Paul and his girlfriend Des

Apparently this eagle, Des, was notoriously cranky with 'most everybody else at the nature center, but took a liking to my brother. He always has been a bit of a ladies' man ...

Bursting With Pride!

How cool is this? Pretty darned cool! Check out the by-line on that article ... THAT'S MY BIG BROTHER!! I am very proud of him, and I forgive him for all the times he teased me and made me cry, even giving me the nickname Sig (Suzy + pig) and shining a light on me and chanting, "Spotlight on stinkbomb Suzy." And you know what? He is a really good writer! Go, Paul!

You have to embiggen this one and tilt your head to read the by-line.

Shameless Promotion of a Loved One

Hey, you! Yeah, that's right ... you! The wonderful reader of my blog. My dear spousal unit, a.k.a. Enriched Geranium, has a new album out. Well, actually it's an old album from the eighties -- remember the eighties? -- that has been released on cd for the first time. The Appliances-SFB were a rocking band. Heck, even this dyed-in-the-wool folkie liked them. Liked them? I loved them! They were ahead of their time. If you like rock 'n' roll, I urge you to get a hold of this album (and you can find out where at Enriched Geranium's blog.) You won't be disappointed.

Happy Birthday, Enriched Geranium!

Scurry over and wish him a happy birthday, before it's tomorrow.
<3

Good Reading ...

One of my favorite bloggers, Enriched Geranium, has written an excellent and thoughtful post about Ralph Nader, and I urge you to get off the beaten track and go read it. And while you're there, listen to the song Impeach the Moron, on the sidebar.

(In the interest of full disclosure, OK, I admit that Enriched Geranium is my husband, and I'm doing some shameless promotion here. So humor me.)

I'll tell you, I am not particularly inspired by this election. I don't feel optimistic that it will bring about much significant change in terms of the war, for example. The entire system is so deeply flawed. I support Obama more than I do Clinton, and will in all likelihood vote democrat, unless it is clear that the democratic party candidate will win my state with or without me. But it is difficult to place a lot of faith in the very same people who have either not had the guts or the will to stand up to the Worst. President. Ever, Inc.

Back in 2004, against my better judgment (and maybe because he brought Bruce Springsteen to town -- how cool was that? Pretty dang cool!) I voted for Kerry. That ill feeling that so many of us had on the morning of Nov. 3 will stay with me for a long, long time. Not for the first time, we were betrayed by a politician. In 2006, we turned out in droves to vote and gave the democrats a decisive victory. We liberals are a little like Lucy, Charlie Brown, and the football, aren't we?

In short, I'm pig-bitin' mad at the democrats. And until we have viable parties beyond the dems and the rethugs, we're going to be trying to kick that damned football until the end of time (which may come sooner than we think.)

Where does Nader come in? Well, he is an excellent writer and a tireless advocate for the downtrodden (and more and more we're all in that category). Should he enter the political arena again? As far as I'm concerned, that's his choice, under the law of our land. And we all get to choose who we vote for. (Sort of. Of course, if you live in a state that has a later primary, you don't have much of a choice at all. And the populist message that was carried by Kucinich, Richardson, and Edwards has largely been sidelined.)

I don't care if you support Nader, or not. But if you're somebody who has held deep anger toward him since 2000, please read what Enriched Geranium has to say, maybe even go to Nader's website and read some of the thousands of essays he has posted. (I tell you, the man works all the time.) And if you are tempted to repeat the popular memes about him, ask yourself, "How do I know this? Is it really true?"

This election is showing us, if we didn't know it before, that the democrats are just as capable of Rovian tactics as the rethuglicans. We do not need to help the smear campaigns.

FOLK BALL!!!!

I don't care how far away you live! All roads lead to the fabulous city on 3 (or 4, or 5, depending on who's doing the reckoning) lakes this weekend, to Great Hall in the Memorial Union for this year's Folk Ball. Dance and singing workshops during the day, and fabulous parties on Friday and Saturday night, all live music, and all admission is FREE (donations welcome.)

Mr. Ether will be playing both evenings: Friday, 9 p.m., with the all acoustic Veseliyka (village-style Balkan band -- does that make them Village People? Just wondering.) Then if you really want to rock, stay up late Saturday night for the Reptile Palace Orchestra at 11 p.m. And many other good bands too.

This is one of my favorite events of the year. I've divulged before that I was a folk dancer in a previous life. I don't dance much anymore, but Folk Ball is fun and exciting. For one thing, hundreds of people come, dancers and otherwise, the fun is infectious, and by the time Mr. Ether & the Reptiles play all the curious onlookers have become dancers and it is a veritable folk dancing mosh pit! It is also very family friendly, and there are lots of little kids. My own kids have been going since Sparkly Sea Cow was a babe in arms. (Cinderbelle will have to miss it this year. She may be in the hometown of the Tamburitzins, but I don't think they have anything like this!)

In my opinion, people don't dance enough anymore, not this kind of social, intergenerational dancing. Mr. Ether and I were incredibly lucky to have been involved in it as teenagers, and actually folk dancing was a popular pastime at our hippy dippy alternative high school. It was one of the ways that Mr. Ether and I courted (although I pretended not to know that's what we were doing at the time.) The occasional time that we go to recreational folk dancing these days, there are very few young people. They don't know what they're missing, truly.

On the other end of the generational spectrum, I can't leave this without commenting on my favorite local dancers, Lou and Fran, who are a dancing couple in their eighties! I absolutely love watching them!

So, if you're in the area, maybe I'll see you on Friday or Saturday.

(This is the large print version of my blog post. Sometimes blogger is such a pain!)

A Family Affair

It's finally happened. Mr. Ether has his own blog, so we need never engage in face to face communication again. ALL our dirty laundry will be aired in the blogoverse for YOU, dear readers. We are a TOTAL blogging family!

