accordion inspiration

Growing up, my neighbors down the street were the Aguerres. Tony is French Basque, Jeanine grew up in Santa Rosa and their daughter Monique was my best friend. Because as a child, you often want to be like your friends, have what your friends have, etc., I wanted to be French. I asked my mom to buy me books in French and as a 5 year-old, I was already learning the names for body parts, foods, clothing and animals (mind you at the time, my pronunciation was way off).

Years later, after studying at home and abroad, I was fluent, and now when I go to the Aguerres, Tony always speaks to me en français. Yesterday I had lunch with the Aguerres and promised to bring along my accordion so I could play them my Piaf tunes. I gave them a mini-concert in their sun room. As Tony was leaving to go back to work, and I was plucking away at the keys and buttons, he stopped and said to me, "J'adore l'accordéon."

"Moi aussi," I replied.

it's a bird! it's a plane!

crazy in love (or more on needing the eggs)

Just watched The Cranes Are Flying for the first time last night (finally). It's a brilliant film about the challenges of enduring love during the reality of war. The father of Veronica, the girl in love, says this about love to his wife when their daughter returns home in the wee hours of the morning:

MOTHER: She's crazy about him!

FATHER: And he about her.

That's what love is, my dear: A harmless mental illness.

A mental illness, perhaps, but certainly NOT harlmess, in my opinion.

art i wanna see

For lack of a more clever way to put it, I want to see Vapor at Southern Exposure, and this weekend I'm finally going to see Annie Liebovitz at the Legion of Honor. In addition, Spring Open Studios is upon us, and this year I've been invited to check out the art in Benecia.

when your lover loves another

Cloud has taken to sleeping on the couch with Jessica. I don't quite know how I feel about that.

political protest - 21st century style?

After protesting and marching in the streets and attending all kinds of demonstrations in my subversive life, I'm a bit jaded at times regarding the effectiveness of traditional methods of political protest. What forms of dissent can we still practice that will actually influence political decision-makers and not stifle governments into passive aggressiveness or, worse, retaliation and backlash? I just read this article on the concept of boycotting the Olympic opening ceremonies, and so, I'm asking the question, if we stand for protecting human rights, and we know that a country is not practicing them, but we also support amateur athletes and the spirit of global solidarity through athleticism, what can we do, can governments do, can athletes do to send a message to the Chinese government (and the IOC) that they will listen to about their treatment of the Tibetan people and their support of a genocide in Darfur, without dishonoring the athletes who are going for the gold?

On that note, here is another article asking that very question: The story of Jin Jing, the Olympic athlete in a wheelchair, protecting the torch from street protesters in Paris. I totally understand that we shouldn't be tarnishing China's opportunity to host the Olympics and the athletes' enjoyment in participating in them. But is it better to turn a blind eye to human rights violations? It's all so confusing, and frankly, I don't have the answers (because after all the letters I send to Pelosi about our own atrocious government, all I get are form letter responses).

california wines follow-up

Parducci is the greenest winery in the U.S. And although they don't particularly say that the grapes are organic, they do say that the grapes are from local, family owned farmers, and that they are grown without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Voilà quoi.

I drank a bottle of their $10 Pinot Noir with JC (not Jesus Christ) the other night. I'm not a big Pinot Noir fan. The jury is still out on Parducci until I try some other varietals.

Isn't there a Californian winery that would make a nice biodynamic Côtes du Rhone in the $10 per bottle range for me?

N.B.: The $8 biodynamic Roussette de Savoie by F. Giachino that I bought from Vintage Berkeley was, par contre, quite tasty, especially served chilled on the hot sunny afternoon we were lucky to have on Saturday.

just send it to your rep!

Dear Rep. Conyers,

On Friday, George Bush told ABC News he personally approved of the approval of torture - including waterboarding - by Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet.

"Yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."

In the wake of this shocking and appalling confession, we've come to a historic moment where every American - and every Member of Congress - must take a stand.

