I don’t know why, but typing bad words makes me feel weird.

Anyways…

On Friday I went to see Shitty Wilco and the Shitty Beatles at the Common Grounds. For those who don’t know, these are cover bands that consist of members from Morningbell, Umoja Orchestra and Michael Claytor and His Friends. I always attend Shitty Beatles shows because I think it’s the closest thing I’ll ever get to hearing the Beatles live. And Shitty Wilco was a great bonus, especially since they performed Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in it’s entirety.

I took some pictures and shot some video not really knowing if anything was going to come from it, but as I started editing I got more excited about finishing this video. Every video I do I try to add something new to it, and you’ll see some new stuff in this one. The video only covers the Shitty Wilco part because I didn’t want it to be too long. Expect a Shitty Beatles soundslide soon with Colin Whitlock rocking out harder than any man I’ve ever known.

I’m really proud of how this came out. I just wish I could get better sound from my T1i. I’m trying to find a way a rigging a shotgun mic or something. If you’ve got any idea of how I can improve the audio let me know?

Enjoy!

(oh, and by the way, these bands are nothing close to shitty. They are much closer to great!)

Cheers!

[Note: Go to my VImeo site to watch it in HD!]

[Note: I forgot to put Nicole Miglis in the credits. She was on keys. Sorry]

IMG_0067

Originally uploaded by LindseyKay

So I’m sitting here @ common grounds writing this on my itouch. Across from me my friend is typing a paper on her laptop, but she keeps getting distracted and talking to us instead. My other 2 friends are creating birthday cards with colored marker on printer paper for our friend. She turned 21 yesterday. A few feet away Baylor English professor, Tom Hanks, is chatting with a few students about literature, seated around a circular wooden top iron table. Their laughter melts into serious countenances interrupted by hand gestures and amused smiles a few seconds later.
My friend could have stayed focused on her computer screen and ignored the conversations going on around her. We could have sent our friend an email or posted a “happy birthday” to her facebook (as I’m sure several people did) instead of coloring slightly corny cards. Tom Hanks could have set up an online discussion forum on blackboard instead of chatting with his students at a coffee shop with a gentle breeze drifting through the background.
I guess my point is, we have our laptops, cellphones and online classrooms. But we can’t laugh at their ridiculous faces or feel them on our skin or know what they’re feeling or know what they love or know that they love us. Although I enjoy the convenience of being able to turn in my homework or contact anyone at the touch of a button, there will always be something human and tangible about a handmade birthday card and a coffee date that no technology can ever replace.

I am constantly a part of a ongoing discussion (with numerous people) about the best name of a retail golf store. While working at Golf Etc., I was sure my store had the best name. I was told over and over again that I was wrong. I am. Golf Galaxy (“where we soar to new heights”….gag) is a better name. By far.

This brings to the ever active forefront of my mind the art of naming a business. For instance, “Pets and Fish” is not a good name for a pet store that happens to stock fish. We know you, business owner, are proud of the fact that you make fish available to the general public, but we could have guessed that fact on our own. We now severely question your ability to discern between fish and pets. (For those of you out there who think there is nothing wrong with this business name, fish are commonly considered pets. The redundancy is where I have the problem.)

When naming your business, you should also avoid names that will annoy customers. I have always been a video game geek. I used to be quite involved in the used video game trading scene. Yes, there is a scene.

NO NOT THAT KIND OF SCENE. Ahem. Back on track. I loved trading in my games to get new games. My venue of choice to do this? GameCrazy. My mother recorded me saying this 73 times in 60 minutes once. Her response: “You are driving ME crazy. I’m not driving you there ever again. Period.” Lesson? Don’t alienate parents of transportation-dependent customers.

Your business name should also have a positive connotation. There is a place near my house that contains numerous inflatable jungle gyms and the like for kids to play on (in the store). Rather than a fun, safe name like “Bouncy Bounce”, the firm took the “leap” (HAHA. PUNNY.) and named their business “Flip’N Out”. As a parent, I would think twice about letting my child play in a place that encourages frontflips, backflips, or even flippy floppies (especially with my anti-gymnastic genetic code).

Give us some good business names Matt! Pweeze!

Well, since you asked so cutely.

