Because I can’t download these songs legally.

1) Hurts – Wonderful Life

2) Eliza Doolittle – Pack Up

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After Jon’s acoustic show was so great that he was invited back, it felt like a good weekend to share links to other musicians I know. Give them a listen for something new – it’s an eclectic bunch!

• For the hipsters, the “glam-infused” “punk-pop” Schocholautte
• For the groovy ones, the “progressive psychedelic” Electric Sorcery
• For the ones who miss “real rock”, the 70s-80s-90s covers of Rock Box

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We’ve got a massive batch of them this time. Oh, and by the way, just in case anybody’s signing up Actual Me and not Other Me for these: I am a fan of neither Build-a-Bear nor Keith Urban. Please desist.

* * *

Thanks to Lee’s sharing a Google Doc with Other Me, now I see that my name automatically creates a tendency to plan life and long-term goals in spreadsheet format. Comforting.

* * *

Caroline suggests that Other Me buy this chandelier. I disagree.

* * *

Garth and Teresa held a benefit concert – with dog snacks! – for Haiti. Teresa’s mom Lesa invited Other Me, while praising her child’s toilet-training success. Below is a picture of Garth and Teresa’s dog Briley, the inspiration for the snack company. He’s super cute. One hopes he, too, is trained.

* * *
Michigan Other Me changed her cell phone number and updated her Yahoo! account accordingly. Very organized of her.

* * *

UK Other Me, whose travel itineraries I envy deeply, is now off to Sharm El Sheikh. Which I had to Google to find out where it was, what country it was in, or even whether it was a city or an airport. It is, if you were curious, “a city situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, Egypt.” It is also really pretty.

* * *

Andrew, Michelle, and UK Other ME (the travel aficionado?) seem to work at the Beeb, currently on some project to do with Brazilian education, as they’re reviewing curriculum guidelines in Rio.

* * *

Quintin is an A&R man, and he must like his new singer Jess, because when she asked if he could help to her booking-agent friend, UK Other Me, he said sure. Aw.

* * *
One of the SEA-TAC area Other Mes is getting more updates from Wildside Wines.

I wonder if this is the same SEA-TAC Other Me who hangs out with her friends Chad, Ben and Tyler from church. Mormon church! Aren’t they supposed to be teetotalers?

* * *

In a second Haiti-related episode, Nechama, a midwife in Boston, requested that Other Me add this information to a website. I don’t really know what it is or where it belongs – but sure, I can add it to a website!

COHI’s hard work in Haiti continues, as more internally displaced persons (IDPs) flood the Fonds Parisiens area where our teams are based.  Our clinical team has partnered with a clinic near the tent encampments, Christ Pour Tous, which sees about 350 patients a day, and is slated to be the main referral site for OB/GYN care.  The clinical team has attended several births, provided life-saving treatment during obstetrical emergencies, and are seeing up around up to 25 pregnant women a day, as well as providing gyn care and other health services.  They have also been providing services for women who have survived rape, sexual assault and other gender-based violence, and educating other health care providers about how to serve victims of violence. They have assembled and distributed clean delivery kits to pregnant women.  COHI’s ultimate goal is to empower local women’s health care providers to serve their communities, and so we are pleased to announce that our teams will soon be joined by two Haitian midwives who have been trained by Midwives for Haiti, an organization that we have partnered with.  COHI has committed to providing room and board for these midwives, and we are looking for individuals willing to sponsor them during their assignment in Fonds Parisiens.

In partnership with UNFPA, our epidemiologist has finished training 15 female IDPs from the tent encampment and they are currently surveying women in the Fonds Parisiens area about their most pressing health needs and overall health status.  As well as providing COHI and other organizations with valuable data, our survey takers are hopefully learning a skill that they can use to find jobs once this crisis has passed. Two of our team members are surveying clinics in the Port Au Prince to find out how they are addressing women’s health care needs and to identify ways to support them in caring for women.  We want to make sure that women’s health remains a priority.  We desperately need financial contributions in order to continue to meet the urgent health care needs of the women of Haiti and to support the important work of our teams on the ground.

* * *

Miss Stacy and Miss Lindsey at the Learning Tree North have delightful days with their tiny charges, and send detailed reports to parents every day. Not being a parent myself, this was a bit startling at first. Not being in daycare, it quickly became depressing to see how fun my days could be if I were. (As you’ll see, it took a few tries to remove me from their database.)

From: The Learning Tree North
Subject: A terrific Thursday!

