I almost made it through the holidays this year without hearing my most hated version of a Christmas carol. Thanks to a quick pre-storm trip to the grocery store, I was subjected the Barbra Streisand singing "Jingle Bells." Gah! I just want to shake her every time I hear it. Stop ruining Christmas Babs!

I recovered from my aural trauma enough to spend the afternoon making xmas cookies, which always makes me happy. I mean, didn't even flinch when Manheim Steamroller came on the radio! Or that guilt-ridden one my John Lennon either.

One of the things I found in the box from my grandparents' house was my grandmother's cookie press. Thanks to that gem, I was able to introduce eeknight to spritz cookies--a holiday staple in my family, but not in his (ancestors from different parts of Germany, I guess).

This recipe comes the closest, but mine doesn't have any new-fangled electric mixer directions (I had to figure that out for myself--why have a Kitchen Aid if you're not going to use it). Also no currants or other decor. Spritz come out of the oven perfect.

I made a double batch, so hopefully there will be some left to bring into work on Monday.

This time of year, holiday songs are ubiquitous. It's like they stalk you: there is no escape! Except, apparently, at the deli in my office building. I was making a salad when suddenly I realized the song on the PA was not the expected classic carol slaughtered by the poptart of the moment. It was, in fact, Ironman. And not some bland Muzak version, but Black Sabbath in all it's hard rocking glory. I heart my deli.

First of May! First of May!
Outdoor loving starts today!

Celebrate Spring! (NSFW without headphones.)

Also, please send healing vibes, say a prayer, etc. for our old guy Roo who is at the vet's undergoing tests. He has renal disease--for which we have been treating him--and yesterday EEK noticed blood in Roo's urine. UPDATED TO ADD: Roo has a UTI, but we caught it very early. He'll be heading home soon with a bottle of antibiotics. Merci mes amis.

(Yes, I am home from San Francisco, but am buried under preparations for three impending bankruptcy filings. In fact, I am at work on one of my days off. My group figured out yesterday that since January 1, there has been only one weekend that none of us was working. How depressing is that? I needs me some outdoor loving, I tell you what!)

I can't seem to find time for LJing. Still working crazy overtime. I have done some non work-related activities lately...all involving dance of course. :)

On February 16, Erika held a charity hafla at Pineapple to benefit newborn triplets whose mother died in childbirth. Gypsy Queen Giselle & I did tribal group improv to "Mama" by Khadja Nin, a beautiful african fusion song thanking mothers for all that they do (Nin's video). My solo was a fusion improvisation with scimitar to a cool tune by Arab jazz ensemble Zaman 8 (mp3). I also did a pharonic piece with the rest of Erika's Level 2 students. Other perfomers included Guitar Circle of Chicago, Gaia Rising, Kimahri, Kate, Nathalie & Erika.

The next day Danielle Meijer taught a workshop on Indonesian temple dancing and Indian court dancing. This was the second such 'shop she'd done at Pineapple. Very different from any other dance form I've done. Some of the movements could probably be adapted to tribal improv. We shall see.

This past Saturday I did workshops with Aziza of Montreal. The morning session was drills & conditioning for dancers, which y'all know I LOVE. I was happily surprised to learn that Aziza has studied with Suhaila Salimpour. Yay for belly bootcampers! The afternoon session worked on emoting. Aziza had us improvise and would hold up signs with emotions for us to express while dancing. Besides the obvious ones--sensual, dreamy, longing, ecstatic, amazed, etc--she also includes some odd ones like disgusted, dejected, worried, sly, and angry. Sly was pretty fun (hey, I did that for my fusion solo at Erika's hafla). We did several variations on the exercise, including have some dance while others guessed which emotion was being expressed. There was also a taxim exercise where we improvised to only the drums, or only the melody, or both using different parts of our bodies. She also taught a couple combos, but as usual there were way too many people crammed in to really see or do them. No matter, even had I learned them perfectly I'd have to chats_noirs-ify them for performance.

In the seminar show, Erika, Kate & I performed a theatrical pharonic piece created by Erika. We wore identical blue & white costumes, pharonic-inspired collars & bracelets, and wigs & eye makeup (think Liz Taylor in Cleopatra). I never would have thought the three of us--a short brunette, an average blonde & a tall redhead--could look so alike. None of us remembered to bring a camera. Hopefully some of the photogs in the audience will pass along pictures that I can share. Other performers included Aziza (damn, can she shimmy), hostess Sonya & her student troupe, Gina of Atlanta, Danielle Meijer, Shahina, Kimahri & her student troupe, and Galatea. A troupe who shall remain nameless did a "new & different look at Mohamed Ali Street"-- O RLY? Well as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

On Friday Gypsy Queen Piper & I will dance to "Mama" at Shimmy for the Cure, a charity hafla to raise money for breast cancer research. We'll be improvising a basket dance this time. Let me tell you, using tribal group improv repertoire while balancing and holding a basket is a great brain exercise. More options than with sword, less than with no props. Fun! At least if a basket falls, no one gets hurt.

