Where is Lizzie?

Lizzie has been way too busy at her real job, and has been promoted (!) so, I'm sorry for the lack of updates! More to come soon, I promise.

Future concerts consist of :
Centro-matic (this monday) and Bon Iver in Dec.

There will also be the Fraser Family Thanksgiving post which, to say the least, will be ridiculous, wonderful and full of family-insanity. AND, my two amazing friends just got engaged! I had a date at MoMA the day after the engagement party and it was interesting to see wonderful artworks and engage in deep, philosophical conversations while still swimming from too much gin and champagne.

Anyways, Lizzie is still in Brooklyn/NYC, still into art and life, and will STILL update! Just not right now :)

XOXO

Palin Sighting!

I'm at a conference for work in Virginia, at the Lansdowne Golf Resort to be exact, and I just had my first official sighting of Sarah Palin! Apparently she gave a live speech near by in Virginia earlier today and was just held up in our hotel over night. Funny thing, all of my whole company was trapped in the bar area last night because she was schedules to walk by that particular club house and they didn't want us drunkenly leaving the bar and harassing her. "Poor us" for having to stick with open bar for a bit longer. She also had her whole entourage of children staying with her (baby missing, though), who all came pouring out of the elevator when she reached the lobby floor. It's a very odd experience to (1) see a political figure in real life (or a political celebrity, as is her case), and (2) to eat your breakfast next to 6 secret service men, because you always think they're just about to jump up and run to her defense.

Exciting conference so far :)

Update (finally)!

In an attempt to post EVERYTHING I've been trying to get up here (but have, unfortunately, keep getting interrupted before it is ever finished), I will do a quick break down of music and venues I've been to lately. Enjoy!

What's Lizzie Seeing : In a Heartbeat

Who: River City Rebels -- the craziest mix of guys I've seen on stage together in awhile. Lead: drunk, jolly biker. Keyboardist: misplaced Alberta Cross member. Drum: too dark in the back to tell. Bassist (our friend Pat): preppy, skinny, and has a nice smile.
Where: The Trash Bar -- FUN. Pool. Eclectic with car chairs to lounge in and Christmas lights on the ceiling (oh, such a staple in Brooklyn). Grungy, but lots of fun.

Who: Alberta Cross -- as if SoundGarden tried to find their southern roots. Always a wonderful show, and climbing the charts. They just left to open for Oasis in the UK, so good luck to them!!
Where: The Mercury Lounge -- I've always loved the Mercury Lounge (we also saw Semi Precious Weapons about 2 weeks ago, which was AMAZING as usual). It's packed in the skinny bar area, but you almost always see the band members of the act you've just seen hanging out with the locales and fans. Watch out for their Long Island Iced Tea -- it's deadly!!

Who: John Vanderslice -- I love Mr. Vanderslice, but at this particular concert he wasn't that amazing. Perhaps it was because the space we saw him at had just opened (literally, that night), or that he was playing all by himself (voice and acoustic guitar were all the sounds envolved), but yes, not an overally impressive night by Vanderslice. But DO check him out in the future, because is recording are superb. In fact, at the show he mentioned how he had been challenged to record 24 new sounds in a year, and was up to 18 (I think that was the break down), so we should be seeing wonderful things from him soon!
Where: 92yTribeca -- Fun, new, interesting, Tribeca. I don't know, I don't go to that part of the city that often, but if it were the right band, I would definitely return. The sound was decent and the spumante lovely (though they changed glass sizes later in the evening; what's up with that?)

Who: Sydney Wayser -- This girl is so, so, so LOVELY! A bit Laura Marling, a bit like Fiest, it's very, very moving and truely beautiful live. I stumbled upon Sydney last night at the Living Room, and it was such a wonderful surprise. Very stirring :) Check her out!
Where: The Living Room -- My friends have played at this venue before, and I generally like it. It's right smack dab in the middle of all the other venues in the LES, so the location is great if the music is over and you want to check out some more. It's very cozy, too; intimate, especially with Sydney like above. Thumbs up!

More to come!

RIP - William Claxton, 80 years old

Mr. Miles Davis, taken from William Claxton's website.

A mutual infatuation of photography and music lead me to William Claxton and his documentary photography of the Jazz legends of the 50s and 60s. I believe this happened sometime during my freshman year in college; I can't be certain of the exact date because all I really remember is immediately falling in love, deeper and deeper with every photo, and then things became a blur. Beautiful, rich, original and compelling, Claxton took such legendary musicians as Billy Holiday and Miles Davis (whom normally roamed the dark stages of smokey clubs and dim-lit backstage areas), out onto the bright streets and beaches of sunny California, and showed their deep souls in the light of day. Through Claxton's photography, a viewer could feel the intensity through which these musicians lived ever day of their lives -- where it was crying out the blues, dancing on the streets in joy, or clutching at their instruments or mics, longing for their next chance to shine. It was as if, by staring into a Claxton portrait, you became engluffed in the Blues, immersed in Jazz, taken over by Soul. Black and white photography has always been a passion of mine, and to know that each one of Claxton's photos was not only taken with passion and pleasure, but then slaved over through processing, printing and spotting with his own bare hands, makes even more energy and life stir from every print he's created. It's beautiful and stirring, and though I'm sad to hear he is gone, I know his photographs will stay with me forever.

