I've moved...

With a new site design, I've moved my musings over to my website. Hope to see you there!

http://clairemarieblaustein.com/blog/

It Might Get Loud...

Rock on, brothers, rock on.

I have rarely been as energized, thrilled, or completley pumped by a movie as I was by Davis Guggenheim's It Might Get Loud. A documentary of a "summit" between Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White - three dudes talking about the electric guitar. Telling their personal stories, along with understanding their artistry and relationship to the instrument, the film was a delight in every way.

You can read my full review of It Might Get Loud over at Blogcritics.

The film opens in New York and LA August 14th, and nationwide shortly thereafter. Go. Just go.

It Might Get Loud - the Official Site

Katie Herzig - NPR Song of the Day

A new Song of the Day essay up today! I love this girl - such a beautiful voice, and really catchy songwriting.

Katie Herzig: A Farewell To Past Love

Jones Street Station

Jones Street Station - my new boys! Saw them at the 9:30 Club (check out the Blogcritics review), and then my favorite song gets to be a song of the day.

Jones Street Station: Sunlight In The Sadness

Future of Music Coalition - Policy Day 2009

It's finally done! If you want to check out my thoughts of the conference, head over to Blogcritics:

Future of Music Coalition - Policy Day 2009 - Blogcritics.org

DC Policy Day

I went to the Future of Music Coalition Policy Day two years ago (and wrote about it) and will be returning tomorrow for day of intellectual property fun. I'm actually quite excited to see where the debate has gone in two years - should be quite the event. Check back to see what happens!

Song of the Day - Alice Russell "Lights Went Out"

Song of the Day from today - a pretty kick-butt album, if I do say so, from Alice Russell. Soulful and powerful, her touch is more interesting than some similar artists with really decent songwriting.

Take a listen and a read at NPR.

Oh, and by the way - she'll be at The Bohemian Caverns in DC on March 5th. Might be a show worth catching.

Song of the Day - Run On Sentence "Old Stonewall"

Another song of the day up today, with a new favorite on my playlists, Run On Sentence. It's a really nice blend of folksy songwriting and instrumental chops without any of the whinyness that can sometimes result.

Here's just a little taste:

In "Stonewall," Hamman takes his sharp-edged croon for a lumbering, jazzy stroll. The song finds him ambling along after Old Stonewall as he stumbles on his way: "Stonewall, I can't believe my eyes / I see you're still just hanging around / at the Red and Black Café / I got news for you, son, that ain't no YMCA."

You can read the rest of the review and take a listen over at NPR.org.

NPR - Run On Sentence: A Lumbering Stroll

Andrew Bird - 'Noble Beast' preview on NPR

It's one of those things about people knowing you're a violinist, that anything vaguely having to do with violin should automatically be your favorite. "Man, you should TOTALLY listen to Bond! Those girls play violin, right?"

I'd also heard quite a bit about Andrew Bird, but hadn't had a chance to listen for myself to see if this was a listen-by-association or a real deal...but NPR solved my problem by putting his new album up for free preview.

Yes, that's right, listen to the whole thing for free. NPR - I hate you for firing my friends, but you do still have good ideas sometime. Rah rah rah digital media!

From my first blush listen, this is an album with much to recommend it beyond his unusual instrumentation. It vacillates between an indie-spaciness and rooted folkyness, listenable and sweet. "Natural Disaster" is my favorite of this second, the pointillist layers of banjo, violin, and vibraphone backing Birds slightly muffled tenor.

Go. Listen.

Dent May - NPR Song of the Day

A new song of the day for my ukelele love, Dent May!

Dent May And His Ukulele: Winningly Winking

I (heart) Dent May

It's a warm december day, but still on the grey side. But I have Dent May to keep my spirits up, as I work on some new essays for Song of the Day.

We Landed On the Moon - Dahlak, DC

My band had a gig last night at Dahlak - a small Ethiopian restaurant in DC. Though it wasn't much of a rager for us (thanks to those stalwart few who made it out), the real party in the house came from the visiting band from Baton Rouge - We Landed On the Moon.

These guys tore the place down - straight ahead rock with terribly catchy riffs and a tangible sense of joy. The small space made it hard to hear every nuance, so I'll be writing more about them soon once I give their new album a close listen, but a heads up is a place to start.

Go listen. Be happy.

