Beckett just gets funnier every day. We've determined that he's "a good egg" and "a keeper". After 10+ years together, Emily and I have never carved pumpkins together. A shame that we finally remedied this season...I love roasted pumpkin seeds for one - actually all things pumpkin, so it's win-win on the pumpkin-carving thing. That's our scary lil' guys below...Beckett was nominally involved but appreciated checking out the lit-up version later.
Some music takes the Love It or Hate It scale to new extremes - Joanna Newsom is one of those artists for a lot of folks. Emily and I first saw her opening for a very food-poisoned Devendra Banhart at the Women's Club in 2004 - her first album was just out and we had no idea...no one did. She flowed on the stage like a hippie Gelfling - long, gossamer white dress and a huge golden harp - that's it. It was the most unexpected music I've heard, which is so hard to do in this day & age. There was that palpable tension that creeps into a room when music is too loud, obnoxious, or just not being dug upon. But everyone was captivated in spite of themselves - Emily said afterwards that she hated it at moments but then she found herself with tears in her eyes a minute later. Later, she put out one of the best albums I know, Ys. with a much matured voice and compositions...now we wait for a new release and another chance to see her live (our friend Joanna - who shares the hometown of Nevada City with J. Newsom, tried to go see her at the 400 Club with us - lines 2 blocks long in the cold dashed those hopes and we ended up drinking beers at Tracy's Saloon instead - good times!). This is a sweet one from her first album...