• CommonGrounds ( a coffee place near Baylor University campus in Waco, TX)
• enTHAIsing (a Thai restaurant in the UK)
• HeyBub! (local all-around handyman service located in Sugar Land, TX) (Quick plug, this is run by Ash’s aunt and uncle. They are great people who do excellent work.)
• Buckle (clothing retail shop)
• Parkit Market (quick in-and-out deli and corner store, owned by the family of Matt Hansen, my roomate)

You get the idea. Funny, practical, witty, but not too evident. You don’t want to end up causing people to avoid your store just because of the name. This is true especially for these businesses:

• Creative Nuts (vendor at the local mall)
• BJ’s (exception…i love the place, but the name has gotten me some stares in public)
• Nigaz (newly founded energy and petroleum company in Nigeria)

Be smart all my future entrepreneurs….but I’m thinking about changing this blog’s name to “Blogs’N Words”.

The setlist:

Heroes
We’re Only Honest When We’re Sleeping
Mr. Sensitive
Make Me
Lie
Kiss on the Neck
Little Lies
Declaration
Come Back To Me
Light On
Bar Ba Sol

Heroes & We’re Only Honest When We’re Sleeping (by angelangiekc).

Mr. Sensitive (by angelangiekc).

Make Me (by angelangiekc).

MM alt: jillisar

Lie (by angelangiekc).

L alt: jillisar, xTatyx18

Kiss on the Neck (by jillisar).

KOTN alt: angelangiekc

Little Lies (by angelangiekc).

Declaration (by angelangiekc).

Bar Ba Sol (by xTatyx18).

It's called TiVo. You should use it sometime. Like tonight, for example. And stop staring, perv.

Dude. DeRosh, it’s the season finale of Heroes. I mean, have you seen the last few episodes?! It’s gonna be epic. I can’t go see shows tonight. What will happen to the Petrelli brothers?!?!

You can’t be serious. There’s music to see, for Pete’s sake! (That’s not a Peter Petrelli pun, by the way. Nor was that meant to be alliteration. Damnit, never mind.)

Not only are there top-shelf weekly performances going on in Springfield tonight, there’s a Forever Endeavor Productions show you’ll want to get to as well, in a venue you may not have been to before and may also want to check out. It’s a night loaded with intrigue, and it has nothing to do with whether or not Matt Parkman can get his act together and help save the world. We’ll tell you all about it–shows, not Heroes–after the break.

* Vanna, The Closure, Beneath the Empire and Hope In the Unseen at Common Grounds (1701 W. Sunshine St.). Forever Endeavor Productions seriously doesn’t give up. They just put on Beep Beep at The Outland Ballroom Friday night in conjunction with Black Box Revue, and now they’re back at it again with this metal show at one of Springfield’s precious-few all-ages rooms. 

* BringYourGreenHat at Ebbets Field. Okay, technically they play as a two- or three-piece at this show, but it’s still BYGH to us.

* Shawn Eckels and Friends at Coyote’s Adobe Cafe. That’s right, people! If you missed them at Ebbets Field last night, see them here. A very under-the-radar gig, but very popular among those who like to see shows a little off the beaten path.

by Ms. Rachel Driver

I am from Arkansas.  Yes, I am from the deep south…grew up in the Ozark National Forest in a house built by my parents.  I ate dirt, played in the creek, sampled fresh veggies from the garden and threw nasty big tomato grubs, got lost in the woods, and picked up snakes.  And, yes, I do have an accent…but only if you make me mad or I get very excited.

Anyway, I love Arkansas and don’t visit enough.  So, just because, I flew home for a few days.  Basically, I was running (very fast) away from the snow in Chicago on Monday to play in the warm sunshine, warm rain, and blooming flowers.  So very lovely.

Here is a very short recap of my trip…

Beer on porch with dad in the sunshine. Got a sunburn in under an hour.  Damn Chicago.  We also cut down small trees and played with the dog.  Beer at the local ‘brewery’, West Mountain Brewery/Tim’s Pizz, that doesn’t brew and dancing at a new ‘night club’ called FIX.

Running up gignormous hills for fun and a very difficult workout was followed by coffee and birdwatching on the porch.  I saw a pilleated wood pecker!  Coffee at Arsaga’s (the bestest coffee shop ever) with a best friend and her new fiance…and a slight fiasco with the gas cap on my mom’s car.  Geez.  WINE from Lush for dinner.  Yum yum.