Good afternoon!  A terrific Thursday to everyone!  We are having such a fun day learning about Messy Art and Colors!  For starters, we used tissue paper, glue, black paper and white crayons for art to make fireworks!  We drew fireworks with the white crayons and put glue on them.  Once the glue is stuck on tight (this afternoon) we will put tissue paper on them to create fireworks.  Art is such a “blast!”  In our groups we used safety scissors to cut colored paper.  The kids love to use the scissors.  Nick and Keegan just cut a slit in the paper and then tear it off… an easier way to get the job done!  We read the book Dinosaurumpus! by Tony Mitton.  It’s about dinosaurs dancing in goofy ways… clapping rattling and twirling around.  Throughout the book, we said what color the dinosaurs were.  There were orange, green and even a purple dinosaur!  We plan to go outside this afternoon for a walk.  This morning for physical development we had such a fun time playing with the parachute in the hallway while listening to music!
For breakfast this morning we gobbled up a yummy breakfast casserole made with eggs, cheddar cheese, and sausage, oranges and milk.  For lunch we dined on cold veggie pasta (made with whole wheat noodles, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers and mixed together with Italian dressing), fresh fruit and milk.  Snack will be vanilla wafers, fresh fruit and water!  Delicious!
Have a wonderful day!
Miss Stacy, Miss Lindsay and friends!

From: The Learning Tree North
Subject: Hugs and Kisses from your little one!

Good afternoon!  We are having an extraordinary day!  We are learning about Groundhog Day and Hearts.  To go along with our theme, we read the book Where’s My Hug? by Amy Hest.  It’s about two bears waiting for it to snow while the baby bear is sitting in bed with a cold.  To make baby bear better, Mama Bear gives him lots of lovin’ and medicine.  The kids love this story, especially the parts where he sneezes.  After the story, we sang the song You Are My Sunshine.  Do you want a kiss from your little one?  We made Hershey’s Kisses for art today.  We used red paper, aluminum foil, white tags, and glue.  We glued the aluminum foil onto the paper as a wrapper and then the white tags with their name on it.  They turned out very cute! Before lunch, Nick and Keegen chased Miss Lindsay home.  When she went out the door, Nick asked where she went, and Keegen knocked on the door.  After a couple of times, Joanna, Alexis, and Lucy got in on the fun.  It was too cold to go outside today, so we looked for the color red inside.  We found red coats, boots, and a red crayon.  While we were in the hallway, we played with the bouncy balls.
During breakfast we enjoyed breakfast casserole made with eggs, cheese, chicken Gouda sausage, and red, yellow, and green peppers.  We also gobbled up our oranges and milk.  For lunch we had yummy Hawaiian rice made with chicken, whole grain rice, and pineapple with the juice.  We also enjoyed carrots, fresh fruit and milk.  For snack we look forward to fresh cucumbers and broccoli with ranch dip and water!  De-lish!
Have a terrific Tuesday!
Miss Stacy, Miss Lindsay and Friends

From: The Learning Tree North
Subject: Gym Fun!

We had such an exciting day today!  We are on day #3 of our terrific theme on groundhogs and hearts!  We had gym today where we rode bikes and played with the balls.  Finn and Keegen were pulling Chelsea and Reagan around on the bikes as if they were princesses!  Nick was kicking the balls around.  Joanna was taking everything in.  Lucy did a little bit of everything and was telling Keegen to sit down on the bike!  After gym, everyone got a pink bunny stamp.  All  of the kids love this part of gym… It’s their favorite!  When we came back from gym we made a heart collage.  We used Valentine colored crayons to draw hearts.  Once the hearts were drawn, they were given glue and heart sequins to make it pretty.  Look for them in the hallway!  Before lunch we sang a bunch of song and read two stories!  We sang Groundhogs Jumping on the Bed, Monkeys in the Tree, and Wheels on the Bus!  These are a few of the kid’s favorite songs!  Then we read Leo the Lovable Lion by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz.  It’s a story about Leo the lion who doesn’t want to hunt his prey, but give them hugs and kisses.  We talked about being nice to our friends and how we like hugs!  We also read Reagan’s favorite book Dinosaurumpus!  We read this story lots and lots because it’s a very colorful book and has lots of action words like donk!, zing! and bomp!  In our group we went for a walk inside to count hearts and say what color they are.  We also played doctor again because it’s another favorite game!  They were all so cute checking heart beats and x-rays!

Our meals were so scrumptious today!  Breakfast was yummy cinnamon oatmeal with bananas on top and milk to drink.  For lunch we enjoyed Mosticioli (made with whole wheat noodles, ground turkey, and meat sauce), green beans, fresh fruit and milk.  Snack will be yummy wheat thins with cream cheese, fresh fruit and water!
Enjoy the sunshine!
Miss Stacy, Miss Lindsay and friends

* * *

Lovely Brittany has invited me along on vaca.

