Lately I have been pondering what else I can do with our living room concerts — showing art on the walls while musicians perform, hosting writers for a reading in between music sets? Or maybe I try something different entirely — a home-based supper club idea with food or cocktails as the focus instead of music?
A recent visit to my hometown had me reminiscing about one of my favorite high school jobs. As a teenager, I lucked into a surreal collection of work experiences. My first job, if you don’t count baby-sitting in middle school, was as a clown. I hosted children’s birthday parties, painting kids’ faces, making balloon animals and running a series of loud,…
If your workplace doesn’t have a culture of truly letting people leave their cares behind when they take vacation — or if it’s frowned upon to even take vacation — maybe you can tell your boss that you need some task-negative time in order to tap into your best problem-solving insights?
Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. Today’s question comes from Lauren McCabe, mermaidchronicles.com, @mermaidtales on Twitter, originally posted on her blog under the headline In…
After a year of piano lessons, I’m getting closer to sitting down with a new piece of music and coaxing the song out of the notes on the page. I have a long way to go but I’ve played “Lil Liza Jane” and “Careless Love” and my ear recognizes the tunes. That got me thinking about the nature of creativity.…
This is mainly for your summer Friday entertainment — but there is a bit of a Newvine Growing theme here. Tony-nominated Broadway actor Brian d’Arcy James grew up in my hometown, Saginaw, Mich., and I was wowed by him in our high school’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I love this video because while Brian’s been part…
Maybe it’s because I’m a beginner piano player — and I admit it, I sometimes get myself through practice by fantasizing about sitting in with my favorite musicians — but this video of a recent Paul Simon concert chokes me up. Apparently a fan named Rayna yells out that she learned how to play guitar playing Simon’s song “Duncan,” and…
I moved to New York City from Ann Arbor five years ago this month. Earlier this week I shared a laundry list of tourist tips, in part because visiting friends often ask for “real” guidance beyond what they’d get in a guidebook. Today’s post is more about the experience of being a New Yorker — five reflections on being a…
Five years ago, I packed up and moved to Manhattan for my first post-MBA job. John followed about a month later, after managing a speedy sale of our house, thanks in part to our fortuitous timing before the real estate crash. I think five years is long enough to consider myself a real New Yorker. Obviously not a native, but…
Tim Robbins apparently became such a fan of New Orleans and the HBO show about it, Treme, while he was in NOLA shooting the Green Lantern that he just called up Treme’s David Simon and asked if he could direct an episode. Timed to that episode airing Sunday, the New Orleans Times Picayune ran a great feature about Robbins —…
John and I arrived in New Orleans for our quasi-sabbatical on March 25 so we’re approaching one month in our temporary hometown. I’m already getting pangs about time running short. We have Easter weekend coming up, then two weekends of Jazz Fest, then we pack up for home a few days later. So after we’ve crossed the halfway point in…
Since arriving in New Orleans Friday, several people have asked us what our goal is for the next six weeks here. Depending on who it is, I might quip back that my goal is to have no goals — to just be, which is the opposite of hyper-achievement oriented New York. But that’s not actually true. My biggest goal is…
When I started piano lessons last spring, my approaching 40th birthday was a big motivator. Something about a milestone birthday triggered my deadline response, and I thought I’d like to be able to play at least one song by my 40th. Turns out I can do a decent job at several songs, including Scarborough Fair and My Cherie Amour. Not…
Now you have to know I’d love a story that starts like this one in the Brooklyn Paper recently: Mavis Staples is the queen of reinvention. The Chicago-based singer and civil rights icon has been a staple on the gospel circuit for over 50 years, making her name foremost in spirituals with her family’s group, the Staple Singers, who added…
Earlier this week, I wrote about the most popular blog posts in the two-year run of Newvine Growing and about the most common search terms that bring people here. Studying those data points is part of some work I’m doing to refine my focus for 2011. I launched Newvine Growing in January 2009 with broad goal: to have a forum…
Early in my Month of Thanksgiving, I gave thanks for traditional jazz — but that’s not the only music that makes me happy. In high school, I hung out with the band and musical theater nerds. In college I was entertainment editor at our newspaper, I worked at two of our radio stations and spent a lot of time hanging…
A week ago, I asked who you’re grateful for and some of the great responses that came in ranged from “my husband” to “my daughter’s bus driver.” There’s still time to enter that contest – and now let’s add another to the mix. Besides the people you’re grateful for, what inanimate objects are you grateful for? What things…
John has an art show tonight in Brooklyn and I will beam like the proud wife I am seeing his paintings showcased by ContaminateNYC. But one of the things I love about New York is that even when you aren’t at a gallery, museum or other designated art event, you’re surrounded by art. Last Friday we were headed to an…
If you’re looking for some good beach reading in the dog days of August, look no further, my friend. Three posts in the works you won’t want to miss: A profile of multi-instrumentalist Clint Maedgen, front man for New Orleans Bingo Show and sax player for Preservation Hall Jazz Band A Q&A with Jim Ottaviani, the second installment in a…