Time for Three - NPR Song of the Day

I first saw Time for Three in DC a few years ago at Dumbarton Oaks. It was my first time at the venue, and it was hard to not just sit and stare at the elaborately painted ceiling and gorgeous tapestries. It was a small crowd, and my friend Margaret and I were probably the youngest there by about two decades - until the performers came in.

Violinists Zachary DePue and Nicolas Kendall and bassist Ranaan Meyer stood casually in front of the large fireplace. The lights were dim, and so cast the faces of the performers in shadow. Kendall was a bouncing ball of energy, keeping up a light patter in between songs, while DuPue stood more quietly, hands still on his instrument. Meyer drew my attention time and time again, looking like a lanky, looming vulture as he draped over his bass, his whole body drawing the music from the lumbering instrument.

They have so much fun when they play, it is impossible not to get drawn in. Renditions of classical favorites (especially the Bach Double concerto) were favorites, though their version of Shenandoah made my eyes mist. They approach a blend of bluegrass and jazz with a classical sense of control and thoughtfulness, making me wish I had discovered something like this when I was in school.

I was so excited to see a few weeks ago that they would be releasing a new single every month through their website. "Philly Phunk" was the first - you can listen to it and read my essay over at NPR's Song of the Day.

I highly recommend their album, We Just Burned This For You. Recorded live in 2006, you get a sense both of their stage presence and wonderful banter.

reflection

It is rare for me to encounter anything of note in the DC metro - most everyone has their heads down, focused on getting where they are going. It's near silent in the cars, most of the time, the only sound the whine of the cars running along the tracks.

Yesterday, when coming back from Dupont circle band practice, I noticed a tall man with an accordion getting off one car and getting back on the next car down the train. A moments debate had me following him. After a few moments, he approached me and asked if I'd like a "reflection".

Sure, why not.

A small slip of yellow paper, with "Reflection" printed on one side and three questions on the other:

What are you doing right now?

What could be done right now that you aren't doing?

Why doubt that what you are doing right now is not a sufficient activity?

Something to ponder for the day. And a bright red accordion to brighten up the rainy gloom.

An evening with Anna Quindlen

I was fortunate enough to spend tonight at a benefit for the Philadelphia Birth Center - a independent childbirth/pre-natal/post-partum/womenfolk type organization. Not only was it a chance to support an organization that supports women's health (something I'm always for), but the centerpiece was a live interview with Anna Quindlen.

I'm not excessively familiar with her work - I've read a few excerpted NYT columns, and such. But she was such a central figure in my mothers life, as she read her way through Quindlen's experience with child-rearing, and therefore her own with myself and my brother. It is always refreshing to hear someone speak who puts our world in a new light, or at least a more clever one.

The two ideas that stood out most to me were her comments on the next (my) generation. She said that we were a group of people who were embracing a "whole life" attitude, balancing a need to work with finding situations that would allow us to be whole people, with lives.

Living in DC, it's hard to believe that those people exist, sometimes. I have gotten to the point where seeing OTHER people use crackberries makes me twitch.

The other comment was one on how we are a generation with a greater commitment to community service than any other. Particularly, that we were a group that grew up "sitting in a circle in preschool" We were raised to be aware of our connections to others.

Huh.

It is interesting, that us, unlike our parents, were given a direct sense that a group of people were connected - that we should share our thoughts and feelings with others, help one another, be responsible for certain aspects (snack, naptime) that benefited the group. Though I've heard enough reports bemoaning our self-centeredness, our feeling of deserving praise simply for existing (because we are special, dammit), we are also a generation that feels a great sense of connection to our peers, and tries to keep those connections, whether it be through physical social interaction or the myriad of online connections we make to others. We are recreating the carpet circle on a grand scale, and telling our whole world what we did over the weekend.

My thoughts on her commentary on feminism or the progress in women's rights would take far too many pages, and more words than I can type successfully tonight. But I point you to her work as an slice of life, of a woman who shaped many of our mothers views on motherhood - and therefore our lives as well.

wow...sad

It's taken me weeks - weeks - to get up the guts to do this. It's something like seeing an ex for the first time...the first time I write on my blog in almost a year.

I could have let it go a year. It might have been some kind of record. But I figure a post now, a post in another few weeks, and maybe, just maybe I'll get back on track.