From: Brittany
Subject: Hello Ladies!

Hey everyone I have been talking to a few of you about starting up a girls trip every year around this time. I would love to extend the invite to anyone who wants to go! There was some talk about maybe wine country in cali or cabo but up for any ideas. You don’t have to commit to anything I will just keep you all posted on the details once we lock a spot and you can tell me then if you want to go. Thinking in October to book something so that gives you all plenty of time to save up and come! Let me know if you have any other locations that could be a blast! Love you all!

From: Sarah
Hi,
Sorry, you’ve sent this to the wrong Sarah Morgan. FWIW both spots sound great though
Best,
Sarah

From: Brittany
Im so sorry I just called sarah and she said it you get her emails a lot! well if your interested in girls trip come along! haha!

* * *

A third SEA-TAC email – this one for Librarian Other Me.

From: Georgia
Subject: Teacher Librarian -observation request to attend national trainer’s presentation per class observation

Dear Sarah,
Patti [REDACTED], a Seattle teacher librarian is doing a training in San Jose, CA on Monday, Feb. 1st.  Could that serve as my
observation?  There isn’t anyone in my district, I am it, and I would need to then go to Sac State or UCLA, but that would
require time, given I have contacts at those campuses.

I am awaiting a yeah or nay, so I can fed ex my payment for the training.  Thanks

Email at school:  [REDACTED] (sending the email there will allow me to put in my request for a professional day out asap)
Thanks

* * *

And I’m ending on this cryptic bombshell from Dylan to Rachel, Niall, Darragh, Avril and an Other Me who is apparently a student at University College Dublin. One wonders: what are they getting up to in the library?

Hey hey hey,
I booked Room D 1st floor of the library from 2-4 next Wednesday,
See y’all there
Dylan

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I’m not usually a big music person, but I keep finding myself listening to country, ’40s, and Christian rock.* That said, I’m stuck on some songs that aren’t any of those. And a few other things besides.

• Michael Franzi’s “Say Hey” quotes the best advice I ever got (yay Kristi‘s mom)
• Gramophonedzie’s “Why Don’ You“
• U2′s “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” makes me cry (in a good way)
• The concept of a bodyweight spin
• Paul Rudd, interviewing and being interviewed
• The Bluegrass Romance Project
• The papier mache groundhog I worked so hard on and was so proud of would be mentioned but since my baby brother MASHED MY FEELINGS INTO THE DUST by mocking my gift it will not make an appearance.

What’s making your February?

* My musical taste? “Eclectic”. Or, “Anything But Those Three”. **
** Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Pink Floyd. ***
*** Yes, I’m a Philistine. Don’t care.

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It’s been a long while since I did a good oldschool roundup of links, so:

• Check out the Jaguar Skills 30 Years of Hip-Hop remix – he goes year by year, through 538 tracks, in an hour. He’s uhmahzing at what he does, and it’s super fun besides. Read about it here, download it here.
• Is The Prodigy on the edge of a comeback? I kinda hope so, cause then I’m less vintage and more trendy with what’s on my iPod. (Terrible message but addictive song.)The A.R. Rahman/Pussycat Dolls Jai Ho remix is on permanent loop in my life.
• And when it’s on break, Metro Station‘s Shake It fills in.
• If you’ve been under a rock and missed it, go check out Susan Boyle (and Patti’s thoughts on her).
• And while you’re feeling good, go watch this awesome street improv done in an Antwerp train station (and Patti’s thougths on it, too).

Do a bit of dancing this weekend, would you, please? It’ll help. I promise.

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The violin’s my favorite instrument. It seems to have more emotion, somehow. I had a (very ) brief dalliance trying to play it, but sadly, while not much sounds better than a well-played violin, not much sounds more squawky and shrieky and generally horrific than a badly played one.

Anyway, between my loves of the violin and travel in general, it’s no wonder that the latest by Soultravelers3 put a lump in my throat. I’m a mush like that. I guess I just hope that someday I can do something like this for my own family.

And if you like their blog – and you should – go vote for it here.

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In March I posted a political diatribe , in which I mentioned Derrick Ashong speaking about Barack Obama. Turns out Derrick is in a group called Soulfege and they gave me a copy of their latest album to review.

I’m unpredictable about how I feel with music (as with just about everything else in my life).  I’ll get in phases where it has to be on, then ones where I want things silent. Ones where I listen on repeat, and ones where I can’t make it through one track without skipping. And my taste is all over the map. Britpop and rap and hip-hop and dance are often there, with goofy teenage pop and some pop-country sprinkled in. But I’ve got everything from classical to heavy metal to drum ‘n bass. Eclectic. (Schizophrenic.)

