Fyrewurks » Tulsa

Fiery Furnaces @ Cain’s Ballroom 01-24-10

Jennifer — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:30:26 +0000

On Sunday night, my sister and I came in from the frigid air of a quiet downtown Tulsa to see the Fiery Furnaces at Cain’s Ballroom. The Brooklyn brother-sister team (Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger) was laid back when we arrived: Eleanor hanging out in the small crowd consisting of 30-40 fans, and Matt selling t-shirts until they went on.

Once they did get on stage, they played sans keyboards, sans Matt’s vocals, and très rapide. I can only assume that they played such fast versions of their songs to make up for the lack of keyboards and extra vocals; granted, it is customary to speed up songs during live performaces, but just when you thought Eleanor couldn’t sing/talk and faster, she’d pour out a montage of Blueberry Boat songs faster than an auctioneer selling cattle. And although keyboards are typically a key part of their songs, they still managed to put on a pretty good show without them… considering it a was a 2nd-stage stop on a Sunday night.

They played songs not only from “Blueberry Boat,” but also from “Bitter Tea” and “I’m Going Away,” including the wonderfully ominous “The End is Near” which could be talking about anything from a relationship to apocalypse with “The end is near, the end is near the time has come. There ain’t no way, nobody will save you now… don’t even think that there’s a way out of this. Down the road and up the creek it’s over, it’s such a clear and certain hell of a thing, it’s over.”

And even though we had to be at work the next morning, it was worth it because it was such a small crowd in a relaxed venue, making for an intimate evening with the Friedbergers.

: Fiery Furnaces

Fiery Furnaces

Yokozuna then “Fables, Fantasy, and Fairy Tales”

Jennifer — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:02:33 +0000

From "Fables, Fantasy, and Fairy Tales. Once Upon a Time..."

My sister and I went downtown (Tulsa) for the night to try out the new restaurant “Yokozuna” next to Dwelling Spaces (one home of the uber-trendy ‘Don’t Hate the 918″ shirts), and to check out the Ihloff Salon fall fashion show to benefit the Resonance Center for Women.

Yokozuna was all right and I’ll be writing more about it on Tasty Tulsa soon, but to sum it up, the pinot noir was fantastic (never caught the brand), the spring rolls were very good, but the noodle bowls were very bland (until we fixed them up ourselves).

Yokozuna

...next to Dwelling Spaces

me!

Christine

Afterwards, we headed over to the fashion show which was simply a lot of fun with the ‘Fables, Fantasy, and Fairy Tales’ theme – I really enjoyed taking these (many) pictures!

From "Fables, Fantasy, and Fairy Tales. Once Upon a Time..."

101 Things for Which I’m Thankful

Jennifer — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:28:43 +0000

Since I have so much to be thankful for, and since it is Thanksgiving, I wanted to do a stream-of-consciousness post on 101 things I’m thankful for. I thought about ordering them at first, but that just didn’t seem right somehow.

Christine & Natasha in Grandpa's Jaguar

1. Natasha, Natasha, Natasha, Natasha, Natasha; my sweetest of sweets daughter. I’ve been ‘in love’ with people and even music and other media/art, but having a child is the best of all. You miss them terribly when they’re away, you get scared by their fragility, and at the same time you love them like nothing else and they truly are the most charming people you will ever know.

2. A great family including sisters that I can act totally crazy and bizarre around and they think it’s just as hilarious as I do!

3. A thoughtful husband who shares so many common interests and ideals with me.

4. Fond memories of people I’ve lost.

5. The ability to focus on what I can learn from tragedies and not on the negative (I was blessed with quite the self-preserving personality!).

M Ward

6. Incessant, uncontrollable… well, passion, for lack of more accurate word – I am constantly amazed by some new song, book, personality, color combination, weather, and it goes on and on – like M Ward sings, “God, it’s great to be alive / takes the skin right off my hide / to think I’ll have to give it all up someday.”