Either you're for torture or you're against it. And if you're against it, you must support the only Constitutional remedy for a President and Vice President who commit war crimes: impeachment.

As the chairman of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, I appeal to you to do the right thing by this country and begin the impeachment hearings against VP Cheney and Pres. Bush.

Thank you,
[your name here]

like mother like daughter

I attended the memorial service today for Mimi, the mother of my best friend Anne from junior high. Anne and I were inseparable during that time in our lives, and we also happily and willingly threw ourselves into some sketchy situations for the sake of having new experience. I always thought it was Anne's influence on me. It was with her that I went on my first date, smoked my first cigarette, got my first alcohol-induced buzz, shoplifted, took her mom's car for a joy ride, got into fist fights with other kids at school. We couldn't get our fill of doing "wrong." We quickly went from being angels to devils in the eyes of the nuns who taught us, and we became better friends for it.

During the memorial this evening, I listened to Mimi's younger brothers and friends describe her personality and influence on their lives. Clearly she was loved by many. But what was surprising is that these friends and family members often listed some of the same "firsts" they had with Mimi as I had with Anne. It was then that I realized that it was Mimi who influenced us, not just Anne influencing me. It was Mimi who showed us how to be bold, daring, adventurous, gutsy and have an insatiable lust for life.

With the amount of time I spent at Mimi's house with Anne, a time when we were both learning what it meant to be women, I learned as much from Mimi as I did from my own mother about what it was like to be a single woman making it on her own, and doing with grace, elegance, class and impeccable style. I didn't realize it until today that it is partly thanks to Mimi that I willingly take risks in life, accept adventure, live daringly and laugh in the face of fear. And so, I am grateful to have known her and to have received the gift of her influence on my life.

free tibet

old instruments|new sound

Saturday night JC and I rode all velo vogued out to the Great American Music Hall to see our favorite local band Rupa and the April Fishes perform (yes, again) for their April Fool's (Poisson d'Avril) show. I was psyched to watch Isabel, my new accordion teacher play, since I only get to play for her, which probably is not always so enjoyable. Here she is, looking gorgeous:


She sounded as good as she looked!

The big surprise of the evening was hearing the second opening act, Iron and the Albatross, a kind of carnavalesque, silent movie score-ish, experimental chamber music. I had to call Jessica to share the music with her through my cell phone. I was mesmerized watching this beautiful blonde siren belt out haunting tunes while tapping out melodies like a music box on what appeared to be a miniature baby grand piano. And the viola! Ah, the viola! [Sigh!] I managed to snap this photo from my cell phone, but these photos do no justice to hearing their music that was so moving. The only place I've found them is through some strange website that doesn't seem to be so current, so if anyone out there in cyber-world knows how to get in touch with this group, I want to be on their mailing list, buy their cd's and become their biggest fan (like Mel on Flight of the Conchords... well maybe not, on second thought). And so, here is that blonde siren:


Need I say that JC, Young and I had a GREAT time at the Great American on Saturday? Dancing to the April Fishes kind of makes you feel like you're at a Jewish wedding, only better, more sensual, more latin, more gypsy, more French. Those who know me know how I get on the dance floor, and so Saturday night was no exception. I took the express train to never-neverland and didn't come back until the band stopped playing, and even then the endorphins (not the vodka cranberries) made me high until the next morning. After the show, an older couple made a point of finding me and informed me that they had been watching me dance all night long from the balcony, and they were very impressed with my skills. Kinda spooky, yet kinda cool too. Thank God I didn't jump up on stage (wanted to though... yikes)!

why care about the milkshake?

A quote from a blog posting by Errol Morris in the NYT about using re-enactments in documentary filmmaking, in particular his film The Thin Blue Line, the first Errol Morris film I saw in a theater, with my dad, when it was released in 1988:

Why care about the milkshake? Why does the milkshake matter? Because we assemble our picture of reality from details. We don’t take in reality whole. Our ideas about reality come from bits and pieces of experience. We try to assemble them into something that has a consistent narrative.