I have two sample costumes from Pharonics of Egypt at home and I have to decide by 6:30 which, if either, I'll buy. They both seem too large (the tops are boxy & the hip wraps insist on slipping down as if my hips weren't even there...the bras fit perfectly however). I'm not a seamstress so I have no idea if they could be easily altered. I'm guessing no since they are encrusted with beads, sequins, fringe & other gewgaws. They are very spendy. I wish I could try them on in front of someone who could give me advice and tell me if they are flattering, but Erika is teaching in the city this evening & I have to leave the reject(s) at the studio tonight so she can return to the vendor tomorrow. Don't know what to do! Waaaah!

I'm listening to Arabic tag radio on last.fm and for no apparent reason the Village People's "In the Navy" came on. Eh, oooo-kay.

*gives last puzzled look*

Okay, so I'm a member of last.fm and use the service pretty much constantly at work. Users can tag songs with descriptions, such as egyptian, jazz, fusion, or whatever. When you go to tag lists of terms used by yourself and other users will pop up, presumably so you can pick from descriptors already in use.

At the moment I am listening to an Umm Kulthoum concert. Another user tagged her as "lesser known." WTF? Kulthoum is a legend. Okay, so maybe this particular tagger doesn't know much about ME music, but Google is everybody's friend.

I am also bothered that Last has several variations on the spelling of Kulthoum's name listed as similar artists. Indexing anyone?

Sigh.

Am I the only person who has never heard Rihanna's Umbrella song? Seems like everyone is talking about it or mentioning it in their blogs. Ah well, not a fan of mainstream music, so whatevah.

*resumes listening to world music while packing*

( So, how do you say 'bad mother-' in arabic? ) Bonus: vid contains belly dancers.

Edited to add Malik's cover of "Sex Machine"- Get on the scene! Rai machine! Bonus: vid contains partying Berber-style!

Chicago's very own circus punk marching band: Mucca Pazza!

Wow, I'm really sorry now that I didn't go to Looptopia to see them live on Friday (darn my rehearsal schedule).

I wonder if they need dancers.

Last night eeknight & I saw Loreena McKennitt perform at the glamorous Civic Opera Theater to a nearly sold out house. The audience was pretty diverse with a mix of couples, families, bellydancers, bikers (!), various flavors of heathen and pagan, SCAians, aging hippies, etc. I started to remark to EEK that there were many more oldsters than the last time I saw Loreena perform over a decade ago...until I realized that I am one of the oldsters now. Heh.

I bought tickets through her fan club presale and much to my surprise we were seated in the first row! The stage resembled the cover for "An Ancient Muse" in shades of blue. The musicians were arranged in a semi-circle around Loreena and her many instruments. I was very pleased to see that Hugh Marsh, Caroline Lavelle, and Brian Hughes are still with her. Loreena switched between two harps, piano, and accordion. Her voice was still crystalline.

She only performed a few songs off of the new CD, otherwise the setlist was mostly old favorites. Not that anyone seemed to mind. Whenever the first few bars started up, you'd hear a cheer from someone who recognized the piece. I cried during The Highwayman, Dante's Prayer, and Lady of Shallot. I was overjoyed when she encored with Huron Beltane Fire Dance, a song I thought I'd never hear her play live (and on Beltane even).

( Set list )

I'd have liked to hear Dark Night of the Soul, but overall I was very pleased. Here's hoping I don't have to wait another 12 years for her next tour!

EEK's review here.

Dr Seuss books sung in the style of the great Bobby Zimmerman:
Dylan Hears a Who.

Loreena McKennitt is going on tour and I just secured two tickets for the May 1 concert at the Civic Opera House in Chicago. (eeknight, you're my date.)

You can go too! Fan tickets for every North American tour stop on sale NOW.

::runs around squeeing::

Grandma S passed away peacefully on Sunday evening. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers & condolences.

One short story.

Most of you know that Grandpa S passed on in July. After Grandma & Mom returned from the nursing home the day he died, Grandma said she's like to listen to music to break the silence. When Mom turned on the CD player there were already five CD in the carousel, so Mom hit random play. The first tune that came on was Grandma & Grandpa's song, Always.