Please go over to Enriched Geranium, and say hello. Especially listen to the songs on the sidebar. He's a talented guy.

Opening Night!

Playtime Productions' Ali Baba and a Few Thieves, with Sparkly Sea Cow playing the storyteller Dunyazad (Shahrazad's younger sister) opened last night to rave reviews ... from parents and loved ones. If you're in the geographic vicinity (or you just want to fly in for the weekend,) the schedule is here. They'll be performing all over the county for the next 5 weeks. It is a very funny, campy musical production that features 5 daughters you hope you'll never have, a diminutive chief thief, a talking camel, and more. You won't be bored or disappointed, guaranteed.

Ali Baba was Cinderbelle's first play with Playtime, 7 years ago. It was fun to see how the director changed it this time around.

Playtime Productions is a wonderful community theater. It is children's theater in the best sense of the word -- plays for children, acted by children. The actors are in 3rd through 9th grade. They work long and hard, but the adults in charge are always cognizant of the fact that they are working with kids. It's always about building community and giving kids a theatrical experience, not producing child stars.

On a side note, Thursday evening I went to see a traveling Broadway production of Annie. Sparkly Sea Cow was supposed to go with her grandpa, but she had her final dress rehearsal, so I filled in. I don't like Broadway musicals much, and the underlying story of Annie is kind of a creepy celebration of capitalism (or as my stepfather, the old Socialist, said, "It's a nice fairytale") plus those songs ... those insipid songs get stuck in my head and I find myself humming, "The sun will come out tomorrow ..." ad nauseum until I am ready to beg someone to put me out of my misery! Nevertheless, I was enjoying myself. The girls who played the orphans were all very good, but I made the mistake of reading their biographies on the program. It reminded me how grateful I am for the down-to-earth experiences my daughters have had in Playtime.

Pictures to follow.

Mr. Ether Rocks ...

... with The Motor Primitives, this past Saturday night at the world class Crystal Corner Bar. The song is "Sundown." It was a good show. The big excitement came when drummer Robin Davies fell off the stage backwards, hitting his head on the way down. He hopped right back up and finished the show, despite a nasty bump. And Mr. Ether had come to the show from his dad's funeral. Are these guys loyal rock 'n' rollers, or what? Enjoy.

The Motor Primitives: The Flame

Mr. Ether rocks out at a recent gig in Milwaukee.

Like it? You can read their blog and buy merchandise here. (Remember ... we just sent a kid to an expensive college. Baby needs new shoes.)

Friends in High Places

True confessions: In general, I don't like clowns very much (especially the ones in rainbow wigs on little go-carts. The Shriner-types.) But Davey the Clown happens to be my cousin and The Boston Herald had a nice article this past Sunday about him clowning for kids in Sarajevo. I'm really proud of him.

If you're in the Boston area, he frequently performs at Faneuil Hall and his show is a lot of fun, for kids and adults alike. So, GO!

Time for a Bedtime Story

It's about that horrifying album cover pictured in the previous post. The original photo was taken on a family vacation to Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan. The 3 kids in the rubber raft are our daughter and her two cousins, being pushed around by Mr. Ether. They were all having a good time until a big wave came; the two younger kids started crying and the picture was taken for posterity.

Mr. Ether doesn't really have an iguana head; even I draw the tolerance line somewhere. But the band -- which he later joined as its electric bass player -- thought the photo, with a little alteration, would make a good album cover. And our daughter received a credit on the album.

A few years later, my brother is living out in Salt Lake City. His (now ex-)wife works in the public library and one of her cow-orkers is a guy who believes British author David Icke's theory that malevolent reptiloid beings are taking over the Earth. This guy finds an album in the library collection: The Reptile Palace Orchestra, Iguana Iguana! The name is enough to get his hackles up, then there's that scary picture on the front, and even more alarming ... in perusing the credits he finds someone with the same last name as his cow-orker's husband! What can it all mean?

The next chance he gets, he approaches my brother with the album. He asks him, in what I imagine to be a quavering voice, if he can explain any of it. "Oh yes," my brother says. "That's the band that my brother-in-law is in, and in fact the reptile on the album cover is my brother-in-law and the little girl is my niece." The poor guy is completely freaked out. My brother reports that the guy has approached him on more occasions to ask him about it, perhaps hoping that the answer will be different. Maybe my brother will laugh and say, "Ha ha, I was only kidding. I don't know any of those people." But he doesn't (bwahahahaha)

My brother relates this story to Mr. Ether. The band thinks this is too perfect of an opportunity to pass up. They name their next album We Know You Know.

(And just so you know, the band was completely unfamiliar with David Icke when they came up with the name Reptile Palace Orchestra. The Universe works in mysterious ways.)

BTW, click on "Mr. Ether" above and then listen to his song Impeach the Moron. And if you know how I can add that to my blog, please leave me a comment telling me how. Thanks.

Wow, this explains a lot!

By now, everyone has probably read the NYT article about first born children having a higher I.Q.
What I find truly amazing is, it explains why Mr. Ether learned to play the electric bass. He may not have his brother's I.Q., but he's a damned good bass player! (And actually he's pretty smart too.)

Some studies find that both the older and younger siblings tend to describe the first-born as more disciplined, responsible, a better student. Studies suggest — and parents know from experience — that to distinguish themselves, younger siblings often develop other skills, like social charm, a good curveball, mastery of the electric bass [my italics], acting skills. (Extry, extry, read all about it!)

I'm youngest of six ... where does that leave me?

Ride for Climate - Bicycles in Madison

Not only is Madison a great place for biking, it is also a great place for live music! That's The Motor Primitives, Mr. Ether's newest musical venture, recorded on Sunday at The Waterfront Festival. I hope you enjoy it.