Just thought I’d update you folks halfway through our vacation week. We just got back from a wonderful time in our fave new city “a la francaise”–Montreal.
The Osheaga music festival went off Sunday without a hitch–the skies hinted a lack of cooperation, but no big storms came–just a bit of spitting rain here and there. We had our ponchos and umbrellas, and camped out on a towel on the ground-so we fared O.K.
Although the lineup was not as stellar as last year, the bands were still great. It was a very eclectic lineup-ranging from soul to hip-hop, punk to techno. I’ll put in a little review of each band we got the chance to see (4 bands were playing on 4 different stages). We rated them out of 5 stars.

Louis XIV- a rock in roll band with a real live rock and roll attitude. They put on a fun show, the lead singer reminded me of what Bob Dylan would sound like with a hard-core edge. (3 stars)

Beast–this group made a surprise performance because the band that was supposed to play in their place, Foals, cancelled at the very last minute. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because these guys ROCKED!! They were a “trip hop” band (kind of like Portishead with street attitude) and the lead singer was this cool woman with a shaved head. We were really surprised at what a cool band this was!! (4 stars)

N.E.R.D–These guys have been around the hip-hop scene for a while (Pharrell Williams is probably their most noted member). They disappointed us by taking way too long to set up (I mean, every other group took less than 10 minutes to set up because they were all on a tight schedule. These guys were getting WAY too picky about the sound and didn’t start until 1/2 hour later, putting everyone else behind). Aside from that, they put on a pretty engaging show. (3 stars)

Spiritualized–how to describe this guy? Trippy, chill-out music with angry lyrics. Like the Flaming Lips on sedatives, with soul backup singers. Not bad, but not up our alley either (2 stars)

Sleeper car--one word: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZz. (1.5 stars)

Metric: a born-in-Montreal group with a sound similar to last year’s Stars, a fun group with a cute female lead singer. Nothing too unique about them, but fun (3 stars)

Duchess Says: Little did we know, when hanging out at the MEG stage, that the innocent-looking redhead standing in front of us was the lead singer of this Montreal-based punk group. When she took the stage, she became a screaming banshee who jumped into the crowd and started slinging mud at people. CRAZY, but definitely entertaining to watch! (2.5 stars).

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings: Sharon Jones has been a soul legend for years, and from seeing this performance we can understand why. This band has AMAZING talent, Sharon Jones has so much energy, she was like the female James Brown! Not a single person wasn’t dancing when she came on, and the crowd went wild. The whole band was vibrant and TIGHT. A pleasant surprise for us, and one of Osheaga’s best acts! (5 stars).

Cat Power: We got burned once before by Cat Power at Mass Moca years ago. She has been notorious for inconsistent live performances that run from spellbinding to sheer histrionics. Honestly Cat Power was more solid this time around, she appeared to have taken her medication this time (there was a writeup of her in Rolling Stone recently, chronicling her bad performance history and addiction recovery). She did however hide at one side of the stage while she performed, and near the end of the set she botched her songs so badly that they were barely recognizable. That said, at least she didn’t run off stage crying like at Mass Moca. I love her music, but seeing the girl live is not worth it. She is in her own world and nobody else can go there with her. (2 stars).

Devotchka: This band gives a whole new meaning to eclectic. Band members hail from Greece, Yugoslavia and Romania and they combine these influences with haunting melodies that range from polka, punk, dance hall and soul. What’s even more impressive is the fact that each band member can aptly play more than one instrument, and for the set they switched between such instruments as the cello and trumpet, the violin and accordion, the drums and the sousaphone. Oh, and they apparently did the soundtrack to little Miss Sunshine. A really impressive show that was hard to describe! (3.5 stars)

Iggy and the Stooges: When I first heard that Iggy Pop was going on a sort of “reunion tour” with his old buddies, I was excited but also skeptical. Judging from how some recent reunion tours have fallen short (Genesis to name a few), I was afraid I’d see a tired, old Iggy playing new stuff that just didn’t have the raw, visceral energy that the old Stooges emanated. Well I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised to see Iggy screaming and writhing around like he had been in the 70’s. The crowd went insane! It was hard to believe he had aged at all, which just goes to show–sometimes you can’t take the rock and roll out of the person. I was happy to hear that he didn’t perform much from his new album, but instead chose to perform most of the tried and true punk anthems. He completed the set by letting everyone and anyone come up on stage and mosh into a crazy free-for-all (don’t worry I didn’t do that!) (I was amazed at how civil most people at Osheaga were. Not one single person tried to push or shove us at any of the performances. In fact only one person bumped into us and apologized profusely (gasp! using MANNERS?? What is THAT???). Canadians are just so nice…)

