Know what’s difficult?  Being a music blogger who has a computer with a malfunctioning sound card.  In what was perhaps not the brightest of ideas, I decided to pick a week where I knew that free time was at a premium (note to self: never make your own Halloween costume again) to fiddle with my ailing computer. All went well, things are running smoothly and faster than before… except for the sound card.  It’s tough to listen to music when no sound is coming out.  Technology fail.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get that sorted out this weekend.  Sigh.

I received my copy of Jay Ryan’s Animals and Objects In and Out of Water yesterday, and I can’t actually express how much I love it.  The collection of prints combines pretty much everything that makes me happy: animals doing strange things (bears wearing socks, penguins listening to Jeff Tweedy, dolphins in bumper cars), sometimes surrealist art, great colors, awesome bands, and humorous commentary.  As someone who dabbles in art, music, and writing, I’ve got to say that the collection is an absolute gem.  I could sit and flip through it all day.  If you pick it up, be sure to read the essay at the end of the book, particularly if you like facts.  Like, what’s the ratio of bears to dogs in Ryan’s work?  How many Unidentifiable Mammals will you find?  The essay is both hilarious and informative, much like the book as a whole.

Lilith Fair is coming back.  Yep, that’s right, the late ’90s celebration of women in music will be making a comeback, 10 years after it quietly faded away.  The festival is set to tour again in 2010, although no specific tour dates have been announced.  The initial list of cities includes Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington DC, and many points in between.  A line-up and more specific dates should be announced soon.

This may continue to chip away at my taste-in-music street cred, but I am way excited about this.  I went to Lilith Fair in 1999 when it rolled through Pittsburgh, and it was an awesome experience.  Say what you will about the relative cheese-factor of the festival, but it was honestly pretty empowering to be a teenager, surrounded by tons of other women, watching powerful, successful women perform.  While I never did find my inner singer-songwriter (singer, yes; songwriter, big ol’ no), it’s events like that which can help some young girl or woman out there come to believe in herself enough to take a risk to live her dream.

No related posts.

Animals and Objects In and Out of Water

Gig poster maker extraordinaire Jay Ryan is set to release “Animals and Objects in and Out of Water,” a book showing off some of his favorite work from 2005-2008.   The book collects over 100 images of posters and includes information on each print.  The book also features an introduction by, you guessed it, Andrew Bird, for whom Jay Ryan has produced some spectacular artwork over the years.  Orders made directly through The Bird Machine (Ryan’s poster workshop) feature an exclusive four-color screenprinted sleeve and will be signed.  Books can be purchased using the Paypal address provided on The Bird Machine’s website.

Ryan will be embarking on a book tour in November with graphic artist Paul Hornschemeir, who also has a new book out.  Tour  dates include Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Los Angeles, and Portland, among many others.  Ryan hits Chicago on November 11th at Quimby’s Bookstore (1854 W. North Ave.), and Milwaukee the next night at The Sugar Maple (441 E Lincoln Ave., Milwaukee, WI).  I’ll probably be heading to Quimby’s to check it out.

The complete tour schedule is available on Ryan’s website.

In other news for which I’ve been waiting for several months, a special series of Andrew Bird concerts was announced today.  He’ll be performing a series of five shows — two in Minneapolis and three in Chicago — in mid-December, solo and mostly instrumental.  These shows have been rumored to be happening since he mentioned the idea in passing during an interview at Lollapalooza, but this is the first they’ve been announced.  The shows are being called the “Gezelligheid Concerts”, with gezelligheid apparently being a Dutch word which roughly translates to “intensely cosy”.

The Minneapolis shows will take place on December 10 and 11 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral.  Seating is general admission and tickets are $34 for front of room and $29 for back of room.  The Chicago shows take place on December 15, 16, and 17 at the historic and gorgeous Fourth Presbyterian Church.  Again, seating is general admission and tickets are $40 for front of room and side balcony, and $35 for back of room and rear balcony.

Tickets are available now via internet presale at Music Today.  General sale starts on October 23 for the Minneapolis shows and and November 7 for Chicago.

After wrapping up a tour of Asia in early 2010, Andrew is scheduled to take a break from touring, so for the most part, this may be the last opportunity to see him in the area for a while.  I will, of course, be there all three nights (and if Minneapolis weren’t so far away, I’d probably be trying to figure out how to get to those, too).

Edited to add: Less than 24 hours later and the presale tickets are all gone.  Cross your fingers and click quickly during the regular sale, my friends.

Related posts:

1. Show Announcement: Andrew Bird’s Gezelligheid is Back
2. Andrew Bird, Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church, 12/14
3. Andrew Bird, Fourth Presbyterian Church, 12/15