mid-week update. with drops of all sorts. and pictures!

I am so busy these days...
(How busy are you?)
I am SO BUSY these days, that I drove all the way to the library just to write a blog post. It hasn't been working for me at home, lately. I have been too easily distracted by such things as food, destructive cats, re-watching Firefly and Serenity (so productive), rekindling a lost love for Anime (even more [i.e. less] productive), that stupid doll dress-up site (still, I know), and, oh. That blond-headed boy I married. But I'll keep that one. He's warm and cute and knows how to cook.

So, here I finally am, and I figured it was time for a little update. Life is fun right now. The weather is nice (though it's bordering hot). We went home to Louisville for Derby Day, wherein my 83-year-old grandmother cleaned us all out with Animal Kingdom. Never mind that we pick at random in my family. She was all funny and gloaty-gloat over her $38 winnings. You go, Pa.* We drank Ale-8 mint juleps (Ale-8 with mint sprigs--no bourbon this year), ate strawberries with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar, and cried at My Old Kentucky Home. Oh, how I love Derby. It's a bonafide holiday, like Christmas, around here (here meaning Louisville. Knoxville doesn't care quite as much).

[*Yes, I call my grandmother Pa. No, she is not a man. When I was teeny-tiny, it was all I could say. By the time I mastered "Grandmother," the former had already stuck. So, Pa she is. I always wanted to spell it with an H at the end, though. Pah. Because, as I mentioned, she is not a man. But then the spelling stuck, too. Ah, well. At least it's unique.]

Animal Kingdom, for the win.
Beautiful shot pilfered from this site.

The Saturday previous to Derby is also worth mentioning. We drove up to Botetourt, Virginia (pronounced "Bottetott," I learned) for a wine festival, which is code for "to see our friends Laura and Kagey (The Honey Dewdrops) open for the Carolina Chocolate Drops!". Two Drops in the bucket, as I keep saying to myself. It was immensely fun.

Kagey, Laura, and their good buddy, Barry.
They make pretty sounds together.

We met Laura and Kagey* a couple summers ago when they played at a funky little place in Knoxville called the Time Warp Tea Room. A time warp it was, a tea room it was not. I ordered a grilled cheese with tomato soup, and got, straight up, two practically-fried slices of white bread hugging a melted Kraft single, with a bowl of Campbell's condensed tomato soup. It was the real deal. I shouldn't hate on it. The place really did seem like a lot of fun, and their website makes it sound promising... perhaps I'll go back someday. They did have neat fountain drinks. I digress. On the night THD played, we were two of, like, five people there. We got to talking with Laura and Kagey after they played, and just... became friends. Simple as that.


[*Pronounced kind of like Keggy, by the way. Or maybe... Kayggy. Sorry, Kagey, I'm pretty sure I pronounce your name differently every time I say it. At least I know this: it is NOT pronounced "cagey."]




After that, Joshua and I had a comically bad habit of going to see our friends play at the strangest shows ever. First was the TWTR, which, btw, was also full of sneering biker chicks. The December after Joshua and I got married, we went to see Laura and Kagey play in Lexington at a really neat place called Natasha's. Embarrassing fact #1: we had told them about this venue in the first place, which made embarrassing fact #2 (that no one but us and a transvestite named Marjorie showed up) even worse. But we still had a good time, right guys?

A few months ago, we drove up to Etowa to see them, and the entire auditorium was full of sweet, little blue-hairs who looked about to keel over at the slightest touch. Or, more rather, cover their ears in discomfort if the music got too loud. It wasn't a bad show, by any means. It was just... odd. Thus, imagine our joy to see The Honey Dewdrops at this festival, with a real, responsive audience! One that actually cheered! Laura told me once, "We really do have fans, I promise." And they do, and it's no surprise why. I could, perhaps, gush further about how nice these two are, and how awesome it is that they took the time to get to know us. The fact that they did speaks for itself.

Hit 'Em Up Style, y'all.

Anywhoooooo, they also play really great music! Music that gets stuck in my head at work. And, the icing on the cake for April 30: the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I mean, how could we not go to this show? Our friends, plus these guys? Granted, it was four hours away, but it was a blast. If you haven't seen CCD live, go do that. Please. And, while you're at it, go find The Honey Dewdrops, too. We could all use a few more Drops in our lives, you know?

Here's a picture of Dom Flemons, makin' me laugh. He cracked me all the way up during this show, especially during an exchange with Hubby Jenkins (a new--and incredible--group member) about where Hubby learned to play Cornbread and Butterbeans. The answer: a Carolina Chocolate Drops music book, of course. Dom asked, "Now, where'd you get that?" Hubby said, "I picked it up in a dumpster somewhere," which was funny enough, but then Dom said, "Well, I put it there 'cause I knew you'd find it," with the most hysterical, old-timey comedian face. I wish I'd known that expression was coming. I would have taken a picture of that.



All in all, after a month of non-stop go go go, this was one of the best Saturdays we'd had in a while.

Us and our friends, complete with Laura's Zoolander face.

I'm pretty sure I intended to write about some other things, too, but this post has gone on long enough. But keep your eyes peeled (ungh, terrible figure of speech) for some exciting things to come in the near future. There may or may not be prizes involved.

In closing, since I like to brag, this happened:

Dom Flemons, me, a signed LP,
and Kagey in the  background.
It was a good day.