I love my husband

It's been so busy, that I forgot to tell you that Russell and I got married on September 13, 2013 in Pioneertown, California. It was the best day of my life, and I'm pretty sure Russell had a lot of fun, too! It was a secret wedding--we only told a few family members and a couple of friends about our plans. Our friend Arie Haze of L.A. Wedding Woman devised the plan. 


We got married on the second day of the annual Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven Campout concert event. The only other Crumbs (Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven fans) who knew about the wedding were my bridesmaids Miss Trixie, Julie, and Judy. The band members were in on the secret, and we wouldn't have done it without the blessings of their manager Velena "Boss Lady" Vego.

If you look closely in the above photo, you can see that the wedding officiant (Arie Haze) is dressed as a Day of the Dead bride, one of the bridesmaid's (Julie) is dressed as a Canadian hockey player, and the best man is holding a Mexican puppet. This is because the wedding took place during our annual costume group photo event. Every year bandleader David Lowery and album cover artist Michael Wertz announce the costume themes. This year the themes were Canada vs. Mexico on Friday night, and Hawaii on Saturday. Arie tricked everyone into attending the wedding by saying she wanted to get one last shot in front of the guest house on Mane Street. (Yes, it's spelled "Mane" Street.) I had been wearing a hand painted Virgin of Guadalupe jean jacket and a Frida Kahlo flowered headband during the earlier photos, and Russell changed out of his Mexican Hockey League shirt right before the ceremony.

 

Here's a picture of author Cynthia Linville and me posing in our Mexican outfits.

Photographer Bradford Jones had the band members sign our wedding vows as a souvenir. (I get giddy when I think about how cool it is that the members of my favorite bands know our names!) Frank Funero the drummer said he wants someone to deliver a baby at next year's event.

Here is the thank you note I wrote to my Crumb (Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven) family:

Thank you to my Crumb Family (and my husband!) for your love and support. You have been my lifeline for years. You carried me through so many hard times that it made sense to share the happiest day of my life with you. Thank you to Velena Vego, David Lowery, and Johnny Hickman for letting us hold the wedding during Campout. We owe you about $20,000. There are so many people to thank that I don't know where to start and I hope I don't forget to mention anyone. Thank you to Arie Haze for the wonderful idea. Thanks to her team at LA Wedding Woman for giving us the world's most stress-free, yet meaningful, wedding. Thank you to my maid of honor and dear friend, the beautiful Miss Trixie Martha for selflessly working her tail off to make sure everything ran smoothly. In addition to giving me an amazing makeover and talking me out of wearing Spanx, Miss Trixie herded my family and made sure everyone was in the right place at the right time. Even though she wasn't feeling well herself, she made me go to the doctor on the first day of Campout to have my bronchitis treated. Thank you to my bridesmaids Julie and Judy for being such amazing friends and for helping Miss Trixie and Arie with all the behind the scenes work. Thank you to Jeff and Jason for the beautiful music at the ceremony. Thank you to Camper Van Beethoven for playing our favorite song New Roman Times during sound check and providing us with the most amazing first dance experience. I was so happy I cried. Thank you to Bradford Jones for being such a thoughtful photographer and friend. Thank you to Kevin Olson for catching our first dance on video and for the superb hospitality. Thank you to Chris LeRoy for inviting me into the family and giving me the best friends on earth. I love you all.

I am the luckiest woman in the world. Thank you, Russell!

ps. And thank you to my mom and grandma for sharing the special event with us--and for keeping it a secret. 

Alternative Christmas songs

Here are a few of my favorite not-so-merry Christmas songs:

River by Joni Mitchell

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on. . .

Mitchell, Joni. Blue. Burbank, CA: Reprise, 1971. Sound recording. 

Merry Christmas, Emily by Cracker

Emily was twenty three
Sitting on the ground
Under a dead palm tree
6th and Speedway
On Christmas day . . .

Brick by Ben Folds Five

6am, day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in the dark
The smell of cold
Car seat is freezing
The world is sleeping
I am numb. . .




Christmas in Prison by John Prine

It was Christmas in prison
And the food was real good
We had turkey and pistols
Carved out of wood . . .




My friend Chris LeRoy does a great cover of this John Prine song. I like it as much as the original.



And speaking of John Prine . . .

My family had a very John Prine Thanksgiving:



And speaking of family . . . 

My cousin Allen Covert produced this Chanukah favorite:


Click to here to buy the song.

ps. It's pretty raunchy,  but I really liked Allen's most recent movie, That's My Boy.

See the guy in the red Izod shirt? That's my cousin!

pps. Happy Holidays, Love Rebecca.

New Haven Rock City

Guess what? Cracker is touring this summer with Bare Naked Ladies, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, and Blues Traveler---and they are going to be right here in Palm Beach County!

Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven are my all-time favorite bands, of course, but I also really like Blues Traveler. John Popper is one of the best harmonica players in the whole world. He's a Connecticut boy, too.



Back in 1991 my friend Barbara Shepard (from The Fabulous Who Who's) and I were in a short film with him. It was called Mr. Personality and it was about a talk show host's nightmare. I promised the director Tom E. Brown that I'd never post Mr. Personality online. (However, Tom is very proud of his film Das Clown which also starred Popper and was screened at Sundance.) John Popper played one of the talk show guests on Mr. Personality. Barb and I sang the show's theme song "Simon Says" which was originally recorded by the 1910 Fruitgum Factory. We had some pretty slick dance moves, too.



Barbara Shepard started The Fabulous Who Who's back in 1989, and they are still going strong. Barb is an amazing singer, songwriter, guitar player, and she's also the funniest woman in New Haven. I sang back-up vocals with the Who Who's for a couple of years while I was going to grad school. The wildly talented Kriss Santala was/is also a Who Who. She also performs as a solo artist. In 2007 she released her own album Lost Souls Road which is absolutely beautiful. Visit www.independisc.com/krisssantala.htm and listen to "One Good Thing."


My old friend Scott McDonald from Jellyshirts recently posted this newspaper ad from the beloved old New Haven venue, The Moon. If you look closely, you can see that The Fabulous Who Who's (and Scott's band Jellyshirts) are on the same page as Reverend Horton Heat, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, and Miracle Legion.

Scott and I used to work at Cutler Records with Robin Andreoli, Dean Falcone and Al Lotto. Al now has his own record store called Exile On Main Street. It's the coolest place--he even sells 45's! Celebrate Record Store Day a month early and shop at Al's store online: exileonmain.com. You will really like his website . . . and his store.

ps. Robin was a deejay for the University of New Haven radio station. It was (is?) the coolest station. It's where townie kids like me learned about Madness, The English Beat, and The Specials long before there was any MTV.

pps. Kevin Day is another Connecticut musician I knew back in the good old days. (Actually, I knew his brother, but I'm sure we must have bumped into each other at some point.) Kevin Day is in the AWESOME band Gigglejuice. Gigglejuice are so great that they've even opened for Cracker! Check them out:

http://www.gigglejuice.com/buycdhere.html

ppps. It was an old boyfriend and lifelong friend who first introduced me to Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven. We met when I waited on him at the record store.

pppps. As you probably guessed, the title of this post was inspired by

and

Klosterman, Chuck. Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota.
New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

The critics absolutely loved the newest book by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jeffrey Eugenides. Publisher's Weekly put it at the top of their Best Books of 2011 list.

Eugenides, Jeffrey. The Marriage Plot. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. Print.

If you went to college in the 1980's, you will especially like this book. It brings back memories of all those silly comp lit discussions about semiotics, deconstruction, and "coming to voice."

"Mr. Eugenides brings the period into bright detail—the brands of beer, the music, the affectations—and his send-ups of the pretensions of chic undergraduate subcultures are hilarious and charmingly rendered" --Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

“No one’s more adept at channeling teenage angst than Jeffrey Eugenides. Not even J. D. Salinger . . . " --Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

And speaking of Teen Angst . . .



To learn more about The Marriage Plot, check out NPR's interview with the author.

A cumulative tale by David Lowery

Lowery, David. The Palace Guards. Santa Monica, CA: 429 Records, 2011. Album cover by Michael Wertz.

My favorite song from David Lowery's solo album is a dreamy waltz called I Sold the Arabs the Moon. What I like so much is that the words sound like the scenes they are describing--even if you just say them aloud. For example, the phrase "English the sea" sounds like a soft wave crashing onto the shore of Lyme Regis.

Lyme Regis, England

And I was the man who sold the English the sea

They wanted the afternoon breezes it bore

The sweet smell of spices from over the sea

The afternoon showers it brought during tea
-David Lowery

It goes a lot deeper than that. In his blog 300 Songs Lowery explains that the song was inspired by a phrase in a book by Gabriel García Márquez, and a helicopter flight over Iraq.

García, Márquez G, and Gregory Rabassa.
The Autumn of the Patriarch. New York: Harter Row, 1975.

I like the song because it sounds pretty. I also like that it has the same story structure as a lot of children's books. Like The House that Jack Built, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, and Drummer Hoff, I Sold the Arabs the Moon features a list of actions that builds and repeats. In the first verse he sells the Arabs the moon, next the English the sea, and finally the Yankees the sky.

Emberley, Barbara, and Ed Emberley. Drummer Hoff. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1967.

