Ryan Adams and The Cardinals @ the Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver - July 29

A little chinoisserie - someone went to Chinatown earlier!

Amazing. I love Ryan Adams. This is no secret. Besides the music and seeing him live again, highlight must have been when he kept going on about Christopher Cross and how he was supposed to go parasailing with him this week and then more nonsense bout Christopher's wife, Big Sandy, calling him up before the show, and then how Jimmy Buffet and Christopher Cross were fighting over who owned the key to the Gramercy Hotel. Or maybe when he and the Cardinals went into a boogie disco jam after Ryan said something bout the Commodore's decor and how he expected The Time to walk out and start playing. And he's sober now!




Do you see this guy? He's what, 6'4"??!! His head is stored in the cameras of everyone behind him. Dude, you are too tall to stand there.

Chromeo @ Studio B, Brooklyn - July 6

Pics from Chromeo's record release party at Studio B, hosted by Vice Records...


Kid Sister opened and was flllllly


Chromeo




Zandy, Me, and Vice editor extraordinaire, Mike D




Off goes the shirt


Sweaty


MIke D crowd surfing and being awesome. Believe it.


Get the pink crackle




Good niiiight...time for pizza

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I !!!!!!!

Back in Vancouver since a week ago...but first OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI!!!


What a lovely watertower Oxford has...

So many stories but here's a quick recap:

July 4th, our last day in Mississippi and hours away from catching a flight outta Memphis to New York, the Mangolds ran a 5k race. Superstars! I was not in fighting form and sadly, took pics from the sidelines haha... Every great team needs a cheerleader!


Tom & Gail peace out pre-race

Poor Z, so tired from our last night prowling backroad juke joints, managed to bring it while looking particularly fetching in the pj bottoms my sister got me from Japan.


Hot-cha-cha

Victoria and King ran the fun run...


King, Elizabeth and Victoria


Pre-race hobnob




There she goooes....Gail came in #1 for her age group - way to go!!! Amazing.


This lil guy had to be lifted off the starting mat and carried thruout the race...gets a medal for cuteness

:: Animal Break ::


T-box and Butternut keeping it real. They love each other.


Zcat with Nellie and Caboose

:: Southside Gallery ::


Doing my southern belle at the Southside Gallery, Oxford, MS

:: Walkies on the Estate ::

Mississippi was, without a doubt, my favourite place we visited on the road trip 2007. A lot of that has to do with seeing Gail and Tom again and meeting Victoria and Caboose and Granite. Too many good times sitting round the table and catching up...IN PERSON! The "Mangold Estate" (haha) is gorgeous and wild. Going for walkies is like strolling thru any of the state parks we checked out on the trip - BUT BETTER. And camping along one of the ponds for 2 nights was dreamy too...lightning bugs and crazy loud frogs and crickets at night, what a hoot!



















:: Catch of the Day: BASS! ::

We went fishing and within minutes, bada-boom bada-bing, Z catches a bass. Fry that sucker up! Yummm.... (Incidentally, I got 2 bites but lost them...wah waaaah)


Thank you fishy for giving your life

















Butternut going to tooooooooown

:: Heading to the Delta... ::

The day before we had to leave Mississippi, Zandy and I took a short trip from Oxford to the Delta. Oh the Delta! I'd heard and read so many stories about the Delta. We drove thru Clarksdale and the famed crossroads where Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the Devil, at midnite, in exchange for the ability to play the blues like ... the Devil himself. NOT STEVE VAI.

On the way and back we met some great, wonderful, warm people, real Mississippians, so friendly and welcoming. It was a great experience and one I'll remember for the rest of my days.

First stop: Sunny's Country Store, a service station WITH FOOD AND SWEET TEA


Georgia, Ollie's older sister, and Ollie Grant

We were graciously welcomed by Ollie Grant, the prorietress, who served us up a heaping plate of hamburger steak with two sides (brussel sprouts and peas n carrots), the best cornbread EVER, and of course, a Rosemary's Greenpoint Tavern monster-sized styrofoam cup of sweet tea (for Z) and half-sweet, half-unsweet tea (for me). Total cost: $5, sweet tea on the house.




Sweeeeet tea, too sweet for me :)


People passing thru pin their business cards above the counter and according to Ollie, some people take others' down to make room for theirs




With a sign like that, who could resist?



We spent about 2-3 hours in the country store, drinking sweet tea, meeting Ollie's extended family, taking pictures and learning all about moonshine, Mississippi, the local celebrities and so much more. Ollie gave us a mason jar of her homemade green tomato relish, which we cracked open in New York and ate with spareribs, roast beef and beans. Deelish! I love Ollie. She showed me her sewing machines (domestic and industrial) and sergers and gave me a lesson in different serger stitches. She also wrote down for me her watermelon jelly recipe, which I have yet to try.

