I’m not even sure if we’re going to end up seeing the Great Salt Lake. It was raining and SNOWING when I landed, so I didn’t really see much at all. Yesterday I hear it was hot here and folks were wearing flip flops. Today it’s very cold.
Stephanie’s been here since Wednesday night with Loose Change, her dance company. Last night was their first performance, and they say it went amazingly well. She thinks it’s even better than the version we saw in San Francisco in the spring. I’ll be heading over to the theater in a little bit to finally see it—with Stephanie in it—myself.
Then tomorrow: vacation.
I don’t know how the idea came about. I think I was just wondering aloud whether we couldn’t turn her Utah dance trip into a reason to visit some National Parks. I had a great time at Zion National Park as I was driving across the country, and wished I’d had more time to visit Bryce, Arches, and others.
The idea evolved, so we decided to fly into Salt Lake City (separately) and out of Las Vegas (together), visiting as many National Parks along the way as we could, and then finishing it off with a Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas. The lady at the rental car desk today wondered if we were going all the way to Vegas to get married. Funny, the idea hadn’t occurred to us before.
Other than our flights, the rental car, and the hotel tonight and in Vegas, we’ve got no plans in between, which is just the way I like it. We’ll see what happens.
The first time I heard the song “The Lemon of Pink” from The Book’s same-titled album, I practically stopped in my tracks (where my tracks are me sitting at my computer at work listening to SomaFM’s Indie Pop Rocks).
I’m not exactly sure when I heard it first (I purchased the CD last fall), but I remember remarking to some friends afterwards, “This is what I imagine the music of the future sounds like.” Equal parts found audio from diverse sources, banjo-y guitar, and electric cello, they combine it all in a sometimes dissonant, heartbeat-skipping way that sounds unlike any other music I know.
Stephanie and I managed to see them play at the Great American Music Hall last April, and what surprised me about their performance (granted I had no idea what to expect) was how much they actually played and sang: a lot. Adding to the experience was the fact that almost all their audio samples come from video sources—which they projected on a giant screen behind them.
This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’m not sure why, as I’ve never been a big fan of podcasting, but I really like the idea of short, supplementary blog-embedded audio/video.
Recently I heard my voice in a video someone had taken and it both horrified and intrigued me. I’m just not used to hearing my own disembodied voice. It sounded deep and nasal and kind of goofy. But I wanted to hear more.
If you’d like to hear how I sound, here’s a recording of me reading my last post:
I sound like This American Life to myself. How hypnotic. Of course I sound different when I know I’m being recorded. More measured. Just recording this all alone on my 5 year old laptop with its built-in microphone made my heart beat loudly.
