High Five for "High Violet"

©Brad Dececco

My obsession with the band The National began in the fall of 2005. I was newly single after an 8 year relationship, and learning how to date again. It wasn't pretty, to be kind.

The first song I ever heard lead singer Matt Berninger sing was "Abel", off of the Alligator album. I listened to that song on repeat, Berninger screaming "My mind's not right, my mind's not right" over and over, it made my heart ache (and probably my roommate's head ache, I imagine).


I got a copy of Alligator straight away, to be followed by Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. I printed out the entire two records' worth of lyrics and pored over them like a 13 year old girl, memorizing the entire catalog of songs and being the way-too-old chick in the front row of every show shrieking, "I WON'T fuck us over I'm MR NOVEMBER I'm MR NOVEMBER I WON'T fuck us over!" I would drag friends to shows, some would fall in love with the band, others didn't understand my frenzied love affair with these five guys from Ohio.

One day I rode the Q train with Aaron and Bryce Dessner, the twin guitar players, and I wanted to reach out and touch them, but, you know, that might not have gone over very well. I did sneak several peeks (ok fine I flat out stared at them with a goofy grin on my face all the way to Brooklyn) though.

Another time I saw one of the Devendorf brothers at a concert (I never know which one is Bryan, the drummer, and Scott, the bassist..but I know 'em when I seem 'em!) at BAM, and I ran back from the bathroom screaming like a banshee...but no one I was with cared all that much...so my glee was unshared.

I was lucky enough to be able to see these guys perform at small venues like
Maxwells and Bowery Ballroom, but now they've hit the big time..I can't even get tickets to their shows anymore. They announced a "secret" show a few months back, it sold out in five minutes flat. Which is great...for them...



Their new album, "High Violet", comes out on May 11th, but it is streaming on the New York Times site, along with
this article about them (it is an intense piece, you will need some time to read the entire thing, but if you are a National fan, it's pretty glorious). So far, my favorite song on the album is "Terrible Love", sung in that perfect, tortured way that Matt Berninger does.

Pardon me while I go lock myself in my room, listen to High Violet, and mope in the dark...go check it out here!

Show N Tell

I was invited to join some friends at Dot Editions, a post-production house in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn. Gowanus is becoming quite the artists' enclave, a la Williamsburg or Dumbo without the attitude, and the building that Dot is housed in reminds me of old school West Chelsea before the gallery scene really blew up. Owner Rocky Kenworthy is hosting Show N Tell nights, where he invites photographers to come his space, present a slideshow of their work and talk about how and why they got into the photography business.

For some reason, I have become the friend who ends up early at everything (anyone who knows me knows this is a bizarre and abnormal behavior for me, and it must be stopped, pronto!), and, as you can read here, I am a terrible networker, so I walked into the studio, alone, sheepish, holding a box of wine (shut up. boxed wine is cool). Rocky was kind enough to greet me warmly and introduce himself as the owner, and we chatted a bit until my friends arrived and, shortly after, the show began.

The three photographers were all featured in PDNs 30 (every year PDN, the photographer's version of porn, picks 30 emerging photographers and singles them out and showcases them) and were very, very different. Adrien Mueller spoke first, but who could pay attention to what he was saying when he had mouthwatering images of food projecting on continuous loop?
©Adrien Mueller

He talked about his start in photojournalism and his current role as sometime corporate advertising photographer. His work ranges from food to still-life and location/people. Do not look at his website if you are hungry!

Elizabeth Weinberg is a girl after my own heart--she shoots a lot of cool, hip bands, some of whom I've never even heard of (cuz I'm old, and a nerd) but am totally checking out, pinky swear. She has started to move away from the music and is doing more fashion and portraiture. I especially enjoyed the more personal portraits of her younger sister, who is a favorite subject for her.

©Elizabeth Weinberg
This is not a picture of her younger sister, but a picture of the band Beach House...one of the cool, hip bands I've never heard of (oh shut up, have you?).