Anyway, I’m excited to hear this album, because I like what Soulfege is about and what I’ve seen so far. So let’s liveblog the album, shall we? I’m working while I do it, but I think that’s realistic. I’m not one to lay on the floor with my eyes shut and absorb every word.

The first track, Damoshi, has a growly bassline. I am easy for a growly bassline. So, yeah. I’m in.

Second track, "Do Right", has nothing at all to do with the first one. It’s really great funky 70s porn guitar. Is this going to be an all-over-the-map kind of album? Because if so, we’re gonna get along just fine.

Three, "Johnny’s Song." A female on lead vocals, starting out sing-songy, a bit of funk guitar at the bridge, getting over to spoken word as it ends. It IS one of those albums, and I’m loving it. That’s a hard strategy, to be all over the place, but this is totally working. The vocals are fantastic and smooth and somehow it’s all got a vibe that’s both throwback and fresh. This track is a little too-many-things-in-one – and seems long, and that’s probably why – but I’m still liking the whole package.

Four, "To Be Free." Oooh, reggae. In a toes-in-the-sand-meets-church-sing-a-long kind of way. I admit my reggae ouvre begins and ends with Bob Marley, but for what it’s worth, I like this.

Five, "Just Be Me." Female again, and she has a pretty voice, although not as thick and warm as the two guys. Sweet song, with almost a Dave Matthews-y guitar going on.

Six, "Funkadocious." I was a bit eh until the lyrics kicked in, and then I got into it. Cute.

Seven, "Once." It sounds like they tried to body up her voice with too much echo and also a bit too much electronic drum kit, but God, is this a pretty song. It would be stunning sung a cappella.

Eight, "Beans ‘n Rice." Hmm. Unfair advantage, naming a song after one of my favorite foods. Second unfair advantage, putting in a bassline that’s almost Knight Rider-y. This isn’t a song for the ages or anything, but it’s fun as hell and I love it.

Nine, "Sweet Mother 3Mix." I feel like I’m listening to a Disney soundtrack. For the first African Disney Princess cartoon. In passing, why isn’t there an African Disney Princess yet? Anyway, I don’t know the original song, so maybe that’s why I’m not really clicking on this track.

Ten, "From the Soul." Low-pitched and more like an interlude on a rap album than anything else. It’s got a bit of a prowl to it. I like it.

Eleven, "Fight On." It’s quiet and not terribly complex, but the melody grows on you and the lyrics do, too. Again, Kelley’s voice seems over-echoed to me. It’s not hugely powerful, but it’s pretty.

So that’s the album – and all told, I love it. It’s going to get the crap played out of it, and I am guessing that I’ll like it even more the more I hear it. It’s definitely worth picking up .

(Incidentally, I also love that they’ve done a "Song Stories " section. What a cool way to get listeners paying attention to each song. I wanted my own impressions while writing this, but I can’t wait to read them now.)

They’re playing for the album release Sept. 5 at the Knitting Factory.  Funnily enough, I was just invited to a Schocholautte show at Fontana’s earlier that same night. (Good band, most Google-unfriendly band name ever.) I think I might just make a night of it. Who’s up for it?

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I’ve been in love with Leona Lewis since December 2006, and “Bleeding Love” is finally blowing up over here.

Sara Bareilles has had my heart since Bill played her for me in September 2007 – and now “Love Song” is all over Radio One.

But since my top two Sirius stations are the US and UK pop stations, my girls crisscrossing the Atlantic means it’s getting a little samey.

And I heard my third favorite girl just this morning, so the writing’s on the wall.

(So who’s the latest love of your life?)

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More cleaning out of the del.icio.us, two categories this time:

Kitcheny

• The Perfect Pantry
• The Cook’s Thesaurus
• Pea soup from a Fug Girl
• Something to do with spaghetti squash
• Cookies for a cause
• Pretty

Techie

• Woot (now with Woot Wine!)
• Slickdeals
• A card reader that makes me go oooh

And a reminder: for getting back into yourself, sweat and endorphins help. Filthy feels gorgeous. And I am definitely filthy.

Lastly and very, very importantly, a stunningly happy birthday to Sac. Filthy/gorgeous indeed. I know you had a wonderful day.

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I don’t think I’ve ever linked to a Myspace music profile, but I’m completely in love with a song El just sent me.

(It’s from a Brooklyn reggae kid, it’s on the French dance charts – it’s weird, of course I like it!)

But really – go listen to Nicco’s Destination and tell me you’re not ready for summer.

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