And on and on...from the country store we hit the crossroads of Clarksdale (a little disappointing), got stuck in Mississippi "gumbo" (ie: mud), skipped stones in the Mississippi, had a couple beers at a funny little service station in the middle of nowhere, USA where aaaaall the black people hanging out and drinking in the back of the store moved away from us at the picnic table - not right away but one by one haha, and then finally ended up at the Dew Drop Inn in Shelby, MS where we had one of the most memorable nights ever in my life. It was there we met Rip, the bassist for a Clarksdale blues band, who told me how Mississippi has changed so much over the years. He was born and raised in Shelby and has driven the local school bus for years - I think he said 26 years...? He told me about all the different races that ride his bus and how the kids all get along and get by like one united nation. He was really proud of that and made me feel at home, as I sat sandwiched on that corner stool btwn him and Gladys, the singer in his band. He shared his Crown Royal and fruit juice with me and they gave me their phone numbers and email addresses. While Rip was telling me tales of growing up in Mississippi, Gladys and Jackie, the bar manager or owner, were singing along to the classic soul and blues tunes playing over the speakers. We went to a real Mississippi juke joint, where the people were so friendly and welcoming and the music saved my life.

T-Box and Butternut

After leaving the Scholar's Inn, Zandy and I had a perfectly greasy brunch at the local Waffle House in Bloomington. We had a day to burn it to Memphis where we had to drop off the rental car. There was only one stop on the way and that was French Lick, Indiana, hometown of NBA legend Larry Bird.

On the way to French Lick, Z saw a billboard for the Tee Box driving range so we made a detour. The Tee Box was basically somebody's huge front lawn with golf tees set up. Next to the golf tees was a blue garage and further down was the main house. There was no one around but an Open sign hung on the blue garage which housed golf clubs and buckets of balls. A white marker board read "Small Bucket $2" "Big Bucket $3" "Free Kittens" and on a stool next to it was a plastic ice cream bucket with some bills weighted down by rocks. Z left 3 bux on the stool and we started hitting balls. It was pretty idyllic. Rain was just sprinkling down and nobody was around.

Well eventually, a young dude came out of the house and turns out he's a musician in a heavy metal/speed metal band called...Bloodshed Ransom. He had bleached blonde/orange and jet black hair and seemed more like someone from Seattle than whatever town between Orleans and French Lick, Indiana. I mean, come on, this is John Cougar Mellencamp territory! His name was Will and his folks owned the property.


T-Box


Butternut

Well, eventually his white lab showed up and then a cute little soft grey/white kitten appeared. I picked it up and never let go. Hot on its heels, another little grey/white kitten came walking up. They smelled of skunk and were wet from the rain. Will said a cat gave birth in the garage a few weeks ago and disappeared. He thinks she got caught up in the construction across the street. So now his family has 5 kittens they need to give away, thus the "free kittens" sign. Zandy and I fell in love with them and could not leave them to the coyotes. Will's dad was ready to release them - who knows where they would've gone. Crazy as it might be, we adopted the two little wild Indianan kitties for happy times in New York. Logistically, it's insane but we really could not leave them.





So Will thought they were both girls and after checking them out, we agreed. But the 2nd kitty, much smaller and super hyper, seems more like a boy. He's a terror! Scampering and running around all the time. The 1st one is soft and calm, very mellow, just purrfect (sorry). They're both so soft n lovely.







I hate to say it but thank god for the Walmart Super Center! Ahahaaa... Just down the road from the T-Box, we found all the supplies we needed for our long drive to Memphis. Kitty litter, food, bowl... Sorted. The kitties sat in my lap and climbed over our shoulders. We all arrived safe and sound in Tennessee and with so much time to spare before the car had to be returned. My plans to see Graceland and the Stax Museum and Sun Studios changed now that we had the kittens, so we headed straight to Oxford, Mississippi where Z's folks live. How quickly and easily my priorities shifted!

We went and saw the local vet, Dr. Harland and turns out, the 1st soft and calm kitty is a boy. We named him Butternut and I think we're keeping it although it sounds like a girl's name. Butternut is a tree found commonly in Indiana and incidentally, it's the colour of his loose stool. I still call him her. I don't think he notices. The spry A.D.D. one is named T-Box - kinda street, it suits her. We'll take them carry on and put them under our seats when we fly back to New York in a few days. I hope L takes to them well - I think she will. She's very social.

For those who know me, I am super allergic to cats. I'm quaffing my quercetine but it doesn't seem to be working. A scratch or too much rubbing up against me will bring on hives but no worries. I'm building an immunity and if that doesn't work, I'll get shots. The kittens are too cute to deny.


Missouri Rest Stop On the Way to Memphis