Month: June 2005

Canadian singer/songwriter/musician/producer Emm Gryner is currently my favorite recording artist out there, displacing the relatively inactive (recording of new, original material-wise) Jane Siberry and Kate Bush. There are very few musicians that can get me out to a club on a weeknight, but Emm Gryner is one of them. Chris, Scot, and I had the pleasure of Emm’s latest sojourn to Boston/Cambridge Wednesday night at Club Passim. This is the fourth time I’ve seen Emm perform live and she never disappoints.

For this show, Emm played piano and acoustic guitar and was backed up by a cellist and violinist. She is touring in support of her latest album, Songs of Love and Death, her album of Irish covers from which she played two or three songs. Emm has such a huge repertoire of songs, both recorded and unrecorded that I didn’t know what to expect. She played a sprinkling of her back catalog, including “Hello Aquarius,” her “hit” from Public, the album she released for Mercury/Polygram in 1998, “Headline Girl,” taken from her debut independent release, The Original Leap Yearand “Symphony,” the lead track off 2002’s Asiablue. The remainder of songs were made up of new songs Emm is currently recording for a new album, and miscellaneous unrecorded material. A couple of highlights from the unfamiliar included a song called “London Boy,” written for her new husband, and “Killing Spree,” a new song that builds menacingly and is sure to rock out with a full band.

Emm is such a talented musician, songwriter and vocalist. Her voice is unique and captivating. She blends thoughtful lyrics with pop melodies with effortless ease. She even gave a nod to her home country of Canada for allowing anyone to marry. Go Emm! I will continue to catch Emm’s live performances whenever she stops by the Boston area.

There were two opening acts in this “Canadian sandwich.” Halifax-based Rose Cousins was cut directly from the folky girl-with-guitar mold, but featured lovely gentle songs and a dry sense of humor reminiscent of Janet Young. The Tennessee filling in this sandwhich was called The Everybodyfields whose twangy Americana boasted gorgeous three-part harmonies around a condenser mike. All in all a terrific night of music.

So I got this meme from both Jennifer and Becki, so I thought I’d post it here. Oh, what’s a meme you might be asking? Well the Wikipedia gives the casual definition of “referring to any piece of information passed from one mind to another.” This applies to a lot on the internet, but I’ve seen meme referring to those lists of things you say about yourself then pass to 10 friends, etc. Strangely enough there were a couple letters missing here (G or T anyone?) so I’ve made up my own. Here’s the alphabetical meme.

A is for age: 43
B is for booze: Sidecar (the Cognac version)
C is for career: Librarian
D is for dad’s name: Gerald
E is for essential items to bring to a party: Good music
F is for favorite song at the moment: Disco Lights by Emm Gryner
G is for Guilty Pleasure: Supergirl
H is for hometown: Reading, Ma
I is for instruments you play: Piano, Guitar, Bass, Baritone Horn, Viola
J is for jam or jelly you like: Strawberry
K is for kids: Nope, just two kitties.
L is for living arrangement: Apartment with my Hubby.
M is for mom’s name: Frances
N is for name of your best friend: Oh, come on.
O is for overnight hospital stays: Broken wrist
P is for phobia[s]: Loud motorcycles
Q is for quote you like: “Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!”
R is for relationship that lasted the longest: 8.5 years, but this one is going to last a lot longer.
S is for siblings: Two brothers and one sister
T is for Title of last good book read: The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
U is for unique trait: Getting someone to drive the getaway car just by asking.
V is for vegetable you love: Brussel Sprouts
W is for worst trait: I can be controlling
X is for x-rays you’ve had: Lots at the dentist, and more that I can?t really think of.
Y is for yummy food you make: Hmmm? I?ve got a bunch, how about Teriyaki Mushroom Walnut Loaf
Z is for zodiac sign: Taurus

