Under a Red Roof

Don’t Change

January 30, 2009 in Listening, Remembering, Spotlighting by Colleen | 1 comment

Isn’t this a beautiful cover? When I first saw it, mind you, this was on a cassette tape, so the image wasn’t terribly large, I thought it was a photograph of an exquisite sculpture. Only upon further inspection did I learn man and canine were made of flesh and bone. I find it both incredibly sexy and tender at the same time. The man has beautiful shoulders and arms, and the dog – a Greyhound or Whippet? is awfully sweet and poised, paws balanced just so. Definitely on my top ten list for album covers. Yes, definitely.

In keeping with yesterday’s post, I thought I would give a full blown Spotlight on this, my favorite INXS album. I first heard “The One Thing” and “To Look at You” when I watched Reckless with Aidan Quinn and Darryl Hannah way back in 1984. Save these two songs, and especially “The One Thing,” I have no recollection of the film, but the music is enough for me.

I know that taste in music is highly subjective, but I really feel like this is a timeless classic. While it does bring back many memories, the music never seems dated to me. INXS never went over the top with gimmicks or synthesizers, so there are no Flock of Seagull moments while listening to it. Not that the FOS were bad, but when you listen to them now, you know they are an 80’s band.

One of the finest and exceedingly rare occurrences in music is to have an album where every song is a gem. Shabooh Shoobah is one such example. It starts with “The One Thing” and keeps up the pace with clever lyrics, Michael’s very sexy, sometimes tender, and powerful voice, and ends with the crescendo “Don’t Change.” It is really difficult for me to choose favorites because I have a really hard time hearing the end of one song without longing for the next, so I will tell you my favorite lines from each song:

“The One Thing” – The way you move soft and slippery, cut the night just like a razor, rarely talk and that’s the danger.

“To Look at You” – I understand, I sympathize for a day dream, fairy tales and I love you

“Spy of Love” – Standing above this moment, listening to all I say, the spy of love will track me, will catch me.

“Soul Mistake” – Promises are carved out of lust, with a fire in the heart, that burns without regret, I vow to play the part.

“Here Comes” – Here comes my kamikaze, here comes God’s top ten.

“Black and White” – Got a need inside and I don’t know why, it’s a strong feeling that grows and grows.

“Golden Playpen” – Night club, ice cubes crackin’

“Jan’s Song” – Friends won’t argue, friends don’t care, now is the moment to get out of here.

“Old World New World” -Natives wearing turquoise and silver, dirty dogs barking in the distance, ooh people of a thousand tongues, I’m learning the primitive rites.

“Don’t Change” – Don’t change for you, don’t change a thing for me.

Oh my goodness, twenty-five years later and I still love it!

Tags: Music

Old World New World

January 29, 2009 in Listening, Remembering by Colleen | 3 comments

That’s the name of a stellar INXS song, from my favorite album Shabooh Shoobah. The awesome and, quite sadly, departed too soon, Michael Hutchence sings: “Old world, new world, I know nothing, but I keep listening.” Just a little aside here, too, INXS was my first concert at Red Rocks, and it did not disappoint.

Anyway, I’ve had the song and the sentiment stuck in my head ever since I started seeing people from much younger days on Facebook, for some it has been almost twenty years! I sit in wild wonder at all that I do and don’t know about their lives. It is both strange and wonderful, to see long lost faces and know where everyone is and what they’re doing.

Take these photos. This is Rob, the Batman fan formerly known as Bob. We met in high school, but neither of us has any recollection how it happened. There are plenty of other clearer memories, however, like opening day of Batman (the occasion for cooking a steak at my house), the opening of the Super Saver Cinema (Rob, do you remember what we saw?), and a night at the drive-in to see the Gubernator in Total Recall where I promptly fell asleep (that’s our giant bag of popcorn I’m holding).

As luck would have it, Rob found me just last week, and, even luckier, was in Portland on business on Monday, so the hubster and I met him at the Kennedy School for dinner. It was a grand evening of Gregory getting to know Rob while reminiscing for hours over cocktails and yummy food. We also reveled in the fact that it seemed as though no time had passed. That is friendship. Thank you, Facebook, for this lovely reunion, and Rob, see you next time you’re in town!

One more time, with jazz hands!

Inspired by Annie

January 23, 2009 in Loving, Reading, Spotlighting by Colleen | 3 comments

I read Annie Liebovitz book At Work a few weeks ago. Though I am not a professional, just happy to capture our everyday moments, I really enjoyed learning about how she came to be a photographer and the work itself – using strobe lighting, the various cameras, lenses, digital tricks, etc. Mostly, I liked the pictures.

As I was reading, I lamented a little on the fact that I would never likely be able to afford to have her photograph my family, but, then, as I thought about it, I decided that I could try to do something for us, Annie style.

Something I admire about her work is the quality of her not actually being there. I love the intimate photographs of people, those almost private moments. This is what I was going for in this photo. I like that we’ve just woken up and were both a bit disheveled. I like the light of the lamp and the way that Milo is itching to get away because that is really how it is at our house. We have these moments of great closeness, and then they are gone.

134

January 20, 2009 in Loving, Quoting by Colleen | Permalink

A faithful friend is the medicine of life.

Ecclesiasticus

Reincarnation

January 19, 2009 in Decorating by Colleen | 2 comments

Hello there! I thought I would show you our lovely reincarnated chairs. I had some before pictures, but deleted them, so there is no dramatic reveal, I’m afraid. Though you could say, Ty Pennington style, to “Move that cat!” As you can see, Milo has set up camp on the yellow chairs. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t quite know what to do when we actually take a turn on them. The other night, we were sitting and happily chatting away, when he started to pace between us. At first, we thought nothing of it, but then realized that we were on HIS chairs, and he didn’t know what to do about it. We laughed and enjoyed a bit more pacing before Gregory moved. Milo was on his vacated chair in an instant. What can I say? He really loves the fabric!

Unfortunately, he is loving the fabric on the grey chair too (which is in the bedroom), only in a rather destructive fashion while we are trying to sleep. This however, does not serve him very well, as the consequence for that is spending the rest of the night in the chilly basement. I wish he was capable of learning this. Oh well.

So, here they are. I am proud to have a successful reupholstering story. Also, I forgot to mention that there is a little history here. We bought the yellow chairs (formerly green) from a place called Old PDX Furniture on Hawthorne probably eight years ago. The business wasn’t there for long, but, as it happens, the same woman who sold them to us is the one who just reupholstered them, and in a top notch fashion, I might add. She’s done right at least twice!

If you’d like to have Erin work on your furniture, with eco-friendly fabric, she’d be happy to do it. Her shop is called Acanthus. We made our appointment before she made the change to eco-friendly fabrics, having purchased ours a while back, so I can’t say how expensive the fabrics are. Her prices for the upholstering are right in line with others I was quoted around town and a whole lot less than buying brand new chairs. She and her business partner are just plain nice, too.