Surf's Up!

I proudly cast my vote today. GOBAMA!

"Talented and lovely..."

.... so said the host at the Carrie Rodriguez show we saw last night at the Cactus Cafe. "Talented" is an understatement. You wouldn't believe the voice on this Chica and the way she plays the mondoguitar and fiddle, like they are living things. And "lovely", well yes, she's gorgeous and mesmerizing stomping her perfect, little high healed foot and closing her big brown eyes -- but it's more than that -- she physically and authentically inhabits the range of emotions that accompany well written songs. Fresh from tours with Lucinda Williams and Alejandro Escoveda and with a stable of A list collaborators including, Malcolm Burn, Chip Taylor, Gary Loris and Tim Boquiest, Carrie has been tapped by the singer song writer gods to ascend to the great heavens.

Carrie and her family have a strong connection to our Neighborhood here in Clarksville. In fact Carrie was raving about the cheese burgers at Nau's Enfield Drug Store during the show last night. Nau's is an old timey soda fountain/pharmacy down the block. Her Mother was in the audience and piped up to say she'd ate them when Carrie was just a little bun in the oven. This kind of 6 degrees of separation or rather connection to talent and loveliness warms my heart.

Fellow fan set me strait on a comment suggesting a better video clip.
Video sample of Carrie and Chip playing Wild Thing

Wii love you Mielle!

True to form our dearest, sweetest friends are making delicious lemonade not sour faces out of a challenging situation. The very short of it is, Mielle, one of Ella's first friends, her cute little baby buddy, was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) in October 2007. Mielle deserves a cure and her community is trying hard to raise awareness and cash money. Please consider a donation to www.curejm.com. See more information regarding the disease and how to donate on her dedicated blog. Also see this classic video of Mielle playing Wii bowling. The movement is really good for her body and her soul. We love you girl!

Mielle and some lemonade at her incredibly successful yard sale fundraiser!

Family photo taken for a story in the newspaper

Boys

Here we have three of the four boys in our kid care co-op. Tuesday is my day to corral, cajole and cuddle the crew. The focus of our imaginary play the past few weeks has been knights and pirates. My role is alternately a fiery dragon or the bad guy pirate. In either case I walk with a limp, growl and make threats about my taste for toes and earlobes. Yesterday we also made playdoh. This whole activity lasted about 20 minutes (plus 45 minutes prep and cleanup) and mostly consisted of the boys playing knights and pirates with blood and guts ie playdoh on their hands.

Peace Baby

Ella's first peace march. Here we are with tens of thousands of people on Market Street in San Francisco, October 2002 to protest Bush's policy on Iraq. At the time this was the largest peace rally police and protesters could remember since the Vietnam War. Signs read "Drop Bush, note bombs" and "Grannies against dead children."

Whip It!

Need I say more? The Lonestar Rollergirls next Throwdown and the Showdown is on October 11th. Tempted?

This is what they wrote about Whip It!

What do you get when you combine Juno with Charlie’s Angels? The roller-derby film Whip It! which will star Ellen Page and will be directed by Drew Barrymore. Whip It! marks Barrymore’s directorial debut and has begun filming in Michigan.

“I’ve been working toward the goal of directing my entire life.” “Whip It! is a story that really spoke to me.” - Barrymore, 32

Whip It! is a film that chronicles the adventures of Bliss Cavendar, a teenage misfit stuck in a dead-end town outside Austin, Texas. The small-town teen is a reluctant beauty-pageant contestant that decides to take up the time-honored tradition of Roller Derby by joining an all female roller derby team. Based on the book Derby Girl by novelist and screenwriter Shauna Cross, Whip It! will be produced by Barry Mendel and Barrymore’s Flower Films for Mandate Pictures.

TXRD is proud to announce that two of our very own skaters, Rocky Casbah and Sacralicious, have been selected as stunt body doubles for the film. Rocky Casbah will be assisting production in the film as the stunt body double for Ari Graynor, while Sacralicious will be serving as the stunt body double for Drew Barrymore.