Firsts

First job: Paper Route Sub
First screen name: MikeyMA
First piercing: And only? left nipple
First tattoo: do not have any…
First credit card: I can?t remember
First kiss: You know, I think it was Rhonda Dantas
First favorite musician/band: Emm Gryner
Last kiss: Scottie
Last movie watched: Or (My Treasure)
Last beverage drank: Raspberry Lime Rickey
Last food consumed: Bailey?s Irish Cream Cheesecake
Last phone call: Chris
Last Shower: 7:30 this morning
Last CD played: Lamb ? Between Darkness and Wonder (but I just got home from an Emm Gryner show, does that count?
Last web site visited: Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film
Single or Taken? Married
What do you miss? Time to relax
Hair color? Right now? Shaved.
Natural color? Black & White
Eye color? brown
Makes you sad? The United States of America and their position in the world
Are you happy? Yep

June was a crazy month, with me being away from home for 18 out of the 30 days in June. Work kept me busy at two Conferences, a Leadership Institute, and then our annual pilgrimage to the Provincetown International Film Festival. While all of the things that took me away from home were worthwhile, I think I’d like my business travel to be a little more spread throughout the year.

The first week of June found me in New York City for BookExpo America, the national conference for independent booksellers and librarians. The conference was great; it was so nice for this librarian to spend an entire conference focused on books. Believe it or not, that’s pretty unheard of for librarians nowadays. Even better was getting to spend so much time with two good friends who I don’t get to see very often: Daniel from Milwaukee, and Ren?e from New Jersey. Ren?e is the editor for Rutgers Magazine, the publication for Rutgers University. Daniel is a buyer at Harry W. Schwartz Books, Milwaukee’s largest independent bookstore chain. It’s great doing the BookExpo with Daniel, because I swear, he knows everyone in publishing. AND everyone likes him. Daniel took me to a party in Brooklyn on the first night where much to my surprise, I bumped into Ren?e , who I wasn’t expecting to see until Friday. The party was great, and I met lots of very cool people.

Ren?e and I joined my friend Talia Ross of, director of Library Marketing for Holtzbrinck Publishers, for a tour of their offices at the Flatiron Building. Afterwards we (and the dozen or so librarians who were invited) enjoyed lunch at Bobby Flay’s new restaurant. I was thrilled to be have as my next door table mate, none other than Nancy Pearl, the most recognizable librarian in the country. Why is that you ask? Why she is the model for the librarian action figure.

Conference stuff was lots of fun too. I got to meet two authors whose work I have admired. The first was a total surprise as I had no idea that he was going to be in attendance, or that he had a new book coming out. Michelangelo Signorile wrote the life-changing (for me) book Queer in America: Sex, the Media, and the Closets of Power back in the 80’s. It was the first book that made me think about activism in a serious way. His new book is a collection of his more recent essays entitled Hitting Hard: Michelangelo Signorile on George W. Bush, Mary Cheney, Gay Marriage, Tom Cruise, the Christian Right and Sexual Hypocrisy in America. He was soft-spoken and friendly.

I was also pleased to be able to meet and spend 30 seconds (after standing in a rather lenghty line) with Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Cunningham. I tore through his terrific new novel Specimen Days (you can read my review here and told him that we wanted hom to come to our next State Association Conference. He said to keep contacting him. I certainly will.

Other things I did in NYC. I saw the film PALINDROMES with my pal Bruce Kingsley (who then brought me to a really cool bar/restaurant, but unfortunately I can’t remember the name. Bruce, if you read this could you let me know?) I also saw BKLYN: The Musical on Broadway. It wasn’t my first choice (Doubt and Avenue Q were sold out, no big surprise.)

Wow. I thought I was going to talk about all the things I did during the month of June, but I ended up going on and on about BookExpo America! Guess I’ll colme back another time and talk about the rest.

I was reading Meryn Cadell’s blog (you know, Meryn Cadell… The Sweater Song?) where he mentions Katie and Tom. It seems that Katie was in line to play one of Andy Warhol’s Superstars, Edie Sedgwick in a film called FACTORY GIN. It seems that her new beau (we all know who that is!) has advised her to drop the part because “portrayed her as a victim and she should only take strong roles.” It couldn’t be because Edie was in and out of mental institutions and on a variety of psychotropic drugs, and Tom doesn’t believe in those drugs because of his belief in Scientology, could it? Katie has turned down the role.