Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee

Last night, Monday the 10th, the husband and I went to a concert at the O'Shaugnessy on St. Kate's campus. Amos Lee was performing with special guest Priscilla Ahn. We started out with supper, yes supper, not dinner (I'm from Iowa) at Wild Onion. Afterwards, we headed to the auditorium. The concert lasted about two and a half hours. Priscilla was on for about 30 minutes and Amos was on for the rest. They were both a-mazing! I especially enjoyed Amos when it was just him and his guitar. Below are the pictures I caught amongst the dark.

Priscilla Ahn playing the last song of her opening performance.
Amos, singing serious with his band. Definitely humble, hometown people. Like Shawn said, they're the type of people you'd see on the street and not know they're famous, talented musicians.
Amos (second from the left) invited Priscilla (far right) on stage for a song together. The blend was wonderful!
Bless the super, super zoom on my camera. Caught Amos mid lyric looking poetic and plain all at the same time. Can't remember which song he was singing but since they're all fantastic, we'll just say this particular performance was my favorite. Loved the hat and spectacles!

As a souvenir scene to the night, Amos Lee came back out for autographs. I purchased his newest CD (Can't remember how long it's been since I bought an actual CD!), stood in line, pondered what to say, got to the front of the line and fell silent. Finally... I asked if he'd sign the cover of the CD, told him the concert was great and he did an awesome job, shook his hand and then thanked him for my first autograph, ever! He smiled and said thanks. He was very appreciative to the crowd all night long, did a request from the crowd (a dixieland jazzy version of Queens "Fat Bottomed Girls"), included city landmarks in a song he was improving and told stories about the songs he sang. Well done Mr. Lee.

Me, Taking a Picture of Me

So like ten years ago in high school, we had an art project in which we had to find a picture of ourselves when we were young and draw it. I'm not too shabby at drawing so I decided to have mine mounted, matted and framed at Michaels. Say that three times fast. It was their wonderful 50% off sale so the damage wasn't fatal. I think it turned out quite nice, if I do say so myself and it hangs in Norman's room next to the computer. That whole room kinda has a black-and-white thing going on so it fit in perfectly.

Damn Squirrels

As promised, below is a photo-journalistic representation of the DeBoers carving pumpkins.

Here is Shawn, digging and scraping out the guts of pumpkin number three. As you'll notice, we opened them up from the bottom this year. We heard it was better from something we were watching on TV. I don't remember the show or what they said was the reason so you'll just have to take my word for it.

After cleaning comes cutting, but before that we need to trace our pattern. Below is the one I chose from the kit we bought a couple years ago. The picture is post-punching.

After cutting out the pieces and anally cleaning up the carving (OCD style), voila, a masterpiece of a pumpkin.

Now take note. This is the first year we encountered the battle with the squirrels. The overpopulated beasts started eating parts of our pumpkins! They weren't even shy about it. They sat on the steps, put piece in hand (claw?) and slowly chewed and devoured our creations. The only good thing I can report is at least they waited until Halloween night. Some of our neighbors were not as lucky. But next year, we'll have to try coating them with something not so tasteful... suggestions welcome. Below is what was left of my pumpkin. People kept asking what is was supposed to be... how disheartening. But, on the bright side, it kind of looks like the person holding the mirror is flipping everyone off. Maybe not everyone, but definitely the squirrels!
Here is Norman's pumpkin that neighbor Woodruffs so kindly volunteered to carve out. Their style was unconventional (staples, scissors, pushpins, etc.) and they may not be back next year, but they did a fine job.
Finally, all the trick-or-treaters favorite: Shawn's pumpkin. Ironically, this is also the ONLY pumpkin that the squirrels left alone. Creature karma? Do squirrels fear raccoons? Something to ponder... if you're seriously that bored.

One other very important thing we learned. If your pumpkin starts to shrivel, fill your bathtub with cold water and dunk them in it for about two hours. It's like magic. They come back to life, exactly as they looked when you were done carving. Little tip from the DeBoers to you.

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