This started out as a blog about music, and I still do have music in my life, even though my day job takes me more towards the culinary than cantabile (crescendo? courrante? counterpoint?). I'm doing my disc reviews and song of the day things, and trying to keep my vocabulary of synonyms in shape.

The biggest change - I'm making music. Yes, I am in a band.

It's strange, being the critic on the other end. On one hand, I can keep my distance and just enjoy myself. But on the other, my mind is whirling, trying to classify our sound, hear the influences, judge every aspect. That part drives me nuts, and arouses the temptation to strangle that critical voice with my pickup cable.

Soon enough I'll find out how this really works - we have our first real show. After a year of playing the occasional house party, we will be in a real venue. It's part of a festival, so we only have about 25 minutes, but who knows what will come after?

For the moment, at a time when my 5-hour IU playing habits seem like ancient history, I'm just trying to remember how this thing called a violin works. The pointy stick goes in the right hand, right?

buzzing

If you combined the many ways that a person could be buzzing - from good food, good wine, sugar, and incredible people, I would sound like a cicada in july right now. Because that's what this conference - BlogHer - is doing to me. I have never met a more engaging, amazing, and inclusive group of professionals in my whole life.

It started out by my being invited to sit at the cool kids table - the Food Bloggers dinner. The event, organized by Alanna of A Veggie Venture would bring together all us food folk and let us jabber and eat all at once.

This, of course, will get bigger play on Cookthink later - have to save some of the juicy tidbits for the folks that write my paycheck. But the best conversation I had was with a lovely lady named Heather Clisby. She was wearing a SXSW t-shirt, and an idle compliment turned into a conversation about the potential danger of working in your ideal field. She, for example had had several "dream jobs" - music writer, restaurant critic, etc - and each one had resulted in her absolutely hating the thing she was working on.

It's interesting, because people look at you like you're insane if you ever complain while holding one of these gigs - certainly musicians understand this. You LOVE this, people will say, how can you not be HAPPY doing it? Well, it's because it's impossible to be happy every hour of every day, even if you're doing something you're passionate about. Cause it's not always fun.

I think it's especially hard with creative endeavors - because being on a deadline is like being told "be brilliant RIGHT NOW." It just doesn't work. Inspiration doesn't always strike, and usually it means settling for something that's less than your best work - an incredibly frustrating prospect for anyone. For myself, working at NPR was a brilliant experience, but having to be creative and witty on demand took it's toll - I basically had lost my musical voice. It needed tea and bed rest before it could come back to life, and allow me to write again.

It can seem like those few and far between who do these choice jobs have it easy - but they are still JOBS, it is still WORK, and sometimes it sucks the joy right out of the whole process. So it's something to be considered - will I still love this thing when I HAVE to do it, rather than WANTING to do it? Don't know till you try, but finding out is incredibly important. Hooray for blogs for giving us an outlet for our passions, without smothering them in the weight of timeliness and pressure.

BlogHer - day .5

Since the last time I updated regularly was the last conference I attended, it seems appropriate that BlogHer would cause the blogging bug to bite as well.

Nothing's really begun yet, although apparently there was a little cocktail-thingie tonight which I stumbled into. But a few business cards later, I am left with an overwhelming feeling of...belonging. Often women are credited with a greater sense of community, but it's odd to see it in the most direct sense - where a group of writers, businesspeople, entrepreneurs get into a room and manage to make it into an event as well as a networking opportunity. They want to listen and learn as well as talk about their own venture. I was excited before, I am giddy now - can't wait to see what tomorrow might bring!

languishing

Wow, it seems like along time since I've updated. Wait...it has been a long time! Go figure that switching to a web-based job would actually disconnect me from my web-based communications...

But my upcoming trip to the BlogHer conference in Chicago has inspired me to get back on the bandwagon, sort of. It's an interesting thing to create a conference specifically for women who blog, and even better that the subjects are not all topical (crafting, knitting, cooking...well, obviosuly the last one is ok) but also dealing with issues of community, of culture and expression among women. it's such an empowering force, self-publication, I'm curious to see how this exemplifies that. Many social issues involved...ah the little academic in me begins to cackle!

Song of the Day - Elana James

24 Hours a Day by the amazing Elana James

I was lucky enough to see her in concert at Iota a few weeks back, and MAN can she play. The whole album is worth listening to and picking up - a mix of things like this top track and slower, more contemplative ballads - such fun.