Oh, and of all the performances, which one do you think the baby got excited about? Did she kick for Metric? NERD? Cat Power? Sharon Jones? (well, a little bit for her). No, the music that our kid kicked up a storm for was Iggy and the Stooges! That’s right; our kids gonna be a hardcore punk…

Booka Shade: It was pretty magical stuff to see this techno group perfoming in the MEG stage, tucked away in a little corner of the forest, the stage lit up by the glow of their audiovisual screen and glow-stick enamored turntable. Booka had incredible energy that got everyone jumping. It felt like a rave. These two German guys know how to get a party going! (4 stars).

The Killers: these guys were the big headliners, and they didn’t dissapoint. We were happy to hear a few faves, but to be honest, at this point our legs were killing us from standing for over 9 hours and we were starting to get tired and cranky. (God, we’re getting old!). So we didn’t stay for the whole set, but we were happy with what we saw (3.5 stars).

All in all, Osheaga was again an amazing event! We were so happy to have gone. Everyone was extremely cool and nice there, and we felt like we belonged. Even though there was a lot of drinking and pot-smoking going on, no one was acting out of control and it felt pretty safe. Only one person that we saw started acting out, at which point security immediately booted him out (and held him down!) before he disturbed anyone or anything. There were actually quite a few people this year with small children; they came well-prepared with special headphones to block out the noise for their kids and they seemed to be pretty darn content. Which gives us hope for next year, maybe??

Everytime we go to Montreal we find more reasons to love it. This time of year is festival mania, with hundreds of festivals going on all summer long. To name a few, our visit there was sandwiched between such festivals as the DiversCite LGBT festival (which we were sorry to miss; after realizing THAT’s why many of the streets were blocked and it was impossible to get to our hotel-we missed the drag queen parade!), the Anime Festival, The International Film festival, The International Gourmet Festival, Fetish Weekend (which Chris was sad to miss, lol), The International Graffiti festival and the Montreal Blues Fest. Wow, and that was only in the first two weeks of August!

We ate at an Asian vegetarian restaurant which had some pretty unique faux meat options, such as veggie goat and eel. I tried veggie sweet and sour chicken, and Chris had veggie herb-encrusted “fish”. Both were actually quite good! I’m not sure what veggie eel would’ve been like…slimy?? We also grabbed dinner one night at our fave veg. buffet place, Le Commensal. Each morning, courtesy of our hotel (Hotel St. Denis again–can’t beat the location or price),we had breakfast at Pacini. The waitstaff there were very nice.

On Monday we wandered around Vieux Montreal (aka Old Port Montreal). The cobblestone streets, narrow passageways and decorated verandas elicited the charm of Old-World France. It was lovely to walk with Chris and explore all of the little patisseries and sundries shops, and watch the flower sellers and street performers. We stopped and ate at a gelateria that sweetened everything with maple syrup. Later on in the day we attempted to visit Parc du Mont Royal, the extinct volcano park from which Montreal got its namesake. Little did we know what a far walk it was from the metro stop, so we decided to head back. We wanted to see Hellboy II but it was only playing in French (with French dubbing, not subtitles), and the Cine Roboteque was closed on Mondays, so we had to settle for playing rummy at a little cafe called Second Cup.

Sigh….je’aime beacoup visiter Montreal! I certainly hope we can return again someday soon, even with a little Renee in tow (she does afterall have to get in touch with her French Canadian heritage).

Later on this week we are heading to New Jersey for the All Points West Music festival and to spend time with the sis and nephews.

More updates and pics to come within the next week or so!

OK, so this might be the last of our late nights out in Boston to go to concerts for…well…a LOOOONGG time (like when our kid turns 18). But we thought we’d do it up right with Ladytron at Paradise Rock Club.