Dad led a prayer service during the visitation for Grandma on Thursday. In his eulogy he reminded us that Grandma's last words to Grandpa before his casket was closed were "Goodbye Don. I'll be with you soon." Then Dad invited everyone to say final goodbyes to Grandma. Right after the last of the group sat down Always came on over the PA system.

Together for always.

( Lyrics )

ZOMG!!!!! It really is true! After almost a decade Loreena McKennitt is releasing a new studio album! On November 21! Just in time for my birthday! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

::runs around like a sugar-drunk toddler::

This MySpacer doesn't know much else about us, but he does know that librarians have sex too (NSFW without headphones). Buddy, you don't know the half of it.

Dancing is just an innocent diversion, is it? Think again Jezebel!



Listen to streaming traditional Persian music at Radio Darvish.

Download free & legal electronic music at Kahvi Collective.

Get The Shat on your home answering machine! Enter the contest at the William Shatner DVD Club.

This is what TV is like in Japan.

Conning the conmen: Anti-scammer cons a Nigerian scammer into creating art.

Why Clark & Lois can't get it on: Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex by Larry Niven.

Stylish tinfoil hats for the discriminating lunatic: I dig the fez.

Hooray for Friday. This morning I was in the mood to listen to something more festive than my Launch radio, so I went looking for another LaunchCast station. What to listen to? Metalcore? 666? Disco? Hm, why is there nothing but Latin, Reggae & Reggaeton in the World Beat section? Hey Launch: there are other cultures you know! Oh, what's this? Gay Club Mix?! Score! *Click*

So after listening for 4 hours, I gotta ask: what is up with all the Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson & Christia Aguilera? I get the Cher thing, the Madonna thing, even the Janet Jackson thing, but the white trash pop? WTF? Is it that it's so bad it's good? Please 'splain it to me.

Speaking of Queens, GQ Karen is now director of the teenage troupe and has taken over the Sunday morning class I gave up. She also just got back from teaching & performing in Scotland and has been invited to teach in Dublin. K seems to have a knack for meeting the right people dance careerwise, damn her. ;^P

Have you heard about the Dianetics car racing team? Start Your Thetans! Sounds like a joke, but it isn't.

And now a couple video links from a couple cool bellydancing chicks:

~ The surreal Messer für Frau Müller - Best Girl In The USSR via 2tonebeatnik.

~ A very, very NSFW anime-style I Like Big Butts via anysia.

This music video rules: Kelly Likes Shoes. (Naughty language makes this NSFW without headphones.) Features drag queens, shoes & fire-hooping!

Hm, puts me in mind of Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall.

~ Sex slave cult based on 1960s SF novels raided: Goreans in the UK. (SFW: BBC link)

~ Comic Book Bondage Cover of the Day. Oh so very NSFW.



~ Texas Lightning: German country & western music, including covers of such songs as "Dancing Queen" and "Like a Virgin" (see the Songs page).

~ Nina Paley's excellent animations based on the Ramayana, a Hindu epic: The Sitayana, or Sita Sings the Blues.



~ A comedy 3,000 years in the making: 10 Things I Hate About Commandments. Also check out Must Love Jaws by the same guys. (sound/video warning)

~ A huge list of 80s music videos available online: Totally bitchin'!

Is it possible for any song to rock harder than Bohemian Rhapsody?

This cliched post brought to you by the letters B and R.

Lots of local peeps have been complaining about hayfever lately. Due to a mild winter and dry spring in the Midwest, this is supposed to be one of the worst allergy seasons in years. I'd been feeling surprisingly good, but being terribly sensitive to tree pollen I knew it was just a matter of time before I too was dripping at the nose and lolling around in misery. Well, today pollen counts hit critical levels for me. I can really relate to the last panel in shadefell's comic, though I haven't used nasal spray. Yet. Ugh, I hate this time of year.

To distract myself I've been playing with Last.fm. I think you should too, 'cause I'm curious to know what y'all listen to. My profile.

eeknight & I will be taking our friend Howard--who's up from Evansville for the Windy City Pulp & Paperback Convention--to Khyber Pass to see Gypsy Queens Piper & Giselle perform tonight. The spicy, ayurvedic food should help my hayfever immensely.

Lastly, another reason to love HPL:

"I, in my own senescent mellowness, confess to an inordinate and wholly unphilosophic predilection for tiny coal-black kittens with large yellow eyes, and could no more pass one without petting him than Dr. Johnson could pass a sidewalk post without striking it."
~ H.P. Lovecraft, from "Cats and Dogs" (.pdf)