Thank you, Claxton, for sharing your passion with us.

Sometimes, I love the Internet

Photo Courtesy of NYtimes.com

And sometimes, I don't. But today, and really in the past 2 weeks or so, there have been some increasingly interesting and kooky articles out there that have been just so relevant to my life. (Or, at least I like to believe they are :) I couldn't decide on just one to talk about today, so I decided to start something new! Announcing: the inaugural addition of "What's Lizzie Reading? : The Online Edition". Enjoy!

What's Lizzie Reading? : Online

--Rachel Hulin's commentary on the New York Times Magazine food issue from this weekend. SO MANY COOL PHOTOGRAPHS! If you enjoy stop-motion explosion photography, you'll love these images of corn, apple, and pumpkin in mid-eruption. I think what makes me love stop-motion photography so much is that it captures the essence of the random nature of...well, nature. The only thing you can really control about what a photography will look like when literally shooting an apple is what the light exposure will be. Not where the pieces will fly, or how "juicy" it will look. So, for these images to be so lovely in the end, so beautiful, it just shows how wonderful the unpredictability of nature is. These photos were taken by Martin Klimas, whose other stop-motion photo essays are just as powerful. My favorite is Essay 4, where porcelain or ceramic statues are exploding in seemingly mid-action sequences. Dancing or fighting, swooning... Lovely.

--NYtimes.com has a wonderful Big City piece online today about how the economic slump combined with the over development of the west side of Brooklyn is leading to much heartbreak and lost dreams for new homeowners, who once believed that Brooklyn would never stop growing. This is one of those situations where people are finally hear the warning bell that we've been sounding for YEARS now about how terrible this over development of the waterfront was for Brooklyn, and how it had to stop sometime. Yet, unfortunately for those who bought into it, some didn't hear the bells soon enough. It's so unfortunate, because as much as someone wants to be right about such a charged issue, they often never want to be right in a way that is so devastating for so many people (as this situation will surely become for whomever bought property in these new buildings). What will all of these half-finished/vacant apartment buildings mean for Brooklyn's waterfront in this new down-facing economy? This is what I wonder...

--NYtimes.com has another awesome article today, located in their Arts section. Edward Rothstein speaks about caricature in politics, bumbling candidates, and how the over-characterization of a political figure through satire, SNL skits and cartoons can lead to a completely different perception by the public of that candidate; a perception that is often at times more powerful than any arguement coming from that actual person being characterized. Very fascinating.

--As I began to write this recommendation, I realized that this article is actually located on The Christian Science Monitor, a website I didn't even know EXISTED before, let alone could have such an interesting article on bicycles and recycling in Brooklyn. Gothamist.com was what lead me there, so kudos to them for not just looking close to home for wonderful writing and interesting observations. Brooklyn is having a bicycling revolution (duh)! Read on to find out more.

--If you are interested in some beautiful wedding photography, as well as photo-essays of "People Sleeping in Public", and anything in between, please click over to my friend Ashley Garmon's photo blog PhotoSmashing. She's lovely, and so are her photos.

--It's Paddington Bear's birthday!!!! So much of my childhood centered around this bear, as well as others (Winnie the Pooh, most prominently), so Google.com made me happy by promoting Paddington instead of some guy named Columbus.

That's it for now. Enjoy!

Bushwick, Brooklyn

From BushwickBK.com . Urban Jungle Vintage store on 120 Knickerbocker Street.

Ah, my new home (since Aug 1st). I could ramble on and on about Bushwick (it's ups and downs, ins and outs), but I'm really just interested in pointing everyone to www.bushwickbk.com if you live in the area. This site is awesome, and makes me want to explore the neighborhood even more (and in a safe, well informed way). Something I didn't know about (and that I'm really looking forward to) is the Urban Jungle Vintage store on Knickerbocker. Or even the junk shop on Starr, right by Los Hermanos, the best taco stand in Bushwick. For more info on all, look at the business map here from BushwickBK. Give them all a try!

Andrew Bird @ Hiro Ballroom

I can't even describe how wonderful the Andrew Bird show was at the Hiro Ballroom this Monday. Having never been to Hiro before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I never could have imagined it would be so intimate of a setting.  The stage was only about 3 feet off of the ground, and felt more like a friendly lofty living room than a venue, and the sound held up so well!  There was laughter through technical difficulties and jokes from the audience [that Andrew couldn't help but hear, even laughing in the middle of a song (see Tables & Chairs in the link below)], and Andrew confessing at one point that he hadn't seen his band in ages and wanted to add a song to the playlist, just to keep going (which he did!)  Like the silly photographer I am, I didn't have a digital camera with me, so all I have to show for it are these "artsy" cell phone pictures. I was so close, Andrew Bird could have bonked my nose with his mallet while playing his Glockenspiel. :)

For many videos that people took, look here to YouTube. In the video of Oh No, at the very beginning there is giggling coming from the audience...unfortunately, that was me...haha. You can even hear it in the Fake Palindromes video, and the guy was at least 6 feet away from me! How embarrassing...

He played tons of new songs from his new album, my favorite being Anonanimal (which, unfortunately, no one has posted a video for yet). Definitely a bit of swooning going on (hence the giggles), on my part. How could I not? Give me a guy who whistles, plays violin, and wears a three-piece suit and I'm theirs.