Farmer’s market on the Fayetteville Square, second week…cilantro, spinach, green onions, fresh shittake mushrooms, beautiful ‘anemone’ flowers, freshly baked local bread, and local coffee.  Lots of local dogs.  Seeker, my parents Aussie shepard/red heeler, was estatic.  We walked around Wilson Park, my old favorite, and visited ‘Handmade’ a local shop featuring handmade items from around the world.  I chatted up the owners about chocolate, wine, and food.  From there, we got thirsty and headed to ‘Liquor Mart’, the just remodeled wine shop with a new focus on interesting wines (I found some Vihno Verde, Vermentino, Neprica, Zweigelt, Pinot Meunier, barrel aged and bottle conditions big bottles of beer, and fun inexpensive Spanish and Italian wines!).  Yeah, we bought a case.  And beer.  And bourbon.  I told you we were thirsty.  The 2 big distributors here have split into 5, but it’s the same stuff and limited selection.  But, they are doing better.  Very promising.

Coffee and snacks with best friends at Common Grounds.  With wine, too.  Down on Dickson Street, smack dab in the middle of the college kids out playing.  And then, a visit to a new restaurant, Mojito’s, run by a high school friend.  Of course, we drank mojitos.  Good start on the back bar, but they are only 4 weeks in…no bitters, boo.  They make things table side and light things on fire!  Wee.  Ran into more high school friends.  So fun.  Good gossip.

More food at home in the backyard.  More wine, yay Godello!  And then more wine.  Friends at the house.  And rain.  Rain rain rain today.  Hopping on the plane shortly…see y’all soon! Missed ya.  But, I shook off the winter grumps and am all set for spring to get on with getting on.

Cheers,

rd.

On February 6^th, I got to listen to a free concert at the Common Grounds, which featured the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good in this case was Sinister Sev. He had a unique flow and a great stage presence. Glaccius was the bad. His flow and lyrics were generic, but at least he managed not to put me to sleep. The ugly without a doubt was G.A.C. The only positive about that performance that I can think of is that the beats were decent.

Sinister Sev was without a doubt the best performer of the group. He didn’t have the biggest entourage or was the first name on the poster, but he still managed to steal the show. The first thing you notice about a rapper is his flow and his voice and delivery was top notch. He managed to switch up his delivery between fast and slow and his voice didn’t overpower his lyrics. His stage presence was also extraordinary as he held the sparse crowd’s attention throughout his short set. Out of all three performers, he was the most polished and his songs were more interesting to listen to. Everybody else’s songs blended together so much that it felt like I was listening to one giant song, so the variety felt like a breath of fresh air.

Glaccius was the headliner of the show and his stage presence was decent but overall he was pretty bland. His beats were nothing special and he didn’t command anybody’s attention. As with all music, an artist’s voice can manage to save a horrible performance. Alicia Keys can sing names out the phone book and still hypnotize the crowd. Method Man can rap about Klingon history and still make you feel like you didn’t waste your money. Glacises voice is not in the same league as the two aforementioned artists. I have heard some of his music on CD and it is much better than the stage show that I witnessed. Another problem I had with Glaccius is one that I also had with G.A.C.

As a fan of Hip-Hop, I am used to hearing rappers brag about all the money they have. While that annoys me, I can accept it and move on. This free concert was held in a coffee shop on a Pennsylvania University not named Penn State or Temple and was attended by fifty people max. With that in mind, I do not want to hear anybody rap about how much money they have. I do not want to hear the words, Lear jet, beach front villa, Moet, or a dozen other words, I heard come out of G.A.C and Glacises mouths. When they started with the clichéd money rap, I automatically dropped their grades.

G.A.C. was the worst rap, I have heard in a long time and I’ve listened to everybody from Vanilla Ice to Nashawn the Millennium Thug. Leaving aside the money rap, they had no redeeming quality. Their stage show was a mess, as they had six men on stage and only two microphones. Four of them were standing around doing nothing and the two with the microphones might as well have joined them. The best phrase, I can use to describe them is paint by numbers. As with athletes, Glaccius looked like he needs little tweaks to put his game together and advance to the next level. G.A.C. on the other hand, looks like he should not quit his day job.

Video of Sinister Sev performing.

A picture slideshow of the concert.

Common Grounds was a coffee shop (hence the name) when I was an undergraduate at the University of Florida. Even then, they had live music – though generally local bands only. Since then, it has morphed into a bar and changed locations (to the site of the old Covered Dish). Nice outdoor seating, and you could pick up a Five Star pizza next door when you left at 2am. I live in the Tampa Bay area now, so it is a little too far to make frequent trips. But they have more nationally recognized, though not mainstream, bands. For instance, the biggest band I recall coming through there was Band of Horses.

"Sebastian," Mixed Media on Canvas.

Kale Van Leeuwen
Drawings and Mixed Media Works

7 a.m.-6 p.m.

