If you haven't heard the Good Lovelies yet, you obviously haven't been in my house or car much over the past year. Since we saw them last October, my pal Denis and I have been playing their music for anyone who will listen. (We especially recommend them for driving to the orchard for apple-picking!)
Last night we were lucky enough to see the trio again at the Fredericton Playhouse and as it was an early birthday present for Denis, I popped an email to Caroline, Kerri and Sue. They serenaded him Good Lovelies-style - it's a an almost-birthday present he won't soon forget.
Come for the witty stage banter, clever songs and the neo-trad girliness but it's the music that will stay with you. They switch off instruments and lead vocals effortlessly and their three-part harmonies are flawless. Last night it was exciting to hear some of the new songs from their upcoming album. In their words, if the first full-length album was about quitting their jobs and hitting the road, the new album is about coming home to their own bed. The three new songs were oozing wistful, sweetness. "Lonesome Hearts" had an especially nostalgic feel about it; Skeeter Davis with three-part harmony.
Sadly, we have to wait until February for the new album but soon it will be time to dig out Under the Mistletoe - a perfect album for holiday parties, trimming the tree or sipping eggnog.
Today's coffee break find combines two of my favourite things: vintage pictures and etiquette. LIFE magazine sat down with the folks at the Emily Post Institute to answer their most common etiquette questions, illustrated by some great old photos from the LIFE archives.
(And how much do I love that picture of Emily Post in her living room, circa 1940?)
Nothing is less important than which fork you use.
Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit, either.
~Elizabeth Zimmerman
Since August, I've been spending my Sunday evenings at a local coffee shop with a great group of fellow knitters. Except for a couple, I knew none of them before a few months ago. Now it's one of my favourite parts of the week. We come from a multitude of backgrounds but we all share a love for turning bits of string into things to wear, give or treasure. Throw in coffee and conversation and you have the makings of a great evening.
Tonight was cowl exchange night and the girls got to swap some handmade love.
Julie models her new cowl - in purple, of course!
Jilanna couldn't be with us tonight so I got to play cowl fairy and bring Lesley the beautiful cowl Jilanna knit.
Julie tries to get a sneak peek of the cowl knit for Jilanna.
We love knitting right down to the tips of our toes.
I am so excited to have put my order in for this Christmas ornament kit from Alicia Paulson over at Posie Gets Cozy. I especially love the red coat but also am quite smitten with the idea of knitting a tiny polar bear neck warmer or cross-stitching that mitten.
Alicia and her ridiculously adorable husband Andy put the kits together piece by piece in their sweet little Oregon home. I insist you read Andy's hilarious account of assembling the 2009 kits.
If you like beautiful, inviting blogs, bookmark Posie Gets Cozy immediately. It will make you happy.)
If you're looking for Christmas gift ideas for me... (And I know you are!)
And if you're sitting on a spare 30,000 British pounds... (And I know you are!)
...this first edition of Emma going up for auction at Sotheby's would be divine.
(Actually the entire catalogue for the Library of an English Bibliophileauction is just a dream. The foreword from the collector is a little work of art in and of itself...)
Eight and a half minutes. As a music-lover, there are the moments you live for. For me tonight it was eight and a half minutes into the second movement of Chopin's Concerto No. 1 in E Minor.
When it comes to playing Chopin what sets apart the proverbial men from the boys is not the ability to play lots and lots of notes - although heaven knows that is impressive. It's what happens when seemingly nothing is happening. In those barely audible moments of simplicity, immaturity as an artist has nowhere to hide.
Tonight at Symphony New Brunswick's performance of Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1, Jan Lisiecki proved he knows not just how to hit the notes but to live inside them.
Don't get me wrong. The Concerto up to that point had been nothing short of breath-taking. The opening movement allowed Lisiecki to show off his considerable technical prowess and the second movement, the Romance - Larghetto, is aching, haunting Chopin at his most beautiful. But at eight and a half minutes in, the orchestra is silent and Lisiecki played a few measures of barely audible notes. Except his playing seemed to come less from his fingers hitting the keys and more from him breathing out the notes and willing them into being.
He was sublime.
And he is only 15.
When the Concerto had ended, after a few moments of serene stillness, he rose to thunderous applause and a standing ovation (hard-earned in this town). Suddenly he looked every lanky inch of a the bashful teenager, brushing his blonde hair off his forehead and smiling and waving sheepishly as he walked off stage. He returned, cracked a small joke and a smile and announced, "for an encore I thought I'd play Nocturne in C Minor."
And there it was again: the stillness. the simplicity. the crowning reward of art.
If you are in Saint John, you can see Jan and Symphony NB on Oct 20 at the Imperial Theatre. Here he is two years ago with Chopin's Andante Spianato.
Today's coffee-break find? This super-cute short story collection from Kate Spade. Fans of Kate Spade will know that books, book covers, text and literary references are huge inspirations in their design sensibility. So it makes sense that they've partnered with NYC's legendary Strand bookstore to commission seven original short stories. Each authour was asked to incorporate this phrase: "she is quick and curious and playful and strong."
Wouldn't this make a great gift for a girlfriend, sister or daughter?
