Teeter Totters by David Paglia

Right On by the Roots and Joanna Newsom

Just when I thought The Roots couldn't be anymore genius they always surprise me. I'm listening to this album lately from last summer and this is one of my favorite songs these days with Joanna Newsom, another of my fave artists...

"Right On" by The Roots (feat. Joanna Newsom & STS) from Bigger Than Blogging on Vimeo.

Photo of Three Girls on A Park Bench

                           Oaxaca City Mexico, 2007 by Brehan Todd

Karen Elson - Cruel Summer

            Karen Elson performing "Cruel Summer" (Live Acoustic) from Karen Elson on Vimeo.

Karen Elson is so talented and beautiful, I wish I could put her in my pocket and pull her out every once in awhile to have her sing me a song!  Her voice is sweet, girlish, and soft, with a tiny lisp. The way she plays the guitar, and sways timidly is delicate and charming. I find her style and artistic endeavors very inspiring, not to mention, her wardrobe. She wears a lot of feathers and nude tones, and has pretty, unearthly bright, red hair. Her clothes and shoes all look like they were made for dancing in the moonlight. She seems to glow from within and be part angel or forest nymph, mixed with clouds or cotton candy or something?  

This little video of her performing "The Ghost Who Walks", by a fire, in what looks like a castle or cozy cottage in Europe (?) is my favorite. The moody lyrics speak of loneliness and romance, and of the darkness that sometimes takes over our minds for a bit. Often, we feel this more during the final stages of winter, during these cold grey months as we wait for Spring.

The lyrics in this song, remind me a lot of how I felt as a child and a young girl, not always fitting in easily; "living" in my imagination of secret gardens, books and dolls and colored pencils.  I remember rushing home from school to see what had grown bigger or peeped out of the ground while I was away, in my garden bed.  I could hardly wait for the lilacs to bloom in the Spring, the pansies to pop up and the tulips to open! I loved to clip just enough flowers to make bouquets for the house and still leave my garden looking full and vivacious! I planted and tended my little menagerie of random plants so peacefully and happily at times. Some nights I would stay there digging, and playing with snails, until the sun started to go down. I think my parents began to think it was a bit strange when I decided to plant a single rose bush, strategically placed in the Southeast corner of the front yard, right in the middle of the lawn. "Why can't I dig a hole in the grass and plant my rose bush here, I asked my father?" I had it all planned out, in what I thought was a perfectly logical landscaping idea.  I planned to dig the hole deep enough for the roots to fit, remove the rocks and grasses and place the rocks around the circle to keep weeds from creeping in.  That way, the first thing people would see when they came up to our house, was this beautiful red and pink rosebush, something I felt was essential. There was no winning this argument with a determined twelve year old. Or, maybe my parents felt bad that I liked doing manual labor instead of normal child things? Anyhow, there I went, digging away and planting my roses, stretching the hose to it's limit to water it for the first time and feeling quite pleased with myself for my creativity and determination. 

I've since learned to garden in a more traditional sense and I still find it so peaceful and relaxing to feel the soil on my hands. As I'm working on getting the Spring collection out and into the boutiques, I will be starting some lettuce and tomato seeds in the basement. The sun is already out and Spring will be here before we know it. Maybe I'll plant a rose, next to the blackberries this year?  I think that would be lovely if that was the first thing I saw each morning when I woke up.....aaahhh, day dreaming of Spring time! For now, back to work I go!

Bob Dylan Interview With Time Magazine

Bo

Not Your Grandmother's Crafts

Crochet Art by Joana Vasconcelos

One of my favorite trends in hand crafts and art is the idea of combining "old fashioned grandma crafts" with modern art. I like the contrast of modern ideas with older traditions to create something unique and beautiful.  Joana Vasconcelos is one of my favorite modern artists of all time.  A whole article about her work is to come later. One of her recent interesting exhibitions included, many crochet lace dressed animals. The little button eyes on the crab are so precious with tea stained vintage lace over deep red. Who knows, maybe I would  pin this to my shoulder over a strapless gown for a special event?

This tree looks cozy in a gown of grey lace from Lula's blog...

Crochet rocks by Knitalette on their Etsy site Resurrection Fern, made with rocks and handmade crochet and knit doilies. This would make a lovely wedding gift. 

A Crochet chair from an furniture exhibit I found on David Byrne's website blog. Love it!

A Woman Is a Woman

For years, I've been so inspired by The Nouvelle Vague Era of film. A woman is a woman is one of my favorite films by Jean-Luc Godard. The primary character played by Anna Karina is a genius performance. Though she is not as well publicized as Brigitte Bardot and some other French actresses of the highest fame. I find her work and her looks very unique and exciting. She's an amazingly talented actress and a true style icon. Take a peek....

And one of my favorite costumes and scenes, 

I Love Lula

Ever since it was first published, I've been in love with Lula!  I always find the most amazing inspiration, articles, art and photos in this publication. The hard to find Lula magazine is my all time favorite fashion mag right now. Issue eleven is out now with music artist Charlotte Gainsbourg in a beautiful white dress by Rodarte on the cover.  The Spring Rodarte collection is amazing, by the way, so check it out. Articles with Kim Gordon and an amazing historical account of Anna Pavlova are my two favorites.  The issue includes a lot of amazing art and talent. Peep this before it's gone!

If you can't get your hands on a print copy, check out the Lula Scrapbook blog online. Here is a small selection of some of my favorite photos, posted recently. 

Au Revoir!

Welcome 2011!

I'm so excited for the New Year and all of the new and exciting possibilities for the future. I hear so many amazing stories about one person or a small group of people making a huge difference by making a small difference in their own lives. Volunteer work and charity is increasing, despite the period of economic difficulty.  Of course, we are not close to being out of the woods with the environment or stability of our future yet and many countries economies around the world are literally collapsing. I hope this new year brings more peace, by encouraging and forcing people to evolve with the new state of life on Earth. 

One of my favorite things about these days is how many amazing, talented and real musicians are  Because of technology changing at a faster rate than ever before, emerging artists and designers are able to become know without the help of large corporate record deals or contracts. One of my favorite little known folk singers plays under the, The Tallest Man On Earth.  I happened upon this video one day on my favorite French music site, La Blogotheque.  Iv'e really enjoyed his albums classic approach to music that has always been great with a modern ideology mixed in.  Here are a couple of my favorite videos, performed live in various interesting locations.

Tallest Man on Earth - The Gardener - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.


Tallest man on earth - These Days (Nico Cover) - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.