intellectual properties

dancing in the rain 2/14-2/25

(….)

friday 2/13 – dance club until 4am. pulled some muscles.

sat 2/14 – attended the lovesick fashion show, which contained lots of underpants, and then the ILYB closing party, which was unexpectedly awesome and featured this great musician: cohen (LIsTEn!). i wore my cari borja dress and most uncomfortable shoes. had a great time, but drank too much. yech.

sun 2/15 – mon 2/16 – Stillwater Cove Ranch for belated-anniversary/valentines/presidents day weekend trip. my boss recommended this place, a small family farm that was homesteaded in the 1860s on the coast between Jenner and Gualala. *rustic*. they converted some of the old farm buildings into sleeping quarters. no restaurant, no hot tub, no TVs, no services. but i knew it was perfect when we turned off highway 1 and tried to pull into the driveway and couldn’t because it was being blocked by LAMBS! and then peacocks! and all other sorts of cute animals. i was pretty excited. we stayed in the cook’s cabin, which had a fireplace and a sort of view of the ocean, past the main original farmhouse. upon arrival to the cabin, the hostess asked if it was OK if some people who were checking out the place for their wedding came in for a minute to look around. the couple came inside, and the bride-to-be immediately turns to me says “ok, this is kind of weird but….” and i knew what she was going to say by the look on her face because i’ve now seen that look a few times before. “i read your blog.” and there i thought i was getting away from it all. ha! (hi!) turns out she’s a former moontriber who found me via ariel.

we poked around the farm for a while until it got dark, talking to the farmers and cuddling the baby animals with our eyes, and then we drove up to gualala sunday night for dinner, ate at the “roadhouse”, where i admit i felt like a weirdo for ordering a vegi burger in a place that specializes in ribs and other smoked/BBQ’d meats.

monday we slept in late, checked out, and then went across the road to check out the dangerous Stillwater Cove Beach. it was a bit cold and misty, but still really beautiful and full of kelp. the cove is also the mouth of a small river/large stream, which was overflowing and causing erosion on the beach that we could watch! little mini landslides everywhere. i wandered back to where the river came out, between highway 1, a redwood stand, and the ocean, and for a few minutes i thought i was in the most beautiful place in the world. and then i decided that i needed to CROSS that river, and climb the bank on the other side back up to the car, instead of take the somewhat-precarious hairpin coastal road with no room for pedestrians that we came down on. so we debated the best route for a while and then did it and only got a little bit wet and muddy. we forged that river! and then climbed the somewhat slippery and very steep bank back up through the redwood trees.

then, we went a bit down the road to Timber Cove, where they have a super fancy, upscale hotel, right on the ocean. it’s all landscaped, with a fancy restaurant and all that and costs like $245 a night. i’m much more a Stillwater Ranch type, but if you’re not and don’t really like farm animals and want more amenities etc., this place is pretty awesome. the nicest rooms have hot tubs and decks literally on the cliffs of the pacific ocean. we know because we stayed there for quite a while, hanging out, taking the short hike past the odd cement totem-pole thing, down the rocks to the water’s edge and making use of the property as much as we could as non-guests.

back on the way out, in Jenner, we had lunch at Sizzling Tandoor, which sits right on the mouth of the Russian River where it pours into the ocean. i was pretty happy to find some food on the coast that wasn’t oysters/seafood + BBQ/grill. i’m not sure why some of those yelp reviews are so nasty, cuz i thought their food was great (i had vegetarian thali), plus the view is fantastic. then, we went home. it was a great 30-hour trip.

2/17 – orange’s 30th birthday, went out to dinner.

2/18 – 2/20 work, gym, dinners.

sat 2/21 – helped throw a party for 500 people, danced like crazy, up all night. fan.tastic.

sun 2/22 – slept, recovered

2/23 – work, step class, became an aunt!

2/24 – work, went to Y, watched Obama’s address

2/25 – work, dinner with stephen, this.

next:

thurs 2/26 – maybe transportedSF

friday, 2/27: going to see Port O’Brien and Ezra Furman at Cafe du Nord

sat 2/28-sun 3/8: visiting the family and new baby niece in wintery northern michigan.

i just became an aunt.

my younger sister (i’ll stop calling her “little” now that she’s a mother) had a baby girl at 11:45pm EST. mommy and baby are fine. i’m going to see them on saturday.

i was pretty worried about the birth, but according to my mom, she was only in labor for less than 5 hours, and it all went really well and quickly. i’m super relieved and super excited. yay!!!!!

Deandra Morgan Compton born 2-23-09 at 11:35pm! 6 lbs 12oz, 19 inches!

everything is so amazing and nobody is happy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus (or here, if that one gets taken down)

it’s funny because it’s true. we are so spoiled, and selfish. although i do still find airplane flight amazing, maybe because i don’t do it all that much. i am usually marveling that i’m in the air the whole time.

definitely one of the secrets to happiness: try see the world through the eyes of a child as often as possible.

miss sixty is so 70′s.

i was thrift-shopping on saturday for a pinstriped or similar suit type thing to wear to the party saturday night, and while i did not find anything suitable in that regard, i did of course get stidetracked into the 70′s loungewear section at Clothes Contact. now, maybe *you* don’t get sidetracked by 70′s loungewear, but i do.  and i came away with a fairly amazing leopard-print widelegged JUMPSUIT for $16, which, when i add my wide black belt, fits right in with Miss Sixty’s fall 2009 collection.

there are 2 points here:

1. you don’t have to buy new, expensive clothes to be fashionable. in fact, you’re a sucker if you do.