David Lowery has a blog called 300 Songs where he explains the stories behind the hundreds of songs he has written. Even if you aren't familiar with his music, you will like reading his blog. It's full of great stories and insights.

To hear "I Sold the Arabs the Moon" played live, come to CampOut 7. It will be the music festival of a lifetime.

Crackersoul.com.
Artwork by Michael Wertz.

7 best books

Here are the 7 best books I read over the summer:

Crosley, Sloane. How Did You Get This Number: Essays. New York: Riverhead Books, 2010.

Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2009.

Gladwell, Malcolm. What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009.

Haigh, Jennifer. Faith: A Novel. New York: Harper, 2011.

Vanderpool, Clare. Moon Over Manifest. New York: Delacorte Press, 2010.

Maynard, Joyce. Labor Day. New York: William Morrow, 2009.

Weiner, Jennifer. Then Came You: A Novel. New York: Atria Books, 2011.

And speaking of the number 7 . . .

You don't want to miss the 7th annual Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven CampOut.
Buy your tickets today!

The Beauty Killer

Shop Indie Bookstores
Cain, Chelsea. The Night Season. New York: Minotaur Books, 2011.


Shop Indie Bookstores
Cain, Chelsea. Evil at Heart. New York: Minotaur Books, 2009.




The Beauty Killer series takes place in Portland, Oregon where the elusive serial killer Gretchen Lowell has become a celebrity, mostly because of her good looks. Archie Sheridan is a middle-aged police detective who is head of the task force to catch her. In spite of his public marital problems and brief stint in a psychiatric ward, he is a well-respected local hero. An ambitious yet lovable young reporter named Susan Ward tags along after Archie and serves as his sidekick. Susan dresses like Cyndi Lauper, changes her hair color on a daily basis, and is always in trouble with her newspaper editor.

Here's proof that you don't need to read series books in order. I started with Evil at Heart which is #3 in the series. It was a little too gory for my taste, but I liked Detective Sheridan and Reporter Susan Ward so much that I wanted to spend more time with them. I was all set to venture upstairs to the stacks to find the earlier books in the series, but then I spotted The Night Season in the bestseller section and I couldn't resist the shiny, new cover. I ended up liking The Night Season better because it doesn't focus as much on Gretchen Lowell the Beauty Killer. (The series was in danger of jumping the shark when the local amusement park added a Beauty Killer themed ride.) It's also not as gruesome.










The Beauty Killer books are the first detective novels that I've ever fully enjoyed. (I like true crime books, but most mysteries either remind me of boring cop shows, or they're too corny like Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy series* about a cat lady and her sleuthing pets.) Since I don't usually like fictional detectives, I never would have picked up these books if there had been a sticker of Sherlock Holmes on the spine.

Even though the book trailer makes it seem scary, it's really more of a comedy than a horror story. If I were a movie director, I'd cast Paul Giamatti (Sideways, John Adams) as Detective Archie Sheridan,







Amanda Bynes (Hairspray, The Amanda Show) as his adoring young sidekick,








and the author herself as Gretchen Lowell the Beauty Killer.












*Many of Rita Mae Brown's books take place in Crozet, Virginia which is hosting the amazing Campout East musical festival this summer.

Happy Birthday, George Thorogood!

Thorogood, George. Bad to the Bone. Hollywood, Calif: EMI Manhattan, 1982.

He sure does stutter a lot in that song! Here are some m-m-m-m-more great stuttering songs:

* Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes by David Bowie.

Bowie, David. Hunky Dory. New York, N.Y.: RCA, 1971.

* B-B-B-Benny and the Jets by Elton John.

John, Elton, and Bernie Taupin. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. NYC: Rocket, 1973.


*[B-B-B-Baby] You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Bachman Turner Overdrive (Musical group). Not Fragile. [Chicago, Ill.]: Mercury, 1974.

* T-T-T-Time Machine by Cracker.

Cracker (Musical group). Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey. Santa Monica, CA: 429 Records, 2009.

*Lo-Lo-Lo-Lo-Lola by The Kinks.

Kinks (Musical group), and Ray Davies. One for the road. New York, N.Y.: Konk Records, 1999.

Who (Musical group). My Generation. London: IBC Studios, 1965

And talking about my generation . . .

Here's my karaoke version of the Cracker hit, I Hate My Generation:


And here's the real deal:


Now why would anyone want to die before getting old?

A Few of My Favorite Songwriters

I stole this idea from the lovely Miss Trixie:

King, Carole. Tapestry. S.l.: Epic, 1971. Sound recording.

