Live Show: Sufjan Stevens Christmas

Ok, well the office title of the show was "The Surfjohn Stevens Christmas Sing-A-Long, with Seasonal Affective Disorder Yuletide Disaster Pageant On Ice", but I digress. If you haven't been spinning the Sufjan Stevens Christmas albums, I highly recommend it. There's only so many times I can listen to "White Christmas"...sorry Bing. So last night, he and the band came to town in a Flaming Lips- meet- Yo Gabba Gabba style interactive experience at Turner Hall. Yes, there was kitsch and ugly Christmas sweaters, but a few very notable sentimental moments as well. I tried to take a few pictures on my iPhone but then I realized that my friend CJ will always, ALWAYS take better pictures than me (um, did you see my post yesterday?). So here are his photos from last night's show.

Listening to: Cat Power

Friends and I are going to see Cat Power at Turner Hall tonight. I'm pretty excited. Not only have I been wanting to see her for a while, but I'll be joined by my two friends with small babies at home. I sometimes complain that I have no time, but I really wouldn't have any time if I had kids at home. Even if we make time, it still gets hard to meet out - 'I have a test this week', 'the littlest is sick', 'everyone's tired', 'sorry, already busy that night'. There's a natural falling off the face of the earth after having a baby so when the babies are old enough to be without mom for a few hours - the excitement gets quadrupled and then magnified by ten. Dinner AND a concert? It's like Christmas. Welcome back gals!

Listening to: The Head and the Heart

"Down In The Valley" ranks high on my list of best road trip songs. Not only is it about traveling, but the rhythm builds and barrels on like an anthem for a lonely wanderer.

AND....did you notice TURNER HALL BALLROOM in the music video?? There are some clips from set up, soundcheck, and bits from their show this past spring. Don't you just love the burnt out wooden beauty of Turner Hall - it's a great music venue so I'm not surprised this band filmed there. I'm a big fan.

I even had my wedding at Turner Hall.

Wedding pics are up!

The wedding pictures are back! Neil, over at Front Room Photography did an absolutely amazing job photographing our wedding. Here are a few of my favorites, but for a few more, check out the FR Photo Blog. For a video of that awesome Vespa grand march, go here.

Wedding update: Turner Hall Ballroom

Only about 6 weeks to go! Our reception is going to be at the old Turner Hall Ballroom in Milwaukee. Many of you have seen Turner Hall for shows (like St. Vincent above), but I think the burned out rustic elegance of the ballroom is going to be a great backdrop for the big day. See what I mean?


Photos: James Kloiber, CJ Foeckler, Ron Anderson

Weekend: Lonny, Top 10 list, a garage sale and a bloody mary on top

I'm excited to get the weekend rolling because there is sure a lot of good stuff going on in the neighborhood.


The second issue of Lonny Magazine is now online! I browsed through it today as fast as I could because I couldn't stand the suspense. Over the weekend, I'm going to sit down and read the articles and dog-ear some decorating ideas. Go take a look! Go, Go, Go!

I'm going to finish up with some odds 'n ends on my Gift List at the Urban Garage Sale. It's tomorrow from 10:30-5:30 pm at Turner Hall Ballroom. Design Within Reach will be there? With discounted stuff? Hot damn. On a side note, our wedding reception will be at Turner Hall Ballroom next summer, so I'll take advantage of the daylit room and make some notes in between shopping.


My Top Ten Albums of 2009 List is almost finished. I should be posting that next week on this blog and on the Letters Home from Camp blog. Matt at Letters Home from Camp will be hosting the 7th Annual Top Ten Party on Dec. 27th at Trocadero. Check out the Shepherd Express write-up here.



If time allows, I'm going to try to hit up the Bloody Brunch at Stack'd bar on Sunday from 11am-2pm. It looks like a super good time AND proceeds will benefit the Blood Center and Great Lakes Hemophilia Foundation. I'm all about that kind of charity stuff.







Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Backyard Discovery: 4th street Forum

I've been to Turner Hall, mostly to see live music, and I've had the famous fish fry at the Historic Turner Restaurant. I have seen the Fourth Street Forum at Turner Hall on MPTV (our PBS station) but always change the channel and say "ughhh, why isn't a good documentary on?". Well,today, I was on the 88.9 Radio Milwaukee website and was actually reading about it, when I realized, this ain't so boring. Each week, the forum is comprised of different community leaders and the topic is a different "Milwaukee issue". Very town hall meeting-esque. This week the topic will be "Domestic Violence, Dangerous Homes", at Turner Hall on Thursday at noon. However, those of us nerds with jobs, will have to check out the Itunes Podcast or watch it on Sunday morning at 9am on MPTV.