2. do not disregard all 70′s polyester clothing, of which i am positive there is still tons of in the world because it never decomposes or fades, as ugly and unwearable.  i assure you it’s not, and i have the outfits to prove it.

recovery mode

my whole body hurts.
i danced all night long.
i am not exaggerating.
it was excellent.
i love my friends, and what we do.

2 requests/demands

i know i am about to eat my tail because i haven’t blogged about last weekend yet and this one starts in -3 minutes, but i just. haven’t. yet. i hope to do so tonight.

in the meantime, 2 items for you about 2 things that are very important to me:

1. i am going to ask you again to please sign this petition for a sustainable USDA. scroll down to read the petition and request. if you have questions, ask them, and i will do my best to answer or point you in the direction of some further information. but the gist is: our current food production model really sucks. we are raping the environment. we are making bad food cheap, and good food expensive. farmers are struggling nationwide. and i say WE, because it is our government, and our tax dollars. so sign it.

2. if you are within reasonable distance of san francisco, i urge you to come to this party tomorrow night, BEFORE 11pm, to see jay blow up the dancefloor. srsly. no joke. you do not want to miss this.

Saturday, February 21, 2009 at 10:00pm
Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 4:00am
Cellspace
2050 Bryant Street
SF, CA
$15 at the door
SPACE IS LIMITED, so come early. if you come late and don’t get in, blame yourself, not the recession.

sex and tools

from CNN:

“Images of women in bikinis prompted brain responses in men associated with using tools.”

now it makes a lot more sense why they booked Pamela Anderson as an actress on Home Improvement.

all jokes aside, my concern is more about this statement:

“Both women and men have something to learn from this line of research, Raison said. Women should be aware of how they are perceived when wearing provocative clothing, and men shouldn’t let feelings of impersonal sexual longing interfere with their more personal relationships with other women, including female friends.”

i know a great many women who believe/think/feel that they should be allowed to wear whatever they wish and not be judged for it and/or sexualized, and then there’s the hotbutton rape “she was asking for it” issue, often based on what a woman was wearing. i know this is a SUPER complicated and highly sensitive and controversial topic, so i was kind of shocked to see this in such plain writing on CNN.

i’m not sure how i feel about it, actually, but sexuality aside, i personally believe that how we dress/present ourselves has much more impact on our interactions with other humans that we ever consciously realize, or wish to be true. this seems to be another case in point.

and again, i’ve never been properly schooled in feminist theory, or evolutionary biology for that matter, so this is all just, you know, me thinking.

(tangent but a helluva story: Visual Rapists, Thieves, and Prada. related in that this woman obviously has experienced some serious sex-related trauma.)

a mildly disturbing realization

i have lived in northern California for more than 10 years.

i visited San Diego once, while in high school, have visited LA a handful of times, and have travelled up and down the west coast from Vancouver to Mexico.

but still, now that i think about it, i do not recall that i have never been swimming in the Pacific Ocean.

it’s true, i’m a freshwater girl, and i’ve been in plenty of lakes and rivers and streams.  but the pacific ocean, really?  i’ve never done more than wade? i keep telling myself this isn’t possible, that my memory is just failing me, but i do not recall ever doing anything more than walking beaches.

i think something must be done.

dear trent: it’s resonating so hard i’m vibrating

http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?9,484360

Towards the beginning of my career in Nine Inch Nails, our biggest break came in the form of an invitation to perform a series of shows with Jane’s Addiction. These performances essentially created and defined the term “alternative” rock in the US, created an ongoing festival franchise that is still thriving (Lollapalooza), set the stage for Nirvana to shift popular taste a few months later, and were really fucking FUN to play and attend – truly the best times I’ve had. The shows were epic. So epic, they propelled NIN to the “next level” (whatever that means), but caused Jane’s to implode. The band broke up at the end of that tour.

Fast forward to the present. Corporate rock STILL sucks. A friend tells me they saw the original Jane’s lineup play a tiny show in LA that was unbelievable. I break out my Jane’s records and am amazed by how vital they sound. These guys were the real deal and in this current climate mostly dominated by poseurs and pussies it was refreshing to hear something that sounded dangerous, volatile, beautiful and SINCERE.

Emails were sent, phone calls were made, dinner was arranged, ideas were discussed and the next thing I know we’re in the studio experimenting. We laugh, we get to know each other, we cry, we yell, we almost quit, we record LOTS of guitar solos, we discuss, we actually begin to all communicate, we yell some more, we become FRIENDS, we laugh again and we do some great things. I get to see first hand why they broke up all those years ago but I also get the chance to see four distinct personalities that become an INCREDIBLE band when they’re in the same room.

In NIN world, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases. I’ve been thinking for some time now it’s time to make NIN disappear for a while. Last year’s “Lights in the Sky” tour was something I’m quite proud of and seems like the culmination of what I could pull off in terms of an elaborate production. It was also quite difficult to pull off technically and physically night after night and left us all a bit dazed. After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year. The approach to these shows is quite different from last year – much more raw, spontaneous and less scripted. Fun for us and a different way for you to see us and wave goodbye. I reached out to Jane’s to see if they’d want to join us across the US and we all felt it could be a great thing. Will it work? Will it resonate in the marketplace? Who knows. Are there big record label marketing dollars to convince you to attend? Nope. Does it feel right to us and does it seem like it will be fun for us and you? Yes it does.

Look for tour dates soon and I hope to see you out there.

Trent

Habitation

Marriage is not
a house or even a tent

it is before that, and colder:

The edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back where we squat
outside, eating popcorn

where painfully and with wonder
at having survived even
this far

we are learning to make fire

–Margaret Atwood