9 Moons Ago

While I’m at home in my own little corner (my own little room), back here in my parents’ house in the U.S.A., recovering from a relapse of my bipolar disorder and some other life-changing events, I have found myself once more smitten with R.E.M., just as badly as when I first saw them on a video in 1991, and sat bolt upright at the edge of my parents’ bed, watching MTV back when MTV played music.

I have been following all the latest press (what I can without being too silly abt. it) and today I heard the whole new album on iLike, which I recommend highly. It gives you a chance to preview the tunes, see if you want to purchase them..and is up till the album release I think, on April 1. I’m going to buy the CD on April Fool’s day, because, although I use my iPod, I like the tactile nature of an album in the hand! Plus, I can listen to it in the car.

I think the album is tremendous. I’ll admit I wasn’t as thrilled about their last two albums, though I really liked the songs. This album is different…It’s got a really good energy behind it, and the messages are strong, positive and invite change, be it political, or personal.

So, though I am perpetually smitten by John Michael Stipe -as you probably already know- I am falling head over heals for this new album and ALL the musicians behind it. (Mike’s vocals are a welcome return!) Please, go have a listen and decide for yourself. My opinion? It ROCKS!

Yesterday I was out in the yard playing ball with the dogs when I noticed two flecks of brilliant red in the grass beneath the clothesline. There was movement, and the dogs seemed to be oblivious, so I decided to put them inside the house for a few minutes before they wised-up. Then I went outside again to observe the Crimson Rosellas pecking away at the ground for food. I actually got pretty close before they flew up to a nearby branch to perch. (Teefy, I thought you would especially be interested in these brightly colored “chickens”!) Pretty amazing!:

Well, the site has been down for a couple of days, but everything has been running smoothly for a good number of hours now, so -fingers crossed- it’s all fixed up now. The email list, however, is playing up, so I’m looking into that matter later this week. Of course, I’ll email everyone once it’s fixed, and you can still contact me easily enough if you want to comment on anything or be added to the mailing list.

Spent a lovely couple of days with the Miller Clan, celebrating Melissa’s Birthday! YAY! I gave her a lovely bunch of flowers from the garden, and a card from Cam and myself. Mum made a special roast pork dinner for lunch and a Toblerone cheesecake..Y.U.M.!! Got to hear all about Mel’s trip to the Cook Islands, where she was student teaching, and her new boyfriend. Lots of gorgeous beach pictures, and beautiful people. Loved the pics of Mel wearing a wreath of flowers on her head, looking very tropical indeed!
Adrian and Daniel came over as well, and it was good to catch up with them. Eb was there, too and in the evening, I took out my sketchbook and drew her portrait. I felt pretty rusty, but something about the drawing captured Ebony’s spirit, and Mum and Dad loved it. So I’m copying the original, then giving it to them.

Today we priced scanners, and most of them were $120 or more, and then we stopped at a place that I jokingly call “Dodgy Brothers” for various reasons, but in reality they are nice guys that work there, and my reasons are unfounded. Well, 10 minutes later we not only have a scanner, but it’s also a printer, and can print photos! It was $89! And we’ve tested it (except for the photos on photo paper) and it’s great! We’ve been needing a printer anyway, and just figured it was a low priority at this point because we haven’t used one in all this time. So YAY!!

I bring you my first scanned artwork. Portrait of Ebony:

That’s it for tonight..it’s waaay late..time for bed!

Well, it’s about bloody time! Anyway, here’s the post I’ve been dragging my feet on for different reasons, but rather than dwell on that, here’s my rundown of the Ken Stringfellow guitar project:

In late 2000, a group of 6 people from three countries got together in an online forum and decided to make a guitar for Ken Stringfellow, a guitarist, keyboard player and singer of the Seattle based band, the Posies, and a backing musician for several groups, including R.E.M.. Each person on the forum had specific roles in the construction of the guitar, but everyone voted on the main elements of it’s design. My husband (a friend at the time), Cameron, was the Luthier and has written about the process here. My contribution to the project was designing the inlays for the neck of the guitar. I chose a few songs that easily suggested recognizable symbols and drew some designs for posies. The selection included an sunburst for the song “Flood of Sunshine”, a couple of broken records for the song “Broken Record” (surprise, surprise), a bow and arrow which refer to the origins of Ken’s last name, and the number “23″ which has been a “mythical” number to the group. We also decided to have 23 frets for this reason when the usual number is 22. The group voted on their favourite designs and this group of sketches were the final approved batch:

Here’s a picture of what they looked like completed:

Pictures of the construction and more details are included in Cameron’s rundown, so I’ll just jump right to the pictures of the final product in use at a show we attended last year:

The guitar was a blast to work on, it sounds and looks great in concert, and we’re so glad that Ken loves it so much. And another exciting thing about this, is that the guitar is featured in a cool and funny video, which you can watch here. (Ken’s the one wearing the white tie.)

Now we’ve just got to get busy on one for the other frontman of the Posies, Jon Auer!!