Last but not least, we saw Gabriele Stabile, a photojournalist who has done a lot of work in Gaza but who has also shot cookbooks for the likes of Ramen King
David Chang, an interesting crossover to be sure.
©Gabriele Stabile

At the end of the night there was a raffle and one of our friends won $250 worth of services from Dot Editions! Which is only one of many reasons why you should attend the next Show N Tell night in mid-May!

More info and pics from Show n Tell night here

Adzuki and Me

In addition to my love for music and art, some of you already know that I am a big fan of things I can put in my mouth. Like food. And drinks. To name but a few. I have been cooking a lot at home this last year, as an attempt to save a little bit of money and stave off the boredom of eating the same things everyday, which I tend to do. I've been experimenting with beans a lot, especially as I am not much of a meat eater (I don't eat "cute meats" and only eat fowl and fish about 3% of the time), and I've come up with a few staples that I can whip up tout de suite. Namely, a black bean and edamame salad (I thought I made this up but my friend Gail pointed out that she actually made it first and I totally copied. Oops) and white bean spicy hummus.

I remembered that my mom had given me a vegan cookbook a couple years back--I am not a vegan, clearly, but I have been eschewing most milk products for soy which is wreaking such havoc on my hormones but that is another topic for another blog...anyway I was bored with my black bean repertoire and needed something new and different to spice things up a bit.



Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson, is a fun intro to Vegan cooking, and I found the perfect recipe for a Middle Eastern bean-lover such as myself: Quinoa Tabbouleh with Adzuki beans.

Now, I had never even heard of an Adzuki bean, much less know what one tasted like, but I trusted Robin and her option to include Adzuki beans in the Tabbouleh. Where does one even find an Adzuki bean? I went straight to my favorite health food store, Perelandra in Brooklyn Heights, and they had dried organic ones in their bulk section (I had to maneuver around a woman who was totally hogging up the bulk food room with her 500 bags of stuff, but I survived).

Adzuki beans are these tiny little pinkish Asian beans that don't get much bigger when you stick them in water. They taste sort of like dirt but in a good way, and add a good amount of protein to a dish--that paired with the quinoa and you are packing a pretty hefty meal, my friends.

I adapted the recipe to my taste, because I must have been a heavy smoker in my former life or something--I always need twice as much seasoning as the recipe calls for. In a nutshell:

1 cup prepared quinoa
2 medium tomatoes (the recipe calls for yellow but I used regular ones)
a bunch of red onion (I eyeballed it, around 1/4 c I guess?)
a bunch of adzuki beans (approx 1/2 to 3/4 c)
lots of cilantro
1/3 c olive oil
a lemon
salt and pepper

I mixed up the tomato, cilantro, onion, and salt and pepper in a bowl, poured the beans in and mixed it together, then added the quinoa once it cooled down. I prepared the dressing: the olive oil, lots of salt and pepper and an entire lemon, and poured it all over, mixing it all together. I stuck it in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour. The cookbook suggests an hour, but I really couldn't wait. I also topped it all off with some labneh , which I pretty much put on top of everything. It was nom nom nom good.


I'm drinking a decent Australian Cab along with it, because that is what I had on hand, but this would taste really good with a Mojito or some sort of lemonade. Next time!

Go with the Flo

My intro to Florence and the Machine was a mere week ago when a friend of mine sent me this video and said
"WATCH THIS."

The first thought that struck me, besides her amazing, booming voice, was her very Stevie Nicks-esque way she twirled and danced on stage.



Fitting, as from what I've read about her, she has dabbled in witchcraft herself.

I'm not normally a big fan of chick rock, although I actually did obsess about Stevie Nicks just a tad when I was a teen...but Florence Welch is a breed unto herself, I think. She can go from being very PJ Harvey, as in the song "I'm Not Calling You a Liar", and, in my opinion, sound almost Grace Slick-ish in what is my anthem of the hour, "Cosmic Love".

The song "Between Two Lungs" has a sweet, almost 60's sound to it, which is definitely not my thing, yet I find myself listening to it on repeat, feeling like a teenage girl who's locked herself in her room to fantasize about her hunky high school crush.

Check out this remix version of "Cosmic Love", courtesy of The Music Slut, and tell me you're not hooked!