Roeland Park City Hall
4600 W. 51st
Roeland Park, KS

Hours: 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday
Runs through: Jan. 31

Artist’s site: http://www.vankale.com
Gallery site: Links from Roeland Park’s city page.

Man, I wish I had Kale Van Leeuwen’s energy.

Last year alone, I saw his work at Common Grounds in Olathe, the UnPlaza Art Fair, and the Red Light Gallery and Apex Gallery in the Crossroads. This year, he’s booked for every month in spaces all over the city. That’s a lot of hanging, dismantling, packing, moving, hanging; you get the idea.

He’s as prolific making art as he is showing it. He usually has multiple canvases going at once. If he gets bored with one he can move on to another.

Van Leeuwen does the same thing with media. From time to time, he decides to veer off in a new direction. I first knew him as a colored-pencil and pastel artist doing pattern studies (exploring line and color in neckties, men’s shirts and the like) and Wayne Thiebaud-ish arrangements of shoes and food.

Then, last fall at Red Light, he rolled out mixed media works. Had I not known it was his show when I walked into the gallery, I wouldn’t have known it was his — not on sight. The shift was that drastic.

His new stuff is a lot brighter, a lot darker (That will make sense when you see it.) and a whole lot sleeker. Instead of going to the tie rack for inspiration, he now hangs out in front of store windows to see what the mannequins have on. He takes photographs. Then he accessorizes with computer graphics, collage, ink, spray paint — even sugar. The end result is half realistic, half abstract, loaded with warm colors but cool to the emotional touch.

Van Leeuwen has included older works, making this a one-man group show.  The hall and one meeting room are given over to the new work. (The meeting room might be in use, as it was when I dropped by yesterday. This is City Hall, after all.)  The reception area contains only older, lighter pieces, while the City Council chamber is half-and-half.

I feel bad that while I live only one suburb over, this was my first time seeing a show in Roeland Park. It won’t be my last. For a self-described one-man arts commission with no budget, George Schlegel makes a lot of good things happen in the space. He’s plugged-in, fantastically energetic (which seems to be a theme today) and utterly devoted to the area’s art and artists. Even if the city were paying him, he’d be a steal.

Part of me wishes they could put some of Van Leeuwen’s art downstairs by the municipal courtroom,  so people could see something besides the walls, but that might be a bad idea. I know it’s “innocent until proven guilty”, but still …

There have been several things that I wanted to post about but didn’t immediately find time for…so here they are in photographs. Match the  numbered  blurry iPhone pictures with the following letters: A- IL Passatore, an authentic Greenpoint Italian restaurant, which some claim is among the best in the city. They have prominent exit signs, excellent lasagna and a few other decent pasta options. B- The Beatrice Inn, Bjork is rumored to do coke here, looks shabby from the outside but the muffled bouncers will practically frisk you, before they decide you are “Someone” and casually let you in. C-The Belcourt, LES brunch spot, pretty disappointing other than the fancy decor. The food is mediocre at best and they are adamantly against substitutions. D- Roebling Tea Room- good drink options, chill staff, filling- comfort food style menu. E- Misnomer Dance Company opening at the Joyce.  This is Chris Elam’s company, he choreographed Bjork’s (speaking of) last video,” Wanderlust.” Queen of Dance Critics Gia Kourlas sat in front of me wearing an imposing fur hat, and scribbling enthusiastically in her notebook. The dancers told me afterwards that they nearly tripped over themselves in fear. The photo is of a particularly friendly yet camera-shy stylist, who’s self tailored coat won the recessionista award of the day. F- Tongues of Fire reading at Common Grounds. Excellent community event, good poets, bad run-ins with exes(!) And now for the pictures!

1.

2

3

4

5

6

I guess the answers are kind of obvious, but thank you for playing. x

By Mr Slate Honey

This year’s members of the creative writing workshop for queer women, trans and gender-non conforming people of color will be presenting new works in two readings.  Common Grounds, the cozy Bed-Stuy cafe at 376 Tompkins Ave, will be hosting the first on Saturday December 6th at 7pm.  Later in the week, The Audre Lorde Project, sponsor to the group, will be hosting the second reading on Thursday December 11th at 85 South Oxford Street at 6:30 pm.  Both events are free and open to the public.

Be sure not to miss these.  Excellent artists pass through this workshop and judging from friends who have been in it or who will be reading, I can assure you that it will not disappoint even the most fine-tuned ear. For more information about Tongues Afire and applying to the workshop, contact tonguesafire@gmail.com

We imagined any band that would name itself We Voyagers would be up for an adventure or two, but we never imagined what the band actually came up with. The band is taking corporate Springfield by storm in one of the most unusual and ambitious stunts we’ve heard of in this city in a long time, maybe ever.

