We're All Mad Here

Crazy-mad this time.

I went far away last night and back again in the wee hours of the morning via shuttle and trains and subway and taxis and feet in the rain to hear S.J. Tucker (Skinny White Chick) sing at a lovely little house concert hosted by my friends Merav and Jon.  This falls under the heading of "crazy, not smart" on a weeknight, but I rarely get to see Sooj and hear her sing, and I didn't feel like waiting 'til next January at Arisia to do so.

(picture: Sooj sings "Alligator in the House" -- click to enlarge)

She sang a bunch of my favorites, including "Goddess," "Alligator in the House," "Taglio," "Pixie Can't Sleep," "Shipful of Monsters," and "Ravens in the Library," but there were some nifty new songs as well.  Sooj seems to have a line directly into my head, so I wasn't surprised that one in particular, "Cheshire Kitten," had lyrics that really spoke to me:

you gotta go down the rabbit hole and
out the other side
you can't go home in the middle of the
magic carpet ride
you gotta greet the sun before his
lovely daughter moon
you can't forsake the journey for the
safety of your room

That last sentence in particular is a good reminder that in general I need to have the courage to be crazy, and that I more often regret passing up opportunities out of fear than I do exploring them, even when things work out poorly.

Since "Cheshire Kitten" isn't available for download yet (cruel Sooj!) here's an old favorite to enjoy:

But keep checking Sooj's webpage -- she said "Cheshire Kitten" will be available soon, and there are already eight songs from her in-development Catherynne Valente tie-in album, Quartered: Songs of Palimpsest, to be had via name-your-price download.

And remember to be crazy.

If I leave my grin behind, remind me
we're all mad here
and it's ok.

Comments

[Serge]

Glad to hear that Sooj is doing better.

As for taking on a journey that may not be safe... I've never thought of myself as the adventurous type and yet, looking back, I find I took quite a few chances, some of which paid off handsomely.

[Marilee J. Layman]

I'm glad you had a good time!

[Carol Witt]

Did I mention how much I liked the CD?

[Susan de Guardiola]

Carol,
I think so, yes. I hope it inspires you to acquire others of hers.

[Carol Witt]

Good. I expect I will buy more, but I'll have to get over to her site to listen to the samples again.

In other news, some of you may recall me mentioning that my youngest brother's condo building had an explosion while he was in the hospital (on March 19th). Apparently the residents of the adjacent townhouses were allowed back into their homes today, and the condo residents should be returning sometime in the next week. I've asked him if he's planning to have a "Thank Goodness I Can Finally Go Back Home!" party once he's allowed in.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Carol,
She's got a lot of stuff available for sampling or download now. I'm fascinated by how she's releasing Quartered as a work in progress. It's primarily download-only until she finishes all the songs (ten or twelve total, I think), though she did have a few unpackaged CDs of the songs with her on Wednesday for people who can't handle downloading. When the entire album is finished she'll release it as a regular CD. I have no idea how good a sales strategy this is, but it's an interesting experiment.

[Susan de Guardiola]

(And rah rah for your brother's returning home soon!)

[Serge]

Rah rah indeed!

[Marilee J. Layman]

Carol, I bet he'll be glad to get back home! What caused the explosion? We're always worried about the people who keep propane tanks in the condos or on the balconies even though it's against the law. We don't see all of them so we can't call the fire marshal on all of them.

[Carol Witt]

Marilee: They haven't said what caused it yet, and the Fire Marshal's report hasn't been released. Someone had mentioned seeing a report in the news that there was a grow-op in there, but the reports I saw indicated it was actually in another building across town that had a problem the same day. The explosion in my brother's building happened in the main electrical room on the first parking level, also blowing out the Toronto Hydro transformer. There was a lot of damage to the structure and various systems in that area.

[Serge]

I figured this might be as good a place to ask a musical question as any other...

Does anybody know why HG Wells wound up on the cover of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? I seem to remember reading that one of the Beatles was a big fan of his, but, even after some googling, I have been unable to find out if this was true or, if true, who was the guilty one.