oktoberfuss

wow, who woulda thunk it would be so hard to find a setlist from the funk. i guess i should have just put it to memory, the songs they played. but my mind doesn't work that way.

tonight at the last minute dan said -- oh, so and so and so and so are meeting at ludwig's for an oktoberfest dinner. and i said, well damn, let's go. so we did.

for a year we've had a curious eye on ludwig's bavarian schnitzelhouse. we live just a few blocks away and drive by it daily. it seemed as cold as its stone exterior however, and expensive. we weren't hip to the rowdy lounge where you can drink liters of frothy german beer. where you can eat goulash or four varieties of bratwurst or half a roasted chicken for under $8. where you are served by a surly waitress in a white apron.

during oktoberfest you can win funny green hats with plummage and sunglasses shaped like beer steins (dan did). even tashi prized away some plastics: a kinderegg, two strands of shiny beads and a couple of balloons. and you can hoot and holler and throw paper airplanes (dan did). and believe it or not, you can have smart conversation amongst it all.

that's what happened tonight at ludwig's.

happy autumnal equinox to all you people pulling out the wool blankets (or not). and happy anniversaries too. you know who.

bright lights big band

I will post more later.

But for a quick overview of Parliament Funkadelic, best song was probably Maggot Brain, but perhaps for my own sentimental reasons. Also, the drummer, guitarist and bassist did an awesome jam on their own. The riff, I'm told by my husband, was Jethro Tull's "New Day Yesterday." And the show ended with “At the Hop”!!?!!?

Sir Nose did some good twisting and grooving and it was pretty fun to see a bunch of audience members on stage joining the circus. George Clinton was glorious and his entrance was all that it should have been, in his wild robe, carrying a long staff with fuzzy haired skull face on the top.

Really, I’m not sure if I can say one song was better than another because the whole show completely rocked. Continuous music for three and a half hours without so much as a break between songs. Those guys (and one woman) are awesome and have so much spirit. It was definitely a music event to remember.

The guy with the giant orange cowboy hat probably should get the prize for best dressed audience member. Though the girl with the watermelon colored hair , watermelon colored gloves, and green & black striped tights gets a close second.

"Bullshit" was the recurring phrase of the evening. Its fun to yell that sentiment really loud with lots of other people in this day and age.

As soon as I find a set list I’ll post it, as well as more impressions of the event.

funka lunch

Mmm, guacamole and chips. So good.

Today is a very exciting day because it is going to be followed by tonight. And tonight Dan and I are going to see Parliament/Funkadelic at the Charlottesville Pavilion. That’s right, we’re gonna get funked up. Tickets were a birthday present from Dan. The last time we saw P-Funk was in San Francisco at Fort Mason. Boy does that ever feel like a long time ago.

We even hired a babysitter. She’s going to bring over cookie dough and bake with Tashi.

And so you can guess what I’m listening to on Pandora. So far they have played: The Motor Booty Affair; Handcuffs; Super Stupid; I Got a Thing, You Got a Thing, Everybody’s Got a Thing; Flashlight; This Broken Heart; P-Funk; Rumpofsteelskin; Cholly and Smokey. With a few obscure songs by misc funk bands thrown in between.

Music reviews are not my thing, but I’ll be sure to check back in and let you know how it all went.

quick hit

Today’s culinary lunch delight is Cypriot style stuffed squash w/ bulgur.

Today’s literary trivia: Edgar Allan Poe attended one semester of college at UVA. Just blocks away from my office his dorm room is enshrined behind a glass door through which the curious can peer at spare furnishings and a raven sculpture.

Watch for falling nuts. The Squirrels are tossing them by the multitude from the tops of tall trees.

That is the lunchblog update for today.

crusty keyboard

it's another lunchblog update. today's lunch is leftover homemade pesto pizza topped with with artichoke hearts, mushrooms and lots of cheese. yum. beth orton is singing "sweetest decline" on pandora, a song that makes me want to weep.

but i'm not weeping, i'm eating.

yesterday i accidentally left my closet door open and wouldn't ya believe, the cat, which ever one it is, did its business on a big backpack that is stored away in there. thank goodness for a fine product called bi-o-kleen which seems to take care of catsmell.

that is the cat urine update of the day.

anyone know what to do about a cat that has taken to random pissing?

i'm sorry. this really isn't a very nice topic is it? goes to show that life these days is a little on the dull side.

but it's the weekend! that means fridaynightdowntownpeoplewatchwithabeer and saturdaymorningfarmersmarket and maybe a blueridgesundaydrive. yay.

ok, i gotta get outside for a bit of my lunchbreak and continue reading karma cola by Gita Mehta. cheers.

lentil soup log in

Yes indeed, and it’s Progresso Lentil soup, one of the few soups of that brand that doesn’t have MSG or some unidentifiable eight syllable preservative in it.

Life on the ranch is hectic, messy and rather overcast. I haven’t much to report, but thought I should make an appearance.

You could surf on the mushrooms in our yard, except that they are beginning to rot and fall off their stalks. The grass needs a trimming and the deck needs lots of love. Raccoons knock our garbage can over every night, so rubbish appears in unexpected places. Loki is surely upset today, locked in the house because of rain. We suspect Luna of being the one that pees on any canvas bag left on the floor. She’s destroyed Dan’s computer bag, taken a shot at our collapsible cooler, messed up some decent farmer’s market sacks, left a taint on Tashi’s backpack and even left her mark on a few pairs of socks. If you come to our house, remember to set your bag up high. And if you remove your socks while watching tv, don’t toss them on the floor. We are working on this problem and will be sure to keep you updated.

I just leant my umbrella to a faculty member. It is fluorescent pink and blue and yellow and has the word “love” printed all over it.

That seems as good a place as any to sign off.

a tribute to fun

our one year charlottesville anniversary came and went. so did my 39th birthday. my mother had a safe return to ann arbor on saturday. tashi started school tuesday. dan went to germany for a week and has returned. tropical depression ernesto knocked a tree down around the corner which in turn knocked the power out. there are mushrooms growing in our yard.

on saturday tashi and i visited old town alexandria after dropping my mom off at reagan national airport. the potomac river had flooded a bit the night before and there was a line of sludge and plastic water bottles all along the waterfront. we visited the torpedo factory, a place that was once indeed a manufacturer of such, but now houses dozens of artisan studios.

on sunday a jet-lagged dan, tashi and myself went to an open house at a winery where we had a picnic, a wine tasting and a wade in the rockfish river. tashi didn't want to stomp on grapes with her bare feet because there were bees buzzing nearby. later she didn't want to wade in the river because an adult smashed a wine glass on some rocks.

after our winery experience we took a drive up and over the blue ridge and dropped down into lexington where there were military boys in white uniforms lining up at every restaurant. we resigned ourselves to ordering subs on the outskirts of town and then went to hull's drive-in where we watched the second pirates of the carribean movie. it was a full house. the last time i went to a drive-in theater i was in high school and surely crocked. hull's is the only non-profit drive-in in the country and very family oriented. a group that calls themselves "hull's angels" saved it from its near destruction a few years ago. the movie was pretty gruesome, not the type of film we would normally choose for tashi's viewing pleasure. but she accidentally saw the first pirates movie on tv and loved it so much we assumed the second one would be as entertaining. we came away fairly ambivalent about the whole experience.

labor day was about groceries, hair cuts and new school shoes.

alas, tashi is now reading to dan before bed, and so i must go join them.