The band tells us it embarks December 12–Dead Day, for all you college kids–on a tour of Springfield, playing at an assortment of local businesses to raise donations of canned goods for charity. Called the Corporate Industry Tour, We Voyagers currently has seven concerts scheduled, with as many as three more in the works. The itinerary so far looks like this:

3:10 p.m. Dickerson Park Zoo
3:45 p.m. North Glenstone Krispy Kreme Parking Lot
4:30 p.m. Qdoba Mexican Grill
6:00 p.m. Panera Bread (East Battlefield)
6:45 p.m. Common Grounds Music Venue
7:45 p.m. Incredible Pizza Co.
9:45 p.m. Hollywood Movie Theatre

Wanna use Corporate America for the betterment of society? Here’s how:

Step 1: Come to one of the locations above at the time listed for it.

Step 2: Bring the canned good(s) of your choosing.

Step 3: Rock out to We Voyagers as they play a show in return for your attendance and aforementioned canned good.

Step 4: Pat the manager of your chosen We Voyagers concert location on the ass, motivational-athlete-style.

(NOTE: Step 4 is completely optional and possible only at the discretion of all parties involved. We are not responsible for any legal repercussions/smackdowns that result from this.)

Stay tuned for more shows if/when they are announced.

This week I’m in Fayetteville, AR.  I’m blogging from The Common Grounds, a coffee and espresso bar on Dixon.  This week has been great–plenty of time to write, think, and read.  Above is my drink of choice, the Americano.

DEVAUNT

By PROUD CITIZEN (1999, by Gone West – Drums Of Freedom by Green Forest). Stakes winner of 3 races from 16 starts, Lexington Stakes [G2].

Out of a mare by COMMON GROUNDS (1985, by Kris – Sweetly by Lyphard). Stakes winner of 2 races from 10 starts, Prix Yacowlef [Fr].

Granddam by MR. PROSPECTOR (1970, by Raise A Native – Gold Digger by Nashua). Stakes winner of 7 races from 14 starts, Gravesend Handicap, Whirlaway Handicap.

Devaunt is the fourth foal out of the very good allowance mare Perfect Ground. A $2,000 claim, Perfect Ground won 10 of 22 starts and $100,000. Her first two foals, by Rahy and Johar, are multiple winners. Develop, her 3-year-old by Arazi, is unraced thanks to my long vacation from training. The Rahy foal, Red Letter Day, has a new 2-year-old by Hat Trick named Triregno, who is also unraced. Although not for much longer.

Like his allowance-winning half-brother Every Inch (by Johar), Devaunt is a grandson of Gone West. His sire, Proud Citizen, was a classy horse with a lot of potential rushed to the Derby, in which he finished second behind War Emblem. After a third place finish in the Preakness, he suffered a condylar fracture in the Belmont and, though he remained in training, he never regained his best form. Retired to stud, Proud Citizen has sired Grade 1 stakes winner Proud Spell and Group 1 placed River Proud in his first crop. Not bad for a horse who didn’t get the best of mares in his first couple of years.

Devaunt has closer inbreeding than I generally like and is inbred to a horse I generally try to avoid doubling: Mr. Prospector, who appears twice in the third generation. A source of speed and class, Mr. Prospector is also often a source of unsoundness. The success of Every Inch, who has identical inbreeding, led me to risk it again. That said, I’m still worried about soundness issues, as Proud Citizen did suffer a fairly serious bone injury on the track. Even so, he made the same number of starts as Johar did. And Johar raced mostly on turf, generally a more forgiving surface than dirt. So maybe I’m just being paranoid.

There is also some linebreeding deeper in Devaunt’s pedigree. Appearing in the fourth and fifth generation are the full siblings Arctic Dancer (in Proud Citizen’s female line) and Northern Dancer (sire of Lyphard). That plus a few other lines and Devaunt winds up with five crosses (5×5x6×6x6) of Native Dancer. Upon reflection, this is somewhat worrisome to me, what with The Gray Ghost’s mushy fetlocks and tendency to pass them on. Especially since we’re not dealing with his soundest descendants here. Guess I’ll just have to cross my fingers that Devaunt doesn’t throw back too badly. Gah. Damn Native Dancer and his mushy fetlocks. *mumble mumble*

Devaunt means “to boast”, which seems like a nice take-off from Proud Ciizen to me.