7. The fact that I’ve found a church that I actually like (it’s sometimes hard to be a Christian when you don’t like any of the Christian churches that you’ve been to and find some serious flaws in the members as well (and I’m still trying to figure out how much of that is my own problem)) – I recently started going to a small Methodist church and I think I finally feel like I’ve found a church that I feel I can grow in. I love the social history and focus of the church, they’ve played an active role in American civil rights issues and to this day they are very socially active. The church I’ve been going to houses our Meals on Wheels kitchen and is very focused on helping the poor in our community. The are also spiritual without taking the whole of the Bible literally. (This could be a very very long item and it’s already past midnight so I’ll leave it at that for now).

8 That I was born in the age of air conditioning, pain medication, movie shows, and teh internets! (Though this one could be a blessing and a curse…)

9 That I’ve found a home-based business that has been successful thus far, and that I enjoy (making sites).

10 That I have a nice, relaxed job that lets me wear jeans every day, and hang numerous plants, music posters, child drawings, and various art/craftwork around my desk until the grey walls are almost completely hidden.

Fuji's IJ Roll & Spicy Tuna Roll

11 Fuji’s sushi, particularly their spicy tuna rolls.

12 Iced coffee.

13 Anh Hung Tran.

14 Woody Allen.

15 Michel Gondry.

16 T.S. Eliot.

17 e e cummings.

18 Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

19 Glenn Gould.

Glenn Gould

20 Sergei Rachmaninoff.

21 Frederic Chopin (so in love)!

22 Claude Debussy.

23 My beautiful black Baldwin upright.

24 The joy of playing piano.

25 The feeling of the air moving against your chest while playing the accordion.

26 The Jersey shore and endless summers I got to spend there while visiting family.

27 Tulsa, with the friendliest people, cool architecture, magnificent thunderstorms, Cain’s, and its thick green-ness.

28 The time I got with a truly amazing piano teacher, Claire Jones.

29 Good friends I’ve kept over the years and friends to come.

30 Sonic Route 44 diet Coke with lots of lime.

31 Being born in an era of countless amazing bands & musicians!

Rainy Fall

32 Rain.

33 Snow.

34 The magic in the perfect speed of riding a bike.

35 Recording devices.

36 Looking out the window of a moving car.

37 The mystical Tahlequah, OK.

38 The dreamy Peggy Lee tune ‘Where or When’ and the perfect snowy December morning I was awoken by that song on the radio.

Peggy Lee

39 The moment that I first heard Paul McCartney’s ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ (in high school right after a breakup with a boyfriend who I had mentioned this song to and who didn’t find anything special about it) and thought that it was so underrated and awesome that I would marry the guy who told me he intimated the same feelings toward the song without knowing my feelings about it (which is a small part of why I’m married to who I am today and whomever reads this first will be the first to learn this)!

Christian Bale!

40 Red wine.

41 Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

42 M Ward.

43 Christian Bale.

44 Leonard Cohen.

45 New Order and They Might Be Giants (and numerous others) for being major players in getting me through high school in one piece! …But don’t forget the songs
That made you cry
And the songs that saved your life
Yes, you’re older now
And you’re a clever swine
But they were the only ones who ever stood by you…

46 Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel, Animal Collective, Wolf Parade, The Fiery Furnaces, and Sufjan Stevens for showing up just when I thought there era of good music of my generation was over.

47 Talking Heads for managing to be so hot and intellectual at the same time.

48 NPR for their ‘driveway moments.’

Carlsbad Caverns + Doll's Theater

49 Caves.

50 National & State Parks.

51 Glorious blank paper and a black pen.

52 Magazine collages.

53 Smalti mosaics.

54 The Golden Number.

55 Hello Kitty.

56 Niagara Falls.

57 Growing up with parents who loved to take road trips.

58 Mojitos.

59 Gardening.

60 The Russian language with which I am enamored but haven’t found the time to get past general greetings. Strastvitya.

From the Japanese folk tale "The Crane Wife"

61 Folk tales & mythology.

62 Shakespeare (I know, yawn, how quaint) – I like Hamlet and Midsummer’s Night Dream a lot, almost as much as the fact the he varied the spelling of his name.

63 Night swimming and that I was fortunate enough to grow up with a pool with lights and an overview of dreamy, spooky woods.

64 My propensity to daydream.

65 Symbols.

LOST

66 LOST.

67 That I got to major in two subjects that dealt heavily in symbols in mirror opposite ways – Mathematics and English Literature.