Opening for them was Datarock, which might just be the most genius “nerd rock” band since Devo. The group (from Bergen, Norway!) came on stage wearing matching red jogging suits and ray ban glasses.

They totally got the crowd involved, doing silly dances in unison (very Devo-esque!), and having people sing along and clap. They rocked the scene with cheesy casio keyboards and mini guitars. At one point, one even pulled out a saxophone and played it rather well. How can you not love a band who brings such cheesy fun, and who has song titles like “Molly Ringwald” and “Computer Camp Love”.
Apparently, they have been compared to DEVO so many times that even DEVO themselves remixed a song of theirs and have become fans of them!

myspace page for Datarock: http://www.myspace.com/datarock

They definitely got us pumped up for LADYTRON…

At this point, the not-so-good sound qualities of Paradise Rock Club started to show. Any time there are more than a few instruments playing at a time, its as if the speakers can’t handle it and the sound becomes drowned out.

That said, although we couldn’t hear very well, Ladytron put on a very good show. They played most of their songs off the new “Velocifero” album, and a few goodies from “Witching Hour”. They created a good atmosphere with flashing strobe lights that enhanced their badass/dramatic dancehall vibe. By the time they returned for an encore with “Destroy Everything You Touch”, the crowd went nuts!

We were protected by a guardian angel bodyguard, who, after finding out I was pregnant and didn’t want to get too overheated in the big crowd, found a spot for us to sit and enjoy the rest of the show in relative peace. When the show ended, he even snuck us into a “secret” exit so I wouldn’t have to push my way through the big crowd. It was so nice of him, we kinda felt like VIPS! (very important pregnant people). We even wrote to the club to thank him.

It was a Monday night and we got home at 1:30 (relatively early compared to some of our other Boston jaunts!), well worth it. But we know we can’t pull nights like this too much longer!

This weekend we’re going to New Jersey to spend forth of July with my sister and the kids. Should be fun we hope…more later!

Thanks to the wonderful generosity of my Aunt, we were able to stay in her cute little beach cottage in Dennisport for the weekend while we visited our friends who had twins.

My Aunt’s little cottage is the quintessential beach cottage-a little bungalow with bright yellow shutters within walking distance to a nice little private beach.
We enjoyed sitting on her porch and playing cards (I beat Chris at Rummy!) while listening to the sounds of summer and feeling the ocean breeze.
The Dennisport neighborhood was nice and quiet, and within walking distance to a few yummy places to eat; our two faves: Woolfies bakery (really good pies and bagels, it always smelled like cinnamon in there ), and the Sundae School, an old fashioned ice cream parlor which had excellent homemade ice cream (“the baby” wanted to eat there every day, and did (hehe!)). At least we walked off the calories!
Dennisport wasn’t too far from Hyannis, which tended to have a more “happening” nightlife and a few more restaurant selections. We drove there for dinner Friday night and had Paninis at a little Italian cafe.
On Saturday we drove to Sandwich to visit our friends Sally and Shaari. It was our first time seeing the twins-now 3 months old! Sally and Shaari are moving from Sandwich back to the Northampton area, so we went to help them out with packing if they needed it. It turns out they were farther along with packing then they thought they’d be, so we spent the morning and afternoon together and helped out a bit with the babies. They are very precious-a boy, Julien, and a girl, Charlotte. They don’t look very much alike but they were absolutely adorable and sweet! When I held Charlotte, the baby in my belly kicked her, as if to say “Hey, I wanna play with you!”.
We took some nice family photos of them at their local beach. They said they were going to miss the shoreline but were happy to be moving back to familiar territory.

