Tunesday Tuesday - Tanya Donelly

Another artist I have liked since I was a teenager is Tanya Donelly. You might remember her from her bands Throwing Muses and Belly in the 1990's. I have always liked Tanya's voice and her lyrics; they remind me of poetry and zines. As of this post, Tanya is revising her website, but she did have demos for Star as downloads at one point - they were so good! It was neat to hear the songs from Star at such a raw and early stage.




Our friend Marla has a picture of Tanya wearing her tiara! So this one is for you, Marla!

Here is my absolute favorite Tanya song, and she looks so cute in this video, too. This is the first Throwing Muses song I ever heard. My pen pal put it on a mix tape for me.





And who can forget this amazing classic?

Tunesday Tuesday - Calvin Johnson

First off, I love K Records! K is my favorite indie record label. It has been since I was in high school. So there is no question that I am a fan of Calvin Johnson, founder and musician of K Records. He is most well known for Beat Happening, but also bands like Dub Narcotic Sound System, Halo Benders, the Hive Dwellers, and his solo records, too. Why do I love Calvin and K records so much? I think it is cos their mission statement reads "K explodes the teenage underground into passionate revolt against the corporate ogre world-wide."


Over the years I have seen many live shows that feature Calvin, one of the most memorable was one for the Paper Opera tour, where my friend and I ended up at a cook out with the show attendees. We all had tofu pups, played dominos, and got caught in a thundershower after the Paper Opera. It was amazing and strange at the same time.


Calvin is a great dancer. I love watching him "shake a puddin'" when he performs with Dub Narcotic. Here he is dancing at a show from about 2000 or so.






I love Calvin solo cos he still dances, but he has the best voice. Here he is at the Warhol Museum, 2005.






Another favorite Calvin show was the one here in Athens that was at a local park and baseball field. This show started at 11am, so it was fun to get up early on a summer Saturday and see some music! We had a great time, and watched some kickball that happened that day, too.






And here we are at Flicker Theater & Bar in Athens, with a lovely sock monkey. Calvin, if you are reading this, you inspire me to no end!

ICE Artlantis

Last Saturday, Missy and I headed out to Atlanta to attend the I.C.E. ATLANTA SUMMER MARKET at the AMBIENT PLUS STUDIO in Mechanicsville. We're usually on the other side of the table at I.C.E., but our big ambitious plans for the sale fell through when we ran short on time and stock, and frankly, we didn't want to put out a half-assed effort. Anyways, we happily went to show our support by shopping for unique handmade goods from the 80-plus vendors in attendance...



We were particularly impressed with NOOSH STUDIOS who BLOCK PRINTED his original designs onto t-shirts, right on the spot:





We stopped at CUYLER HOVEY-KING's booth, a perennial favorite of Missy's for jewelry...



Another I.C.E. regular was the PROTOTYPIST INDUSTRIES booth, where their prototyping "printer" will build up intricate designs layer by layer. It looked like they even had a HAND SCANNER that could scan your dimensions (or any other object) into a computer, render a 3-D design, and then "print" and actual object. Pretty cool!



Missy bought a cute little NEEDLE FELTING KIT from the ATLANTA INSTITUTE OF STICHES & CRAFT:











At the FERNWORKS booth, Missy couldn't resist the ring that had a tiny BIRD'S NEST with tiny BLUE EGGS, encased in resin:





There's this ANTIQUE SCALE at Ambient Plus, a reminder of the building's former life before it was converted into a photo studio and mixed-use building. Missy weighed herself and came up at around 100 pounds (she's never weighed more than 100 pounds). I half-joked that her bag and all the contents in it made her a good 6 or 7 pounds heavier than she usually weighed:







After our little shopping spree at I.C.E., we met up with our friends Juliet and Jeremy (of GOLD-BEARS fame) and their little daughter Sophie, for some lunch in downtown Atlanta. They suggested we try this new restaurant in town called TAKOREA (clever, right?), which served up the sort of Korean-Mexican fusion cuisine that was first popularized in Southern California. Suffice it to say, the food was beyond delicious...





Their menus had these adorable CHILDREN'S BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS:









Missy and I split a plate of fries sprinkled with a healthy mix of Korean-inspired seasonings. Missy also got a tofu taco and a tempura avocado taco and I got a forearm-sized tofu burrito (which wasn't as interesting to photograph as the tacos and fries). Everything we ate was spicy as all get out:





After lunch, Missy and I headed out to the ARTLANTIS art and music festival, in Poncey-Highland. The festival was held at the DRUID HILLS BAPTIST CHURCH, right across the street from the holiest of hipster wastelands, UrbanOutfitters:













Bands set up and performed on the steps of the church and the spectacle slowed traffic on the busy Ponce de Leon avenue. We were able to catch a set by FAUN AND A PAN FLUTE before trekking back to Athens...