Here are fifteen of my favorite songwriters and songwriting teams in no particular order:

1. Joni Mitchell
2. Johnny Hickman & David Lowery (as a team and as solo writers)

3. Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II


4. John Lennon & Paul McCartney
5. Freddie Mercury & David Bowie (as a team and as solo writers)


6. Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
7. Chris LeRoy


8. John Prine


9. Irving Berlin
10. Carole King


11. Willie Nelson


12. Dolly Parton

13. George and Ira Gershwin

14. Neil Sedaka

(Sedaka wrote this song about Carole King.)

15. Burt Bacharach

More about Greenland

Greenland coast

As I've mentioned before, one of my favorite Cracker albums is Greenland. I love it for its subtlety, cryptic lyrics, and quiet harmonies. Greenland is definitely a headphones kind of album. (It's not always quiet, though. Sometimes it just plain rocks, so you might want to watch the volume.)



Thanks to David Lowery's new blog, 300 Songs, Greenland is just a little bit less puzzling to me now. In today's post Lowery tells the story behind the song Where Have Those Days Gone and he also hints at the meaning of the album:

"If anything this song and much of the album Greenland are a portrait of 'The Lost Coast' of California."

Oregon coast (photo from traveloregon.com)

When I was little, I visited the Oregon side of The Lost Coast. It really did feel like another world with its jagged cliffs, cold summer temperatures, and massive sand dunes. I imagine that Greenland feels like another world, too. I will probably never be brave enough to travel to Greenland, though. I get nervous whenever I'm too far away from a major metropolis.

ps. Visit 300songs.com tomorrow to learn more about Cracker's Greenland.

Do you know Greenland?

The National Geographic Magazine. Washington, D.C: National Geographic Society.
June 2010, Vol. 217, No. 6.

There is a really interesting article about Greenland in this month's issue of National Geographic. I'm embarrassed to admit that I really didn't know much about Greenland until I read the article. Here's what I learned:

*Greenland wasn't as cold in the Middle Ages.

*Many Greenlanders are excited about global warming.

*Erik the Red landed upon Greenland while he was on the lam for killing a man in Iceland.

*The term lam comes from the Old Norse word lemja.

*In the 1950's and 1960's the Danish government built ugly apartment buildings in the capital of Greenland and tried to force people from faraway villages to live in them.

*In 2009 a new charter went into effect that gives Greenland more independence from Denmark.

*The name of the Greenland national anthem is Nunarput Utoqqarsuanngoravit.

To learn more about this rapidly changing country, visit the official tourism site greenland.com.

Greenland. Huntington, NY: Cooking Vinyl, 2006. Sound recording.

ps. Greenland is the name of my favorite Cracker album. Check out this video.

pps. Does anyone know how Cracker decided upon the title?

Smiley, Jane. The Greenlanders: A Novel. New York: Anchor Books, 1988. Print.

ppps. Jane Smiley wrote an epic novel entitled Greenlanders. Although I really like Smiley's writing (she won the Pulitzer prize for the best seller, A Thousand Acres), I probably won't read Greenlanders because I don't like historical fiction.

Merry Christmas, Emily!

Merry Christmas Emily is my favorite rock Christmas song from my favorite Cracker album. It's about a love story that took place in Tuscon, Arizona. Inexplicably, the video was shot in Germany.

Cracker (Musical group). Forever. Milwaukee: Back Porch, 2001.

Cracker's back from Iraq

Here's a mini-documentary about Cracker's recent USO tour. My favorite part is when David Lowery talks about his inspiration for the single Yalla Yalla which uses a lot of military vernacular.


And speaking of USO tours, here's a clip of my good friend Vanessa Hollingshead recounting her trip to the Middle East:

songbookhighway.com

The Hickman/LeRoy Songbook has a jazzy new address! Here's what it's all about:

The Songbook Highway is a community site for music and ideas. Started by music collaborators Chris LeRoy and Johnny Hickman as a myspace page in 2006, the site and community has expanded from fans of Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven, and The Dangers to an eclectic group of listeners and thinkers.

So each week The Songbook Highway features a new jukebox of music by LeRoy, Hickman, and of course David Lowery. But that’s not all!!!

Look around the site for great interviews, lyrics, podcasts, book and video posts and reviews from Morst “The Archive King,” bigDave “The King Crumb of Video”, Rebecca “Forever 40″ Hickman, Robert “Grown Diaries” Daeley, and Paul “Listening Theme” Adams. We all urge you to post your ideas. Talk to us. This is your music and idea community.

Get On The Songbook Highway

The road is wide open…

—Chris and Johnny

Cracker and the Crumbs

Here's a great article from Gemmzine about Cracker and the Crumbs:

"Go to their website, Crackersoul.com and you will find their extensive tour schedule and can ease drop virtually on the discussion board for their avid fans who call themselves, Crumbs. They are a funny fuzzy, close knit family, the way rock used to be, dare I say, back in the day."
--Lisa B. Burns