68 Dreams (“in dreams, emotions are overwhelming” -Science of Sleep).

69 Gael Garcia Bernal.

Gael Garcia Bernal in The Science of Sleep

70 Motorcycle Diaries (I liked the book and the movie) – even though I don’t agree with everything Che Guevara did in his lifetime, I’ve always admired the humanity of this book and his altruistic spirit – this journey really gives some insight into his life before it the politics (and what led him to that), and his love, respect, and care for the people he met.

71 Dark chocolate with orange.

72 Icicles.

73 Coconut lime verbena body spray from Bath & Body Works which gives me a little extra vigor each and every day.

Arctic Wolf

74 Wolves.

75 Language.

76 Silence.

77 Chinese silk shirts and dresses.

78 A cat who has so much personality that she’s more human than cat.

79 Google Adsense

80 Coffee Shops

Mt Fuji woodblock print by Hiroshige

81 The early Christmas present my husband just gave me – a MacBook – yay!

82 Hobby Lobby so my daughter and I can easily find a new craft project to do any time.

83 Hiroshige.

84 Vladimir Horowitz.

85 Hoodies.

86 Banana Republic.

87 Illuminations Candles.

88 Andrei Tarkovsky.

89 Richard Kelly for making Donnie Darko.

Philbrook's 1st Garden Glow 11-29-08

90 College radio.

91 Starry nights.

92 Connections.

93 Noodle bowls.

94 That I discovered the combination of saltine crackers, plain cream cheese, and green olives.

Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots, and More!

95 The city.

96 The country.

97 Holidays and the events they inspire, like warm lingering meals, The Nutcracker ballet, and Philbrook’s Garden Glow.

98 iTunes Genius.

99 Creepy Cute Crochet for getting me back into crocheting and sparking some ideas.

100 WordPress for being the most awesome CMS and making this easier than it could have been.

101 You!

i’ll believe in anything…

Jennifer — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:14:39 +0000

if you’ll believe in anything.

Wolf Parade's Dante DeCaro & Spencer Krug

I took a rare week night out with my sis and her husband to go see Wolf Parade at The Marquee in Tulsa tonight – it was the best show I’ve seen in years.

First we stumbled out of the T-storms & tornadoes into “Lola’s,” a dia de los muertos themed tapas bar where we got some fantastic mojitos.

Eric & Christine in front of Lola's

Lola's Decor

Me likes a good mojito

Afterwards we got to The Marquee early enough to get a decent spot and catch the opening band – [insert name here - I'm terribly sorry and mean no disrespect but I forgot] The Listening Party – which had a good blend of native beats and rock (not in a boring hippie way); very Animal Collective-esque.

The Listening Party

Then came Wolf Parade. I used to listen to them a lot then I kinda forgot about them – I’m sooo glad I was reminded!

Wolf Parade + Spencer Krug

Wolf Parade + Arlen Thompson & Dan Boeckner

Wolf Parade + Spencer Krug

Wolf Parade + Hadji Bakara

Wolf Parade + Spencer Krug

Wolf Parade + Dan Boeckner

Give me your eyes
I need sunshine
Give me your eyes
I need sunshine
Your blood
Your bones
Your voice
and your ghost…

Conor Oberst at Cain’s

Jennifer — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:45:09 +0000

Conor Oberst

Well my husband and I got to see Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band at Cain’s recently and enjoyed the laid-back show that Conor and the new band put on. Since it was him and his new band, we didn’t get to hear all those classic Bright Eyes songs like “Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (to love or to be loved)” and “Messenger Bird’s Song,” but it gave us a chance to hear the new songs live (and hearing songs live often gives me a new perspective on them and can sometimes turn a seemingly-boring-skip-to-the-next-song into a great one that I’ll eventually overplay).

I was sort of hoping M. Ward might show as well, considering that Pitchfork suggested he might be in Conor’s new band, but he wasn’t. It was still cool.

I’m still not into the MVB songwriting as much as I am with most Bright Eyes songs, but I do enjoy the latest album enough to have it playing in my car for much of this Indian summer – and it fits the season well.

I see someone put together a nicely edited little montage of the Cain’s show on YouTube…