Suhmmer, Neon, Construction, Savages, and Sardines

Suhmmer and Neon are the colors on my fingers and toes right now.  I am one of those ladies that has to be reminded by friends that it's time to put on new polish.  I don't think twice about having only a few speckles of color on my toes and fingers.   However, everytime I get "my nails did" I have a little more pep in my step and I do that a lot more during the summer months.  Of course my sense of pride lasts about a day, since my nails start to flake immediately, thus restarting the cycle of being bummed that the color disappears so quickly and deciding I will just deall with shitty looking nails until I can't take it no more.  I do paint my nails on some occasions but I never come close to the perfection of the ladies at Spring Nails on Williams Street. Had to share my carpet.  I love it. Reminds me of the ocean.  I need to think of as many tranquil thoughts as possible because as of the last three weeks,  what was once an empty lot (I knew our luck would run out) has become a construction site.  In NYC that means, the construction of a 34 story skyscraper that will take at least a year to build.  The construction crew starts starts banging on my medulla at about 7 am every morning and now have extended their work schedule to include Saturdays.  So there is only one day of peace in this neighborhood these days, and it is to go on for an ENTIRE YEAR!!!.  Would Mayor Bloomberg put up with such racket?  Does anyone out there know the rules on construction and sound ordinances in NYC? I guess I could google it on my own.  
  
So the summer heat is here in NYC.  While I was out on July 4th, a friend of mine from Baton Rouge looked up the temperature of Baton Rouge and NYC.  He was right, NYC is hotter right now.  I have already been to two beaches - Fire Island, NY and Duck, NC; and upstate, Buskirk, NY where 100 Oaks Revival played an awesome wedding party, with Pottymouth, House of Blondes, and Buke and Gase.  All locations were beautiful, tranquil, and relaxing.  Look at that swimming hole in Buskirk.  We even saw a U.F.O. You see it?  Don't tell anyone. 

As for my creative endeavors, I have been working on some entirely new projects.  At the end of May, I wrote, directed, and produced a new short film (30-40 min short - not the regular 3 minutes I am accustomed to) for which its currently in the editing phase. I realized that at this point in my artistic life, I have no reason to not do what I want.  I have noticed that lots of folks categorize themselves as being only one thing - "I am a writer."  "I am a musician." " I am a stock broker."  "I am a lawyer."  But i have yet to meet a person for which those things actually fully describe who they are.  Rather it is an aspect of who they are.  I have never felt as if I was one thing.  I do know I am a musician.  But I am also a math person.  I am a laywer.  I am also a writer.  I was an event producer.  I  was an aerobics instructor once upon a time.  I am about to become a girl's rock camp counselor.  I am so excited! You get the point.  I guess I am still justifying to myself why I feel the need to share a film project with everyone.  As a close friend of mine said the other day, "you don't need to justify anything to anyone."  So we'll see how it goes, but my goal was to do a project that combines the talents of my quick witted funny talented friends (John Early, Adam Wade, Christian Felix) along with those of my brilliant musician friends (Shannon Wright, K Michelle DuBois, Marcellus Hall, Sam Jayne, Ted Leo, Mighty Challenger, and the list goes on).  I believe it will be called "Sardines Out of A Can" but am still figuring it out.  In other news, I also just shot what will be the first episode of a new web series, I created called "Shayla Hates Celebrities" with some funny folks (Katina Corrao, Le'Ronn McGowan, Eliot Glaser, Wyatt Cenac, and Kenny Leinhardt).  I will leave it at that.  I hope to be sharing all these projects with you soon - so soon! Here are some pics from the Sardines shoot.
 



In music news, I just discovered 10 Tigers and Monkeys tracks that have not been shared with the world!  So look for a downloadable album coming to you soon!  AND check out this video by one of my new favorite bands.  An all women group from London, called Savages.  They just released their first full length release Silence Yourself - reminiscent of the era of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Echo and the Bunnymen.  Critics are gushing about them - which usually makes me cynical - but their album is visceral, sexy, and sheer RAWK.  I am going to see them on Thursday night at Webster Hall.  Happy I will see them before they play Madison Square Garden.  I hate seeing bands in big venues.  So not fun!  I think they have a show here in a few months at Terminal 5. 
Here's their video!

SAVAGES - buy their album now.  Don't give up on musicians making money!  

Leave a comment