREE SHOW!)
w/Sugar D, Werewolves, Titans Of Filth
info HERE

Missy Hearts Alessi's Ark

Alessi's Ark - note in the cd I ordered from her site., originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

I have not had a band "wow" me in some time, but I am simply enchanted by Alessi's Ark these days. I could not find her album "Notes from the Treehouse" on iTunes (in the US), so I ordered it from her directly. We got it in our post box on Friday and I was so thrilled - there was a little note inside!


And check out the little knit bag and the screen printed cover, too. That one is a split with Thunder Power.


And it gets better - the cd!


And the lyrics that are tied around the cd! Now I must put you on my ipod... But before I do that, you should see her lovely video for "Over the Hill" - sigh!

Nilla Seventy-Nine

I love you, Nilla!, originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

Here is our kitty, Nilla. I took these photos of her last week when it was not so rainy! She likes to sit on the flat file we use for paper and drawings, so I call it the "petting station" when Nilla is there. She loves the petting station cos she can roll around, sit, or look out the window.

Snuggle Bunny Wednesday

Oreo watching me., originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

I skipped the last few Mondays - I forgot what day it was! So here is Oreo today, and that is Wednesday. Consider yourself lucky, dear reader! This picture features Oreo fixing the fluff round her neck. After she does this she is extra puffy!

Weekend Wind-Down #87

Saturday night, after we got back from Atlanta, we headed over to ATHICA (the Athens Institute Of Contemporary Art) to attend the opening of NURTURE - a video and installation art exhibit by Amy Jenkins. The exhibit explored issues about gender, non-sexual nudity, role reversal, familial dynamics, and...breast feeding. At least, that's my oversimplified overview. The ATHICA website describes the exhibition much better HERE. If you're in the Athens area, you should definitely check out the show and draw your own conclusions...



FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - The gift show!
RAOUL - Haha...winning five bucks at the Mart!

WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - The gift show!
RAOUL - Working on the weekend. Sad face.

FUNNIEST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Pearl Grey!
RAOUL - When you said that video game was "Rated 'N' For Nerd"

WORD OR PHRASE OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - "Lewis time!"
RAOUL - "Lewis time!"

FAVORITE MEAL OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Meatloaf at The Grit was good.
RAOUL - The vegetarian "Cajun fish fry" at The Grit.

THREE THINGS YOU FORGOT TO DO LAST WEEK?
MISSY - Put away my clothes, clean up, and I forgot the last thing I forgot to do...
RAOUL - Win the lottery, listen to the used records I bought, burn those mix cds for my friends.

PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Allen Clapp, Lou Barlow, The Judybats, Juliana Hatfield, This American Life podcast.
RAOUL - The Cure, The Violent Femmes, Cotton Candy, The Waitresses, Tones On Tail, The Wedding Present, Le Grand Magistry's "Was It Him Or His Music?" comp, K Records' "Selector Dub Narcotic" comp.

Occupational Hazards 5 - Atlanta Gift Mart

Friday, Missy and I carpooled with some co-workers to the ATLANTA GIFT MART (a.k.a. AMERICASMART) for work. We arrived early in the morning to find the sidewalks covered in snow, and the streets dangerously sheathed in ice. We opted to take the hotel shuttle van the few blocks down to the mart, not wanting to navigate the slippery sidewalks:







After a few hours of work we decided to grab some SUBWAY SAMMICHES for lunch, and sat by the two-story, ceiling-to-floor fountain in the garden section of the Mart:







I brushed my breath clean with these HOMEOPATHIC STRESS MINTS - the first of a few SWAG items we scored while walking the show. We also traded business cards for a couple of tubs of ice creamy DIBS:







One showroom was giving away these books - "TEA WITH A TWIST" - and the author and photographer were there to sign copies. I asked them to sign the book for Missy's (fake) cousin, PEARL GREY..."kinda like the tea!" I told them...they signed it without batting an eye:





Then, walking down the hallway in another building, we came across the CASH COLOR WHEEL, where you could spin to win cash money and other fabulous prizes:



Missy decided to press her luck...



...NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES!...



...NO WHAMMIES! NO WHAMMIES!...



WINNER! Missy won ONE DOLLAR...but the guy running the wheel ran out of dollar bills, so he gave Missy a FIVE DOLLAR BILL instead! Then I spun the wheel and won five bucks for real...BEST MART EVER!





We were pooped after walking non-stop for many many hours and decided to bundle up and make our way back to the hotel. It was freezing outside and the sidewalks became slippery, as pedestrians packed the snow into patches of ice. I nearly tore my groin muscles a couple of times while slipping on the icy sidewalks. We walked slowly, arm in arm, stopping only briefly to play in the snow...









Back in our hotel room, we took stock of the free swag we collected before settling down for the night. Our haul included a book, a box of mints, several candles, and cold hard cash...







We got up early the next day for breakfast in the hotel lobby. We ate light, but made up for it by grazing the free food samples in the GOURMET section of the Mart...





After several more hours of walking, Missy and I decided to rest our tired feets in the MARKET CLUB LOUNGE, taking full advantage of their cushy leather sofas...









We ran into the CASH CUBE where even more money was being given away, but we decided to skip the long line in favor of catching FOOD NETWORK celebrity, ALTON BROWN (host of the science-meets- cooking show, "GOOD EATS", and color commentator for the hit show IRON CHEF AMERICA), do a cooking demo in the Mart's "KITCHEN STUDIO"...







We snacked on free samples while waiting for Alton Brown to arrive. The crowd was large and fairly restless, with most people having waited several hours for the hometown hero. We got there just in time to grab some floorspace in the very back. At long last, Alton came out to much applause and he didn't disappoint. He was smarmy, knowledgeable, and charming...and a lot thinner in person. I thought, "dang, TV really does add ten pounds!" It wasn't until later that we learned that he actually lost a bunch of weight doing some fad diet...









Alton showing us his bag of meat:





After the demo, we headed for the cavernous "Building 3" - the APPAREL MART - to cap off the day with a FREE CUPCAKE. It wouldn't be a proper Mart experience without ingesting a cupcake of some sort and luckily, we found out that our favorite cupcake bakery, THE ATLANTA CUPCAKE FACTORY, was handing them out like flu shots...