Later that afternoon we stopped by the Edward Gorey museum in Yarmouth. Edward Gorey is well-known for his semi-macabre illustrations and tales (probably most popular of which would be “the Gashlycrumb Tinies”– (C is for Clara who wasted away …). The museum was really neat, and it was interesting to find out that he was a great animal humanitarian and was quite prolific in his illustrations for children’s and adult literature, television (the PBS backdrop for “Mystery” comes to mind), and even broadway (“Dracula”). The museum was inhabited by several rescued cats, one of which was larger than our fat kitty Cosmo (quite a rare thing!). He was a vast, old black and white kitty named “Ombledroom”, after a made-up character in Gorey’s Utter Zoo Alphabet. Here is the link to the Gorey house: http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/index.html

Sunday morning came too soon, and we waited until the evening to leave to a.) wait until the thunderstorms passed and b.) hopefully avoid excessive shoreline traffic. On the way home, we stopped by a children’s consignment shore in Hyannis that our friend Shaari had recommended we visit. We were so glad we did! Everything in the store was practically brand new because the owner would only accept items in mint condition. We were able to buy a baby Bjorn carrier, a brand new “boppy”, a nice diaper bag, and some cute baby toys (like a crinkly playmat), all for under the price of what one item would have cost at full price! This store was AWESOME! We would have bought more if our car wasn’t already stuffed from a trip to Ikea on the way down.

All in all it was a lovely weekend that passed by too quickly, but it was nice to rest by the shoreline and visit friends, and spend some alone time with Chris (not too many more months before that will end!).

In other news, as you will soon see from newly updated pics, my belly is getting HUGE and the baby is kicking me more and more each day, as if to say “Let’s get a move on!”. Sounds like I’ve got a little drill sargeant in there!

Thanks to a coworker of Chris’, we were offered last minute tickets to see author Augusten Burroughs do a live reading at Mount Holyoke college last night.

Augusten is best known for writing “Running With Scissors”, and Chris and I are both fans of his funny/dark/sad memoirs and short stories, as a matter of fact we have his whole collection.

Augusten was originally from the Northampton area, and he seemed happy to be back on familiar turf (it’s funny to be reading a well-known author and have him mention several familiar things about the Hadley area in his novels). He was very congenial and got everyone laughing, even though his subject matter was macabre.

His latest book is called ” A Wolf at the Table”, and its his darkest of memoirs, about his relationship with his father. He read a few excerpts from it and answered readers questions. One of the best responses he had was to a woman who said she identified with a lot of the tragic events in his stories (molestation, being pushed around from foster home to foster home, being abandoned by parents, etc…) and wanted to know what is the best way to write a memoir of her own, and she also wanted to know if writing about it helped him to “heal”.

He told her that he thinks the term “healing” is a bunch of psychobabble. That people never completely “heal” from things, and to try to seek absolute healing after terrible tragedies is futile. There are certain things, he said, that you will never fully heal from. The loss will feel like a huge hole in your chest at first, and you will wonder how you can possibly go on. You’ll have to rely on others to ground you at first. But then an amazing thing happens. The hole doesn’t dissapear, but you begin to develop a “musculature of the soul” around the empty spaces, and you are able to carry on with your life. He said, “I am so full of holes that I’m basically a piece of swiss cheese that can stand upright and shop. But I’m happy, because I’ve stopped trying to be “complete”, and “whole again”. I’ve simply learned how to live with the emptiness.”
His answer about where to begin writing was to start at the middle, and tell the absolute truth, as dirty and terrible as it seems. He said the best memoirs are those that are deeply honest. An embellished one doesn’t sound nearly as good as one that’s honest, even if it’s about something trite.

All in all, the talk was very inspiring and reminded me of the memoir class I was taking last year at GCC. I haven’t been writing in a while and I really need that in my life. So hopefully I can get back to the pen and notebook, no holds barred!

Went to my cousin Joey and Kristen wedding this last weekend. What was really nice about it is I got to see several cousins that I hadn’t seen in a LONG time. Kinda strange how that happens in families.  It is one of those things that when you are with the people you havn’t seen in a while you realize just how much you miss them all. So it was great I got to see my cousin Tabatha, Trisha, June and Joey and his new wife Kristen along with their respected significant others. It was a nice wedding and was really great catching up with all of them, that is what I really remember about it. My cousin Tabatha is due a few weeks earlier then Kathy so it was cute seeing them next to each other. One thing that irks me about some Family holding some sort of grudge or whatever is the communication. I wish I knew my cousin June lives in Orlando. Me and Kathy go to WDW once in a while and we could have visited. I know one thing for sure we will definitly be seeing her next time we are down. Me, Kathy, Jen and company are going to make sure we see them all soon which will be great. We spent many hours when we where young with them so it is nice to reconnect.